Article by JP
Slide to Frame fitting
Well, my slide/frame fitting tools arrived from Brownells and Enco. These included the following:
–Brownells slide/frame file
–Brownells lapping compound (600 and 800 pack)
-12″ x 18″ x 3″ block of granite…equilateral to 0.0001″
-220 grit sand paper sheets (for placing on the granite and sanding to a perfectly flat surface)
I got started by placing a sheet of sand paper onto the granite slab, turning the frame updside down in my hand, and sanding the top of the rails. This took a while, but I was able to knock off a couple of thousandths and get the rail height pretty close, or so I thought. I then turned the frame on its side and did the same thing to get the sides of the rails shaved down a bit. This was harder to do, and took more time.
I guess I started getting tired because I started to hurry. BIG mistake. I ended up forcing the slide a little too far onto the rails and it got stuck. After placing the frame in my bench vise and using a rubber mallet to remove the slide, I decided to take a break. At this point I also had shed some blood because I was gripping the sharp edges of the slide so tightly. Did I mention that this is actually relaxing?