Anyone fancy making me an Owen gun?

Unfortunately there's no metal above the pistol grip to screw a bolt into except the gearbox and I can't drill holes into it at that point ,it will look like it bolts up that way ,it just won't actually bolt up that way .

Russel i just made up a template for the lower receiver to the measurements you gave and again it looks wrong ,its only a cardboard overlay but it does not look deep enough at 60mm at the rear , with you'r permission i'll use my judgment and make it deeper , it may be that the measurements are from the bottom of the tube and not from the side of the tube slightly above the bottom where the side piece actually sits but it needs top be deeper to my eye .
actually looking at it in pictures i'm not so sure ,tell me what you think ?

front lower receiver bracket



this part i'm going to weld in place and use as the forward mounting for the rest of the lower receiver .

To me, it looks about right. It should be a straight line from front to back though, the whole lower receiver is one wedge shape (without the pointy end).
edit: Or maybe not:
now I have found this pic, it looks about right.

Ok I'll go with it ,just looked wrong on the bench but in pictures it looks right .

needed to re bridge part of the top receiver to form the ejection port , it's subtly bulged to fit over the gearbox but as the rear is butted up against the lower receiver you can't really tell , it needs to be there for the trigger guard front mount (not yet fitted ) , the trigger guard will loop round under the pistol grip but will be permanently welded to the gun and separate from rest of the lower receiver at the hidden part under the grip ,this will leave the rear section (the far larger part ) removable for gearbox servicing while etc.I'll build up the whole lower receiver and trigger assembly first before welding any of it in place then move onto the stock and end cap .


as an added bonus fitting the bridge makes the gearbox rock solid in place needing only an addition of something to stop it sliding backward away from the hop ,the lower receiver will be screwed to the gearbox much as it was on the sten and that will secure it fully in place.

Got some more done today ,the lower receiver side panels and bottom are now waiting to be welded together ,I'll post more pictures later .
Looking at the hand grips ,they appear to be bakerlite or a form of plastic ,probably the best way for me to make them will be in wood ,then painted with died epoxy resin so there will be an outer skin of coulered resin ,hopefully it should look pretty good ,unless you'd prefer a wood finish ?

I think wood will look nicer and probably be more comfortable.

Wood it is .

Front lower receiver mounting is finished , the outer U section is welded in place and there's a bracket that link's it to the gearbox but the gearbox is not stressed as I first planned , the bracket just keeps the gearbox from sliding back from the hop and hold's the thin sides of the lower receiver in place ,next is the trigger mechanism .
Battery access is going to be through the end cap ,it will be held in place by a single countersunk hex screw that also holds the rear lower receiver in place ,a tool for removing the screw and adjusting the hop will be housed in the front of the stock and only accessable by removing the stock ,that way the tool can go into the field without being lost !

trigger mechanism working ,both spring and electrical system done , the trigger needs to be shaped unless you like em boxy but that's just cosmetics .


wires need extending though.

Its all looking very impressive, really looking forward to seeing the finish!

trigger mechanism working ,both spring and electrical system done , the trigger needs to be shaped unless you like em boxy but that's just cosmetics ..

That would be a no on the Boxy trigger

I started thinking about a case. It occurs to me that with a removable stock and barrel, it would be possible to store the 3 parts in something more box shaped. This would allow it to double as a seat when camping.
This was on amazon when I searched for a wooden box:
Internal Dimension: 36cm(W) x 15.5cm(D) x 15.5cm(H)
I thought if I added 2 dividers, I would have 3 vertical sections for the front, main receiver and stock. Unfortunately when I take measurements from the solidworks owen gun CAD model, I get approximately 15cm height from the top of the magwell to bottom of the pistol grip.
The second best box option is a plain pine toy box, which will take a lot more work, but that could be fun.

Edit: Was just looking at the pic of the pine box. The hinges don't look substantial enough to hold well if the lid gets twisted when using it as a seat. I then thought that I could add an interior lip to the lid by glueing a couple of strips of plywood inside the pine. This lead to another thought that if the plywood was not just a strip it could form a stand for the gun when the box lid was open. The lid would need to lock into an open position and I would have to work out how to ensure a good center of gravity, but potentially a good idea.

Russell have a search and find the thread for wooden boxes viewtopic.php?f=1&t=13577&hilit=transport+chest
Can make something yourself which would be tailored to what you want rather than trying to make something fit. Would also mean you could add room for whatever accessories as well, mags, batteries, etc.
Just athought

I did toy with the ammo crate approach. I want something as small as possible, so that in a pinch it can be strapped onto a bicycle. The ammo box construction doesn't fit that bill very well. I have made boxes before with dovetail joints etc. but if I can buy a box for £20....

trigger trigger shaped .

yup, that looks much more comfortable on the finger

Trigger guard and pistol grip's next ,starting to look more finished than not ,always takes 85% of the work to make it look 50% finished .its just the grips ,trigger guard ,sight's and stock and she's finished ,do you want me to order battery's and charger or just link the ones you need ? The battery's will be the same lipo's as I use in my sterling and you need two for a gung ho walk on day or one for a limited ammo WW2 day ,there's just not enough space in there for even a tiny NiMH battery I'm afraid .

A link would be handy. I guess I will just start using LiPo's in all my guns then