patchett project(hatching a flock of sterlings)

WOOOOOOW

finished the first mag well and welded it in place, whitch gave me the excuse to lace the garden with automatic fire from the hip.first time ive made a gun that fed perfecly first time faultlesley with both the king arms mag and a classic army one whitch have slightly different sizes .the weld isnt continuous around the reciever but its substantual enough to be stuctural,the whole thing is going to be flowed in with filler as its all going to be painted it saves a load of time.the last picture is a comparison with my sten to show just how small this gun is.

very nice
good JOB

It looks awesome!

Veeeeery nice.

How are you going to do the endcap? Do you have a source of real steel ones?

the end caps will be fabricated not real ones, partly due to cost and having to find 3 but mostly because if i make em then they will fit on the modern size steel tube rather than what was probably imperial on the original.im not sure yet wether they will be made in one piece from ally or from two sleeves of steel.they will be secured mutch like the original's with a push in, twist and pull off ,what im not sure of yet is wether to cut the two J shaped slot's into the back of the main tube and lugs inside the end cap in whitch case it will be made out of one piece of ally ,or to cut the J slot's into the end cap in whitch case i'll use two sleeves ,the inner with the slots and the outer without and the lugs on the main tube.i already have some nice spring for the job.im leaning in the direction of the two sleeve design because then if i fumble it then i havent ruined the most complicated part of the gun and because it's steel and weldable witch will be handy for the stock secureing that will also be a function of the end cap.i think on the real steel the J slots were on the main tube so im still not sure.what a load of waffle ,i hope you could follow it.

You could still use a real steel cap if you can get one (or 3).
It looks to me like the bayonet-fitting for the tail cap (the "J"-shape cutouts you mention) on real receivers is formed in a sleeve which is then brazed onto the back end of the main tube:
-- attachment is not available --
-- attachment is not available --
That gives some leeway in tube sizes.

lovely photo's ,thank you, it's sertainly food for thaught ,it's allways nice to stick as close possible to reality and although i knew what it must look like i had never seen sutch a good photo.is that shot from a parts kit that you own or just an image that you found,cos if you have the parts kit you could answer another question that so far ive drawn a blank on,in short how do the stock's lock into place in the deployed position,when folded forward they have a spring catch that lock's into one of the barrel shroud holes but i cant find a clear picture of the rear fixing but im guessing its to do with the part seen on the under side of the main tube directly under the rear sight ,its clearly seen on the picture you posted but i just cant see how it works.
actually i just found a picture showing two recesses in the bottom of the end cap where two lugs on the stock arms lock in but that would mean that the whole stock must be on a sprung pivot humm?

It's some photos I found.
However, I have studied the design so I can answer your question:
As you assumed, the recesses in the end cap do lock into the stock. But, it's the cap that moves. The stock pivot is fixed.
The rectangular part underneath is a catch to prevent the end cap moving forward during firing.

To deploy the stock, you press the catch. The cap is pushed in as though to remove it, but you don't twist it. The stock is then brought up and the cap released to spring out again, locking the stock. The catch is released, locking the cap.

oh that is so mutch simpler ,thanks ,that will be easy as the end cap was planned to workthat way,i was coming up with clever pivot designs with a sping loaded assembly and scratching my head as to how they did it in the space ,but its obvious now that you'v shown me ,once again thank you.

Glad I could clear that up for you.
How did you change the nozzle position in the cylinder head and tappet? Is there a tutorial somewhere?

Daido: You have urgent PM...

the nozzle on the cylinder head isnt to bad to move,it depends on the make of course but you do need either a lath or some really precice drilling.to start with these are cyma thompson boxes, and once the cylinderhead is removed you first have to take a stanley knife and score arround the black rubber cushon washer to free its edges from the glue securing it in then holding the cylinder in soft jaws in a vice push the nozzle back through the head,it takes some force but eventually it gives a little and you will see that the rubber washer has come away from the cylinder head along with a plastic disk ,ease the rubber washer and plastic disk away ,it should just be a press fit.now what you have is the cylinder head and the nozzle should just pull out.now if you have a lath put the cylinder head in the lath measure th nozzle an select the corect drill and mount it in the tail stock then just scenter drill a new hole.the plastick disk and rubber washer and nozzle can now be re fitted with the nozzle in its new hole and the disk and washerrotated 180 degrees so that the old hole in the cylinder head and washer no longer line up ,super glue it all togeether again place it back in the lath ,select a drill that fits through the nozzle and scenter drill the rubber washer and plastick disk and your done,without a lath you would have to be brave.the tappet plate can be cut down to the new height with either a mill or ive done it with a dremel quite successfully in the past.im afraid i didnt take any pictures but i hope you could follow all that.

Thanks. I have a lathe, and a new milling machine is on its way.
Would it be worthwhile to just replace the cylinder and/or head, rather than faffing around with the lathe? I can see myself damaging them trying to separate them.

you can use a version 2 cylinder head but you have to extend it forward as they are shorter and would otherwise only be supported by the two lugs that locate it at the sides and they would snap off in short order,its quite simple just build it up on the front with chemical metal or similar epoxy product then sand it back untill it sits in snugly.or if you have a lath and a mill comeing a little project could be to make one up from scratch in acetile or ally.

I made my rear cap by just bending some sheet or closing up a larger pipe then welding a disk on to cap the end. I just welded a bar accross to clip into the twist slots. See 5.40

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAYna4_INc0

Lovely job you have made

I have seen photos of an end cap design that has the stock brackets made from folded metal welded onto te circular cap, rather than cast/machined. I think this was done on the Canadian versions.

This is standard end cap I got for my own Sterling-- attachment is not available --

Where did you get that, stof, and do they have more?

I must say, these are looking fantastic!
just as long as they work better than the real thing...i can recall my grandfather saying that hed rather have had a sten than a sterling but what soldier hasnt complained about their gun....

what kit are you intending on using once they're finished?