WWA Info Exchange

I was contacted by the Texas Historical Commission to build a cannon carriage for a Verbruggen cannon barrel that they have ordered from South Bend Replicas.

I don't have much to go on other than these two pictures of a replica carriage someone made that I found on the internet.
I also have a simple drawing from the 18th century ordnance text by John Muller, A Treatise of Artillery.
It has some hard to follow measurements in it.

So a lot of this design is made up by me.

The Verbruggen barrel is in the process of being cast. It will be 37" long and weigh 200 lbs.
It will have a 2 1/4" bore.
I probably won't see it for at least 4 months. So this will be a thread in progress.

I have ordered 50", twelve spoke wheels for the carriage. It will be six weeks before I get them.

Here is what I have done so far.

Enjoy the pictures.

Replica cannon carriage made by someone else.
My carriage will not have the ammunition boxes on it. They want to be able to remove the barrel and cheeks and drop a wagon bed on the carriage which I will also be making.





Drawings from John Muller's book.







Picking up the wood. 3" thick, 2 1/2" thick, and 2" thick oak.



Ripping the 3" to size. My 3 HP Unisaw cut it well but didn't like the 10' cuts at all. The blade would get too hot and bog down throwing the breaker. All in all, I had to make 60' of cuts.



I made the middle cut on the band saw.





Here I have the side rails sitting on the 5" X 5" axle housing that holds the 1 7/8" steel axle. I also have the three horizontal braces sitting on top. The axle sits 25" high like it will when it is on wheels.

_________________
Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com

Mortise and tenon.
I don't know what joint to use here but this made the most sense.






















That's all I have done so far. Stay tuned for more Zulu action shots.

_________________
Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com

Those top two cross braces are 3" X 5" X 28" not counting the tenon.
The curved brace is 3" X 4" X 28".
The rails are 3" X 6" X 10' long.

I need to round the ends on these things and I'm not sure how I'm going to do it yet.
It's way to long and heavy to use the band saw. At 3" thick, I can't rough it out with a Skil saw and true it up with a sander. I would have to cut it from two sides. It would be too easy to mess it up.

I have a friend that says he can do it with his CNC wood carving machine but that seems like a lot of trouble.
Any ideas? I have to round over the front and back of the rails. Also the step in the middle.

Zulu

_________________
Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com

I was confused at first i saw snow and y'all do not get snow.
But then i red that it was someone else's.

_________________
"It is not a mistake it is a learning experience"
Monte

Z -
The work you do never ceases to amaze me.
So much so that after so many fantastic builds such as these I find it hard to believe you don't have solutions to your issues. ;')

The step in the repro picture appears to be convex, while the step in Mullers diagram appears to be concave.
You could potentially use a large hole saw to cut this curve if all was supported and braced well.

However, I think the solution for the step as well as the ends is to make templates and route then using pattern routing bits.
These bits do come in lengthy shafts that should be able duplicate the pattern from both sides reaching 3" in total.
Taking multiple passes of course.

BTW I would highly suspect that mortise and tenon joints are "period correct".
I did find a few reference links that you've likely already seen ...
http://lib.jrshelby.com/verbruggen-online.htm
And the google images I see for "verbruggen cannon" has a much different looking carriage that what you have pictured.
Though I'm sure your research is more on point than my half cup of coffee effort this morning.

_________________
~Dan.

Dan,
The historian at the Texas Historical Commission came up with the carriage design.
I'm just the poor sap that gets to build it.
Actually, it's quite fun.
I never think I am working when I'm in my shop.
Zulu

_________________
Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com

I added the side cheeks that will actually hold the cannon today.
I can''t bore the trunnion pockets until I have the barrel.

I also figured out how to round the ends of the rails. A friend suggested I use the mitre saw and rotate the saw around the stationary rail cutting off a little at a time just outside my line. It worked great and was fast.
I then cleaned it up with a angle grinder and sanding disc.

Zulu

_________________
Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com

I got everything back together this morning.
I've gone as far as I can with the wood work until I get the wheels or the barrel.

It's looking pretty cool I think.
Now I start on the metal work.

This thing is a beast!
Zulu

_________________
Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com

ZULU: After looking at these pics, I have a question about the wheel/axle fitting. Is the axle fixed in place in the carriage or does it simply rotate with the wheels? If it is fixed in the carriage, are their bushings to keep it centered in the housing or if the axle is fixed to the wheels are there bearings in the housing for wear and stability?
I liked your “gitter done” solution to the radiused ends. McGuyver simple and effective!

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Everything was new once.
newtooth 311
Rochester, MN

newtooth,
The axle will be fixed in the axle housing with bolts through the axle.
The wheel will have a bushing that accepts the 1 7/8" axle.
Thanks for the comment.
Zulu

_________________
Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com

Got some metal work finished.
Here are some pictures.

Axle straps hold the wooden axle housing to the side rails.
Axle bands will wrap around the ends of the wooden axle housing for strength.










Started on the flat iron that will top the cheeks. Can't finish them until I have the barrel.






Handles and a sponge bucket hook.

_________________
Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com

Just adding a few pictures.

Added a cross bar at customer's request and installed the handles.










Making the skid plates out of 3" X 1/8" flat bar.












Still waiting on wheels and the barrel. Could be a while yet.
I've started on the removable wagon bed. My customer wants to be able to remove the cannon barrel and mounting cheeks and install a wagon bed at times.

More pictures later.
Zulu

_________________
Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com

I don't often comment on your photos, Zulu, but believe me, it's fascinating to watch your projects come into being. There's one picture that apparently shows your forge(?). Are the two pipes leading into the top gas jets? I've often thought I'd like to build a forge but don't really know how to go about it.

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Nullum Gratuitum Prandium

Cheers - Dennis

Hey Dennis,
Yes the two pipes feed propane in to the forge. So it has two burners. The propane tank is just out of the picture.
This is a horse shoe forge. Additionally, it has a small trap door in the back that allows me to put something long in there.
In this case, I was heating the middle of a 24" X 3" wide piece of flat bar.
Zulu

_________________
Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com

Making the cart and hinges.
I have made the cart bed that will sit on top of the carriage when the barrel and barrel mounting cheeks are removed. This will allow my customer to do double duty with the Galloper carriage.

Also some pics of how I made the hinges.
I still have to make a tailgate latching system of some sort. I will have to ponder that.
Also it has to come apart and be sanded and most of the bolts have to be shortened.

Zulu

_________________
Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com

The tailgate locking mechanism.
Zulu

_________________
Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com

It's hard to tell if there is still anyone on this forum besides me.
It's pretty quite around here.

Tom, What are you working on?
Dennis, Where are you?
Larry? You pop in every now and then.
reelinron, you try a lot.
Gene?
Ron?
drstrip?
Mango, we can always count on you to say something.
The rest of you?

This forum is almost dead.
There is only one way we can fix it.

So!
I will bore you with some more pictures of the metal work on my carriage before cleaning and painting.
There is still a lot of metal work to be done.
Here is some of it.
Zulu

_________________
Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com

Hey Zulu,

Still here, mostly lurking. I'm still working on shaker boxes, learning what works and what doesn't. I've also tried a small number of finishing combinations, but mostly just plodding on. I'll have another post in a week or so.

Cheers,
Tom

_________________
"There is no path to peace, peace is the path."
Mohandas K. Ghandi

Hi Tom,
If you are still working on shaker boxes, you must see a market for them.
Are you selling them?
Don't worry, they are out of my skill level but I do like to see what is selling or not.
Cannon stuff is still selling for me believe it or not.
Zulu

_________________
Zulu's website
http://www.jmelledge.com

Hey Zulu,

Actually, I'm still teaching myself to make shaker boxes. There is more to them than meets the eye, and I am enjoying the process. There is actually little to no market for them, and what market there is, is very cheap. So I don't plan to make them for profit. What I might do is teach a class in how to make them.

Cheers,
Tom

_________________
"There is no path to peace, peace is the path."
Mohandas K. Ghandi