Beretta 92FS/M9 Frame

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For the 4th operation I stood the frame on end, and machined down inside the dust cover.  This operation removed the radius left behind from the ball nose end mill when the dust cover was machined on the 3rd operation.  The 4th operation also machined the hole for the guide rod.  Here is what the setup looked like...

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In this next picture you can see the radius that the ball nose end mill left.  You can also see how on the 3rd operation I roughed out the area where the guide rod will slide in...

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The only tool I used on this operation was a 4" long 3/8" carbide end mill.  This end mill has been pretty handy.  It's the same tool I used for the AR15 upper receivers and a coupe other frames.  Here's a pic as it was machining the dust cover area...

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And here's where it was starting to cut the guide rod hole...

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BTW, I used the big C-clamp to make sure the frame didn't vibrate while it was being machined.  I use this C-clamp whenever my part sticks above the jaws any great distance.


On the 5th operation I machined the top of the mag well.  I machined the mag well in two steps, first the top half and then the bottom half.  It would have been nice to use a wire EDM machine to cut out this material, but since I don't have access to a wire machine I had to machine the material out.  You might be able to machine the whole mag well at one time, but that would take some really long end mills, and really long end mills tend to vibrate very easily.  I had to make a couple new fixture plates to hold the frame.  These new fixture plates allow the frame to be held with the mag well being exactly vertical.  I designed the plates so they could be used on this operation and also when I machine the bottom part of the mag well.  Here is what the plates look like...

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Here is what the frame looks like on the fixture plates and ready to be machined...

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I wanted to have a hole for my long end mills to drop down in when they machined the mag well, so I used  a 37/64 drill to drill the hole.  Drills don't like drilling on angled surfaces, so I had to machine a flat spot for the drill to start.  In this next pic you can see how I machined down into the mag well a little bit and then drilled the hole on the flat surface.  Having this hole will make it easier on the long end mills and keep them from vibrating as much...

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I used a long 1/2 hog end mill to rough out the pocket and then came back with the long 3/8 carbide end mill.  I also used a 1/4 and 1/8 end mills to clean up the corners on the back side of the mag well.  This will allow me to use a hand file to file out a 0.0625" radius instead of a 0.1875" radius left behind by the 3/8 end mill.  Here's a couple pics after this operation was finished...

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The 6th operation I machined the bottom half of the mag well and done a little 3-d profiling on a couple surfaces.  Here you can see what it looked like at the start of this operation...

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I done the same thing with the bottom as the top, I milled a flat spot for the drill to start, drilled the hole and then milled the pocket...

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In this pic you can see that the mag well is finished, and I've milled a flat spot for the main spring housing drill to start...

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And here is what the frame looked like at the end of this operation.  You can see that the main spring housing hole is drilled, and I've used a 1/4 ball nose end mill to 3-d machine the area around the hole and also the relief on the mag well...

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For the 7th operation I done some detail work on the left side of the frame.  I saved this detail work until now, because now I will only be removing a little bit of material in some spots since a lot of the frame has now been machined away.  This operation had a total of 5 undercut tools.  I had to make one new 7/16 undercut tool.  Two of the undercut tools I had from the 1911 project.  And I had to order two new woodruff undercut tools.  Here is what the start of this operation looked like...

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I first used a 1/4 carbide end mill to mill out the pocket so I could access the inside of the frame...

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A really detailed area on this operation was the mag release area.  Here is a close up of that area after the 1/4 end mill ran...

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I then used a 1/8 ball nose end mill to 3-d profile the mag release area...

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Next I used a 1/2 undercut tool to machine the little area under the trigger hole...

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Then was the 1" woodruff cutter.  This cutter machined the slot where the ejector will set in...

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Next up was the 9/16 undercut tool.  With this tool I machined the area on the back side of the mag well.  So now I won't have to use a hand file to file out the corners in the middle of the mag well.  I will only have to use the file on the ends of the mag well...

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Now it was time to machine the area for the mag release.  I needed a 7/16 undercut tool.  This is the tool I had to make.  I normally make my undercut tools from flat bottom end mills, but the only thing I could find at the shop was a ball nose end mill.  So I decided to grind the ball nose off the end, and then grind the undercut on the tool.  Come to find out, this tool worked perfectly.  I also took a close up of the area that it cut...

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And this is how the 7/16 undercut tool left the mag release area...

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Here is the 7/8 woodruff cutter machining the undercut for the sear spring...

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I then went back with a 1/16 ball nose end mill to clean up the corners on the mag release area.  This almost made the corners square.  Now I will only have to file out a little piece of material in order for the mag release to slide in...

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Finally, I drilled the holes for the grip screws.  I didn't drill these holes on the 2nd operation because at the time I wasn't sure what size thread it was.  But now I know it's a M3x0.5  That is the size of thread for the screw.  On the actual Beretta frame, they use a grip bushing, so the hole in the frame is bigger.  I won't be installing bushings on my frame, since my bushings are already built in...

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Here is a pic of the different undercut tools I used on this operation...

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That's it for the 7th operation.  On the 8th operation I'll be doing basically the same thing to the right side of the frame.  It'll have a couple different cuts, but I don't see any major problems.  So this weekend, I had some really good luck.  On Friday, I only had the 3rd operation finished, and now I'm up to the 8th operation.  Hopefully I'll have the same luck next weekend.  I think I should be able to have the frame complete in a couple more days of work.  


For the 8th operation, I machined the detail work on the right side of the frame.  Here is what the setup looked like...

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I used a 1/4" carbide end mill to machine out the big slot in the pistol grip.  I also used this tool to machine the big cut out for where the trigger bar slides through.  This is what it looked like after this tool ran...

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Then I used a 1/8" and 1/16" carbide end mills to clean out the corner for where the firing pin catch lever slides in...

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Next I cut the clearance for the hammer.  I made this cut with a 1.500" x 1/4" woodruff cutter.  Here is what it looked like when this tool ran...

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I then used a 1/2" x 1/32" woodruff cutter to cut the slot for where the trigger bar spring sets in...

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I had to make a special 5/16" undercut tool for the next cut.  This cut was a clearance cut for the sear.  The cut is basically just a slot, but you have to use a undercut tool otherwise the sear won't have the proper clearance.

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The final tools to run was the 1/8" and 1/16" ball nose carbide end mills.  These two tools made the same 3-d cuts as on the 7th operation, which were the cuts for the mag catch.  Here's a before and after shot...

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For the 9th operation and 10th operation, I continued to make clearance cuts for the hammer.  The 9th operation machined the radius down inside the frame for the hammer clearance.  And the 10th operation broached the square corners inside the frame.  Here are a couple sketches to show exactly what the cuts are...

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In order to hold the frame for these complicated cuts, I used the fixture I made for the 5th & 6th operations, which was when I machined the mag well.  In order to hold the frame at the correct angle, I drilled 4 new holes in the back of the fixture.  Two of the holes were used on the 9th operation and the other two for the 10th operation.  I made the holes where I could slide in a couple dowel pins.  After the two dowel pins were inserted into the fixture, I set the fixture inside the 4" tall jaws and let the two dowel pins rest on top of the 4" jaws.  In order to get the proper angle for the 10th operation, I simply remove the dowel pins and insert them into the other two holes.  Here is a sketch showing how the dowel pins make the frame set at a different angle...

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Here is a pic showing the new holes in the back of the fixture...

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This is what the fixture and frame looked like in the 9th operation...

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Here you can see how the dowel pins set on top of the jaws...

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And here is the radius that the 1/4" long carbide end mill cut on the 9th operation...

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For the 10th operation, I used the special broach I made for the 3rd operation.  Back when I made the broaching tool, I made sure I could use it on all the broaching operations.  This operation used the 1/4" long carbide end mill and then finished out the corners with the broaching tool.  This is a pic of what the 10th operation setup looked like...

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The machining of the 10th operation is now finished.  This chunk of aluminum has come a long way.  It started out as a 5.7 pound block of aluminum, but it's now a 0.4 pound pistol frame.  I bead blasted the frame and took some good pics of what the frame looks like...

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I done a little tweaking on the frame with a small hand file, but other than that all the parts fell right into place.  Here is what the completed pistol looks like...

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After I had the pistol put together, I double and triple checked everything to make sure everything was working correctly.  I then grabbed a box of shells and took it out for her first shots.  I was very happy with the results.  I shot a 50 round box of shells, and I didn't have one problem what so ever.  I didn't want to shot any more than a box of shells, because the frame is still bare aluminum.  I'm going to now strip the pistol back down to the bare frame and black anodize it.  I'll upload some final pics when I get the pistol completely finished.  If you don't count my time and the material cost of the frame I made, this Beretta 92FS pistol cost me $169.95  The parts kit was $19.95, and the barrel/slide assembly was $149.95  Not a bad deal for a Beretta 92FS huh?


I finally found time to black anodize the frame.  I completed two of the frames, so now I have matching dualies.  I switched the left handed pistol so the mag release is on the right side.  This way I can hold a pistol in each hand and just use my thumbs to drop the mags.  Below are a few pics of the finished pistols...

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This was by far the hardest project I've done so far.  It had alot of little undercuts, and it also needed to be broached in a few areas.  The good thing about hard projects, is that you learn more and it's more interesting.  

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