trunion keepers,,for lack of a better word

[john pike]

ok, how is everybody making up the trunion-hardware,
the half round flats with the pins,
to keep the cannon on the truk,

looking for the easyest simplest way, as im only doing two keepers,

johnp

[Cat Whisperer]

There are 4 ways I can think of.

1. Bending.  The following 2 threads cover two methods of bending:

(I'll have to re-post my pix since Hunt 101 went down and lost everything).
http://www.graybeardoutdoors.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=55438&highlight=trunnions

http://www.graybeardoutdoors.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=50340&highlight=trunnions


2. Casting.

3. Cutting a ring and welding two flanges.  A bit of work but can be done with low-tech tooling.

[Double D]

They're Trunnion Caps John.

[Max Caliber]

Those things are actually called cap squares

Max

[Tropico]

3. Cutting a ring and welding two flanges. A bit of work but can be done with low-tech tooling.

That is the way that I do it., Basically we face our two top blocks of the trundle at each other., on the drill press. Use a hole saw the size of the pipe you are going to make these caps from., center and cut the hole., then do it again out of garbage wood (For welding templates) . Set the pipe in the now wooden template., lay your metal down and weld. We also weld a cap on the end to cover the fact that we make our caps longer than the trunnion. Most cannon makers make short trunnions (I hate that)  I like a wider carriage for stability. On a 1" wide trunnion I usualy go with a 1 1/2" trunnion cap. On my 2 1/2" trunnions  we went with a 3" cap .  The inside of the cap can get grease.



These photos show a 1" wide trunnion with a 1 1/2" wide cap., it fits up nicely to uncut oak 2 x 2 (1 1/2 X 1 1/2)