I always enjoy seeing other people’s projects, so I thought I'd give you a few pictures of a model cannon which I designed and made as a machining project. The main objective was to teach myself the basics of how to use the 7 by 14 mini lathe I bought before making any model engines. I also aimed to make an item which looked good enough to be on show and was as good as some of the expensive models which can be bought in shops. I couldn't find any plans, so I looked at some pictures of real cannons and then incorporated the things I liked best into my miniature design which I then drew plans for. So this cannon doesn't resemble anything full size. It was also just to be a decorative model, not a firing replica.

The pictures aren't terribly good quality but are about 50kb each so hopefully shouldn't take too long to load. If there are too many and they give loading problems tell me and I’ll turn some into links.

It was turned on this lathe which I purchased about a year ago.



Machining the taper on the barrel, it is a cylindrical piece of 22 mm brass.



Turning some more off leaving higher rings in-between.



I also turned some brass wheels out of 15mm bar, for the carriage which the barrel would be mounted on. I cut all parts of the carriage by hand with a coping saw; the wood is an unknown dark hardwood I found at the edge of the road! Here is some of the parts part way through the project.



The barrel is held to the carriage by trunnions which stick out perpendicular to the barrel; these were formed by cross drilling the barrel in a vee-block and then pushing a brass rod through. Below, starting the hole through the barrel with a centre drill.



Below, the finished model with trunnion caps and breeching points on the carriage, in my hand for scale. The barrel is 11 cm long.



Not wanting to leave it at this I completed the model by making a base and some accessories.

The five tools were based on those in the 1771 encyclopaedia Britannica and are from front to back, the priming iron (for cleaning the "fuse hole"), The rammer (to ram in the cannon ball), The wad-screw (a double spring used to get dirt out of the cannon or unload it), The primer (a scoop to prime the cannon with powder), The sponge (used to scour and clean the cannon).

There is a pile of cannon balls (bike bearings in a previous existence), The tall type of shot which are composed of smaller balls tied together is grape shot and the other shot is bombs. There is also a mallet which on proper cannons was used to drive in the fuse.

There are also some wedges with turned brass handles to lower or raise the angle of the barrel, a sack of gunpowder (not literally), and a coil of rope.



Overhead view.



Side view.



Total cost was £1.20 (I don’t know what the exchange rate is at the moment; it’s probably $2.50 or something). It was a fun project and I learnt a lot, please let me know what you think.