Are there CAD files of, say, WWII weapons and equipment? Are there any attempts to digitize blueprints of old machinery?

by cincilator
Bodark43

When I first saw this question, it struck me as , gee, somebody could do that. There are plenty of people making AR-15 parts this way. However, when considering the problem of reproducing a 1903 Springfield ( or even the 03-A3) , there are some steps beyond the CNC machining of an AR-15. There's the use of special steels for the receiver and bolt, and the complex heat treatment of them. There's forging of the bolt, with the bolt handle. There's the inletting and shaping of the walnut stock, since it's not molded from plastic- a pantograph router would be better than a 5-axis mill for that. Now, plenty of companies have been making hunting, other rifles with CNC for decades, for many procedures like machining a receiver or a barrel contour it would definitely be the way to go now, and it would not surprise me at all if one of them had a pile of G-code for machining a 1903 receiver, or even a Garand's. These guys, for example are doing that in re-furbishing old Garands and MI Carbines. But there would be considerably more non-CNC steps to making one of these old designs than for things like AR-15's, Glocks with plastic grips.

[deleted]

I don't know of any general resources, but there was one guy on /r/wwiiplanes working on a restoration project for a P-47 who created digitized CAD drawings for the plane.