CNC Machined Slide Stop Plate - Advice

**Raider82** · 24-12-2021, 09:05

I was cleaning my handgun and noticed that the polymer slide stop was cracked.

Parts for the firearm are like hens teeth so I was wondering if it would be an option to have that part machined out of aluminium.

I am not sure of the practicality of this or if it is worth pursuing.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

**Captain Hook** · 24-12-2021, 09:13

What gun is it?

If you know a draftsman who can design and generate a CAD drawing there are a lot of places that can do it. Swiss Precision in Jhb for one. General Profiling too.

**Raider82** · 24-12-2021, 09:21

It's for a Walther PPQ.

I am based in East London but I am sure that I can find a company here, I was just concerned that it might be a bit finicky in terms of its size and having it designed.

**VNI** · 24-12-2021, 19:17

I usually reccomend sticking with design specifications, but a slide stop made made from aluminum vs polymer will be fine.

But it looks to be a complicated part - unless you have the blueprints, scanning, drawing it up and then machining it will work out much more expensive than just contacting Brownells.

**Cbotha15** · 04-01-2022, 15:48

Maybe try Spartan Arms in Joburg. They may be able to source parts for you.

**Raider82** · 25-05-2022, 13:08

Managed to find someone here who was able to do a CAD Design of the slide stop plate and then also did a 3D printing of it.

I will see tonight how it fits and then if all is good, he will machine the part for me in aluminum.

https://ibb.co/0hKXtCH

**Dick** · 25-05-2022, 23:44

Just for curiosity I'll look up that gun to see if it looks more complicated than any other. I made a lot of parts in my short gunsmithing career, including slide stops for two pistols. Sure its not dead simple but is more slow and painstaking than really difficult. You are overcomplicating it with the talk of CNC machining and whatnot. The ones I made were a lathe job followed by a hell of a lot of filing and cut and try. You just need a gunsmith who is willing to do that amount of work at less cost than a king's ransom. Or anyone else with the skill who'd like he challenge. Polymer slid stop says a lot - call me old school but I can't imagine such a thing. For starters I should think polymer and aluminium are both too soft - it needs steel.

**oafpatroll** · 26-05-2022, 07:55

A file is a manual mill. You can do a hell of a lot with one and in the olden days machinists had to make some pretty hairy things with them in their apprenticeships. A good friend of mine had to make a steel tetrahedron and hold it to some crazy dimensional accuracy during his apprenticeship in the 80's using a hack saw and files. I agree with Dick re polymer on a slide stop, that just sounds like a solution looking for additional ways to fail.