ShelledPants - Why buy what you can build?

[ShelledPants]

So I've been working as a machinist for a little over a year now, and I finally got around to building some airsoft things in my downtime at work.

I'm going to be using this thread as a collection of what I come up with during that time.

I had an old clone VSR kicking around, and I bought a few small pieces to make it function without failing. MAG Cylinder, Army Zero Trigger.

But I didn't have a 90 degree piston... so... build one.

While I'm at it, why not a stainless steel spring guide?

Materials are PEEK and Stainless Steel.

Not bad for a first try. I'll be implementing more PDI features such as a rear PEEK feature so the stainless cap doesn't scrape the inner of the cylinder. But it functions 100% as intended.



Next up is some kind of custom suppressor.

Materials are 6065 Aluminium billet and Piping.

I decided to make it integrated so I have a bit more of a badass look compared to the common suppressors on the market.



There is a rear connection point which is pressed and an friction loctite to the front of the barrel. Then the body is pressed onto the connection point.

Next the barrel cap is pressed onto the body.



Throw it back into the lathe and clean up the features to make it look like one piece.



Not shown, I remade the bushings from some engineering plastic I had kicking around, the tolerances between them and the receiver and the cylinder are now much better and the gun pulls like butter.

Taking it home was a bit of a laugh... nothing to see here:



Had a brain fart and forgot to finish the chamfer...back on the lathe only this time... assembled.



Put it all together and voila!



I ended up having to file down the rear of the barrel to get it all to line up for fitting the receiver, the new front bushing was .5mm longer than the old one... Nothing a leatherman and a file can't fix at 2am...

[ShelledPants]

Up Next:

Receiver Mounted Scope Rings.

My goal is to remove the picatinny rail and mount the rings directly to the receiver. This should allow me to get the lowest possible sight over bore.

[cetane]

:-D good shit. I love building stuff.

I've got on the go presently parts for my aps2 m24 (javelin) I got a jjairsoft type 96 hopup unit I'm making fit the m24. Why? $20 for it. Why not. It's being more a pain than I'd like, but I have the sleeve made for it to fit in to fit the outer barrel.

Next I want to build an airbrake piston (going to run ~300mm barrel)

[ShelledPants]

Thanks man. I'll be posting a log of the scope ring build tonight. Work has been busy so I doubt i will have it mounted. But they should be cut, drilled and tapped.

[ShelledPants]

Ok so you've gotta start somewhere:

Pen and paper dimensions.


Then we work some magic in the CAD:



Design a CAM solution that's fast:



Now to cut the stock on the chopsaw:



It gets deburred and then thrown on the mill:



Initial milling complete:



Then to remove excess material on the bandsaw:



Face the remainder on the manual mill:



Then to drill and tap some important holes:



And voila, you have scope rings:



My 10-24 bolts are too long, so I'll have to cut them down to fit, but overall I'm happy with the progress. I'll have to spend some time sanding down the ID to fit the scope as it's exactly 1" and will need a little play to fit correctly.

Tonight I hope to fit them to the receiver.

Also, as this was a rush job with my downtime... My cutter wasn't the best, so there is a bit of chatter on the external of the rings... Paint will fix that. Or not. Thug lyf.

[DAS BOOT]

Yay! Handsdown to solidworks. Awesome work mi amigo.

[ShelledPants]

Heres a sneak at the end result. Took a bit of fitting to get it all together. Facing down the bolts to size was a pain in the ass.


Edit: also. I hope my math wasnt too tight and the bolt handle fots inder the scope. That could be embarrassing.

[cetane]

Edit: also. I hope my math wasnt too tight and the bolt

Next potential project...? New offset bolt handle lol

I wish I had a functioning mill at work :-/

[ShelledPants]

Originally Posted by cetane

Next potential project...? New offset bolt handle lol

I wish I had a functioning mill at work :-/

Yeah. A nice steel one is on the list. The internal features of it could be a pita so Im avoiding it right now. Next up is a scope hood with kill slit.

[cetane]

How's your lathe with threading metric? I'm spoiled with my standard modern lathe. Never have to release the half nuts for threading metric or standard (cw or ccw) only thing my auto end stop kick off has begun to malfunction (causing be to crash my tool holder into the chuck & sheer off some tapered pins :-( )

My mill is a kinda functioning Swedish drill/mill (can't remember brand) being a drill/mill it has a MT3 head. I'm having trouble sourcing end mill holders (which I can purchase through approved work channels) so I think I'm gonna end up chucking end mills in a 3jaw like I'm not suppose to to make work :-/

[ShelledPants]

Im a bit spoiled. In my dept I have a Haas TM2, TL1, SL10 and VF2.... and two manual mills which are... eh... ok. These are the smallest machines in the plant. With about 15 others. All big boy Fadal and Haas 3 and 5 axis and a couple of DMG 5axis you can stand up in.

CNC has totally ruined me. I havent had to thread on a manual lathe in over a year.

[ShelledPants]

Well, I put the rifle together last night and it all fit without problems.

Man, my math was tight. Less than 1mm clearance between the scope and bolt handle.

In machining, there is a saying... "If it's not a crash, it's a clearance."

[ShelledPants]

Off to make the scope extension with kill slit and likely try my hand at making an integrated threaded end cap with baffles. Should be fun. Updates tonight.

[chaz]

Impressed and jealous!

[daishi]

Start making some vsr-10 internal upgrade kits ;D

EDGi sells his for like 400usd, and then assrapes further with only shipping through a courier that will charge 60 more dollars + 50% in taxes and "charges".