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Post by hairy apple on Jul 20, 2009 22:39:42 GMT -5
Anyone ever tried this? I had a thought tonight that you could take a real gas tube, and make a mold. Then use resin to make them. You could pump them out cheaply and easy and with a little sanding and painting have a half decent garand front end on the cheap.
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Sgt_Tom
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Post by Sgt_Tom on Jul 21, 2009 8:45:27 GMT -5
Had this idea before. It would be even nicer to do it with metal however I have no idea how that would work. It would also be nice to do the ferules and maybe even a stock as the bondo idea is so time consuming. Sounds like a good project after I finish the kar98 ordeal. ;D Does anyone know of a strong materiel easy to pour into molds?
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Post by Gordak on Jul 21, 2009 9:45:50 GMT -5
I mold stuff alot, I'd make a rubber mold out of silicone and cast it in white metal The metal woudlnt be cheap, probably 6 bux worth for each tube. I was going to make a cast of early m1 carbine rear sights. and m1928 selector switches, Im just lazy I guess. -Gordak
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Sgt_Tom
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Post by Sgt_Tom on Jul 21, 2009 10:58:24 GMT -5
Still that ain't bad. A real tube cost at least $25 bux and thats only if you stay up late watching a ton of bids on ebay.
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Post by hairy apple on Jul 21, 2009 11:35:45 GMT -5
I was thinking you could do the sights and everything. It wouldn't be as detailed as a real one but much more cost effective.
I don't know the first thing about molding things, it was just an idea that popped in my head last night. If done out of automotive/auto resin it was be VERY cheap. And with the right paint look fine.
I would be intersted in learning more about how you mold things.
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Post by volkssturm on Jul 21, 2009 11:59:39 GMT -5
I was thinking the same thing about molding a gas tube. I've done a little work with epoxy resin, but I tend to make a mess with it.
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Sgt_Tom
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Post by Sgt_Tom on Jul 21, 2009 12:10:06 GMT -5
I think metal would be much better. I don't think molding is all that hard from the research I've done on it. Gordak, what kind of places sell white metal that you can use for molding? Do you have a place you usually get it from? Thanks!
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Post by hairy apple on Jul 21, 2009 12:36:17 GMT -5
This is exactly what I had in mind. You could mold all sorts of neat things. ...grenades, sights, all sorts of smaller props. Not only could you do the gas tube, you may even be able to mold the handguards and make an entire garand convertion out of the resin. A little skill at painting and I bet it would work out well and be cheap. Now it wouldn't be nearly as nice as doing it with real parts, but I don't think it would be bad at all if done right. I've seen some amazing stuff done with resin models. www.b9robotresource.com/molding1.htmThe resin wouldn't be as nice as metal, but it would be almost free to you to make them.
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Sgt_Tom
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Post by Sgt_Tom on Jul 21, 2009 13:48:32 GMT -5
true though I would still prefur metal ;D. I would be particularly interested in molding the stock out of resin or plastic. The M14 stock just doesn't do it for me and the bondo was just so much work.
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2nd Bat
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Post by 2nd Bat on Jul 21, 2009 21:41:50 GMT -5
I have a friend who does molds of a wide variety of items and he continues to promise me he's going to do up a mold for the gas reservoir assembly and lower stock. I sent him all the base components including the ferrules and assorted items but in spite of contionued promises it just never got done. Obviously not the simple project everyone seems to indicate.
My hope of course was that I could get the costs way down on the Garands and still have them look okay (in some ways better) Thus far it just hasn't come to fruition.
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Post by hairy apple on Jul 21, 2009 22:11:25 GMT -5
Hum, interesting. I have been talking with a friend who has done these kinds of molds. I really want to try it.
I was thinking the same thing about getting the costs down for the garand projects. I personally have 3 m14s waiting for conversion that I can't afford all the parts for right now. Plus 4 or so members of my unit that have unconverted m14s. This could the a really cool thing if it would work. I've been researching this a lot today and don't see any reason it shouldn't work.
I'll keep this thread alive if I deside to try it out. If it works out I'll post here and tell people how easy or hard it is, how the stuff looks. How it works out. I am feeling pretty inspired right now to try this.
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Post by Gordak on Jul 21, 2009 22:16:42 GMT -5
white metal is too heavy and soft to do the entire front, resin is too delicate If you can really get a real one for $25 then there is no way molding it would be worth it. -Gordak
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Post by hairy apple on Jul 21, 2009 22:37:44 GMT -5
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Post by volkssturm on Jul 22, 2009 0:29:43 GMT -5
TAP Plastics carries resin and stuff. I'm pretty sure I've seen molding stuff. They have a couple stores in the Sacramento area.
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Post by hairy apple on Jul 22, 2009 20:55:02 GMT -5
Thanks, I found a place today that carries the mold kits. They were out of stock but he'll have them next week and I'll pick one up and play with it a bit and learn what I'm doing. Once I feel like I can make them, I will start making gas tubes and handguards and see what happens.
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Sgt_Tom
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Post by Sgt_Tom on Jul 23, 2009 6:11:48 GMT -5
Good luck hope it works out!
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Post by CharleyNovember on Jul 23, 2009 7:22:46 GMT -5
Shoot and Scoot of the UK makes his frontends of brass. They are very solid and it is what mine is made from the metal bits and bobs from S&S and real wood handguards. I had considered using resin but have not done it yet and since I no longer make custom anything I just haven't done it. Not to mention I work 6 sometimes 7 days a week now at least until the Fall semester starts up. My hands are worse than they were when I stopped making custom rifles but I hope over time they get better not worse and I can resume some sort of production.
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Post by CharleyNovember on Jul 23, 2009 7:57:44 GMT -5
To add a little more info, I did try some limited resin casting on some non loadbearing parts like the safety knobs on mosin nagants and such. It didn't turn out as well as I hoped and I never shipped one with resin parts because of this. but with a little more practice it could be done. Not sure a resin front end on a garand would hold up. I may give it a try this fall or winter and see how it comes out.
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Post by hairy apple on Jul 23, 2009 11:34:30 GMT -5
Honestly, the worst that could happen is that it's not strong enough or doesn't look good and it's a failed project. I'll have learned something new in the process. Sometimes a failure is not a total failure. As learning how to do this could be useful in other areas.... but that being said...
I don't see why this won't work. There is some pretty amazing stuff I've seen made of differant types of resin. Not to mention, it's pretty strong stuff on it's own, you could also always add some metal rod or something to give the gas tube support. We'll see what I come up with.
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Post by CharleyNovember on Jul 23, 2009 13:26:01 GMT -5
I look forward to pics of your progress man. Keep us updated.
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