Looking good! you've come a long way since the epoxy batcave
Does the machining equipment perform as expected, and do you have any nice projects planned?

Nice, a much cleaner setup than my workshop. Hell, even your rustic stock stand is cleaner than my workshop :) I like your mill vice. Watch out with the LEDs, depending on the type they have a strobe effect that can make spinning things appear to be still, or jut simply give you a headache if you're...

Excellent! I see in the future well finished weapons and a lot of fun for you, and for me.

That's looking great! I believe I see some beautiful looking materials. Is that Delrin, UHMW, aluminum, steel, and brass? Those are the things dreams are made of.

I would try to find something like a PVC end cap or tin can with a reasonably tight fit in the piston housing, and use a piece of reasonably soft rubber as a sealing face. If the piston is too loose in the housing the most simple solution is wrapping electrical tape on the front and back of the pist...

Any chance of internals pics? Will take them when something inside needs fixing, shouldn't take long :P The chamber indeed is stainless steel, it's an old helium tank I rescued from the recycling bin at my employer. You can clearly see the "I grew up on PVC but I'm an adult with access to metals no...

Go to the thread below and scroll down a bit. Click the zip file for GGDT. It stands for Gas Gun Design Tool. The other one is HGDT (Hybrid Gun Design Tool). Hybrid's are pressurized propane and air cannons and are a different beast altogether. Anyway, get familiar with GGDT and entering inputs for ...

I looked at the GGDT program and it doesn't appear to have an option to calculate the maximum range in which it will be able to fire which is in my opinion the whole point of the software.. The point of the program is to have an idea of what your muzzle velocity will be. As for maximum range, that ...

Yes, the readout on that axis is almost always displaying the effect on the diameter of the workpiece, as it is much more intuitive than having to calculate the radius everytime you turn the knob. Most non-lathe-specific DRO's don't have the option to switch from radius to diameter though, and you'l...

Hey, that's not totally cheap shit throwaway stuff, it'll probably be more than OK. Wedge style is a good call. Watch out for chatter, a QCTP brings the tool out away from the topslide, effectively it's hanging out in the void, any slop in your gibs will show itself here, particularly if you're doin...

From the perspective of a skilled tradesman, I can see how one would prefer quality equipment. But from the perspective of a hobbyist like us, even 0.1mm precision would be fine for anything we do. 0.1mm is about .004", and a standard machined tolerance for most parts is +/- .005". You could just ma...

Keep in mind I'm the guy who just puts numbers on paper and then expects everything to somehow work out in the shop. If I tried to machine my last cannon myself, regardless of equipment used, there'd be enough aluminum scrap to form an extinction level-sized asteroid.

It is certainly true that, where what you're making doesn't have to interface with some other precision part, you don't ultimately care about exact dimensions. However, you do care about fit, and that requires measurement. Take the example of a sliding fit, sub 10mm piston in bore, not uncommon in w...

As long as the o-rings seal, the darn thing will work. The benefit of making parts yourself is you can just tweak them until they fit without caring much what the final dimensions are. If making drawings for someone else to make your parts, then of course you need to watch the tolerances and make s...

Hey guys, its been a very long time. I previously used the name "*###*" I lost access to my account and it seems I'm sol as far as recovery is concerned. I have built many more great toys over the years and I felt like getting back into the community to share my knowledge as well as to learn and bec...