SpudFiles

Guys I need some help here, I am finally building an Inline Vortex Stafer but am having problems! . Here in Australia its very hard to get the right parts/right sizes you want to build one of these guns!, I got hold of the clear acrylic tube( At last!) its a weird size but the best I could do.

its 38mm OD X 32mm ID the other size was 24.5mm OD X 19.5mm ID which was going to be too small internally, now ive made the piston using a piece of rubber diaphragm from the inside of a sprinkler valve attatched to a bottle cap with a nut. I think the seal must be too tight!!?, the spring its reasonably strong but it wont push the piston: I need to know if the piston on the inlines has to be reasonably airtight or does it sit in the bb chamber reasonably loose????.

I thought it would have to seal pretty well as to not waste the air in dead space of the bb chamber!?? I am finding it hard to drill through the Clear acrylic sheet as well?. I used both a 3/4"spade bit and also a 3/4" hole saw on the drill but it seems to skip about and make an elongated hole!!!, the sheets only 10mm thick but it wont cut a clean circular hole for some reason?. The spade bit was old but the hole saw NEW , same effect both times????.

I am having to plug the barrel end with a THREADED 32mm ENCAP as its all that will fit! unfortunately its gonna look a bit wierd, ive had to order in the 1/4" stainless tube for the barrel and wont arrive for 2 weeks . I'll be using .177 bbs in this one as I have all my others, the other issue is the tube is only 3mm thick! so I will have to figure out how to make a part of the tube thicker where I will be inserting the 90 degree brass nipple that goes to the blowgun. Oh the joys of building guns in Australia

as far as I know it's not airtight, because even a slight pressure would push the spring back and negate its effects. What you need is a reasonable fit, you can afford a 0.1mm difference between the piston diameter and the I/D of your tube.

did you try using a small bit that you could control easier to make a pilot hole. I assume you don't have a drill press because that would make it alot easier.

The piston doesn't have to be airtight; it's mainly used for pushing the BBs into the block.
Yes, acrylic is hard to drill. Try to find a 3/4" Forstner bit; it'll save your life.

try using a smaller bit?

Well I tried to make the Inline Vortex today but it broke! ARGHHHH! , the sheet of Acrylic is too narrow its measuring up at 9mm so when I drilled the hole for the barrel the block broke. I need to find thicker material for the block, I bought a new Chordless drill today so the 3/4"vortex hole drilled a lot better, I threw out my other drill( the chuck wobled about).

I think ive sorted out the piston side of things?, I just hope my spring is not too strong and jam up the bbs too hard!?

Acrylic is extremely hard to drill for vortex blocks. I use 1/2" sheet, and it requires you to go really slow when drilling the barrel hole, or the bit will get caught and shatter the block.

i thought as a general rule you were suppose to drill plastics at medium speed (1500rpm)?

With acrylic, I drill extremely slow, just because of how brittle it is. I've ruined many a vortex block, being impatient.