SpudFiles

It's been a LONG time since I was on Spudfiles...

In the interim, I got a minilathe and I've played with it a lot. Obviously, airguns are the goto project for a lathe and since my family used to play a lot of airsoft, I went with an airsoft style system. In steampunk. Obviously.

Barrel and Chamber Exploded view;


Barrel and chamber 90% Assembled;


Barrel and Chamber assembled;

What are you going to use for frame and grip?

Welcome back!

It's good to be back. I really enjoy Spudfiles, particularly all the great guys on here.

I've got a peice of curly red oak I cut into two identical grips. They'll sandwich the single action trigger mechanism and a white pine spacer. I'm away from my shop right now, so pics when I get home.

The frame and grips will be the same piece, similar to the flintlocks of ye olde days.
The pictures aren't perfect, so if you can't see it well, the red wood is some beautifully curly red oak I bought from a local specialty lumber mill. Once it's shaped and polished, it ought to be gorgeous, especially with that white pine stripe from the spacer.

Here it is uncocked;


Here it is cocked;


The hammer spring is a piece of piano wire bent to the right shape. The hammer and spring are just scrap steel and key stock, (respectively) bent and shaped as needed. The hammer is a pretty blocky due to weight requirements; it's propane powered like most gas airsoft guns, so I need the hammer to over-travel, strike the valve, and return to rest without fully emptying the reservoir) That makes the hammer pretty ugly, so I prettied it up by doing a heat-bluing job on it. You can't see it very well in the picture, but it starts out deep blue, goes to peacock purple and down through the straw colors to steel-grey again. It's the first time I've tried heat-bluing and it turned out so well, I did it to the trigger, too.

I've tested it out by holding the mechanisms together and firing and it works. I had to adjust the fit of the o-ring on the valve stem, because I had been testing it with just compressed air. When I used propane (higher pressure) the o-ring slipped down the stem and maintained it's seal, even with the stem completely depressed! Enlarging the o-ring groove fixed this problem. Now, with tests, I can get multiple shots from a single charge of propane. Now, to figure out a propane charger nozzle that doesn't leak and freeze up my check-valve o-ring...

Welcome to the minilathe master race

Your stem o-ring needs better support, ideally the only exposed rubber should be the diameter that seals. How are you re-loading BBs?

I really like the hammer spring mechanism, very unique. Looking forward to see it finished!

Glad to finally have joined it!

Are you referring to the o-ring you can see in the picture where it's assembled? If so, that's not the stem o-ring, that's the fill port o-ring.

Thanks! I may modify the trigger design, but I'm keeping the color bluing... it's so cool!

I edited the image of what I assume is you stem valve to show what I mean:

Oh, derp... I forget who I'm talking to. Yeah, I see what you mean now. Machining it like that WOULD cut down on any chance of blow-by knocking the o-ring out of place.

It's the solution I had used for the Apace Fireball rebuild.