I think mostly the dual detents are to make it look symmetrical, not really for function.
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I think mostly the dual detents are to make it look symmetrical, not really for function.
I agree with that, I was actually going to make that point too but forgot.
I'm not exactly convinced that two detents are even necessary due to the geometry of a breach, the force and direction of the paintball's from the loader and the fact that it feeds 90* from the loader to the barrel. I don't see how it could force a loaded ball out of the breach and down the barrel allowing another ball to load behind the first. From the studying I've done on it, it seems like the ball would need to already be 1/2 way loaded into the barrel in order to position the second ball in the right place for the loader to push another behind the first. I ran a Warpfeed for years with a single angel detent and never double feed balls down the barrel, in fact the only time I ever saw that was on my Minimag when the nubbins were broken. If the paint was absurdly small perhaps but I'm not really convinced two are necessary.
My appologies. Not trying to knock the body. As I pointed out. I'm still swinging twords buying one. By proprietary I mean not available by any means other than you. My concern with that is if something happens it's no longer available. As you say it's all off the shelf parts. And once it's all known to the public I may be EXSTATIC. I also never once said that angel detents or feednecks were great. Just said I'm not a fan of proprietary. As for single or dual detents. That was just a simple question. All and all I like this body very much.
I didn't take it as an insult, I'm just clarifying it from my perspective.
The detent is proprietary but the hardware and spring is off the shelf like the sear pin. I honestly don't believe the detent will ever wear out and if the spring does it's no big deal just replace it. I think once you see the design you won't worry much about it. If all this pans out, all the bodies I make will be on this platform. This basic design can be used universally between electro, pump, pneumag or mechanical.
I think you're right on some of this. There is a lot of specific geometry involved, and if things are right, the next ball in the stack hopefully itself will act like a detent, pushing the one in the breech slightly backwards. Just on some mag setups there is a bit of variability between everything, particularly where the bolt sits at rest relative to the feed.
I like 2 shallower detents that work against each other more than one deep one because they can act against each other. I think that works better over a larger range of paint sizes. And if 1 happens to fail, which seems to be kind of hit-or-miss on a case by case basis, you still have a second one to maybe squeak through a game.
Will be interesting to see what you came up with.
spiffy. can't wait to see what one looks like after it's been to caustic...
or just straight polished:)
I was actually thinking going with a polished clear.
If I could find a reputable place that has experience nickel plating paintball stuff I might actually do that. But the thread that Bunny had about the destroyed X-mag makes me think twice about it.
I will be going with a dark purple and black variant if/when I get my hands on one.
I'm not sure what would happen with the tolerances with the nickel on the bottom of the body a top of the frame.
Maybe Luke will have some insight as to if that is a good or bad idea.
Yea, plus probably not many "thin" areas to worry about. Though there were also instances where they didn't mask off particular parts that should've been masked. Not to mention the loss of milling details.
I had a clone micro where the nickel plating filled the barrel threads, to the point it was unusable till I got a tap to clean em out.
Personally I'd avoid plating, when it starts to wear, it gets really ugly, and is a pain to refinish afterwards.
The only allowances I've considered in the design was for anodizing. Plating definitely "could be" an issue with assembly of the various parts, I would definitely express caution in that regard.
That helps me make up my mind then. I just have to decide between polished clear or if I want to go wild.
Media blasting or chemically I think.
Can not wait for this and the pump.
How has the testing on the prototype been going
I've been slaving away on this everyday. I've finished this round of testing and have been redesigning (more fine tuning) various parts and features. I believe all the tweaking is done and I'm on my final designs so I've switched gears into production mode. By that I'm talking about reprogramming for production, designing fixtures, ordering materials and getting everything in order for a run. Machining prototypes and production is a different ball game all together, there's a boat load of more work involved getting ready for the production side of the project.
I believe I have the last few fixtures figured out, so I'm hoping I can get the last few designed and programed over the next few days. It's going to cost me time and money but I plan on machining one more complete prototype from the production programing and fixtures to verify the final changes, fixtures and material changes before I get started on the production run. I just want to get this as right as possible from the start so I'm not making small changes over the first few runs of bodies. I just want them as right as possible from the start.
I could write a book about what's been going on but that's it in a nut shell, were getting close and once production starts it will go quick. I know I'm close because my mind is wandering into the next project. ;)
And that's why we appreciate your work Luke. You keep your products on par with the quality control of AGD and Tom himself. ;)
I agree, it is nice to see you want to get it right the first time. I wouldn't expect anything different from you.
Thats awesome to hear.
I can remember thinking of how easy production machining is vs RnD. But your right, production offers all kinds of other problems, when tring to be profitable, in time and money.
Great to hear things are proceeding well! :cheers:
I'd love to read a write up of your thoughts on the whole process once it's done, as I'd like to get into producing my own paintball stuff someday. It's half the reason I'm taking engineering classes right now.
Coming into this late, but would you ever consider milling these down more? The current design looks a bit bulky for my taste, but I love the idea of a unibody. I've been out of the game for a few years but I've been thinking about getting back into PB and updating my pneumag and this would be cool as hell.
Were on the down hill side of this project so you wont see any major changes, actually none at all if I'm lucky. So perhaps we can get you on board with a future design.
As far as the design and it looking bulky, I think holding it in your hands would give you a different perspective than what is coming across in the pictures. Making it smaller is actually not possible except in length and that won't happen (Sorry). There are very specific parameters in the Automag that designers are FORCED to work around, things that are impossible to change (Form follows function). That said, this design can not be made smaller because of the working parameters of the Automag itself.
Gotcha, if you ever do a unibody similar to the style of your Beta rails, I'd jump on it in a heartbeat. Those rails look pretty sleek.