Carbon Fiber Mainbody. Do you think this is possible?

[amrani]

Lately ive been trying to carbon fiber out my mag, and i ran across something that seems quite interesting.

http://www.carbonfibertubeshop.com//index2.html (http://www.carbonfibertubeshop.com//index2.html)

its a carbon fiber tube, which would be frickin sweet if i could get it cut to be a mainbody for a mag.

ne one think this is possible?

Rogue, Logic, and all other custom parts makers, your opinions are especially valued, and if you could make thise, i bet you would make a killing

[personman]

fiber fiber fiber fiber fiber



It's probably possible... very tough to do, and very expensive however. I dont know if there are any sizes that would be good for it on that website.

[craltal]

getting it to withstand the stresses would be quite interesting. You'd have issues getting everything to fit together as securely as is needed without adding aluminum or titanium inserts. at which point you'd pretty much have a ULE body.

[amrani]

all fixed now :)

id probally search around a bit more, although if i needed to, i could machine (please dont correct my spelling any more, cuz i no i suck) a close size a little bit.

[amrani]

i think i might try it just for the fun of it, and to see what the people at my field say :D (see an earlier post of mine today)

[FooTemps]

me and nerobro talked about it back in the days of twistlock/preule. It's expensive and needs a lot of reinforcement

[Arstron]

If you just want the look, perhaps you could cut the carbon fiber to fit over an existing body. Another much cheaper route you could do, is to cover an existing body with a peice of carbon fiber vinyl (decal vinly).

[matt-o]

If you just want the look, perhaps you could cut the carbon fiber to fit over an existing body. Another much cheaper route you could do, is to cover an existing body with a peice of carbon fiber vinyl (decal vinly).
thats a quitter's attitude, and it wont lighten the gun. i dont think there are many stresses in the body if the sear holds back the bolt and it dosnt hold any pressure directly.

[personman]

thats a quitter's attitude, and it wont lighten the gun. i dont think there are many stresses in the body if the sear holds back the bolt and it dosnt hold any pressure directly.
You've got to worry about the bolt. It puts alot of pressure on the spring which puts alot of pressure on the body.

[amrani]

i think i can conquer the pressure the spring will be putting on the body. its kinda complicated, and i am too tired to try and type it all out. im going for the look, as well as lightening the gun if possible. i was going to just cover a body at first, but then this looked kinda interisting. depending on how much a short rod that i could make like 2 bodies out of would cost, this thing might just become a reality. after this, ill probally make some carbon fiber grips, and a trigger. after that, who knows what, might just get so good at it that id have to make a completely carbon fibre mag (minus the valve of course)

oo, and id deffinitly need a stiffi to go with this :p

ill get back to you guys later with weather or not its a go, and after that, if i do it, ill keep all of AO up to date on my project.

EDIT: i thought about all the problems they mentioned in the thread below, and i think i can solve them all, but thought of another problem, barrels.

double edit: good idea for barrel id mostlikely just end up putting a twist lock in there, and then probally DOC's thread adapter

if anyone else sees problems that could arise, please, LMK

i have access to a machine shop that does carbon fibre stuff all the time and they have some nifty things they do to keep it from unraveling like a guy in the thread below mentioned. the spring stop is not a problem as there is an easy way to combat that and im suprised no one has thought of it (gonna keep it a secret for now) and that would keep all pressure off the body.

mmm, this just keeps sounding better and better :D

[Chronobreak]

the ao search feature really does work :eek: :rolleyes:

http://www.automags.org/forums/showthread.php?t=166918&highlight=carbon+fiber+ule

too $, too much tolerances, not anything significantly worth doing

dont bother

[PsychoBaller]

Suxoorrr... I almost got into this thread before it got shot down by facts... poo.

What about just making Carbon Fiber peices in general ?? CF Pump Kit? or like the new Foregrips Rouge is doing... u can thread the stuff no?

hmmm...

[Evil Bob]

Carbon fiber will function just fine, its very tough, it'll wear better then the hardened aluminum. Weapons manufacturers like Bushmaster, Glock, Smith & Wesson and many others have been using carbon fiber in their products for many years now. Bushmaster has an entire AR15/M16 rifle built out of the stuff. If it can survive the chamber pressure to fire an 5.56mm round out to 600m at over 2k fps, it can handle our trifle 400-500 pound chamber pressure easily.

The problem with it carbon is it's high cost to manufacture items from it when you compare it to other common materials that are cheaper and easier to work with such as aluminum.

-Evil Bob

[PsychoBaller]

I got it... .... wait for it.... TIN FOIL...

[amrani]

I got it... .... wait for it.... TIN FOIL...

umm, that was just worthless. it relates to the topic in the most minscule way possible, as carbon fiber is light, but strong as mr. ninja over here :ninja:

[DrHistrysMistrys]

All gone

[PsychoBaller]

Chill out amrani, just having some fun :dance:

but anyways... I think it would be of more economical interest to just make a CF body cover, or shell or something...

also... what about making general CF parts for any gun? I believe Deadlywind makes CF grips for the Freestsyle, and they are pretty sick. I'm gonna look into them and see if they will do for other guns. - http://www.deadlywind.com/store/fs_accessories/index.html

[Chronobreak]

Chill out amrani, just having some fun :dance:

but anyways... I think it would be of more economical interest to just make a CF body cover, or shell or something...

also... what about making general CF parts for any gun? I believe Deadlywind makes CF grips for the Freestsyle, and they are pretty sick. I'm gonna look into them and see if they will do for other guns. - http://www.deadlywind.com/store/fs_accessories/index.html


http://www.automags.org/forums/showthread.php?t=172168&goto=newpost
:rolleyes:

go get a carbon sticker sheet :p

[amrani]

Chill out amrani, just having some fun :dance:

heh, i was tired last night

[SteelSoul]

Hey who cares what the others people say
Try it, I would love to see your project. . .
It is the inventor that makes everything change and I would love to see the results, even if it doesnt work..


Keep up the good work


SS :headbang:

[amrani]

mmm, it seems that the only tubing that i can find at the right thickness would be enough for 2 or 3 bodies. would anyone be interested in buying one from me if i get this to work?

just an idea still, no promises

it would most likely endup costing around the same, or less than a ULE body, as the tubinbg that would be enough for 3 bodies costs about 150 shipped to me

[Slimm Jimm]

if you can get it to work, i'd jump on that in an instant.

[thejesus]

One thing you should keep in mind: Carbon fiber is only strong along the axis of the fibers. Any perpendicular forces put on the carbon fiber strands can easily cause extensive damage, and ultimately the unraveling of the structure. In addition, I don't see how you would be able to have metal internals rubbing up against the carbon fiber. All carbon fiber objects are coated in a polyurethane material to protect the fibers themselves. I would imaging that this would ultimately wear off in a gun with a stainless steel bolt. Maybe if you used a delrin bolt...

And I thought that Engineering Materials course was a waste of time at Georgia Tech...

Here's a story for you about my friend's girlfriend's carbon fiber bike: She is a bike courier that used to ride one of those Trek carbon-fiber road bike frames. Well, one day someone dinged the top tube of her frame with a car door, and two weeks later (after riding the bike every day), the freaking thing unravelled AS SHE WAS RIDING IT! Fortunately she was able to stop and wasn't hurt. So yes, while carbon fiber is one of the strongest materials on earth, and certainly one of the lightest, it's also very, very fragile.

[alooney11]

you can do it

[hitech]

One thing to remember, a 'mag mainbody is A LOT MORE than just a tube.

[SlartyBartFast]

One thing to remember, a 'mag mainbody is A LOT MORE than just a tube.

A lot more?

Just an insert for the bolt spring to push on and a weld nut (can't think of the right term just now). Hardly a "lot".

To protect against wear a fiber wrapped thin wall tube could be used. For strength to attach to the rail, it might be best to rethink how the frame, rail, and mainbody screw together. Perhaps a new screw to hod the mainbody to the rail through the insert.

Bonding the insert into a preformed tube would be dificult. Best if the tube could be laid up on a mandrel and cured to the insert.

[hitech]

A lot more?

Well, I don't have one in front of me, but from memory, for a ule style body...

1. The "pim", which is the "nut" that the front screw attaches to
2. Slots/holes for the sear
3. Threads for the barrel
4. Attachment structure for the spring washer
5. Attachment for the feed neck
6. Attachment for the detent(s)
7. The breech

I'm not sure if the front and back IDs are the same diameter.

Now, for a twist lock body, you can replace the threads for a barrel with a hole for the twist lock pin and loose the breech and attachments for the detent(s).

So, maybe using the front half of an existing ule body (from the feed neck forward) and a carbon fiber back half you would only have a tube with holes/slots. Use a twist lock barrel and you could only use a alm block with the feed neck and pim with carbon fiber front and back tubes with holes/slots.

:cheers:

[barrel break]

A carbon fiber body for a paintball gun is 100% possible and would work, and be lighter. BUT you would need to mold it for your purpose, you do NOT want to try and drill holes in it.

Tolerances? They can be done extremely fine, trust me.

[SlartyBartFast]

Well, I don't have one in front of me, but from memory, for a ule style body...

If we're talking ULE bodies, that's another ball game. I was thinking twistlock/oldschool.

But an Xmag type body molded or machined from a resin/composite should still be easy. I mean BE does it. :p

[hitech]

Yeah, sure, if you have the right equipment it's no big deal. However, buying some prefab cf tube and making a mainbody isn't. But hey, you can't so anything if you don't try.

:cheers: