The one thing i missed with my pneumag is the feel of holding something like a battery pack of an emag. In the few years i have been playing with mags i loved the feel of them, and even tho a bike grip is nice too its not my ideal setup. I've tried vertical and 15 degrees angle, and still was looking for something.
A few weeks ago i went playing and left my e-tac at home, because the weather prediction was bad and i didnt want to risk troubles caused by rain. So i played with my pneu-ed tac-one. All went well and i started thinking: Why not make a pack that holds the LPR, and is a gas trough?
So after a few short attempts with free cad software that didnt work out that well, i dusted off some very old CD-roms that have been collecting dust for over 5 years now, and installed 3D studio Max V.2.0 (yeah it's ancient but i don't have a recent build)
After some moving around and changing ideas, i came up with this:
The cilinders in the shape indicate screw holes, air holes, etc. Everything was modeled so i had a sure idea of the placement of all the holes and no unintended intersections. (a.k.a. leaks) The big green cilinder is a palmers LPR.
Based on this model, i started to hand code the CNC program needed to mill this. This was kind of hard, because i had to plan every machining operation beforehand not knowing how it would look as a final product, or any snags that would turn up during milling. But i've decided that coding as much as possible at home, and polishing up at the machine was the best way to not spend alot of time at work writing the code on the machine itself.
I've spent about 2-3 afternoons programming all the code needed, and then another 15 minutes editing the file because there were some errors when reading it into the machine, and another hour or so editing and fine tuning it while milling.
Milling you say?
Yes. Before i started writing the program, i've milled this part to check if my contour matched that of a emag battery pack:
The shape was a bit off, but within reasonable margins, but it could be a bit longer. So based on this i've edited my 3D model to make the base 3mm longer than this test piece. The goal of this is to make the pack look like its part of the gripframe, that is partially inside it. Also the front of the rail is flat, and the grip rounded. with the original pack this is where the thumbscrew goes, so i have milled a flat transition on the top.
This is about the idea i'm going for, but not with a emag pack.
First prototype of the top of the pneupack. Still need to finish some things and edit some other things, but this will be the shape basicly. The four holes in the corners are for 4x 8-32 UNC screws, the 1/8" NPT hole for the LPR, and the hole right to it is where the air will enter the pack from the lowers. The lowers will have a recess for a o-ring to make a seal.
Yeah, also some ULE milling is present, but this still has to be refined. Also the slot for the trigger guard is not deep enough, so i will correct that tomorrow.
Lower part is also machined, besides the internals. I'm not sure when i'll start on that one because the top part still needs some things inproved. And probably i'll mill a new piece because i'm not sathisfied with some details so far.
When i'm done:
Unfortunatly i cannot produce these, even on a limited scale. My employer does allow me to do personal milling work, but was very clear about commercial work- no. So i will be making 1 for myself, and then make the drawings and CNC program public for anyone to make one for personal use. For fellow machinists that want the program, your machine must be able to read Heidenhain dialogue programming, and the programming was done in metric values. Threaded holes however are still UNC, UNF and NPT.
Maybe i can convert this to more common ISO programming, but i'm not sure. Well i'll keep you guys posted on the progress made with future updates.
Thanks for reading.
A few weeks ago i went playing and left my e-tac at home, because the weather prediction was bad and i didnt want to risk troubles caused by rain. So i played with my pneu-ed tac-one. All went well and i started thinking: Why not make a pack that holds the LPR, and is a gas trough?
So after a few short attempts with free cad software that didnt work out that well, i dusted off some very old CD-roms that have been collecting dust for over 5 years now, and installed 3D studio Max V.2.0 (yeah it's ancient but i don't have a recent build)
After some moving around and changing ideas, i came up with this:
The cilinders in the shape indicate screw holes, air holes, etc. Everything was modeled so i had a sure idea of the placement of all the holes and no unintended intersections. (a.k.a. leaks) The big green cilinder is a palmers LPR.
Based on this model, i started to hand code the CNC program needed to mill this. This was kind of hard, because i had to plan every machining operation beforehand not knowing how it would look as a final product, or any snags that would turn up during milling. But i've decided that coding as much as possible at home, and polishing up at the machine was the best way to not spend alot of time at work writing the code on the machine itself.
I've spent about 2-3 afternoons programming all the code needed, and then another 15 minutes editing the file because there were some errors when reading it into the machine, and another hour or so editing and fine tuning it while milling.
Milling you say?
Yes. Before i started writing the program, i've milled this part to check if my contour matched that of a emag battery pack:
The shape was a bit off, but within reasonable margins, but it could be a bit longer. So based on this i've edited my 3D model to make the base 3mm longer than this test piece. The goal of this is to make the pack look like its part of the gripframe, that is partially inside it. Also the front of the rail is flat, and the grip rounded. with the original pack this is where the thumbscrew goes, so i have milled a flat transition on the top.
This is about the idea i'm going for, but not with a emag pack.
First prototype of the top of the pneupack. Still need to finish some things and edit some other things, but this will be the shape basicly. The four holes in the corners are for 4x 8-32 UNC screws, the 1/8" NPT hole for the LPR, and the hole right to it is where the air will enter the pack from the lowers. The lowers will have a recess for a o-ring to make a seal.
Yeah, also some ULE milling is present, but this still has to be refined. Also the slot for the trigger guard is not deep enough, so i will correct that tomorrow.
Lower part is also machined, besides the internals. I'm not sure when i'll start on that one because the top part still needs some things inproved. And probably i'll mill a new piece because i'm not sathisfied with some details so far.
When i'm done:
Unfortunatly i cannot produce these, even on a limited scale. My employer does allow me to do personal milling work, but was very clear about commercial work- no. So i will be making 1 for myself, and then make the drawings and CNC program public for anyone to make one for personal use. For fellow machinists that want the program, your machine must be able to read Heidenhain dialogue programming, and the programming was done in metric values. Threaded holes however are still UNC, UNF and NPT.
Maybe i can convert this to more common ISO programming, but i'm not sure. Well i'll keep you guys posted on the progress made with future updates.
Thanks for reading.
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