teflon

[TheJester]

what would be wrong w/ making a pure teflon barrel? in a solid form, it's relitivly hard, similar to delrin. and we all know the slick nature of teflon, so what problems would one encounter making a barrel out of teflon?

[FragTek]

That sounds like a pretty worthy idea. Maybe make the barrel solid teflon and then putting a thin layer of metal over the outside for durability?

Anyhow, sounds like a good idea!

[ballsinyajaw]

i think that is what j&j barrels are made of

[the_next_guy_]

I think J&Js are made of ceramic.

[Nomad]

If I had to guess, probably long term durability and cost of manufacturing.

[BajaBoy]

teflon is expensive to start with.. and making the barrel wouldnt be cheap either bc of the molds

[TheJester]

it's not actually that expensive, for a foot of 1 inch bar stock, it's $22 for stainless, $8 for aluminum (funny how there isn't that dramatic of a price change from a stainless barrel to an aluminum, stainless costs much more, but we only seem to pay $10 less for an aluminum barrel aside from a stainless 1, and we all know how hard stainless is on tooling) and teflon runs about $18-20 per foot. in terms of moldings, you can turn it right on a lathe, just as you would steel, no mold required. and it's tool freindly

[SLICEnDICE]

Got one

I built a ported teflon barrel and used it in the 1998 world cup in Fl. Worked great on my RT. The hard part is making them stay together.

[TheJester]

^it's hard to get the barrel to stay screwed into the gun? is that what you mean by stay together?

[SLICEnDICE]

Not at all

Due to the properities of teflon, the construction of the barrel had to be layered. A hard outside and a soft teflon core. The thing about it is that they are a ***** to make; you really can't anodize them, they are very hard to size, and you can't get a patent on them. These were some of the many reasons that I abandoned the project.

[the_next_guy_]

couldn't you just make a super large-bore barrel, like .800, and coat the inside with teflon, like they coat cookwear(sp)?

[SLICEnDICE]

Well

The stuff you are talking about is usually a spray on coating that is very soft. I have built a number of barrels that I have sold that have a true teflon hardcoat. It is very hard and very thick. I actually had a booth at this years IAO.

[TheJester]

why does the inside have to be so soft? what would be wrong with taking a bar of virgin teflon, and just boring it on a lathe? this is all idea, i was bored in my shop one day and i saw you can get teflon stock, and was like cool. if i actually carry out the idea or not, is another story.

[SLICEnDICE]

Well

That was exactually the same thing I did on the very first prototype that I had made. Remember teflon is very soft and flexible when its length increases; you can bend it by hand. You can keep the bore of pure teflon but the shooting of paintballs out of it are going to scratch the heck out of it, I mean really bad. To the point of enlarging the bore diameter. Also good luck boring out that diameter with that length.

[TheJester]

Re: Well

Originally posted by SLICEnDICE
good luck boring out that diameter with that length.

that's part of why i haven't made a barrel, of any material yet