Paintball

[Deus Machina]

Railgun: Maybe I got them on sale or clearance, but I remember getting some for around 40 cents and some for about a dollar, in 5/16 and 3/8. They were listed as HSS square parallels, and literally the only difference was that they had a 'brushed' look to the finish instead of ground-smooth.

Don't see the 60-cent stuff in the catalog anymore. Now they start at around $1.

LK: That makes it a bit easier on the education, then!

General word: Taigs and Sherlines, while nice, are too usually small. The mini-mills and -lathes are borderline, not large enough for boring, and are usually actually cheaper than Sherlines.

For the full range of paintball work, you'd need a large benchtop like the X3's or a 'mid-sized' mill. A lot of mid-sized machines are pipe-column, and you'd really have to see those in person, if you're not familiar with the way they're made.

For a mid-sized, still check out the round-columned machines.

Most pipe-column machines are based on a drill press idea, not a mill--the head twists and swings lowering it, and the actual milling work is in the much smaller stroke on the quill. But the machines that have a fixed rack usually don't twist like that (inspect it--some are still wickedly sloppy) and can then do the work you'd want, if you keep an eye on it. And they're a good chunk of change less than a square-column.

[merc]

ToolsNow.com Discount Tools, Coleman Powermate, Power Tools, Ridgid Tools, Ryobi Tools, Milwaukee Tools, Ingersoll-Rand Reconditioned Tools has a minimill with r8 for cheap.

Homier Distributing Company, Inc. ? speedway series (same lathe as everyone else but painted blue) was the cheapest at 299+50 shipping when i bought it a few years ago

edit: these machines are VERY small and are the cheapest i could find...

if you have the money go for american or german machines that are slightly larger than you think you might need.

[Railgun]

OK, I can hold back on the trying to educate you then. But the comments on the machine sizes are still very pertinent.

I've worked with both small and large machines over the years and the smallest I would want to go with for a lathe that still provides for paintball and slightly larger projects is a 9 x 18 or 10 x 20. Anything less and you're going to find a lot of cases where you won't be able to fit the piece being worked on AND the tooling to do the work. A big part of the picture is the bore size in the headstock. With a larger machine with a 1 inch or more bore size things like barrels can be set back into the headstock for working on. That automatically gives you a lot more support and working room. The typical 7x 10 to 7x14 series of table top lathes do not have a large enough headstock bore so the part needs to be hung out over the bed and supported by a steady rest or tail stock center. All of this really gets in the way and you'll constantly find yourself wanting to do things that the lathe won't let you because of the tight fit. And remember that with the 7x14 the 14 refers to center to center and not a real world setup with a 3 or 4 jaw chuck plus a drill chuck in the tail stock. Just those two items reduces your 14 inch spacing to around 9 or 10 inches before you've even mounted any material and drill bits.

We've covered the mill earlier with Deus suggesting the X3 which I also think is a nice paintball sized machine. For a lathe I would suggest something along the lines of...

G9972Z 11" x 26" Bench Lathe w/ Gearbox

or G0602 10" x 22" Bench Top Metal Lathe

Now something like G4000 9" x 19" Bench Lathe may look like the equivalent at first glance or at least close enough but look at the headstock bore. This 9x19 only has a 3/4 headstock bore vs the 1 inch bore of the other machines.

For the 10x22 and 11x26 you're getting a far better machine. Of the two the bigger will be heavier and rigid. As stated before an excellent quality in any metal working machine.

Now you may think "I'll start small for now and go bigger later" But beware that you're going to spend a lot on tooling and you want that tooling to be transferable to the new machine. Otherwise it's far better and cheaper in the long run to get the machine you will grow into now and not ever have to upgrade.

[LK-13]

guys first off i really want to thank you for your advice.
there has been a lot to think over and i think for the time being I'm going to hold of on actually fabricating bodies from billet stock in favor of altering existing guns.

for example,
I'm altering a Zeus G1 to be 12g to CA convertible, I'm removing most of the pistol grip and boring out the top tube to 13/16".
why"
I'm going to put this into a wood stock so most of the grip frame had to go, and with the top tube bored out to 13/16" i can use Palmer barrels as a deep slip fit.
now the barrel with of course stop before it reaches the vent hole in the STBB body.
but i think that this will make a cool little gun that can stay 10rnd spring feed, or have a hopper added with very little effort.
I'm thinking of using the Zeus G1 carcass because all the parts are very common
eg: Spyder valve/cup seal, Phantom Pierce pin if you want to run 12g, Tippmann drive spring, velocity adjuster can be replaced with any ASA threaded piece and a regulator used to adjust velocity.
and all I'm going to need in the beginning is a good quality drill press.
any other really intensive work i can job out to a guy here in Niagara that does this kind of thing.
till i have the $$$$ and room for the machines.

have a Mag Body design as well that i can do most of the work on a drill press.
just wish the X valves were cheaper.

[Railgun]

Sounds like a fun project. Be sure to post pictures in the Custom Projects as you do this.

[LK-13]

just ordered the new barrel & dummy 12g from PPS.
also got a UMB for a different project,
putting a Typhoon in a Wood Stock.
kind of my answer to the limited supply of Hurricanes.
wonder what i should call it once it's finished?
Can't call it a Hurricane, that would be blasphimus...
but it will be more than just another Typhoon...

uh... Partly Cloudy?

Thunder Storm?

Storm Damage?

Blizzard? (i am Canadian after all)

Flash Flood?

Broken Levy?