Well you should discuss them as I am sure there is people here experienced in this ort of thing that could help you pick a suitable material. Btw I am not insulting your ability.bobgengeskahn said:
Why 6/8mm?
Why has airsoft stuck to the 6/8mm (hardley 8mm anymore) platforms? Is it to preserve safe MEDs? Is it because if we went bigger there would be too much mass? Or is it just because the industry has decided that for us?
I have been looking into custom BB designs for a project and designing custom 6mm BBs is just damn small. Then I contemplated going to 8mm. Most recently I have been thinking about going as large as ~10mm (0.40cal. to be exact). From varous topics I have read I can see a few problems/hesitations for going so large, the main concern most likely being that increased mass = increased MED/more safety concerns.
However, I would pose that for a sniper role, since our MED is longer anyway; a slightly larger round at the heavier range of existing BBs (0.4 - 0.5) would be able to be fired at a lower FPS with greater stability resulting in better range and increased accuracy. Wheter it would be custom 8mm rounds or going as large as what I am thinking I don't know, but its just a thought.
I have been looking into custom BB designs for a project and designing custom 6mm BBs is just damn small. Then I contemplated going to 8mm. Most recently I have been thinking about going as large as ~10mm (0.40cal. to be exact). From varous topics I have read I can see a few problems/hesitations for going so large, the main concern most likely being that increased mass = increased MED/more safety concerns.
However, I would pose that for a sniper role, since our MED is longer anyway; a slightly larger round at the heavier range of existing BBs (0.4 - 0.5) would be able to be fired at a lower FPS with greater stability resulting in better range and increased accuracy. Wheter it would be custom 8mm rounds or going as large as what I am thinking I don't know, but its just a thought.
61 - 63 of 63 Posts
Well, I seem to have reached a mental block recently so perhaps someone here has experience with some of these things I'm looking at.
For the material I am looking at a number of options. I will probably play with some of the 2 part epoxy resins that they have at Tap Plastics since there are a few locations around where I live, but. They have some good properties for casting, but I am 90% sure they will end up too heavy. The 'mainstream' plastics I am looking at are LDPE and LLDPE.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-density_polyethylene
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_low-density_polyethylene
Both are commonly used for injection molding and have good handling characteristics and elasticity and are used in thin applications i.e. plastic wrap. This was an ideal characteristic to look for since I will be wanting to keep the skirt as thin as possible (somewhere in the realm of 0.2-0.25mm).
For the manufacturing process I am debating between building a cast for injection molding or swedging... or a blend between the two. The problem is that injection molding is very common with plastics, and swedging is very common with metals, but I can't find any information on swedging plastics. The reason I am so interested in swedging is because it is a much more precise and repeatable process as opposed to casting. There is no expansion to worry about since it is done cold and there is no combustion in the mold due to lack of vents because the material is pressed between two casts.
The problem is that plastics (especially LDPE) is elastic and does not retain a form when pressed well like metal does. I am debating creating a method of 'hot swedging' so to say, where the material is cut to a rough shape and then compressed between two hot molds... but I have no idea if something like this would work.
For the material I am looking at a number of options. I will probably play with some of the 2 part epoxy resins that they have at Tap Plastics since there are a few locations around where I live, but. They have some good properties for casting, but I am 90% sure they will end up too heavy. The 'mainstream' plastics I am looking at are LDPE and LLDPE.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-density_polyethylene
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_low-density_polyethylene
Both are commonly used for injection molding and have good handling characteristics and elasticity and are used in thin applications i.e. plastic wrap. This was an ideal characteristic to look for since I will be wanting to keep the skirt as thin as possible (somewhere in the realm of 0.2-0.25mm).
For the manufacturing process I am debating between building a cast for injection molding or swedging... or a blend between the two. The problem is that injection molding is very common with plastics, and swedging is very common with metals, but I can't find any information on swedging plastics. The reason I am so interested in swedging is because it is a much more precise and repeatable process as opposed to casting. There is no expansion to worry about since it is done cold and there is no combustion in the mold due to lack of vents because the material is pressed between two casts.
The problem is that plastics (especially LDPE) is elastic and does not retain a form when pressed well like metal does. I am debating creating a method of 'hot swedging' so to say, where the material is cut to a rough shape and then compressed between two hot molds... but I have no idea if something like this would work.
61 - 63 of 63 Posts
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