My Wood Rail Gun Project

[AlNyhus]

Ugly is good.

 

[ELR LVR]

Ya know......In a way, it looks like a boat ??

A bad ass boat, like a cannon warship

 

[ELR LVR]

I had some time today so I machined a barrel block out of the DuraBlue.

It is a lot stronger than the walnut, but ugly.View attachment 1737705

What is
DuraBlue?
It looks like something between Trex Decking and Fiberglass
---
Do you know how it compares to UHMW?
---
maybe try some concrete die on it?

 

[ISS]

Wait until Jay Young sees this!

 

[Rat Rifle]

I had some time today so I machined a barrel block out of the DuraBlue.

It is a lot stronger than the walnut, but ugly.View attachment 1737705

Form Follows Function

 

[jimmymac]

I had some time today so I machined a barrel block out of the DuraBlue.

It is a lot stronger than the walnut, but ugly.View attachment 1737705

Looks are easily forgotten if it does the trick!

 

[jackieschmidt]

What is
DuraBlue?
It looks like something between Trex Decking and Fiberglass
---
Do you know how it compares to UHMW?
---
maybe try some concrete die on it?

See post #38

 

[Sniperhandle]

What is
DuraBlue?
It looks like something between Trex Decking and Fiberglass
---
Do you know how it compares to UHMW?
---
maybe try some concrete die on it?

Linseed oil would work fine on it. It just looks like blue linen phenolic.

 

[joshb]

Jackie: it would be easy to epoxy some 1/4 inch walnut to the outside of that durable block..

 

[jackieschmidt]

I got home from work, sanded it smooth, and swapped out the wood block for the DuraBlue.

I might try some urathane finish on it. But I think I will shoot it first. It does have a great looking grain structure.

The barrel seems really “dead”. I can tap it with a 3/8 steel rod and it just goes “thud”.

 

[jackieschmidt]

Linseed oil would work fine on it. It just looks like blue linen phenolic.

The DuraBlue is quite expensive, probably three times the cost of most phenolics such as micarta.
My other choice was CIP, which we also use a lot of.

New Homepage - Columbia Industrial Products

High Quality Composite Bearing & Wear Materials Columbia Industrial Products brings you the best solutions for composite bearings. Commonly used to replace bronze and other traditional mechanical materials in the market. Deliveries in a week or less depending on size required. CIP COMPOSITE...

www.cipcomposites.com

But I did not have a suitable piece laying around.

We consider CIP and DuraBlue interchangeable in their application.

 

[DShortt]

If nothing else, you'll be inside your competitor's heads

Ain't nobody seen nothin' like THAT before....

 

[jackieschmidt]

What is
DuraBlue?
It looks like something between Trex Decking and Fiberglass
---
Do you know how it compares to UHMW?
---
maybe try some concrete die on it?

We also use a lot of UHMW for wear plates underneath rudder thrust plates. We buy it in 8’ X 5’ sheets up to 1 1/2 inch thick. It is one of the highest impact resistant thermoplastics, is water lubricated, is pretty much thermally stable , , and has a really low friction coefficient.

But I did’t have a piece laying around I could use.

 

[DShortt]

We also use a lot of UHMW for wear plates underneath rudder thrust plates. We buy it in 8’ X 5’ sheets up to 1 1/2 inch thick. It is one of the highest impact resistant thermoplastics, is water lubricated, is pretty much thermally stable , , and has a really low friction coefficient.

But I did’t have a piece laying around I could use.

Wish I had a half-ton of UHMW lying around.

I have wished for it on multiple occasions.

 

[Fuj]

Jackie.....I see you have two alternatives in my mind. First would be to head
over to Walley World and find some wood grained sticky tape to be more
pleasing to the eye......Second would be to do a cross laminate of that walnut.
Maybe 1/4" thick alternated. Yeah that Dura Blue is looking a little fugly !! But
if it shoots with that material, yeah do this......

 

[STS]

If that rig shoots little dots on the target, I sorta doubt that Jackie will care what it looks like. It could be made out of spare parts for a flush toilet and it would be OK as long as it shoots.

 

[DShortt]

*If* I were skilled enough and had the time, I'd be inclined to put appearance on the bottom of the priority list. In fact, I'd probably intentionally make it ugly.

No one likes gettin' beat by an ugly piece of junk at the drag strip.

Same thinking in my book.

Now, do not misunderstand. When Jakie gets done with this, I will only be surprised if it's not functional art.

 

[Skedaddle Shooter]

If that rig shoots little dots on the target, I sorta doubt that Jackie will care what it looks like. It could be made out of spare parts for a flush toilet and it would be OK as long as it shoots.

I kinda doubt that, otherwise I don’t think he would have gone to the hardwood yard and picked out such a beautiful piece of walnut. He wants to beat you with a rifle that makes your rifle jealous

 

[jpjulian]

*If* I were skilled enough and had the time, I'd be inclined to put appearance on the bottom of the priority list. In fact, I'd probably intentionally make it ugly.

No one likes gettin' beat by an ugly piece of junk at the drag strip.

Same thinking in my book.

Now, do not misunderstand. When Jakie gets done with this, I will only be surprised if it's not functional art.

The range in Wisconsin I've been going to since around 1978 used to have some serious benchrest competitors there. There was a guy some years ago who on a whim put a barreled action into a 2x4. An actual 2x4 you could buy at the local Home Depot. It shot bug holes.

 

[ELR LVR]

In fact, I'd probably intentionally make it ugly.

Exactly, I'd do that just to piss people off
I rememeber a Rock Crawling competition a guy used an Old Chevy Suburban with a 5.9 Cummins
the license plate read "Big Ugly" because it was not pretty
everyone respected that rig