Building a hybrid?

    Quote from Toledo970

    :agree1:
    How do you "Polish/smooth" it?


    I'm guessing Jeff has OCD??????


    Once you get it pretty much to shape, it still has small lines and imprints from your hand. Let it cool completely, and then dunk it for only a minute or so in really hot water. It softens just the outer "skin" and you can easily smooth it without affecting the shape.


    OCD? I've got something for sure. Funny how my shop is stacked to the ceiling with stuff that I never manage to put away, and a foot deep with plastic shavings, but that white spot just drives me nuts. :D

    OCD, definitely. You ever saw The Aviator(Howard Hughes)? He could live in his own crap, but it was his own crap. Yet little white spots on handles would also drive him nuts.:D
    By the way, those white spots really throw the whole handle off. You should really re-do it.

    Sorry to hijack this thread about Tin Man's flawed products :D, but here are a few pictures of a "hybrid" I just finished.


    It's far from perfect, but I'm not going to point out the flaws to this crowd. :nono:

    This thread make me sick with less than flawless handles and far from perfect guns, both of you are right, Tin Man send me that handle and Griswold send me the gun here to Puerto Rico and go make another one both of you, but next time flawlws:D

    No pierdo nada tratando.


    Pucho


    PS Griswold you can keep the shaft and bands, just send me the gun.

    Pucho
    Aguadilla, Puerto Rico

    Damn it looks positively evil and ready to kill. What happened to the typical carbon fiber surface?


    Jeff, see what happens when you show a weakness.. The wolves go in for the kill :D I find that photoshopping the flaw helps psychologically. It eliminates the "would've could've" element. Flaws really do give things character, at least that's what I keep telling myself :) But I have made strides in believing it.


    Anyways, for your psychological healing... :thereyougo:


    Quote from Pucho

    This thread make me sick with less than flawless handles and far from perfect guns, both of you are right, Tin Man send me that handle and Griswold send me the gun here to Puerto Rico and go make another one both of you, but next time flawlws:D

    No pierdo nada tratando.


    Pucho


    PS Griswold you can keep the shaft and bands, just send me the gun.



    :laughing3::laughing1::laughing1:. GOOD TRY Pucho.

    Pargo,


    I added several coats of epoxy with graphite power in order to reduce the friction of the bands on the top of the gun (didn't want the wishbones to get messed up by the rough top of the cut track).


    The loss of the carbon fiber look was sad, but this one somehow just has that black-op no nonesense killing machine look to me. Nothing fancy - just functional and deadly.


    Or not, maybe it's just kinda flat black.

    Thanks Dan! I was just about to break out the magic marker . . .


    Chad - I have to admit the clearcoated carbon has a nice technological look to it, but the all black is positively sinister looking. How much benefit (if any) do you think the graphite fiber would add to the built-in track on my tube? Does it change the hardness, durability, or slipperiness of the epoxy significantly?


    By the way, I made the first pass with the bullnose cutter to make my dowel for the tube. It cut like a dream in only one pass. I left the opposite side of the stick square, and have it centered up in the mill to cut the depression for the track next. After that, the hardest cut will be the opposite side of the dowel.

    Edited 2 times, last by Guest ().

    Pargo,


    I did test it in the pool. I've been working for a long time to come up with a big gun that handled like a much smaller gun, and I think this one does just that. Swimming with it, aiming it, swinging it, just the feel of it in the water is what I was hoping for.


    I shot it 6 times with 5 bands and a mori slip tip at a target 24 feet from me (from my body - I was vertical in the water since the pool is only 30' long and I'd prefer to not poke any more holes in the plaster :innocent1: ). I simply pointed it at the center of the target and pulled the trigger - recoil was a non issue, and I hit within 4 inches of the center of the target every time. The scatter was pretty random, so I figure it had more to do with me than the gun. I'm happy with it.

    To convert the distance to my thinking I'd give the arm, gun, and shaft overhang about 7ft. So that means you hit within 4" at 16ft. That's good accuracy at good range. How does it feel when the shaft hits the end of the cable? What fish, species and size, do you specifically envision taking with it? Sorry if I asked this before at some point, I can't remember.

    Pargo,
    It's for tuna and wahoo. The shaft was definately still going very fast when it got to the end of the cable. For this test shooting I had it rigged with a heavy duty bungie attached to the line anchor. I've learned the hard way not to rely on the cable crimps without something to dampen the impact of the shaft getting to the end of the cable. It's not an issue when shooting for real since I rig it with a breakway system, when it gets to the end of the shooting line the float line just moves forward.


    Jeff,
    Sorry I forgot to answer your question. Yes, I think adding graphite filled epoxy to the track is important. I like to cut the track a little oversized and go back with the graphite filled epoxy in several thin coats. Sandpaper around a drill bit works well between coats. After a few coats and sanding in between you end up with a very smooth, much lower friction track.

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