Posts by Reefchief

Quote from Don Paul

I just went on FreediveStore,com and looked at the mech. Could you drill a small hole in the top of the release
slot wood and install a small SS coil spring just long enough to hold the hook slightly out from the wood?
Sorry about your 205, if you lived closer I would gift you some.
Cheers, Don

Dont think its necessary. With the slot wide enough there is absolutely no sticking or binding it falls down like a pendulum. Since the gun will always be loaded facing up this makes it act like an auto reset. I was considering the finger slot is only because I saw what would happen if it did stick. But im pretty confident that gravity will do its job here. A tiny recess will ensure that if there is some kind of problem because I got sand in the gun or something I can still pull it out.

Quote from tufual

after seeing the photo , i think you should really recess the line release slot . the last thing you want is to be fighting with your line release in the water . Does it protrude out enough to easily load the shooting line ?

It protrudes out plenty and has a nice curve to it when its down. It will hold the line well. The only possible issue is how it goes up flush into the gun. A small finger tip sized recess should make that impossible though.

The line release is a tight fit in the mech, and seems to function much much better free and clear of wood. I had the line release slot just a bit wider then the hook. But it kept sticking inside and binding up before epoxy even. I don't want the release to be lost into the gun because it sticks. And have me fumbling with fat gloves trying to pull it out while fish swim by. I may even dremel a recess to get a finger in just to be sure. I can get it out if that happens. Its also going to be lined with more black epoxy so I gave it some extra room.

Also I woke up today to my 205 hardener tipped spilled. was like a 15$ puddle on the floor. Im suprised it all leaked from the pump cap between the threads.

Yeah it's definitely a rear handle lol. I plan to chest load so extra butt just means further to the bands. I still have room to hip load to the first tab If i become weak and its needed. Since its not a reverse mech etc there is 13 inches to the front fins. But this gun won't be much worse to load then my 120. I hope...

Did the recess on the handle this morning before work. I was most worried about this step but it ended up being easy with some tape guides and my router tables fence. Its a perfect fit.

The biggest hold my breath operation Ive got left to do is drill the pin holes. After that I just need to round and sand and attach all the hardware.

How do you guys treat screw holes on your guns? Nothing? Silicone? Epoxy?

Quote from tufual

you can fab your own but most likely you would spent more on the cobalt drill bits needed to drill stainless . the only reason i made mine is because i already had all the tools

I agree the plates look better. The pin doesnt look as clean since its usually not perpendicular to anything.

I have a set of nice cobalt bits and a drill press etc but making my own would be a huge pain in the ass. So I am glad to pick a premade one up from Dan.

No that sounds even better I figured you had scrap stainless plates.

Quote from Dan

I have a few plates for you to choose from.

I think you just made that decision easy.Thanks Dan ill grab a piece from you. I even have a polishing kit from harbor freight to shine it.

Quote from tufual

nice hardware

Thanks It's a Speardiver line anchor. Definitely the best looking I've seen. Between the mech, handle, and anchor, the stainless hardware on this gun is gonna be beautiful.

I'm still considering if I want to fabricate a plate for the muzzle wrap or if i want to use a stainless pin.

I recessed the line anchor and cut the hole for the bands. Going to round off the band hole quite a bit. Might even do some recesses. Going to wait until the gun is router before I decide that one though.

Thanks Xan for the advice on sizing. Had to go buy a 9/16 bit but its perfect.

Thanks guys. I better hurry up and finish before decent offshore weather gets here!

Can anyone here give me a sanity check on my band hole plans?

Im planning 4 5/8 bands. So I was planning on cutting the hole 1/2" x 2" I figured this would keep the bands tight but not kill them.

Does this sound like the best size to anyone with more experience?

Also should I just center the band holes on the stock? This leaves 3/16 between the bottom of the epoxy track and the slot. And 5/16 between track and slot.

Current plan:

This is fun! Never saw this thread pre bump. Cool stuff.

Spearguns:

• Reef gun: Speardiver C120. 2 5/8 Speardiver bands. H Dessault shaft.
• Hole gun: 88cm Custom Teak hole gun. Speardiver shaft. 2 5/8 Speardiver bands. Speardiver TLR Mech. Speardiver line anchor.
• Bluewater gun(being built): 157.5cm Custom Teak bluewater gun . Speardiver shaft. 4 5/8 Speardiver bands. Speardiver BLR Mechanism. Speardiver Handle. Speardiver line anchor.

Thanks guys.

Got the pocket cut. This time routing 99% of it and only squaring the corners with files. Turned out pretty nice.

Very nice work. I am going to pick one of these up and do the same for my flashers. Thanks for posting this little guide.

Finished up the track after patching the last few little bits. Im really happy with how it turned out. It looks and feels pretty amazing. Hopefully the pocket turns out as clean.

Quote from Wishihadgills

Do you have any pics of the stress fracture you're describing?

Xan, I'm not sure i do but I can describe it a bit better. The portion of the track sticking out was basically flawless since it was able to contract as it cooled. When i was almost finished flattening the track i noticed random white lines going down the middle of it. Then, when I cut it with the ball mill, these cracks chipped out in a bunch of spots. It seems like where the track interfaced with the wood it wanted to contract as it cooled but couldn't because the sides of the track we're epoxied to the wood. So it separated down the middle in random cracks instead. A smaller half pour into he same hole (routed the cracks out) with very little overpour resulted in a perfect pour.

Quote from Dan

I don't know if you're aware, this handle has weights that fit exactly inside the frame. Easier to do this and the weights are removable if you ever choose to add a reel which will change the balance of the gun. If you epoxy the grips they will not be removable, and it will be difficult to access the rear two screws of the handle frame if ever need to remove it for travel/storage. For these reasons I recommend you use the built in screw holes to hold the grips together.

I may go with that, but I really dont wanna put holes in my pretty grips <img src= " height="23" srcset="https://spearfishing.world/forum/images/smilies/emojione/1f606@2x.png 2x">

Im almost finished with the poured track. In the end the large overpour was a bad idea. The large volume of epoxy caused the track to expand and contract too much leaving stress fractures in the center of the track. I had to route part of it out and repour.

Luckily epoxy/graphite is amazingly workable and filling/sanding parts and pieces is easily possible. My next pour I didn't do very high and I also used a torch for airbubbles. It worked almost perfectly, no cracks and almost no bubbles, but I was still left with a few near the wood. I am now patching the bubbles with globs of graphite epoxy. Then I will re finish the top, recut the track to clear out the globs, and be ready to recut the pocket epoxy style.

Although I ended up doing a number of things twice Ive enjoyed trying stuff and Ive learned a lot on this build so far. And luckily the few mistakes ive made so far have been fixed in ways that I think in the end will really enhance the gun.

Quote from Hardline

Yea I saw a baby one before that that wasn't so eager to let me get close.

Yea the larger ones always seem to be more docile. I think I saw the same one and he bolted off immediately.

Heres another pic of that other one from the GoPro/instagram

Thanks guys. I never see cudas either. Even this one I didn't see till it was dead. I was chasing down the hog fish and I came back to find frank with it already shot.

Heres another cool B+W Pic of frank.

Got out with Frank(Hardline) today off Hollywood. Had a blast, got some fish, missed some fish. But had a pretty awesome and freakishly long beach dive filled with cool stuff like sharks and guitar fish and big turtles.

We picked up an emergency wetsuit from Dan before heading out. Frank got a new predator red 3Mil after a fitting from Dan.

The morning started flat but before we got in it started blowing and kept up till we got out (figures lol) All day we had a crazy west wind and white caps. but the viz was doable so we went out to the second reef.

Early on Frank missed a nice mutton that was just out of range. When we got to the second I missed a nice hog. Right as I shot, a wave pulled my float and gun and the shot missed by like 4 feet. Frank shot a nice eating size cuda, and then a jack, I shot a cero. Then a pretty good sized shark showed up. He passed by cruising and I followed him trying to get a video. As I was doing that a huge charter boat buzzed us so I went from trying to film the shark to trying to figure out where my float was and where the boat was coming/going (you can hear it in the video) A little while later frank called me over and said the shark was back. I caught him trying to take a pass at our fish so we put the fish into the banksboard and didnt have any more issues.

By that time the sun was kind of low so we went in. After getting mobbed by tourists as usual we arrived to our car 30 minutes passed a 5 hour parking pass about 10 minutes before the meter maid arrived.

Shark off Hollywood trying to get a free meal. - YouTube