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Here are a few construction shots:

I molded the carbon fiber tube by wrapping uni-directional cloth around a syntactic foam dowel. The uni-directional cloth gives it great bending strength, but isn't pretty. So I covered it with a single sleeve of bi-directional cloth to pretty it up, and add a bit of compressive strength. The finished outside diameter was about 1.4", but the overall height with the shaft is nearly the same as a much smaller Rabitech barrel with its raised track.

Here's what it looks like, with the delrin "dummy" piece to form the track, and the heat shrink around the outside that is used to squeeze out the excess epoxy.

Well, it's finally done. This is intended to be a mid water freediving gun, that will let me hunt over Gulf wrecks where I can't reach the bottom structure, and want to take longer shots than my little Bay gun is capable of. I wanted something that would be a stable and solid platform, with enough mass to handle (3) 5/8" bands.

It's not obvious from the pics, but the wood section is about half the total length (31") and the carbon fiber plus muzzle is the other half.

62" long
5/16" shaft
50" band stretch
Kitto M7 mechanism
Spring resetting line release
Loaded weights 9.5 lbs
Shapelock grips on a Delrin handle frame
1/8" thick carbon tube formed around a Syntactic foam core
Laminated teak stock by "Wood Guy"

more pictures

Better pictures. Starting to come together, still work to do on the finish, muzzle, remote trigger, push rod and butt pad.

1 layer of uni-directional and 1 layer of biaxial. Before wrapping the whole thing I did 2 wraps on the muzzle and 2 wraps of the trigger mech/butt area - so those areas are pretty thick.

Lookin' good. How many layers of CF did you use?

Yea sorry, the pictures suck. I'm finding that it is hard to take clear pictures of subtle shaping of an all carbon fiber form. It will be easier when it has trigger mech, handle, band holes, etc.

Here are some progress pictures - I'm happy so far.

Quote from Adrian

Don't forget I still need a second one please.

Yep. One has your name on it.

You got it Hau, and no need to pay for the materials. Hopefully I'll have them done and in the mail by the end of this week.

Thanks Hau.

I'm about half way done with a batch of 6 black muzzles and 2 white ones. LunkerBuster has already agreed to test one of the white muzzles, and I'll give the second white one for free to anyone who bought a black one and is willing to test the two under similar conditions.

Yep, nice fish! Looks like a beautiful day.

One of the things that I was surprised to learn early on is how aggressive blue crabs and stone crabs are. They are not just scavengers, but are quite able to catch and kill healthy, free swimming fish. Crawfish are the same way in a freshwater tank.

At one time, I had a juvenile redfish about 6" long in the tank, along with a blue crab that was about the size of a silver dollar. Redfish love to eat crabs, but this one was too big, so I thought they would be ok. Over the space of a couple weeks, the crab tormented the redfish, constantly snipping at him until his tail and fins were cut to pieces.

I had made up my mind to remove the crab, but when I got home, the tables had turned. The crab had to shed his shell as part of their normal growth, and that leaves them soft for a while until their new shell hardens. During that few hours, the redfish took him apart. When I got home the redfish was fat with all the crab that he could eat, and the rest of the crab's legs and claws were strewn about the tank.

Probably a moral in there somewhere . . .

Welcome Ihab. Good to have you here.

At the moment, we have a decidely unsophisticated approach to our aquarium. Whatever we can catch or net at the pond down the street goes in. Little bass, catfish, bluegills, turtles, crawfish, whatever. My kids think it's a lot more fun than the same old flashy fish that you usually see. My wife says feeding time (which again consists of whatever worms, crickets, or minnows we can catch) is more like a National Geographic special.

We used to take the same approach with a semi-saltwater aquarium, when I lived near Pensacola Bay and was out most weekends. Damselfish and blennies are colorful, and entertainingly territorial. But the coolest thing we ever had was a 6" flounder. I once put a dozen minnows in at bedtime, thinking that would last him a few days. Next morning, every one was gone. Very cool to watch hime change colors and wiggle under the sand. Shrimp and crabs are fun to watch too.

It's low budget, to be sure, but at least you aren't out $100 when you wake up to find half as many fish as there were the day before!

I felt like doing a "non-diving" project for a change. Blasphemy! But we needed an aquarium stand, and our old tank seems to be of a size that is out of style at the moment. So . . .

It's not as hard as it looks. There is a company called King Archetectural Metals that carries thousands of bent scrolls, legs, etc. Once you have a mental picture of what you want, you just thumb through their immense catalog and look for pieces that fit your vision.

Thanks for posting that Dan. Your self-evaluation (What did I do, am I predisposed, etc) is refreshing in a time where people always rush to blame others when things go wrong.

10-4. The shaft will extend 1.5" beyond the very front of the muzzle.

Excellent! Thank's for doing some controlled testing Adrian.

I'll make up a batch then, with the spike a bit shorter. I have enough material to make about 6 black ones, and a few experimental white ones.

Dan - If 1.5" is long enough to attach your powerheads, then that is what I will use. Previously, they extended 2".

For what it's worth, I don't have a CF barrel to measure, so I can't make a muzzle for it.