What work did you just do?

[Davio]

Two days of running back and forth between lathe, powdercoat oven and dip tanks.  This is the bounty but three are absent (one pair of camo grips and two brakes) are already off to owners.

None of the dipped items have been finished yet.  They get a long dry before they get the clear. 

One of these items (oh, no... another mystery item  ) will likely be on my gauntlet entry.  It is one of the "strange items" and made with a purpose.

The carbon fiber brake has much more work to finish.  You can't even see what the tip is all about.  Better pics when done, but...

This is most of the work I did Sunday and Monday.    

I had to rush because a box is coming from a great Master Buddy of mine and I dare not let him down!   

[droid]

The skills of the dudes on here never cease to amaze me 

[KevinP]

I like the grips ....  to cool  ...   

[crossliner]

I hate it here everyone shines

[Mark5043]

Thanks for posting the photos. I have considered using a hydrographics kit on a future build so any tips you throw out there would be useful.

Sure no problem chef.I'm pretty new to dipping myself,but hopefully can steer you in the right direction. I'm learning a lot from Jim Urbano of K2concepts.He is a real nice guy,and will answer questions you have on dipping methods,and trouble shooting etc.I chose to back tape the grips,as I could not do them in one "hit" because of stretching of the CF pattern.So I dip one half at a time,with edges taped,then clear that side,then repeat the process on the other side.It works well,and is seamless.For stuff like Camo,I don't back tape a lot of stuff,because it's much harder to notice stretching of the pattern,compared to that of CF.I will consider myself proficient in dipping when I can do a Magpul collapsible stock in one hit,as they have a pretty complex shape.Here is a link to Jim at K2concepts....

https://www.youtube.com/user/k2concepts?feature=watch

[Mark5043]

Two days of running back and forth between lathe, powdercoat oven and dip tanks.  This is the bounty but three are absent (one pair of camo grips and two brakes) are already off to owners.

None of the dipped items have been finished yet.  They get a long dry before they get the clear. 

One of these items (oh, no... another mystery item  ) will likely be on my gauntlet entry.  It is one of the "strange items" and made with a purpose.

The carbon fiber brake has much more work to finish.  You can't even see what the tip is all about.  Better pics when done, but...

This is most of the work I did Sunday and Monday.    

I had to rush because a box is coming from a great Master Buddy of mine and I dare not let him down!   

Nice work Davio! 

[breakfastchef]

Here is a link to Jim at K2concepts....

https://www.youtube.com/user/k2concepts?feature=watch

Thanks for that link. I am trying to watch as many videos as possible to better understand how to dip things that need filp on 360 degrees of surface (i.e. stock, barrel, compression tube). Single flat surfaces look to be pretty easy, but figuring out how to approach the film with more complicated objects, looks, well, complicated.

[Mark5043]

Indeed.It does take a bit of thought depending on the object involved.

[BDS]

Mark... watching your progress with great interest, I will need to give the old "dip" process a try one of these days.

I used to work for a carbon fiber maker and the woven CF fabrics were sorted into 2 types "decorative" and structural due to weave distortion.

Actually BGF (a big fabric maker) made black dyed fiberglass in several patterns to simulate CF for the decorative guys. Much cheaper than CF.

[AS13]

Finished replacing most the soft slot head screws on my 2400 with 8-32 button head hex drive screws. I had to re-tap the grip holes, the bottom of the barrel band and the flat metal plate (that holds the rear forearm screw) to 8-32. No more hassles with the Crosman screws The only one left original is the valve screw. I don't take that off, so I left it as is (8-32 would be to big anyway).

[Mark5043]

Mark... watching your progress with great interest, I will need to give the old "dip" process a try one of these days.

I used to work for a carbon fiber maker and the woven CF fabrics were sorted into 2 types "decorative" and structural due to weave distortion.

Actually BGF (a big fabric maker) made black dyed fiberglass in several patterns to simulate CF for the decorative guys. Much cheaper than CF.

I would definitely try the dipping process,when you get a chance.You'll like it. 
Very interesting that you worked for a CF maker.
Years ago I spent some time doing some work in actual CF,making bodies for 1/5 scale gas powered RC cars etc.Time consuming,and expensive,but very nice.I want to make some grips in real CF,but in my opinion that would require vacuum bagging in order to get it right.For the time being I may try to do a CF skin,or overlay.

[Mark5043]

Finished replacing most the soft slot head screws on my 2400 with 8-32 button head hex drive screws. I had to re-tap the grip holes, the bottom of the barrel band and the flat metal plate (that holds the rear forearm screw) to 8-32. No more hassles with the Crosman screws The only one left original is the valve screw. I don't take that off, so I left it as is (8-32 would be to big anyway).

Sweet.It really does make working on your rig easier.

[BDS]

I would definitely try the dipping process,when you get a chance.You'll like it. 
Very interesting that you worked for a CF maker.
Years ago I spent some time doing some work in actual CF,making bodies for 1/5 scale gas powered RC cars etc.Time consuming,and expensive,but very nice.I want to make some grips in real CF,but in my opinion that would require vacuum bagging in order to get it right.For the time being I may try to do a CF skin,or overlay.

Ya, a CF skin that uses the stock grips as a mold (mold release etc) could work out ok if the back side gets scuffed up and the right adhesive were used to bond the skin to the customers original grips. Even a 1/64" thick CF skin is strong enough to hang on for as long the gun is around. Those stock grips need a littl more beef on e'm anyway IMO.

[Mark5043]

Ya, a CF skin that uses the stock grips as a mold (mold release etc) could work out ok if the back side gets scuffed up and the right adhesive were used to bond the skin to the customers original grips. Even a 1/64" thick CF skin is strong enough to hang on for as long the gun is around. Those stock grips need a littl more beef on e'm anyway IMO.

Yup,that's exactly what I was thinking. Some of the stuff I used to work with was a CF,and Kevlar weave...That fabric is crazy tough.

[Gippeto]

Davio, loving those WW2 tank type muzzle brakes. 

AS13, for valve retention screw...8-32 low head shcs fits the hole in the tube better than the factory screw...have a box of 100...let me know if you need a couple.

Al