ADA: Ask Doc Anything!

[DocsMachine]

Maybe you should use one of your “white boards” to keep up with customer jobs and timelines to keep you on track. Just a thought.

-Since I'm apparently not allowed to use sarcasm I'll simply point out that yes, four of my nine whiteboards (four in the machine shop, two in the main shop, two here in the office and one in the inventory storeroom) are, in fact, dedicated to scheduling. I've had at least one such board dedicated to the task since I opened. (Which I recently replaced, since the old one had literally worn out.)

Regarding the conduct of the argument, several sarcastic remarks in this thread were obviously crafted to produce a negative emotional response. Name-calling is also unacceptable.

-For which, on my part at least, I sincerely apologize. I appreciate your intercession and the personal note.

I'm told I have the option of locking this thread myself, but I believe I'll decline. Up until the last day or two, this has been a fun thread, and I believe I helped quite a few people with questions, issues and projects. Considering I've been doing that since the WARPIG days, I'd like to continue doing so.

You gentlemen may continue to point to it as an example of how godawful atrocious a person I am, as an indicator of my undoubtedly poor lineage, and as an example of my clearly substandard manhood.

And yes, I have no doubt it will cost me some sales. BUT... I also make no apologies for defending myself- or even just explaining myself.

Finally: Anyone else like to air their dirty laundry? Free thread, gents. I'm such a terrible businessman, there must be legions of you out there, whom I left penniless and bleeding in the gutter.

In every order I've shipped out in the past four years, I've included a 'thank you' card that contains the line: If you like my product, tell a friend. If you don't like it, tell ME. I can't fix a problem I don't know about. It doesn't fit your gun? Tell me, I'll fix it. I sent the wrong part? Tell me, I'll replace it.

Doc.

[dartamon]

Right, let's get back to what we're really here for: building a custom vert feed Raptor. A $1K budget and no holds barred - where does that take us?

[DocsMachine]

There's plenty we can do, but you gotta understand, it's kind of an open-ended question. It's like "what can I do to this car?" Well, are you going to drag race it? Mud-bog it? Autocross?

In the case of a paintball gun, are you looking only for maximum performance? The best consistency, accuracy and efficiency? Are you looking for a wild showpiece that looks as good as it plays? Are you looking for a major reconfiguration, like an electro conversion?

Repeating my last answer: Bolt, definitely, maybe a better detent; we fit it for an Empire style feed neck, and a Freak back.

After that? If you wanted to give it a swing, we could try one of those low-recoil valves, add some body milling and have it custom annoed, and if you really want to get wild, replace the pot-metal grip frame with milled aluminum.

Throw a midrange-pressure inline reg on there and do some tuning for consistency. If you have a choice of rail or ASA, if that needs a T-slot or dovetail, that can be added too.

I need at least a little guidance. My idea of cool and radical might not be your idea of cool and radical. I mean, I might wind up trying to fit a Gamma Core engine in there.

Doc.

[Tinybear]

Oh your post about the raptor makes me thing it be really nice to have a milled aluminum trigger frame for a tippmann Pro/Carbine. And to expand on my earlier inquest about the Pro/Carbine Foregrip. I more ment just the feed elbow aka like a 68. Carbine but in aluminum and with a modern clamping setup.

of course this is a dangerous rabbit hole.

[Cunha]

The APP frame is machined aluminum. They aren't too expensive when you can find them. APP had them in stock as recently as like 5 years ago you might call them and see if they can find one in a box somewhere.

[pghp8ntballer]

Not to hijack Doc’s thread but to your point Cunha, they show limited quantities available on the APP website. Definitely worth a call or email if someone is searching for one.

http://www.allenpaintball.com/retailframeset.html

[un2xs]

Regarding the Blade...

-Good question! And hard to answer.

On one hand, they're rare.

On the other hand, they've been around for some 25 years now, and there's really never been any collector's interest in them.

I can pretty much guarantee that if you customized one, you'd have the only one, ever.

Doc, the idea intrigues me. However, I have no idea what custom milling costs. Unfortunately, it is more than likely to be out of my funday funds. I suppose I should field one as designed before contemplating customization.

As an aside, do you charge more or less when a customer says use your imagination on a gun? Does the charge for your services boil down to just machine time? Do you include artist think time in the final billing?

On another topic: Chainsaws! What advantage does gutting a muffler give? Is it worth doing? How does it affect durability? Any other thoughts on this?

[DocsMachine]

Oh your post about the raptor makes me thing it be really nice to have a milled aluminum trigger frame for a tippmann Pro/Carbine.

-That can certainly be done. I made one for my own personal Carbine shortly after they came out. But there's no way I can hand-make one as inexpensively as the APP unit.

And to expand on my earlier inquest about the Pro/Carbine Foregrip. I more ment just the feed elbow aka like a 68. Carbine but in aluminum and with a modern clamping setup.

-Just the feed neck would be fairly easy. It'd be a touch awkward as it'd have to extend down to the bottom 'rail' of the body to have a place to firmly bolt it, or it'd have to have a sort of "clamping half" to fix it to the body firmly, but yeah, that can be done fairly easily.

of course this is a dangerous rabbit hole.

-Aren't they all?

Doc.

[DocsMachine]

Regarding the Blade...[snip] I have no idea what custom milling costs.

-It varies. My shop time is usually $50 an hour.

As an aside, do you charge more or less when a customer says use your imagination on a gun? Does the charge for your services boil down to just machine time? Do you include artist think time in the final billing?

-Good question! You gents are lucky that I'm an enthusiast; I've done considerable work for players over the years, for comparatively cheap, simply because I thought it was a fun and interesting project. It's another one of those things that probably lists me as a terrible businessman, but there's far more to life than money. (Although admittedly money is an excellent lubricant to make going through life a lot easier. )

If money were my sole drive, I've gotten any number of offers to work on the North Slope as a machinist- there was one in '07 from a close friend of the family and was $85K to start. Today I'd be making twice that- and Slope work is generally two-on, two-off, so that's $160K for half a year's work.

But, it's also boring. Turning the same drill-pipe stem threads every day, or rebushing yet another 1,000HP pump scroll- usually while the boss stands behind you checking his watch every thirty seconds, because that pump being down is costing the company $50K an hour...

No thanks.

I charge what I think the job is worth. I'm a player myself, and I've never had money to throw around, so I tend to price things to about what I'd want to pay for the same thing, myself.

On another topic: Chainsaws! What advantage does gutting a muffler give? Is it worth doing? How does it affect durability? Any other thoughts on this?

-In a typical two-stroke chainsaw (or other small-implement engine) the muffler is an important part of the exhaust system. As mentioned back in the 2-stroke porting post a few pages back, the 'reversion' or reverse pressure wave in the exhaust is an important part of the cycle- it helps keep too much of the fresh fuel charge from escaping out the exhaust, and the initial expansion of the charge helps draw the fuel charge in to the cylinder.

To work properly as designed, the engine needs that additional restriction from the muffler. Back in the early days, mufflers were afterthoughts, and in many cases probably did, in fact, hurt performance. But today's engines have that muffler designed into the system- taking it off or gutting it upsets the 'timing', for want of a better word.

Yes, you can get a little more power out of a modern saw engine, but it's like any other engine; you need to work both ends- intake and exhaust- and do so in a proper, effective manner, not just cracking off a muffler and thinking you're getting twice as much power because it's twice as loud.

Leave that to the Harley owners.

Doc.

[un2xs]

Which do you rate higher and why: Snowcat/Bombi or snowmobile?

[Paintslinger16]

Leave that to the Harley owners.

I will have you know I had AR (anti-reversion) cones drag pipes on my Harley! 🤪

[un2xs]

Leave that to the Harley owners.

This brings up something I have never understood. Why do a lot of Harly riders remove the baffles on a perfectly good straight from the factory bike?

To me the "Loud Pipes Save Lives!" argument is bogus. All those loud pipes really seem to do is piss off people like me when the bike goes through my neighborhood at Oh dark thirty.

It also reminds me: What do old Harleys and hound dogs have in common? The both ride around in the backs of trucks & leak a lot of fluids.

.

[DocsMachine]

Which do you rate higher and why: Snowcat/Bombi or snowmobile?

-That's like asking what I rate higher, a car or a pickup truck. They're two different things, serve two different purposes.

The Snowcat/Snow Trac/Nodwell/etc. type vehicles are workhorses- those are used for trail grooming, hauling lumber, hauling people out to camps, that sort of thing. Handy, but not what you'd call sporty.

A proper snowmachine is meant for recreation- to go out and carve some trails in fresh powder.

Never owned a Nodwell, have owned several snowmachines over the years.

Doc.

[DocsMachine]

To me the "Loud Pipes Save Lives!" argument is bogus.

-It is, and I can prove it.

If loud pipes did indeed save lives, then a far cheaper solution would be to wire the horn to sound constantly as long as the key is on. Horns are designed and intended to alert other drivers, after all.

Why doesn't anyone do that?

Because that wouldn't be cool. Loud pipes sound cool, buzzing horns don't.

Ergo, coolness takes precedence over safety. The proper phrase, therefore, is more like "Loud Pipes Make My Balls Feel Big!"

(And before anyone gets indignant at me again, that comes from a hard-core, dyed-in-the-wool musclecar enthusiast. I love the sound of a good tuned exhaust. The problem is, most Harley exhausts aren't tuned- they're just bare pipes. They don't 'rumble', they 'blaaat!' But straight pipes are way cheaper than tuned pipes with resonators, so apparently in descending order, it's cheap, cool, then safe. )

Doc.

[Paintslinger16]

There is certain point that loud pipes make people aware. But completely open pipes or the cut off LAF pipes are not it. They actually result in power loss, 2:1 with a baffle make the most power

[Tinybear]

Well being a long time motorcycle rider with 13 different motorcycles in my past (4 of which had louder exhausts installed). And also a rider that was nearly killed By an inattentive cager.

I think I’m well qualified to chime in on the loud pipes saving lives debate.

And the short answer is it’s a load of B.S. Much same can be said for bright coloured clothes and the such.

When I got hit the driver. She would have been looking straight at my head light and turned into me regardless (can’t confirm if I honked or anything really as I lost most memory of the day prior to walking up on the road).

I have had many drivers before my accident and since who just didn’t bother looking and went to change lanes into me. Didn’t matter if I was riding my loud piped Victory or my near silent Vstrom.

Additionally I have fixed big diesels my whole life. Those are never really quite and they get hit all the time. Presently I fix school busses there loud have loads of light and are bright bloody yellow. But yet despite it all. My bus body repair skills are tested regularly.

That all being said I’m all for a well sounding bike with a good exhaust. My Victory had a good sounding set of pipes on it. It wasn’t obnoxious and combine with the intake and programming really woke the bike up even more. Same can be said for the 2-1 Cobra and max air kit/carb jetting I had on my VStar 1100. Not obnoxious but a bit louder and A LOT more power. Also put a Akrapovic on my Honda CBF600 that cost a fortune and only really made it sound slightly better. One my bikes a TW 200 came with a aftermarket pipe and I absolutely hated it. It was obnoxious and annoying. I put in a baffle to that pipe to make it somewhat tolerable, but was always looking to replace it with a stock pipe. Rest my bikes had stock pipes. Thought I maybe looking to sell my duel sport and get another cruiser to ride again with the wife. And I do enjoy well tuned pipes on v twins so may end up with one more.