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But in this thread, at least for the moment, I'm wondering about something where there'd be maybe a couple dozen sales.
Not too long ago on eBay I saw a CCM cram n’ jam go for over $200. Couldn’t believe it. I’m not sure if there’s anyone that makes a comparable aluminum CNJ at the moment, but it it seems simple enough to make and I’m sure there’s more than one person in this thread who would buy one (I would) to slap on their pumps.
Then again, making a CNJ could be a complete pain in the ass and not worth the time, I don’t know I’m not a machinist I’m just a bum who lives in a dumpster.
-Wait, aluminum reg backs? I thought those had fallen out of style. I seem to recall Superman, or one of the other regular buy-and-sellers, tossing them as scrap because they don't sell.
Reg Caps, sure, I've made a couple over the years. Is there actually any demand?
There seems to be really strong demand for the aluminum backs in gloss black. Anyone that's throwing them away is a wingnut. I've seen a couple selling for crazy prices (the shocktech ones and that one that was spurlock's first business - can't recall off the top of my head right now). They remove a few ounces of stainless steel and look nicer too. Personally I'd snag a handful of them if they were available at a fair price.
Same with the reg caps. Might be worth a feeler post in the Mag section here, but mags are red hot at the moment and virtually no one makes parts for them.
Detents for Micromags? I'm only aware of the plastic ones with the L-shaped lever. Is there another style? I don't see why I couldn't dupe that... But as before, I'd need to borrow a Micro with a detent to go off of.
How about Micro VASAs? I've been asked for those before, and made one or two a good while back. How about a vertical feed adapter?
There's 2 different styles of the detents for Micromags - the first was a plastic bolt-on body that held that L lever you described. The second, the bodies were machined to hold that L Lever in place. I think there would be some interest in a gloss-black aluminum replacement detent body (I'd buy some), and I know there would be interest in the plastic L levers themselves.
I'd be happy to send you one of those bolt-on detent assemblies to reconstruct if this is something of interest.
As far as feeds go, personally I like the powerfeed and right feed options that came with them. I know someone 3d printed a vert feed option, not sure how successful that was.
zinger565 check out Jordan's Compact Edit Automag submission on this thread: https://www.mcarterbrown.com/forum/p...rch-motm-mechs
You essentially remove the regulator portion of the automag valve, and then run a standard HPR as a foregrip. Can chop the rail shorter to make the overall gun shorter.
I can't think of anything that hasn't been listed, but the three that stand out to me are the ICE Epic seals, the Brass Eagle Nightmare seals, and the 68 Carbine feednecks.
I don't know how many Epic users are out there that would want seals, but I know I would. I have one on the wall in our gun museum, and if I remember correctly it's missing the reg internals.
The nightmare was part bad design, part hard to find parts. The bad design is that there are a number of 114 or 115 o-rings (I forget the exact number, but suffice to say they're in the 110s) that get dragged past some threaded openings and get chewed up. But that's not unmanageable. The valve seat is the hard one. As you said, it is a flat seal. I forget who it was, but about a decade ago (man I'm old) someone here made me some out of teflon. I think he turned them out of teflon rods. I think I still have two or three, I could definitely spare one for the cause. I need one to rebuild the Nightmare we have in our museum, but I know I have more than one.
The 98 Platinum vertical adapter would be cool too, but I don't know if there's much of a market for that. For reference, when the 98 Platinum came out in 2008 or whenever it was, they changed the valve from a threaded 1/8 NPT connection to a weird compression fitting. There's a square nut that floats in the body below the valve, and the gas line runs thru it. You tighten the hose on the nut and it tightens up against the bottom of the valve body. Incredibly stupid design, IMO.
Not too long ago on eBay I saw a CCM cram n’ jam go for over $200. Couldn’t believe it. I’m not sure if there’s anyone that makes a comparable aluminum CNJ at the moment, but it it seems simple enough to make and I’m sure there’s more than one person in this thread who would buy one (I would) to slap on their pumps.
-Hm... Those, too, might be a little outside my current CNC skill level. That's the kind of thing I can make easily by hand, but I'm still rather new at drawing such things digitally, and converting that drawing over to a toolpath for a CNC mill.
There seems to be really strong demand for the aluminum backs in gloss black.
-Well, they're easy enough to make, anyway. Might give that a try.
There's 2 different styles of the detents for Micromags - the first was a plastic bolt-on body that held that L lever you described. The second, the bodies were machined to hold that L Lever in place.
-Oh, right. It's been a while since I had any Micros come through the shop. No problem on making either style.
I'd be happy to send you one of those bolt-on detent assemblies to reconstruct if this is something of interest.
-Let me tally up a few of these things, and later this evening, or this weekend, I'll drop a note to some of you, and we can arrange delivery for a few of these markers. (Typical, I have somewhere north of 120 guns on hand, but not some of the ones I need. )
Yeah a mag aluminum reg back to replace stainless but the shock tech and diamond labs units sell for about 80 bucks on the higher side so it needs to be a good deal cheaper than that, so maybe too much work?
they appeal to people who want a lighter mag but don’t want an RT / shoot up style valve just balll on ball accurate mag.
If you do work on the Epics, be careful. I think it is somewhat beneficial that the seals ran out and lasted for as short time as they did. The flexing of the rear cap as the chamber charges and discharges is very off-putting and can actually stretch and crack the aluminum.
Yeah a mag aluminum reg back to replace stainless but the shock tech and diamond labs units sell for about 80 bucks on the higher side so it needs to be a good deal cheaper than that, so maybe too much work?
-Hum. Yeah, I think trying to keep them at that or less might be tricky. There's both turning and milling, and some pretty close tolerances. Not saying I can't do it, I might not be able to do it cheaply.
That's something we need to keep in mind- I have some fancy machines, but I don't have a modern, high-speed production facility. My machines are capable, but bare bones. Parts on my machines take longer, and more handling (moving from fixture to fixture between processes.) I have lower overhead than most shops, but I probably also have to spend a lot more time on a part run.
It's been awhile and I may have missed it; what happened to the lever action marker? I hope the only problem was that it was too expensive.
-I mentioned earlier in the thread, but to clarify: I bought these machines in large part specifically to make the Duke. BUT... I also need to make them earn their keep, and I need to learn how to use them. I know it's a surprise to some, but while I've been a manual machinist for some 25 years now, I hadn't so much as pushed the "start' button on anything CNC until a comparatively few years ago.
The learning curve has been kind of steep in spots.
But that's also the reason for this thread. I'd like to "practice" by running a few more small batches through these things. Not only to help pay off the machines, but also as practical practice in running and operating.
If you do work on the Epics, be careful. I think it is somewhat beneficial that the seals ran out and lasted for as short time as they did. The flexing of the rear cap as the chamber charges and discharges is very off-putting and can actually stretch and crack the aluminum.
-Wait, what? The back cap of the Epic is like 1/4" thick. If it's flexing, that's because the bolts holding it on aren't tight. That's not a design issue.
Aluminum stick feeds would be a big hit. Bolt on spider dimension like used on modern CCM/CCI, thread in type for empire adapters or just a nice windowd aluminum one for standard feednecks nobody makes aluminum anymore they are all printed or plastic.
If it fits a CCM it will sell for a premium. I can help you design exactly what those CCM wack jobs will pay mint for.
I really like docs gas thru foregrip and angled vasas are difficult to find.
-I have more foregrips on the way, but I'd been led to understand the whole "angled VASA" thing had petered out. I've made several runs of those over the years- if there's any interest, I can sure crank out some more.
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