Old Discovery Channel program showing Tippmann making X7s; Lotsa neat CGI

[The Inflicted]

Pretty cool stuff, though I mourn all the jobs shown here that no longer exist.
https://youtu.be/XfSsIkpoicE?si=sd3uLW8Vo8cIHQUy&t=48

Also, the video's thumbnail is totally cursed.



One thing I'm wondering about, though- in the video it says repeatedly that the Phenoms are cast from aluminum, but I remember back in the day Tippmann making a big deal out of the fact that they were a magnesium/aluminum alloy. Was that just the old Mechanical X7s and not the Phenoms?

[The Inflicted]

To clarify- the actual video is NOT AI garbage.

[Magmoormaster]

Pretty sure it was just the original x7 that was magnesium. Cool vieo though. The cgi is very well done.

[Interl0per]

I'd seen the casting before, never saw the Tippmann factory, very cool and yeah a little sad

I'd be surprised if the Phenoms used a significantly different material in the castings from their other cast bodies, now i want to see if i can come up with an experiment with mine vs my 98 to find out lol

[DocsMachine]

One thing I'm wondering about, though- in the video it says repeatedly that the Phenoms are cast from aluminum, but I remember back in the day Tippmann making a big deal out of the fact that they were a magnesium/aluminum alloy.

-The bodies are die-cast, as the video shows, a form of injection molding. You can't use "plain aluminum", as that doesn't work well, here. You need to make an alloy specifically for it- something like A380, which is an aluminum alloy with quite a bit of silicon and copper. Zinc can be added for cost reasons (it's cheaper than aluminum) and some will even had a percentage of iron which helps the molds last longer.

Aluminum and magnesium is easily possible- there's dozens of "die cast" alloys- but the mag would only be a percentage of the aluminum, since it costs quite a bit more than al. And there'd be little reason to use a "magnesium only" alloy- the shells would be lighter, but would cost about a third again more, and be more prone to corrosion.

Doc.

[Trbo323]

Magnesium? I don't remember that at all. Are you sure you're not thinking of the tm15? That one was magnesium and definitely felt a little different if you have worked with both. I've worked with a handful of phenoms and they never struck me as anything but aluminum.

I'm with doc, if that's true I'd also wager it's a small percentage of the mix

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