Ducati's Build

[Ducati]

Power cells & bracket

 

Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of the machining process on the cells. I needed to deviate from screen accuracy for the sake of coolness on these. The plan was to stick laser pointers inside the power cells. For the sake of servicing I wanted the lids to the cells removable. I ended up threading the rear lids and therefore had to make them a little longer than they should be.

 

The cells just after priming

 

 

The laser cut bracket

 

 

Bending the support tab

 

 

Both tabs bent

 

 

In the break press

 

 

The formed piece

 

 

Test fitting the fuses

 

 

Painted

 

 

Lid detail

 

 

The completed assembly

 

[Ducati]

Wow amazing work!

 

I cannot fathom the skill needed for this (neat toys you have to help though!)

 

I wimped out and bought a sterling parts kit, real hengstler, and real M38 to make my display blaster. And I still had issues getting it all put back together. there is no way in the world I could make it all from scratch and then assemble it!

 

It's not wimping out, just a more efficient build. I'm unable to purchase that kind of stuff where I live so I didn't have much of an option.

 

My build took patience, the guts to try something new, time, and access to the right tools. Everyone here is capable of what you see here. it's just a matter of desire and opportunity.

 

 

 

Thanks for the kind words everyone.

[Ducati]

The Barrel

 

This was the most fun/scary part to make on the whole build. Fun because its the cornerstone of the prop. Scary because its such a complicated part that took 3 full days to make. I was so nervous about punching a hole in the wrong spot mid way through day 3 and having to start all over again. The set up on this part was rather complicated for me. I had to learn how to set up the various tools for holding the parts ensuring that when everything was said and done the barrel was square/perpendicular to the various axis of the machine. Because the part was so long a tiny miscalibration of angle and stuff would not turn out. In addition to all of that There is a point where I would need to change how I was holding the barrel part way through machining. It turned out well in the end, but it was a stressful task.

 

Before the madness begins. Note the extensive drawing in the background.

 

 

Machining the slots for the end cap. Again off what the real blaster was but I'm not fitting a sterling part to it and its not seen so it doesn't matter.

 

 

The first repositioning and resulting set up

 

 

The gauge used to ensure everything is running true. Note the scale of each increment.

 

 

First hole for the bolt cocking lever

 

 

The rest of the slot

 

 

The start of the ejector port & a hole for realigning the barrel when I need to adjust the hold. This alignment hole will eventually get drilled out to become one of the vent holes a the front of the barrel.

 

 

More ejector port work

 

 

 

Rotating the barrel again to punch a hole for electrical stuff

 

 

Another turn, work on some stuff for mounting the mag/clip electrical coupling

 

 

 

A groove for mounting the folding stock pivot tube

 

 

At this point I had done all the work at one end of the barrel and need to flip it around to do the work on the muzzle side. Here's the set up.

 

 

The first couple of vent holes

 

 

Cutting the flat spot where the bayonet would go. Why don't stormtroopers have bayonets?

 

 

That row done

 

 

The bottom row of holes where the folding stock will latch into. Still a small slot to machine after this.

 

 

Coming around the final turn this barrel race

 

 

The last vent hole

 

 

On to another set up to finish the ejector port

 

 

Before

 

 

After

 

 

And the final master piece

 

 

 

 

 

Could a mod please add a "Warning very pic heavy" disclaimer to the thread title?

Edited October 30, 2012 by Ducati

[Ducati]

The scope.

 

This was likely the most dynamic assembly of the whole project. I mean that in I ended up changing the design a whole lot to reflect my improving machining skills. I think I changes the scope body out 4 times! i avoided putting the various English marking in as I felt that it doesn't fit with the Universe. In a galaxy far far away they don't write the Queens. A personal choice on how I wanted my prop, nothing more.

 

Starting with the feet.

 

 

 

 

 

The other foot

 

 

For the lens that the operator would look through I found a cheap pair of binoculars and stripped some stuff out.

 

 

 

I created a graphic in AutoCAD and printed it out on an overhead projector transparency.

 

 

 

On to the scope body

 

 

 

 

I don't know what to call this part. It's different than the screen used, but I like it better.

 

 

 

 

Blending the above part with the scope body with some JB weld. In hindsight there are better ways to do the blend. More on that later.

 

 

 

After a tonne of sanding, more filling, more sanding and a shot of primer

 

 

Stuff glued together. Note the aluminum part in the front is too long in this shot. I ended up pulling it off and cutting it down.

 

 

Primed, but still with the long nose.

 

 

First layer of the brass/copper color.

 

 

Masked off and applying the hammered finish to simulate the sand casting

 

 

Tape off and ready for the regular black

 

 

 

Assembled and weathered

 

 

[Ducati]

T-tracks

 

Fairly straight forward parts to make at this stage of the build. It took about 30mins per track.

 

 

 

 

 

 

From here I would take each piece and shape the end.

 

 

Then I would heat the shaped end with a heat gun and bend the tip of the track around a piece of round bar. Note in the picture below I don't have the end shaped yet. This is a picture of my test bend. I didn't take a photo of the actual work as I had to work fast while the plastic was warm and malleable.

 

 

Test fit in the barrel

 

 

 

Several hours later

 

[senna1rossi[TK]]

wow, soooo cool! must be awesome to have those manufacturing tools

[Ducati]

Muzzle parts, front sight & the internal barrel

 

If you've been following along this long I'm going to assume that you understand the process. I'm gong to trim down on the narration a bit and let the photos tell the story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ducati]

A jig and the front site guard.

 

There are a few cases where I had to make a part to make a part. The front site guard is an example of this. The guard has some very specific angles to it and I wanted to ensure that I got them right. I start with a block of aluminum.

 

 

 

 

 

And onto the forming of the site. The laser cut part

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not sure what to call this part but its related to the front site

 

 

 

Edited October 30, 2012 by Ducati

[SIMpixels]

Stunning work Rob, I am loving this!

 

I had the same idea about my doopydoos scope, have already purchased the OHP inkjet film for that very purpose. Just awaiting my monocular to strip out the elements.

 

Care to share your AutoCAD file of the scope graphic? I'd change it up a bit to suit myself but it'd be a great starting point. Any .dwg version up to v.2012 would be great.

 

Si.

[Ducati]

Stunning work Rob, I am loving this!

 

I had the same idea about my doopydoos scope, have already purchased the OHP inkjet film for that very purpose. Just awaiting my monocular to strip out the elements.

 

Care to share your AutoCAD file of the scope graphic? I'd change it up a bit to suit myself but it'd be a great starting point. Any .dwg version up to v.2012 would be great.

 

Si.

 

Sure I can share it. I just need to figure out how to upload it to FISD. I'll do a DXF as programs other than AutoCAD can digest that format as well.

 

Edit- I can't figure out how to upload the file here. Check your PM's and we'll work something out.

Edited October 30, 2012 by Ducati

[Ducati]

Lock for the butt cap/folding stock

 

Lever raw material

 

 

Trimmed a bit:

 

 

 

 

The other side and the pivot hole

 

 

The finished part with some holes for some details. I tried to figure out how to do the checkering at the end of the lever without a checkering file but that's beyond me. I tried doing it by hand on a bit of scrap and it looked terrible.

 

 

Detail on the bottom with a bore for a spring

 

 

The lever housing:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pivot Pin and bumps

 

 

 

To give you a sense of scale

 

 

I had to make 4 of these buggers for this small assembly. Everything together. The spring is from a bic pen.

 

 

[Ducati]

The rear site and it's guard.

 

On the original the rear site could be flipped between to positions. Each position allowed the weapon to be accurate at different ranges. On most builds as soon as you add the scope rail this option is disabled. I wanted to keep it working for the coolness factor.

 

Pivot hole for the site

 

 

Milling one half of the angle

 

 

Adding the first hole. Note I've already added the radii on a couple of the corners

 

 

A flip of the part and I add the detail to the other side

 

 

 

The guard

 

 

 

A test fit

 

 

Adding the notches on the rear quarter

 

 

 

The pivot pin - same evil process for making these as it was on the lock for the rear stock

 

 

Finally a test fit on the barrel

 

 

And that's it for today.

Edited October 30, 2012 by Ducati

[swmand4]

Wow. Just wow. Stunning work, Rob. I'm looking forward to seeing more of this scratch build!

[Clamps[TK]]

wow, keep up sharing...this is an amazing start!

'

to quote myself but only bigger and more boldly.... WOW well done

[HockeyTrooper[TK]]

Impressive. Most impressive.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Looking very nice, if only i could get access to a machine shop

[Ducati]

Ejector port guards, bayonet stud & part one of the bolt cocking handle

 

In the design stage, i didn't give much thought to these guards. They seemed like they would be simple enough to make, after all they're just a bit of round tube with a couple of cuts, how hard could these be? Well, as it turned out they were nearly impossible to machine completely. They're a real weird shape once the first cut on them is completed and impossible to hold a second time. So I ended up doing work with some hand tools.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bolt cocking handle

 

Not too many pics of this. I made this part fairly early in the build but couldn't finish it until I had the bolt done. There are flats that are machined into the side of the handle that need to align a particular way. I didn't know how stuff would work out until I had both parts. Here is step one on part one.

 

 

 

The bayonet stud.

 

 

 

 

 

There is a small rectangle that I made to attach to the underside of this part, but alas I didn't take pictures.

Edited October 31, 2012 by Ducati

[Ducati]

The grip and trigger assemblies.

 

The actual grip is the one part that I purchased and had no involvement in other than submitting my CC number. It's an actual Sterling grip. My reasoning for going this route was of how complicated this particular part is. There wasn't any easy way (or even difficult way) that I could see to make this part and have the durability/quality/accuracy that I wanted. I ordered the part sometime in November and a month later i had it to start modelling up. I didn't do a full model in this case but more a graphical representation of it with accuracy in places where fit was a concern.

 

Now I'm a fairly meticulous guy when it comes to measuring stuff and I've got some fantastic tools to measure with. I spend a significant amount of time measuring, modelling, double checking. I even had other people independently check my stuff and tell me there was no problems. That being said I still had problems with fit after the fact.

 

So before I get into this next set of pictures a bit of advice for thoughts of you just starting on your quest for a scratch build. Don't get too hung up on thousandths of an inch or fractions of a millimeter. Worry more about proportions, the overall look, and whether or not the parts for your build fit together. There are many ways that an individual part can vary in size; from human error both in measuring and manufacturing to tolerances of the particular feature being measured. Variation could occur because parts are made in different factories with different molds. Or the part could have had a revisions done to them over time. Accuracy (when it comes to this kind of fabrication/prop duplication) is the whole dart board not just the bulls-eye. I promise you no one will ask to see your blaster and pull out a caliper.

 

Measuring the grip

 

 

 

 

 

 

The resulting model

 

 

Bending the parts that get welded to the barrel

 

 

 

 

 

 

After getting the above parts to fit inside the grip I saw that the holes I had laser cut weren't in the right spot. I filled them with JB weld and then. went on the re-drill them.

 

 

 

Eyeballing center on the new hole

 

 

And its all better

 

 

 

 

 

Now to repeat with the inside plates

 

 

The trigger housings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The spring for pushing the trigger back. Again from a pen

 

 

How the two parts fit together

 

 

The trigger guard

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fire selector switch

 

I wanted this switch to be functional. It turns the electronics on/off and switches between modes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Starting assembly

 

 

Filing down the block at the front

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pins for holding the trigger switch

 

 

More pins

 

 

A test fit of the assembly

 

 

 

 

Ok that's a really long post

[Ducati]

Magazine Well and 1/2 of the battery coupler

 

This was a part of highs and lows. Highs in that things were going fantastic until the last cut where the part ended up chipping. I knew at the time that this wasn't a bit deal as I could cover the chipping when I attached everything to the barrel. That area would see a lots of glue, epoxy and filler regardless so a little bit extra wouldn't have made a big difference.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Putting the tapper on the sides

 

 

Note the tapper

 

 

Adding the circular cut to match the barrel

 

 

GRRRRRR chipping!

 

 

I wanted to keep the battery for the electronics in the clip such that you could load a new clip in when the ammo ran out. Through some discussion with a guy a work we came up with the idea of using a couple of contact points from a battery charger to make the electrical connection between the clip and the barrel. To keep the clip in the mag well we would use a magnet to secure things in place. Below are the pics of that coupling for the barrel side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note the rare earth magnet

 

 

 

Ok that's it for today. Tomorrow I'm post the rest of the mag details and the clip construction

[Locitus[Admin]]

Sure I can share it. I just need to figure out how to upload it to FISD. I'll do a DXF as programs other than AutoCAD can digest that format as well.

 

Edit- I can't figure out how to upload the file here. Check your PM's and we'll work something out.

Send me the details and I can make sure It's hosted properly on the site.

 

Most impressive build btw!

[Ducati]

Magazine well details

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adding a small detail to this laser cut part

 

 

 

The adjustment screw for the ejector mechanism

 

 

 

How it all goes together

 

[douglasthecook]

That's really cool!!! The time involved in this is insane, and only matched by the skill behind the machine work.

[MartinSivertsen[501st]]

Wow, I´m really impressed, the time and skill put down in this project is immense, and I don´t even want to think about the cost of materials!

Very, very cool. Looking forward to seeing the rest.

[Ducati]

The clip

 

Another project that is much trickier than it looks. So the inside of the magazine well was cut out with a long 1/4" cutter. As a result the inside corners were round. I needed square corners to allow for the clip to fit inside the well; time to break out the files. Again I didn't take pictures of the filing but thought it was worth mentioning should any of you are using this as reference for your own build.

 

The clip is actually curved on the sides so I had to take my laser cut parts and put a series of very small bends in them.

 

 

 

More laser cut goodness

 

 

More gluing

 

 

The top and bottom plates have grooves cut into them. On the original plates these grooves are curved. I have no way of cleanly cutting these in without spending some big $$'s to get it CnC'd. At the time, I felt that in this case the cost wasn't worth it, as only a small portion of the groove is seen when things are assembled. Cutting the grooves.

 

 

 

I used the mag well as a jig to get everything positioned for gluing

 

 

 

 

 

Now it was time to put the the other half of the electrical coupler in place. Note the sides have angles cut into them to match how it will sit in the clip. The magazine well sits angled to the barrel and this coupler needs to sit parallel.

 

 

If you notice the connections aren't centered in the clip but they do line up perfectly with their mating parts

 

 

I just realized that I don't have a picture of this end of the coupler . I will take one later and put it here to show what I did. There are 2 mating electrical contacts with wires running thru the holes in the picture above. In the center I put a mild steel bolt that mates to the magnet on the barrel. On the back side of the plate shown above I have a battery clip soldered to the wires.

 

The clip cap

 

i had the cap laser cut. My original plan was to bend the edges around but I found that I couldn't get the bend that tight. Consequently i had to have a friend help me with his magic welding torch.

 

 

 

Next was to mill a countersink to mount the little ball that pokes through the hole in the end cap.

 

 

 

Then off to the lathe to make the ball. I actually had to make 3 before I got one that I liked.

 

 

 

 

The weird thing on the side that helps align the clip into the well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A test fit

 

 

A small pin for the part above

 

 

Another part bent using a hammer

 

 

 

After filling and sanding; ready for priming

 

 

 

With just the black

 

 

And with the light weathering

 

 

[Ducati]

The folding stock - part 1

 

I really wanted a folding stock that worked. I consider it the thing to have on a blaster. I spent the most design time on the stock to get the various locking mechanisms just right. There isn't much reference material out there on how the thing worked so it was a bit of a struggle to figure it all out. The original design is really clever and simple. Although I its a total pain in the a$$ to unfold in a hurry. I ended up modifying things a little bit but no one would be able to tell away from HD pics on the internet.

 

 

 

Trimmed and ready for details

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Putting the radii on the corners

 

 

 

Cleaning out the inside

 

 

Edited November 2, 2012 by Ducati