usaeatt2

I've been considering cutting the cod for a long time. There is another thread about it (don't remember who posted it), but that trooper came up with a BRILLIANT method for cutting the cod. I like the "diamond cut" method a lot better than the straight cut, and this is how I plan to do it. These are the pictures I grabbed from the other thread (thanks to whoever posted them!):

I should have tried a test piece before my first post because I've got interesting results... Somebody at Sharpie must have mixed some of their permanant black India ink with the oil based paint. I made a test piece with several different size lines, watched an hour of TV with the wife, then tried to remove the lines. The paint was completely dry - not like my Humbrol that takes two days to dry. It took 10 minutes of rubbing vigorously with a rag SOAKED in mineral spirits...and that just removed the paint. Under the paint, the white plastic was stained a darkish brown color. Removing the stains took another 10 minutes of rubbing. Because of this, I wouldn't use this unless I was DAMN sure I could get it right in one error-free pass. I also tried cutting the tip down to a finer point. That was easy with a sharp exacto blade, but the tip doesn't hold it's shape when you have to push it into the marker to reload the paint. AND, now I've got black stains on my fingertips that acetone won't remove. Should be fun at work tomorrow. Thinking I'll stick with the tried and true Humbrol and a brush...

Alright guys, good advice.

I think I would have the same problem with a brush... It's oil based paint, NOT a regular Sharpie marker...

Anybody ever used one of these for painting the black lines (around the ears and traps) on their helmet? As long as the line isn't too thick, this seems like a no brainer way to get consistent line thickness...

A well organized, well written thread with electronics diagrams and a parts list up front? Revealing an epic name change we've all been hoping for? This looks like it's gonna be GOOD... Subscribed!

Google or Bing. Type "mm to inches". Instant conversion calculator...

Ok, home now and I can see the pictures much better. SamJ pretty much summed it up... This is a professional deac and I would leave it alone, otherwise, you're going to reactivate it and make it ILLEGAL. That's quite a piece of work in the trigger group! They milled off the top of the SEAR, flush with the housing, and welded it in place. Impressive! See the hole in the top? A spring and pin are inserted in the sear from the bottom of that hole. It doesn't look like they even bothered to remove the spring before milling. I'm assuming the pin is still under the spring too. With the sear welded in place, the trigger isn't going to move much. The ejector is removed through the ejection port. It WON'T come out any other way. Sounds like the steel 'deactivation' rod and/or bolt prevent removal. They filled the muzzle bolts with weld, but I'm pretty sure the weld should extend into the muzzle somewhere. The idea is to prevent you from removing the screws and replacing the barrel with a functional barrel. Trying to reverse any of this would likely cause serious damage to the gun itself, which is why they deactivate them this way. I'm not saying it can't be done, but you'll need a shop full of tools, an acetylene torch, a TIG welder, some replacement parts, gunsmithing skills and a ton of patience. My advice? Clean it really well, make your E-11 modifications and enjoy your LEGAL deac. Cleaning: That grease REALLY stinks, but it prevented your 50+ year old gun from rusting! Beyond that, the original wrinkle coating is a 'B' to remove. Here's the best method I've found: Buy a gallon can of "chemical dip" from an automotive store. It's used to clean carburetors. Disassemble what you can, place those parts in the parts basket (inside the can), then put one end of the gun in the can. Make DAMN SURE you secure the top half of the gun to something so it doesn't fall over. Chemical dip is NASTY stuff. Wear gloves...it WILL eat through your skin. Depending on the brand, the fumes are usually many times stronger than paint fumes. Leave the parts soak overnight. When you remove parts, do it over a plastic drop cloth or carpet squares you don't mind throwing away. Many pieces will be covered with "black goo". Wipe off as much as you can with disposable paper towels. Dip the other end of the gun for 24 hours. Wipe down. Next, you can hit any stubborn areas with Aircraft Stripper and a towel. Most of the grease should be long gone by now. For a final degreasing, I spray everything down LIBERALLY with brake parts cleaner - I'll easily use a whole can through the course of cleaning, prepping and assembling one gun. Blow everything out with compressed air. Start your modifications and painting! You'll need to be sure to get the paint in all the little nooks and crannies, otherwise it will start rusting in those areas. We're using them for props and displays, but a deac is still a real gun (non-firing gun) and needs to be treated as such. I coated mine with phosphate coating to help prevent corrosion, then a bake-on finish and finally wiped it down with a light gun oil. Another less messy option for cleaning is to sandblast everything, but that's a whole other set of tools and equipment... If your intent is only for external appearance, you might be able to get the whole thing cleaned up enough for painting with a can of aircraft stripper, which you can usually find near the spray paint at most hardware stores. Good luck with your project! I'll be watching and commenting! Aaron

LOTS of questions! I have answers for all your questions, but it's more than I can answer from work on my iPhone. Give me a couple hours and I'll respond when I get home.

NICE!!! There's some serious talent on the FISD. Get after it, Brian!!!

I like the end...IN YOUR FACE!!!! That's an AWESOME option! BIG advantage that it ships PRE-WIRED...no soldering tiny boards and wires. I would start the slow clap, but that might cause an "accidental weapons discharge"...

The new knurling looks spot on! Is that the Tamiya putty that comes in a tube? Since some Sterlings are 50+ years old, I've never seen "perfect" knurling on any of them. It's all banged up and worn down, especially near the top/edges. Nice work, Brian! As Ian mentioned, I'm noticing knurled items all over my house now... Thanks for the Japanese saying. It applies to a lot of things I take for granted, but should really stop to appreciate!

I can't stop thinking about the tactile switches inside the gloves...love that idea! More of the "blaster sound system" arrived today! Selector switches and speakers from Poland. Excited (and partially worried) about what kind of sound will come out of 32mm 3W speakers...

Brian, I know you're past this, but I thought about you today while digging through my toolbox looking for a specific size punch... I thought, "Hey, this WHOLE drawer is FULL of different knurling patterns." You could just roll the knurling into putty like using a bakers rolling pin. Most of the patterns are several inches long. Then I remembered I had an small, spare drill chuck - it's knurled too. Maybe something to file in your memory for the next time you're at the hardware store...punches are cheap and maybe you can find the right pattern!

Awesome work, Brian! The details are ULTRA-CRISP! Muzzle screw knurling, scope lettering, magwell lettering, all the bolt details - you've GOT to be proud of your molds! I also like how the folding stock arms are beefed up, but mostly hidden. Was the front sight left solid for durability too? Man, every trooper in your garrison will want one of those! Did you use a pressure pot when casting? Any thoughts about casting more or is this a one-time piece?

Well...this was my "skunkworks/black ops" project, but I might as well share in this thread because the cat's out of the bag... I was saving this for a future update on my carbon fiber build, but it looks like several others have beat me to it. I have the Adafruit sound board. The board and 1400mAh lithium battery should fit inside the magazine. You can also get a power "backpack" for the board which will allow you to plug the blaster in to recharge it without having to disassemble to replace batteries. The sound board has a built-in 2W amplifier, 11 triggers and 2MB of storage. I plan to rig it into the trigger and a functional selector switch. I will use the selector switch to select "random" (safe), "cycling" (semi-automatic) or "basic" (automatic), then use the trigger to initiate the sounds. The board offers some pretty impressive features: No Arduino or other microcontroller required! It is completely stand-alone, just needs a 3 to 5.5VDC battery Small - only 1.9" x 0.85" Built in storage - yep! you don't even need an SD card, there's 2MB of storage on the board itself. Good for a few minutes of compressed stereo, and maybe half a minute of uncompressed stereo. Double that if you go with mono instead of stereo. If you need more storage, check out the 16MB version. Built in Mass Storage USB - Plug any micro USB cable into the Sound Board and your Windows computer, you can drag and drop your files as if it were a USB key Compressed or Uncompressed audio - Go with compressed Ogg Vorbis files for longer audio files, or uncompressed WAV files High Quality Sound - You want 44.1KHz 16 bit stereo? Not a problem! The decoding hardware can handle any bit/sample rate and mono or stereo 11 Triggers - Connect up to 11 buttons or switches, each one can trigger audio files to play Stereo line out - We breakout the line out levels so you can connect up headphones if desired 2 x 2W Class D Amplifier - Get booming instantly, we baked in a stereo amplifier that can drive 4-8 ohm speakers, up to 2.2W with only 1% distortion Five different trigger effects - by changing the name of the files, you can create five different types of triggers without any programming

STELLAR work on that dovetail! Nom, nom, nom!

Crikey! This is COOL!! I love the magnet idea. I was going to hollow out my magazine for electronics. I wonder if there's room to put small neodynium magnets in the corners and still leave the center hollow? Ian, you're inspiring a bunch of modifications that I wouldn't have done - glad you're finishing yours before I finish mine!

Quoting myself? WELL, here's the verdict...the charging handle IS offset from the front of the slot. Following is a direct quote from PlayfulWolfCub (Andy) based on measurements of his REAL Sterling: "My Sterling has a 3.5mm gap between the front of the charging handle & the end of the slot. As you say in the thread, the front of the charging handle isn't round, so it couldn't possibly reach the end of the slot. Also the purpose of the bolt is to hit the percussion cap of the bullet with enough force to ignite it, isn't it? If the handle did hit the end of the slot it would reduce the force of the impact unless the engineering was absolutely spot on - Why would an engineer give themselves that extra headache unnecessarily? So we have visual, logical & engineering evidence that there is a gap." Turns out my replica is accurate down to this detail. I didn't plan this, it's just where the parts ended up due to the engineering and using a real barrel.

I'd be interested to know if the charging handle is offset from the front of the slot on a real Sterling and if so, by how much? In my mind, and from practical experience with my replica, there MUST be at least a small offset. The reason is because the front of the slot is rounded and the front of the charging handle has small vertical ridges. IF the vertical ridges hit the front of the slot, it DEFINITELY leaves a mark...I know, because I had to file the marks down...twice. The exact same thing would happen on an original and most certainly on an aluminum tube if there's enough force from the spring. Mine may have a little more clearance than an original because of the filing. Maybe I could check with Andy - I know he has an original Sterling.

With the force on the spring behind the bolt, I'm pretty sure it would snap a resin charging handle off. I would definitely install a barrel BEFORE triggering the bolt. The barrel should be long enough to provide a couple millimeters clearance for the charging handle.

The bolt wouldn't normally be that far forward. When assembled, the back of the barrel stops the bolt from moving forward. I don't know if you remember, but during my steel piupe build, I seriously messed up the charging handle slot by triggering the bolt without a barrel installed. Without the barrel, the charging handle HITS the front of the slot, just like Vern's picture. I know Vern is only showing real parts fit in Derrek's receiver, but there's the explanation...

That's the goal! Plastic spacemen with really accurate plastic guns.

The lifting weight pattern isn't too bad, but like you said, the angle of the lines is a little too big...I'm guessing 120 deg at the wide part of the intersections. The Sterling pattern has the lines crossing at 90 degrees. Truly, little diamonds. I measured the pattern on the front sight guard with a thread gauge, then checked a couple tool catalogs... Knurling wheels come in specific pitches or teeth per inch (TPI) - for example, 16, 20, 21, 25 or 30 TPI. Don't ask me how they come up with standard sizes - seems pretty random to me. My thread gauge has 24 TPI and 26 TPI feelers, but DOESN'T have a 25 TPI feeler. You can see in the following picture, 24 TPI is really close. So is 26 TPI. I'm about 99% sure the Sterling pattern is female diamond 25 TPI. So, you would need a male diamond 25 TPI knurling wheel. I found one in an MSC catalog for $35...1/2" wide, 3/4" diameter with a 90 degree, 25 TPI pattern, but that's pretty salty. Maybe search around using this information?

I thought I was done! What did I forget? Maybe I should post a link to my completed E-11 photo shoot thread? Anyway, this thread was almost obsolete, but you resurrected it!