Blade Runner Offworld Inc Blaster- my first build

[dcast]

Nice equipment

Yeah, my wife's father has a nice setup...basically a full machine shop, wood shop onsite at his house. I've been getting A LOT of help from him and his friend Andy ( who did the CNC work on the butt plate and the outer-grip handle), and my uncle Charles who is doing the casting for me. Frankly, I wouldn't be able to do most of this without their help. It's been fun learning how to work on the lathe and mill. The CNC...well that ill be for a other project at some point...lol.

 

[dcast]

So spent some time in the shop today to drill out the outer grip and inner grip. Did a rough mock up...we will nee to do some minor "massaging" of the parts,be we are very close. Also found out about a new "card trick" today. I never new that you can use paper cards as a type of shim. Apparently that is a common practice for leveling pool tables. Of course different card stocks would be different use for different situations...we for example needed washer with a .18" depth....and we only had one that was .14". We used to pieces of paper (.04") to make up the difference. Who knew...?!. Also fun when you pick "tricks" like that. Also, I got a call the second run of bronze parts are complete. Unfortunately, I won't be able to work on those for a bit. We will be traveling for a little bit....so no shop time for me.

 

[Leinads]

It’s exciting watching this evolve! The paper shim trick is great. Thanks for the update + pics!

 

[joberg]

Great trick that paper shim

 

[dcast]

So I picked up my parts to today. Most of the parts came out great...but I might need to recast one of the side covers...that split. Unfortunately, it was the side I was going to use for the mounting screw and the weaver knob. Other than that one piece everything came out great. Might be a little bit before I can clean up the parts. If I can't repair it....I'll ask for a recast on the part. Also I was curious if anyone knows where I might be able to get resin grips that fit an offworld?

 

[dcast]

Well hoping to get back into the shop this weekend to work on cleaning up some parts...but I didfinished my second build. Make sure to zoom in or you might miss it. I made it the same size as the Tomenosuke "Nano". Not sure if it qualifies as a "build" but still kinda fun.

 

[dcast]

So it's been a little while since I have posted updates...been trying to find time in the shop to work on the project...you know "adulting" stuff. Also we have been trying to navigate the fun world of "shrinkage" in casting. So we did some rough calculations and we are dealing with roughly 2 to 3 percent shrinkage...so making cast parts and machined/OEM parts match up is a bit of a challenge. So where does that leave us... I am currently working sanding down the Charter Arms OEM Cylinder to match the size of the cast chassis. This involved making a "lathe dog" (picture 1) to drive the cylinder while we sand it down. Unfortunately we didn't want to try and match the cylinder down because it was made of hardened steel and we were dealing with the interrupted cut at the front of the barrel. With the sacrifice of lots of sand paper and some filing (pictures 2, 3 and 4) we have gotten to the cylinder to fit but still have a little bit of binding. So I'll be working on that next weekend. We also did some tig welding on the chassis(picture 5) to help firm it up. Glad to be moving forward on the project...even it if is slower than I would like...progress is progress. So here is a quick mock up of roughly were I'm at on this part of the project. (picture 6)

 

[Leinads]

Glad you are back in the shop again; all of the effort put in certainly shows! Oooh the cylinder looks happy in it’s future home !

 

[joberg]

That cylinder is certainly a beauty

 

[Hirohawa]

Looks great!