Limited Run Cloud city blaster - Relby K23 - aluminium conversion kits! NOW LIVE!

hey there,
finally done with all the muzzles! pretty happy!
"just" the gears to do and the threaded rods.
IMG_20220826_181608.jpg
 
Hello guys,
I have finished all the preparation stages on the gears, "just" need to cut the teeth on the mill now. Still 5 or 6 days of work for that, that is the biggest step!
I'll start selling the kits by small batches I think, I hate to say it, but I basically need the money. I have been hard at work producing parts for the whole summer and haven't sold much in the meantime, I need to buy a new machine as my circular saw has lived its life and I need to move on quickly to something more efficient for the next project.

IMG_20220907_114849.jpg

IMG_20220907_115048.jpg


here is what the assembled barrel look like for now, I'm very happy with all the transitions between the parts and I hope you guys will like the kits :)
IMG_20220907_114454.jpg

IMG_20220907_114503.jpg


cheers
 
As someone that has never run a metal lathe or mill, are these cuts done in one go? That means you have to roll sideways, at whatever feed rate leaves a smooth cut, like 18 times or whatever!
hey Tom,
this is a bit of a complex process that I tried to explain in the WIP thread last time:

but let me try to explain more now,
first of all, I'm doing the teeth on my milling machine, not on the lathe. Idealy they would be done on a CNC combined lathe and mill.
for parts like that, either you have a 300k$ CNC machine, it will take a couple minutes to do them and you'll pay for the machine cost mostly, or, you have a 2k$ machine like mine, it will take 40 minutes to do them step by step by hand and you'll pay for my time mostly.
I think those type of gears in the industry are normaly done with a large circular blade that will carve each valey in one go mostly.

since I have a small manual machine, like I explained in the linked post, I calculated in my 3D software where to position my 45° triangle end mill and I have to mill each valey progressively in 20 passes. This is the tool and setup I use:
IMG_20220626_185720.jpg


The part is held on a rotating chuck. First, I'll do 6 passes at the same angle but going slightly deeper each time until I reach the final depth of my valey, when this is done, I'll rotate the part 0.5° each time and do back and forths with the tool for each rotation, 14 times. then I move to the next valey, 17 times. That is 340 back and forth with the machine all operated by hand for each gear, hence the big workout. It takes me 40 minutes per gear to do the teeth.

I tried to capture a video in real time for one valey. it's a pretty boring video and it vibrates a bit in some places but I think you can fully see how it works if you watch it :)





I hope this clears up a bit the process on that part :)
cheers
 
Hello guys,
just a head's up that the majority of the kits will be put for sale next week, I would say maximum on Wednesday to be safe.

As I said earlier, I would normally wait until I have all the kits finished, but I kind of need the money because I have to buy a new machine pretty quickly to move forward on my next run. for this reason, I'm ready to take orders for the first people in the list to be fair, if you are interested to get your kits now, please send me a PM, djedi lonepigeon lmakeltraln Ryan Clinton
thank you!

here is a first teaser of the kit and some useful intel for the actual conversion!
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I'm excited to see what you guys will do with those kits!
cheers guys!
 
Great work, they look super cool! I think I'm already on the list...where do I go to purchase the kit.
thank you :)
I'm going to ask you to wait a bit for next week for the kits as you are further along the list. i'm just putting a few kits for sale for the first few people on the list, just in order to afford my new machine :) I hope that's ok with everyone.
let me reassure you again that there will be enough kits for everyone, there are 18 people on the list so far and 26 kits.
cheers
 
Hi guys,
Just a heads up that the run is still anticipated to be put for sale next week as it's almost done, but I have had a very very difficult end of week and week end here at the farm and will need a bit of time and quiet to regroup a bit and take a deep breath together with my wife.
It is very nice to be surounded by a lot of animals and nature here but sometimes, it can also be really crushing.
I'll let everyone know when the kits are ready soon.
thank you all and sorry for the sad note, just needed to get it out a bit.
 
Hi guys,
Just a heads up that the run is still anticipated to be put for sale next week as it's almost done, but I have had a very very difficult end of week and week end here at the farm and will need a bit of time and quiet to regroup a bit and take a deep breath together with my wife.
It is very nice to be surounded by a lot of animals and nature here but sometimes, it can also be really crushing.
I'll let everyone know when the kits are ready soon.
thank you all and sorry for the sad note, just needed to get it out a bitY

No worries. You are the man. Take care of yourself, your wife, and your critters. We are fine and can wait.
 
Hello everyone,

First of all, the kits are now live on my website:

I have put a sufficient number of kits to cover every one from the list and kept a few on hand if anyone from the list misses out from some reason, you can PM me and I'll work with you privately. Everyone from the list will get his kit as always :)
let me list everyone that didn't yet get a kit to make sure you get the notification first,
Storm lmakeltraln Ryan Clinton OdiWan72 DarthWilder Pedro kurtyboy MarcoCazares Jamesfett thd9791 Hirohawa mgoob redbutton bobasfett LewisD seven ALLEY dkraude


alright, now, the kits are very easy to put together, I have writen a small explaination directly on the website page, but, here is a more detailled explanation with photos :)

First thing is, you need to disassemble your speargun as basically explained here:

After the back of the speargun is removed, the (blue) barrel tube should be cut flush in the back and at a max length of 13.8cm in the front.
DSC_0997.jpg


now, two things can happen if by any weird chance, you have a crazy variation. we never know with vintage stuff.

1- Check if the gears fit around your barrel.
maybe you got a weird version with a slightly larger barrel tube, in this case, the gears might not fit on it, no worries, the kit will still work perfectly if you cut the front barrel completely!
IMG_20220923_155945.jpg


2- check if the small cylinder at the back of the muzzle fit inside your barrel.
In the hypothetical case that you have a thinner barrel, the muzzle base might not fit inside your barrel tube, you can cut the barrel a bit shorter in a way it can still be used to guide the back gear and a portion of the front gear, do not cut it completely if the gears fit around the original barrel.
IMG_20220923_155925.jpg


alright, this was just for the weird Nemrods out here. let's hope that the kits will fit on all of your pistols. But again, if they don't, no worries, the kits will still work well!

Alright, now, here is everything you should have:
IMG_20220923_144710.jpg


I have cut the bolt on the front of the threaded rod shorter (inside) as this blaster is a bit front heavy by detault. Take the end of the threaded rod that is longer, it can be recognized also by the small portion of untreaded bolt visible:
IMG_20220923_144724.jpg


slide the cone part on the bolt and thread the washer to the bolt, they will stop at a proper depth with some threads visible in the back.
IMG_20220923_144856.jpg


Insert that assembly into the barrel from the back of the gun.
IMG_20220923_144930.jpg


Now, you'll see that one of the gears has a small recess in the front, this one goes in the front of the barrel, it assembles with the muzzle:
IMG_20220923_144949.jpg


Dry fit together the two gears and the barrel and slide them on the speargun's cut barrel.
IMG_20220923_145021.jpg


Then, just thread the muzzle to secure everything together. Make sure to align all the parts to your liking when the assembly is almost tightened. The front sight needs to be glued on the barrel in the appropiate flat spot milled in the front.
IMG_20220923_145044.jpg


and here we go!
IMG_20220923_145118.jpg



The variation "No V8 cone" doesn't include the large back cone part so you can use instead your vintage visible V8 engine kit plastic part. The back washer is still included to thread on the main threaded rod. Please be aware you'll need to drill a 13mm or 1/2" hole in your V8 cone to accomodate for the washer part. I don't know how solid the plastic part is, maybe it will be a good idea to use some kind of metal tube or stack of washers inside the V8 part to support it.

there you go guys, I hope you'll like the kits and I'm looking forward to see the first finished Relbys!

don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions :)
cheers
 

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