Pulse Rifle 2.0 with scratch built Spas cage

[obiwan kowalski]

After last year's Nerf build I have decided to pull the trigger on a more realistic version. I scored a nice King Arms Thompson for cheap on Craigslist last week. I am going to be fabricating most of the rest. Very learn as I go but I have a garage full of tools. I have been getting all of my measurements from various posts on the alienslegacy.com forum.

I am starting off with a scratch build Spas cage. This is the second try at getting the rib indents done. The first piece of sheet metal was turned to scrap. There were several iterations of molds to hammer on but I think I finally got it right. I found a video on youtube that guided me.

Excuse the mess on my work bench. A lot of things were falling off of shelves as I hammered away with a 4 pound blacksmith's sledge. Even with the garage door closed my wife said that the neighbors were staring at my house from all of the banging.

Now for the ever so dreaded fun part: drilling and cutting out all of the holes. I will be leaving my hammer mold together so that if I screw up the holes than I can just hammer out a new piece of metal.

 

[Sean]

Good luck with this. looks like a tot of painstaking work. and i wish i had a work space I could try It In. seen the video awhile back also. please keep us updated..



:thumbsup

 

[obiwan kowalski]

Drilling drilling and more drilling. I tapped in pilot holes to keep the drill bit from slipping. It worked perfectly. Now I have lots of filing and grinding in my future.

Hey look, I fabbed up my first cheese grater!

 

[funboy1013xx]

going caveman!! LOVE IT!! :eek

 

[patrick]

good start!! looking forward to see the rest of this build

 

[obiwan kowalski]

The hard work is done. I now have a homemade cheese grater (seriously, this thing will take a layer of skin off so gloves are a must). This is definitely a project that requires patience. As I went along I found better ways of cutting the slots. My original plan of using my drill press as a mill failed so I tried many other methods. I am pretty happy with the results seeing as this is my first try at something like this. It is going to be my practice run to refine the process. I have a good idea of how to do the next one much more efficiently with less defects but I am going to complete this one first.

 

[obiwan kowalski]

She is rough but you get the idea. With a little paint it should pass the 10 foot test. I am going to weld on the top part of it and cut out the rest of the holes.

 

[funboy1013xx]

do you feel afterwards it would have been better/easier to bend the steel first then do the holes? im digging this man! :thumbsup

 

[obiwan kowalski]

do you feel afterwards it would have been better/easier to bend the steel first then do the holes? im digging this man! :thumbsup

Absolutely. For the next one I plan on just drilling the pilot holes at the end of each slot first and then bending the steel. After that, drill the full sized holes at the ends of the slots followed by carefully cutting out the slot, connecting the holes. I think I will use this thread as a step by step guide to building another one, that way I will do things in a logical order.

 

[patrick]

did it the same way,but mine spas-cage was made of pvc heated and then bend over a mold.

but metal is more accurate.like it!!

keep up the good work.

 

[obiwan kowalski]

Finally got a little welding done. I haven't played with my welder in over a year and forgot how much I enjoy it. We need a few more hours added to the day.

 

[gyoung2993]

Remarkable work....wow !!! Fabricating your own is almost unheard of....congrats !!!

 

[vintageslant]

That's one sweet piece of metal you have fabricated there sir. And of course any little dings that may have occurred whilst making it will only lend themselves to it's authentic appearance.