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Guest
Guest
I have access to some of the best CNC machines out there. Some time ago I made diabolo pellet casting and swaging dies, they were expensive because they had multiple machining operations involved in it.
I tried to cut the cost down but the machining operations did retain its shift charges. Being an engineer I generated my own CNC tool path that reduced machining times in half and did some spectacular machining. Yet the cost remained the primary concern.
After discussing with many airgun enthusiasts, I drilled down the following
points and requirements.
I tried to cut the cost down but the machining operations did retain its shift charges. Being an engineer I generated my own CNC tool path that reduced machining times in half and did some spectacular machining. Yet the cost remained the primary concern.
After discussing with many airgun enthusiasts, I drilled down the following
points and requirements.
- The total set up cost should be below $200
- The projectile need not be a diabolo as there are many options available off the shelf
- The process should not include melting the lead. It should involve using lead wire or other alloy wires.
- It should be modular and easy to use.
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So I zeroed down to Making such a kit, with all the attributes as mentioned by my fellow air gunners. The mission was to make a slug swaging die. So phase 1 of the project was to determine which .22 cal is better. because you have .2165 .217 .218 .219 .220 .221 .222 and .223 chambered "Air Rifles" in .22 cal category. We selected .218, as the caliber serves a base for FX and LW Walther barrels (only for PCP). Then we machined the die set. with Inserts that seal the rifling of any barrel. The weights of slugs can be fully adjusted by cutting the core to the exact weight.
The results. Hollow point inserts didn't work as expected
.
Conical heads worked fantastically well. 8 out of 10 slugs weighted in 30.8 grains while 2 weighted in at 30.4 and 30.6 grains. attributed to little lead bleeding. They were pressed using a $45 1 ton arbor press. Just enough to feel the resistance of lead and not much. Pure lead forms well.
I did have a fair share of failures. that included the semi wadcutter insert was oversized by 5 microns We stepped up into .219 instead of .218 because of it .... But that can be rectified. All I came to know is that you can make .218 cal slug for FX and .223 slug for Huben K1 from just one kit. The next move is to make a kit for low powered springers.
