Driving Miss Daisy

[HollowPoint]

The "Couple of Days Off" I mentioned in my previous post has suddenly turned into a full work week. Because this work comes from one of my most reliable customers it's hard to turn them away. Besides, it's always good to make some extra money.

This dealership suddenly decided they needed all of their Golf-Cart seats re-done; and, as usual they need them done in a hurry. These are the Golf-Carts they use to wheel potential buyers around their car lots in.

I'm not complaining. I appreciate the work. It's just that this type of thing only seems to happen when I have projects of my own that I'd like to get finished up.

It looks like my New Wooden Butt-Stock will have to wait till next week.

Once I get started on it, it shouldn't take to long to finish. On a Daisy BB gun the Butt-Stock is only about 3/4" thick. I could simplify things by ripping one of the 2x6's I have out back but I want to use up some of the plywood I have piling up on me.

I think I'll also try to make a new matching Fore End Stock as well while I'm at it. It should help to add some overall weight to this little gun.

I'll be back once I have my wood cut out just to show you what I have in mind.

I shall return.

HollowPoint

[HollowPoint]

I got a chance to cut out the rough shapes of my New wooden Butt-Stock and Fore-End today. While I'm waiting for the glue to set up I thought I'd draw up some renderings to show you what I had in mind for the New Cocking Lever.

Bare in mind this is just a computer rendering. If the past is any indication, I'll more than likely have to make some alterations as I go along so, the finished product will probably not look exactly as shown here.

I hope I don't put a big- whammy on this project by showing you what I had in mind before I actually make these parts.

Because the cocking effort will be substantially more due to the new Gas Piston, a longer Cocking Lever will be necessary. Also, for this same reason, the pivoting pin that the Cocking Lever pivots on will be receiving substantially more grinding pressure if I leave it as is.

The factory Pins or Cross-Screws are made of fairly soft metal. I don't think they'll hold up to the torque that the new Gas Piston and Cocking Lever will impart each time the gun is cocked.

After I made up this drawing I remembered that I still have a few miniature roller bearings I can use for this application. They should help to keep from wearing the Cocking Lever Pivot-Hole out of round over time. (assuming this project comes together as I hope it will)

For the time being though, here is the rendering I eluded to. I'm fairly certain it will give you an idea what I had in mind.

I'll be back when I've completed the new furniture.

HollowPoint

[HollowPoint]

I just finished wiping a second layer of urethane onto my newly finished Butt-Stock and Fore-End-Stock. I'm waiting for the urethane to dry so I can go over them with some fine steel wool. Once that's done I can call them completed.

The plywood I used was cut off of the crates that my CNC Hobby Mill was shipped in. That plywood's been sitting out back for nearly a year. It's good to finally get some use out of it.

It's a real cheap type of plywood. It turns out that it isn't nearly as dense as the plywood you can buy at the hardware stores or lumber yards. After cutting it out and in-letting it to fit, it turns out that it's not any heavier than the factory furniture that came on this little Daisy BB gun.

I was hoping that this plywood would add some additional weight to the gun. If it does, I can hardly tell any difference.

This cheap chinese plywood isn't the fanciest wood in the world. When sanded smooth the Butt-Stock came out with a nice tiger stripped finish on one side and the other side was more of a funky looking grain pattern that just screamed "BUBBA, BUBBA, BUBBA!."

For my purposes the new furniture turned out fine; especially the Fore-End-Stock. It turned out a little more uniform both in terms of the grain and the finish.

Once the urethane dries and I put the steel wool to it I'll take a couple of pictures and post them for you to look at.

When I photograph them I'll only be showing the good side of the Butt-Stock. The funky side will stay hidden from view. I don't want to hear anything negative from some of you professional wood-carvers. As it is I can just envision the Eye-Rolls that my amateur stock making might instill.

I'll post a pic of my new wood a little later.

I'll be back.

HollowPoint

[HollowPoint]

While I was waiting for an incoming job this morning I took the time to take a couple of photographs of the New Wooden Stocks I just put together.

No matter what angle I tried shooting the pics at I wasn't able to get the grain in the wood to come through how I'd like. This will have to do for now.

I loosely assembled the BB gun to give you an idea what it will look like once the project is completed.

With the exception of how the New Lever will look, this is about it. I didn't want to make it look to much different from the factory appearance. I wanted it to look as benign as an Out-Of-The-Box RedRyder; in spite of the New Gas Piston power plant.

I'll be back once I get the New Lever started.

HollowPoint

[HollowPoint]

I finally finished my scheduled work for this week. I thought I'd never get it done.
(a 50-something Studabaker Interior)

This morning while I was waiting for the customer to come pick it up I took the time to lay out my template for the New Cocking Lever I'll have to make.

I've included a few pics to give you some idea what I mean. I hope they make sense to you. As is usually the case, the finished product will most likely look a little different than these pictures depict but, they're accurate enough to give you an idea what I'm trying to accomplish.

I make reference to some "Spring Loaded Teeth;" I'm afraid you'll have to wait till I actually make them in order to see exactly what I'm talking about. Once I get that done I'll take some more pics for you to look at.

That's it for now.

I'll be back.

HollowPoint

[wallenba]

I was begging for one for Christmas, 1960. Christmas came and I unwrapped a Daisy! Then the realization came. Mine only popped air. Big downer. A few years later all was well when I got my first gun though, a Savage 24.

[HollowPoint]

You have to be careful with the Savage 24s. You can put your neighbor's eye out from up close or two miles away.

HollowPoint

[WILCO]

Also, a few drops of lighter fluid down the barrel would give a little more velocity.

Now I have to try some of my Zippo brand lighter fluid with Ol' Blue after dinner.

[WILCO]

Great project by the way.......

[HollowPoint]

I couldn't take it any more. Just before posting this particular reply I ordered another RedRyder BB Gun from Amazon.

In the mornings and early evenings the power lines around my home are teaming with pigeons. I have a couple of neighbors that have bird feeders in their yards that act as Pigeon-Magnets.

I don't mind the song birds or doves. When these smaller birds drop a load of excrement they're usually small enough to be uneventful. When these pigeons drop their loads, the size and the acidity of their content tends to do a number on a car's paint job if it's not caught in time.

Since my ongoing Daisy BB gun project looks like it will take at least a couple more months to complete, I thought I'd buy another RedRyder while they're still cheap. I plan on making myself a spring-wire winder to make an upgraded compression spring. It should only take a couple of hours at the most to finish it.

It shouldn't take away from the free time I've set aside for this Gas Piston upgrade project. And, I'll re-establish the thirty-five yard perimeter No-Fly-Zone I had going for me before I started this project.

If all turns out well with the New Gas Piston power plant I can make that a sixty-yard No-Fly-Zone.

HollowPoint

[wallenba]

You have to be careful with the Savage 24s. You can put your neighbor's eye out from up close or two miles away.

HollowPoint

HEHE Yeah buddy, did I ever get that speech!

[HollowPoint]

Well, I laid out my New Cocking Lever and Spring-Loaded Teeth patterns in my CAD software and they looked good.

I converted them to G-Code in preparation for machining and all went well there too.

I had a small piece of aluminum that I was going to use as a test medium but, just a few passes from my end mill and I could tell that I had made the Pivoting-Point section of my Cocking Lever to small in diameter. I shut the mill down after just a couple of passes.

It was back to the drawing board. (Actually, it was back to the CAD software.)

Fortunately for me I use a software that allows me to make changes without starting over from scratch. (SolidWorks) It's a real time saver for those who don't have alot of free time to begin with. The necessary changes have now been made.

So, to summarize, with this latest Cocking Lever fabrication, I started out with an idea, then I laid it out in cardboard just to see if it could work. When it looked like it would definitely work I laid it out in my CAD software, then I planned on testing the idea by machining it out of aluminum before milling it out of 5/16" steel flat bar.

Right now I'm just waiting for a little more free time to spend on the machining process.

On a side note: My new Daisy RedRyder arrived yesterday. I got a chance to Chrono-Graph it and was sorely disappointed with the results. On the box it says that the velocity is up to 350 FPS. The BB gun only reached 265 FPS tops.

Took it apart to compare the Compression Spring out of this gun to the one I took out of my project gun. It was over an inch shorter than the Compression Spring out of my project gun. All other dimensions were basically the same.

Looks like I'm back to "Bitch-Slapping" pigeons with the BBs out of this new BB gun until I can fabricate a new Compression Spring.

I'm still not clear on the "Tempering" process of DIY Music-Wire Compression Springs. Once I make sense of that I'll wind my own replacement spring for my latest Daisy RedRyder BB gun.

I'll be back with pictures once I get all my ducks in a row.

HollowPoint

[HollowPoint]

I thought I'd post a picture of the Mock-Cocking Lever I was referring to in my previous post.

The piece of aluminum I was using was just big enough to mill the front-most section of my Lever. All I was trying to do was make enough of the Cocking Lever to be able to place it on my Plywood-Layout to see if my drawings were correct.

With the exception of making the circular pivot point to small, I believe my initial
layout was correct for what I was trying to accomplish.

I don't have any more scrap pieces of aluminum big enough to run another test- piece so, I'm going to have to make doubly sure I get it right before I move on to actually milling my New Cocking Lever.

I have another big job coming in next week so I won't be able to play around with this project until the week after next. That should work out OK for me. With the incoming funds from this next job I'll be able to siphon off a few bucks for the metal flat bar needed to make the Cocking Lever.

On a side Note: I had a few extra moments to make up a new Transfer-Port for my new Stock-Daisy RedRyder BB gun. I mentioned before how disappointed I was of the weak velocity I was getting from this new BB gun.

I'm happy to report that just this small modification alone has given me another twenty feet per second. It's now shooting an average of 286 FPS; as opposed to the 265 FPS out of the box velocity I was getting.

When I drive down to pick up the metal for my New Cocking Lever, I'll also be picking up the Music-Wire to make up my replacement Compression Spring for this new Daisy RedRyder.

That's it for now. I'll be back in a week or two; if not sooner.

HollowPoint

[SciFiJim]

When you make the compression spring from music wire, can you do a DIY write up about it? The prospect of creating my on springs for things is intreaging.

[HollowPoint]

When you make the compression spring from music wire, can you do a DIY write up about it? The prospect of creating my on springs for things is intreaging.

Because of the interest I've come across in replacing the stock compression springs in these Daisy RedRyder and similar BB guns, I had planned on doing that very thing. I mean, posting a few pictures and explanations on how I went about it.

I plan on making a dedicated spring winder for this purpose alone. I could buy one online but, I hate to pay 60 to 75 bucks plus shipping for something I can make myself. It's just a matter of getting hold of the materials to make my winding tool out of. I may already have it on hand in the junk pile out back. I just have to check.

Another item I'll have to procure is a used convection toaster oven so that I can "Temper" my newly made spring/s. I'm hoping that a local GoodWill store will have one in stock at a cheap enough price.

From the little bit of informal research I've done on Music-Wire, it tends to work-harden; This means that all I'll have to do after I wind them is "Temper" the springs . That's where the Toaster Oven comes in.

From what I've read, there's other ways of "Tempering" them but, this is the only way that made sense to me. Besides, a little oven like this can also be used for hardening cast bullets as well. I just got to find one cheap enough. (free would be even better)

The down side to posting pics of such a project is that I'd have to remove some or all of the pictures I've posted for this Gas-Piston Project.

The generous but, limited space provided by the folks here on the CastBoolits website is not enough to leave all my pictures up. Some of them have to go in order to make room for anything else.

Wish me luck.

HollowPoint

[HollowPoint]

After a little over a week of having no free time to play around with this RedRyder project, I finally got a chance to drive down to pick up the new metal-stock to make my New Cocking Lever with.

While I was there I also picked up the Music Wire and additional metal stock with which to make a replacement Compression Spring and Wire-Winding Tool for my latest RedRyder acquisition.

I counted myself lucky because I was able to find the metal I was looking for in their "Remnants" section; it's a little cheaper. I was out the door having spent only 16-bucks and change. That's the cheapest I've ever gotten out of their with.

I feel like a kid in a candy store every time I go to that place. (Industrial Metals, Phx.)

So now it's a matter of laying out my CAD drawings again without making any mistakes this time.

I say, "Laying Out Again" because I had already laid them out and drawn them up but, I think I figured out a way to mill my Cocking Lever out of my new metal stock with alot less time involved. This other "Way" should also leave me with enough extra stock to make my trigger assembly out of later on.

That's it for now. I'll be back with more pictures once I'm up and running.

HollowPoint

[HollowPoint]

The last couple of nights I've been spending a hour or so trying to re-draw my New Cocking Lever. It seemed easier the first time around but, this time it's taking a little longer.

I was drawing a blank. I couldn't remember how I'd done it before. Chalk it up to old age I guess.
What I ended up doing was just going back to my original drawing and tweaking it to the dimensions I'm needing.

Once I finish up the drawing in my CAD software I'll import it into my CAM software and convert it into G-Code in preparation for machining.

I want to make sure all my dimensions are right on the money this time around. I hate doing things two or three time before I get it right but this seems to be the way it goes for me with projects like this.

Did I mention that I'm not a machinist or an engineer? I'm just a self-taught goober that likes to tinker when I have the time.

On a side note:

I made my first usable replacement Compression Spring for my most recently purchased RedRyder BB Gun. I installed it without tempering it to see what would happen. I'm happy to report that it's now firing BBs at an average velocity of 308 FPS.

I think that once I try my hand at "Tempering/ Stress Relieving" I might be able to get the velocity up to the 350 FPS listed on the box or better. Better would be better.

The first three shot with the DIY Compression Spring were an even 313 FPS. The next five shots hovered at the 310. After that the next five shots dropped to as low as 307 FPS and then hovered at 308 FPS range.

I'm going to make a couple more of these replacement Compression Springs and make a concerted effort to "Temper/Stress Relieve" them to see if it helps keep them from losing power after just a few shots.

That's it for now. I'll be back when I get my CAD drawing complete.

HollowPoint

[uncle jed]

just found this thread, read it from start to finish. interesting to see all the mods you have done. the daisy looked great with the scope mounted also. will be checking back for more additions to the thread. by the way, what vehicle was the 55 mustang? enjoyed completely, uncle jed

[HollowPoint]

Greetings uncle jed:

Glad to to hear from someone new to this thread. Not sure exactly which vehicle you're referring to. I've worked on several different vehicles since starting this thread.

The last 50's model year vehicle I worked on was a Studebaker followed by a Street-Rod from the 50's era but, that was a fiberglass kit car. The Studebaker was more of a ground-up interior restoration.

I got my CAD drawing done last night. If I get a chance I'll convert it to a JPG and post it on my next reply just to give you all an idea what I was talking about in my previous post.

I spent about an hour tempering the last two replacement Compression Springs for my other Daisy BB gun project. I took a few pictures of the process from winding the springs to tempering/stress relieving. I just haven't had a chance to run the photos through my photo editing software yet.

Once I do that I'll post those on a different topic in the Gunsmithing section so as not to take this particular thread off on a tangent with a different subject.

I already started another thread titled, "Tempering Compression Springs" in the Gunsmithing Tips and Techniques sections. I'll most likely just add the photos to that thread just to keep from starting numerous different threads about the same subject.

I'll be back with pictures soon as I can.

Supplemental: I just remembered the 55 mustang you were referring to. It turns out that the customer that was to bring that car wasn't able to make his appointment so I didn't get a chance to see the actual body style. I just know that it was a 55 mustang that needed new carpet from what I was told over the phone. Whenever I get a cancellation like that I either take that time off or move up the next appointment on the calendar that has a similar time-to-completion. This way I don't get behind on my scheduled work.

uncle jed; give my regards to Jethro, Elly May and Granny for me.

HollowPoint

[uncle jed]

I was just wondering, 'cause the Ford Mustang didn't come out til mid '64. I didn't know if it was a car, boat or airplane. Still and all the work you are doing is great and very entertaining. By t5he way every body including Mr. Drysdale is enjoying reading it.