[ Return to Main Page ] [ Return to Projects Index ] [Doc's Machine & TWB Store] [ Contact Us ] [ The Whiteboard Webcomic ]



Project X is something I've been thinking about since shortly after I opened Doc's Machine
and began building and customizing paintball guns as a day job. Time and customer work,
however, have always been against me, and I was never able to really sit down and do
anything other than draw up some idle sketches and collect ideas.

In the Fall of 2016, however, a friend inadvertently prompted me to actually give it a try, and so
here we are. Below is the beginning of that first "proof of concept" prototype, and later pages will
detail the first fully-functional "Mark II" prototype. Keep in mind this is all done- the Mark II was
finished and fieldable by Thanksgiving of 2016. I'd hoped to jump right into a 3rd-gen right away,
but again, day-to-day work intruded and I was forced to set it aside.

So here we are: As I write this, it's the middle of July 2017, and I'm champing at the bit to get back to
the project. This is where you ladies and gentlement come in: I have a Patreon page, which is primarily for
my webcomic, but is also for the machine shop, as any funds raised really help keep both in operation.

I have a new Patreon Goal set, which, if reached, I'll "unredact" these pages and uncensor all the photos.
The additional funds will go towards- we hope- eventual limited production. This is NOT a "Kickstarter"!
Signing up for even just $1 a month simply helps keep me, Doc's machine, and The Whiteboard webcomic
up and running, loaded with Dew, and churning out cool parts. I hope you'll join up to help
reach the goal, and stick around for the full-color, 5-day-a-week comic mayhem...
and whatever other cool stuff I can dream up. :)

---

[REDACTED]: Developing an all-new [REDACTED] Paintball Gun
Part 1: Developing the Proof-of-Concept Prototype

Like a lot of other paintball players who like having something a little different on the field, I've always throught a good
[REDACTED] would be a lot of fun. [REDACTED]- some of which are pretty darn good, but many of which give
bubble gum and baling wire a bad name. And worse, the part that always kind of annoyed me, was [REDACTED]

So, over the years, I've sketched up various notes and ideas about possible ways to build what I considered a
[REDACTED], but lack of time and funds made it difficult to proceed- I wasn't looking for a conversion,
I didn't want to just [REDACTED] an existing marker, I wanted to build a from-the-ground-up,
all-new gun, made specifically [REDACTED].

While I knew it was never going to [REDACTED], the goal was to keep it as close as possible to
to the classic [REDACTED], and literally hundreds of others.



Now, as regular readers may know, I generally have a lot on my plate at any given time. Between machine rebuilds,
customer work, production parts, my webcomic, doing R&D for other companies and other pastimes, my usual day
is pretty darn full. I also, perhaps unfortunately, also probably have a touch of the ADD, and can get easily distracted
by new and shiny things. :) In this case, I'd been discussing the [REDACTED] project with a buddy of mine, and we
tossed a few ideas back and forth- one of which was my desire to try a [REDACTED] mechanism to [REDACTED].

I'd apparently put a bug in his ear about it, and a few days later he showed me this, above. He'd taken his
[REDACTED],and roughly carved and filed a new [REDACTED]. And despite the cobbled and ugly mount
to hold the whole mess toegther, it all worked surprisingly well and smoothly.



The only problem being that since the [REDACTED] was such a small diameter that the [REDACTED]
a full stroke on the linkage. So shortly thereafter, he sawed up a [REDACTED] to form a
shorter [REDACTED], with a considerably larger [REDACTED]. This reduced the
[REDACTED], but the shorter [REDACTED] it harder to [REDACTED].

But, this in turn got the bug buzzing for me, and as luck would have it, I'd gotten largely caught up with customer
work, and I figured I could spare a few minutes here and there to maybe start working up a prototype.



I have a file full of notes and drawings, as I said, and so I sketched up a rendition of what I thought was the most
promising, workable design out of all the variations I'd doodled. Basically a [REDACTED], using [REDACTED]
with a [REDACTED] bolt. To keep the proper look of a [REDACTED], naturally I [REDACTED]
so the [REDACTED] the barrel. A few quick measurements gave me a place to start.



On November 1st, 2016, I started the first rough "proof of concept" prototype. I knew this one would be ugly,
but it would give me a physical model that I could analyze and measure, and from which I could [REDACTED].



Those few starting measurements dictated where later features needed to go, and soon
 had a vaguely workable [REDACTED].



The dimensions of the newly-made [REDACTED], and the [REDACTED] I'd planned to use, then
dictated the size and shape of the bolt, which I'd made [REDACTED] sections so it could be trimmed
to length later, when more of the assembly gets finalized.



To make it work, I invented an arbitrary [REDACTED], that I hoped would be strong enough to withstand
many thousands of shots.



Going from that [REDACTED], I had to get out the [REDACTED] books and determine a workable
(if a bit faked) [REDACTED] for my new [REDACTED]- only took two tries to get it right. :)



Those partial [REDACTED] were cut down, drilled and bolted to a
[REDACTED] for testing. Now, on to part 2...






All text, photos and graphics Copyright 1998- 2017, Doc's Machine & Airsmith Services. All Rights Reserved.
Information contained in these pages is for reference and entertainment purposes only.  Our methods are not always the best,
quickest, safest, or even the correct ones. It's up to you to know how to use your own machines and tools.
Keep your fingers away from the spinny blades o' death and you should be all right.