Props Thorssoli's M6G Pistol Build

In case you haven't been following my armor build thread, a while back I picked up a Craftsman Carvewright to help out with some of my prototyping. This thread will detail the build process of my M6G Pistol from start to finish.



For starters, I found a 3D model of the pistol in the Google 3D warehouse. I don't remember the username of the person who made it, so if it's yours please let me know so I can credit you. Once I had the mold converted into .stl format, I was able to upload it into the Carvewright software, slice it into 3/4" pieces, and feed the data to the machine so it could turn an MDF plank into this:





This was the end result of 7 hours and 26 minutes' work by the machine. The finished surface was surprisingly smooth. Now all I need to do is stick the pieces together, sand, paint, stamp the lettering into it, and make a mold. Here's a shot of me holding it with the pieces just stacked together:





Here's a closer shot of the pieces all stacked together:





While I realize that seven and a half hours seems like a long time, I have no idea how long it would've taken to make one of these by hand. On top of that, while this thing was doing the bulk of the work making my pistol, I was able to put my attention elsewhere.



Here's a couple shots of all of the pieces glued together and sealed up:









Then I put a coat of primer on it:















Once I've got it painted glossy in the appropriate places, I'll be molding it up and offering a run of raw castings as well. There won't be any moving parts so they'll just be big pistol-shaped blocks of resin, but they'll look pretty cool on the shelf or clipped onto your thigh armor.



I'm not sure if I want to go through the trouble of stamping all of the lettering onto the prototype or just cast it as is. Any thoughts?

I would do the lettering.



because you only have to do it once if you do it before you mold it.



P.S looks AWESOME!!!!

FACT:

People with CNC machines have Awesome Props

i will always want a CNC machine, but will never be able to afford one

Alex spartan177 said:

FACT:

People with CNC machines have Awesome Props

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agreed, lol



Its looking good!!!

shmalofan said:

I would do the lettering.



because you only have to do it once if you do it before you mold it.

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Yeah, you're right. I was just trying to think of a way to get the product out quicker. The lettering (and a handful of less-noticeable details) will add a day's work to this project.

Nice!

How hard would it be to CNC something like this with moving parts?



One more question: What did you use yo seal the MDF?

Lord Devious said:

Nice!

How hard would it be to CNC something like this with moving parts?



One more question: What did you use yo seal the MDF?

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If I had a higher-end, more expensive CNC machine it could be done easily enough. Although it would be much better to just go ahead and make it into a variety of sub-assemblies and build it on a 3D printer.



I coated the MDF with a layer of epoxy that soaked into the surface. Once it cured, all I had to do was a little cleanup with a file and a sanding block.

Hmm, interesting.



Thanks a ton for the advice, it'll help me a great deal with my latest build



Keep up the good work!

Well I spent some time mulling it over and finally knocked out most of the detailing on this baby. Last night's contributions were the magazine release, lettering on the slide, all of the holes on both sides, and the details on the bottom of the magazine. Here's an overall shot:





I decided that if I stamped the lettering into the side it would probably end up being filled in with the first coat of paint. With that in mind, I went ahead and engraved the lettering by hand. It's not perfect, but it's there.





I suppose if someone buys a cast copy out of my molds and they don't like the lettering, it'll be pretty simple to just fill it in or sand it off. Here's another shot:





I also decided to swap out the Korean lettering on the top of the slide and the bottom of the magazine for some Japanese Kanji of my own:



Here's the bottom of the mag:





The best step forward was the details at the rear of the slide:





I know it's not perfect, but then again I doubt anybody will be looking at it as closely as I've been for the past few days.



At this point I still have to turn out the laser sight and score the little seams on the top of the slide. Then it'll be about time to start the moldmaking.



Stay tuned...

Really Nice work and I love the details and everything you have put into the Pistol. Great Job

Great job. Any pics of the CNC?

LeeKegan said:

Great job. Any pics of the CNC?

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It's not much of a CNC machine. It's a Craftsman Carvewright, basically just a little more than a printer with a dremel tool for a print head. I have a few pictures of it in my armor build thread. Here's a shot of my inner thigh prototype coming out of it:



You can read more about my machine at the website, carvewright.com.

Superb pistol, bro!



Can't wait for the casts to come out!



-Pony

Got the last handful of details I'm going to add to this thing done today.



First, I had to turn out the laser sight on my custome-made, high-speed, bench-stabilized, ultra-precision lathe with self-centering 3-jaw chuck:





Once I was done with that, I went ahead and glued it in place. Then I cut the chamfer around the muzzle and the notches in the sides of the barrel.





Somewhere along the way I engraved the lettering on the right side of the slide (and added the little catch lever which the original 3D model didn't have for some reason). I also scored the seams on the top of the slide and added the last little screw:





Then it was finally time to paint it all shiny and light red:





Tomorrow I'll be wet-sanding all of the parts that will need to be shiny, building a mold box, and pouring some silicon.



Stay tuned...

awsome job man looks great. did u have to do anything to the file before you cut it other then mark out the individual pieces

TOM11G said:

awsome job man looks great. did u have to do anything to the file before you cut it other then mark out the individual pieces

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I had to convert the file to a .stl format. Then I imported it into the Carvewright software, figured out how to slice it into pieces the machine (which I still haven't named) could manage, and planned the layout of those slices on the board.

thorssoli said:

First, I had to turn out the laser sight on my custome-made, high-speed, bench-stabilized, ultra-precision lathe with self-centering 3-jaw chuck:

Click to expand...

I've got one of these, only mine is the vertical-mounted version:







Its worth noting that you should NEVER DO THIS.



Awesome work man, I've been looking at a CNC myself (there's a neat DIY called a "bluechick" that I've been saving for) and this is some damn inspiring work. I can only imagine how much fun those engraved letters were!

Time for an update.



After some considerable wet-sanding, I finally decided that the finished surface of the prototype pistol was smooth enough to make it easy to prep and paint the copies. Then it was time to build a mold box with a soft, oil-based clay parting wall and embed the prototype in it. Here's what it looked like before I poured any silicon:



You can see in the shot above where I built up the clay above the front and rear sight assemblies. These will become the pour spout and air vents when I pour the casting resin into the finished mold.



There's plenty of moldmaking tutorials available, so I won't explain the details of trying to make a two-part silicon mold. What is important though is using a mold release to coat the first half of the mold to ensure that the second half won't stick to it. I did this, but the coat that I put on the area between the handguard and the grip was too thin and the rubber bonded through it. So that's why I had to cut parts of that area apart in order to separate the mold halves:





Once the mold had a few hours to air out, the next step was to clamp the two halves back together, applying even pressure across the entire area, but not so much pressure as to squeeze the mold out of it's original shape. I opted for a couple of scraps of MDF and some 1/4" machine screws with wing nuts so I won't have to use any of my shop clamps to make castings:







Here's a shot of the prototype and the first three pulls:



The orange one was a throwaway cast that I poured to get any leftover bits of the prototype out of the mold and check for any flaws in the mold design. It worked out well and came out perfect, but it's made out of some resin that has gone bad, so it can't be painted.



Using the black casting resin has been interesting. It kicks off pretty fast, so there's not a lot of time to shake the bubbles out of it. Here's a close-up shot of the tops of the castings showing some of the surface flaws:





They're not perfect, and I'm still not thrilled with the lettering, but they look good at arm's length. Since I had a couple of nice pulls, I had to try them on:





I think they look the part.



Stay tuned for whenever I get around to painting one or two of these...

Awesome work and nice write up Thorssoli.



Your first pics of these and the inside thigh armor work are what convinced me to go ahead and home build a CNC! Thanks for the inspiration.