Amendments on a homemade woodie

SPNOTTA · January 21, 2009, 09:43:07 CET

BEFORE: woodie with challenger handle

AFTER: woodie with CONCEPT handle

The Imersion Challenger grip handle is sturdy and comprises a reliable trigger mechanism cassette. However, one find day it broke. How it actually broke is a long story.

Naturally I went for an upgrade, thus the Imersion Concept handle which features; very smooth line release and trigger mechanisms, adjustable handle grip angle position, rubberized handle grip and loading patch.

The problem was that Imersion Concept handle possesses a male insert and my hybrid 115 wooden barrel also had a male insert. Sanding the wooden barrel male insert to fit into Imersion Concept handle hollow part would be risky. Reason being; the two circular bands exert compression and tensile forces of such magnitude on a mahogany wood insert of reduced diameter that the setup would indisputably not have passed the test of time with all the trashing a speargun eventually incurs.

Steps performed to swap from Imersion Challenger grip handle to Imersion Concept handle:

1.   The plastic Imersion Concept handle male insert was sawn off.
2.   The wooden Imersion Concept handle male insert was sawn off.
3.   Two ~6mm diameter, ~5cm deep holes about 1cm horizontally apart were drilled out from the freshly sawn off butt end of the wooden barrel.
4.   The heads of two 6mm diameter, 10cm long steel bolts were sawn off to be used as studs.
5.   The trigger mechanism cassette of the Imersion Challenger grip handle was levered out by gently hammering out the plastic pin located near the loader butt.
6.   Channels leading to connector tube of the Imersion Challenger grip handle were plugged using tape.
7.   The trigger mechanism cassette of the Imersion Challenger grip handle was remounted onto the grip.
8.   Three holes were drilled out (one at the bottom, two located at either side of the shat guide) onto the circumference of the connector part of Imersion Challenger grip handle.
9.   Three stainless steel screws were screwed into the holes from (step

.
10.   About 40mls of C-Systems 10 10 CFS component A were thoroughly mixed with 20mls C-Systems 10 10 CFS component B. .
11.   C-Systems Addensante no.2 was added to the epoxy mixture until an opaque creamy viscous suspension was produced. The viscosity of which was made such that the suspension does not flow yet fluid enough to be plaster into any crevices.
12.   The two holes (step 3) and the connector tube of the Imersion Challenger grip handle were filled with the epoxy mixture (steps 8 and 9)
13.   The two 6mm studs were inserted into the two holes with about ~5cm protruding out of the butt end of the wooden barrel.
14.   A spearshaft was inserted and loaded into the Challenger grip handle.
15.   The wooden barred and the Imersion Challenger grip handle were pushed against each using the spearshaft as an indicative guide to the relative respective positioning of the parts to be joined.
16.   The resultant setup was left 24 hours for the epoxy resin to cure.

baghira · January 22, 2009, 17:16:04 CET

That' concise.
You took a good risk buddy, but if that was th only solution, worth taking..
You thrust this C-system? What is it like, araldite??

cal357magnum · January 22, 2009, 18:53:36 CET

It's an epoxy solution, Baghira. A friend of mine used the same thing to construct his speargun, and has no regrets. Personally I used a different kind of adhesive, in Maltese called "kolla tal- acidu", mainly used in boatbuilding to glue "majjieri" and "stannari" together. It also comes in two parts, one a powder which mixes with water and the other formic acid. You smear one face of the wood with the glue paste, and the other wood face with the formic acid. It's commercial name is "Aerolite 306", bought from "PM hobby" at Marsa. Not expensive and a very effective glue, literally solidifies the wood.

shanook · January 22, 2009, 19:47:53 CET

what I dont like about the Aerolite is that u are literally soaking the wood with acid..........I dont think that is very healthy for the wood. apart from that it makes a good bond.

baghira · January 22, 2009, 21:28:36 CET

So as I said. Correct me if I am wrong but also araldite is an epoxy? Right?

SPNOTTA · January 23, 2009, 09:30:58 CET

No risk at all, I assure you that the setup is over engineered now (two 6mm steel studs, epoxy) and exceeds the majority of speargun manufacturer's design...(wich make use of just an aluminium tube and a plastic tube)

cal357magnum · January 23, 2009, 18:19:57 CET

Shanook it does do the wood no harm, whrer acid is concerned. Acid corrodes metals, yes, but not wood. Its moleclar structure does not react to the acid, or better, acid doesn't react to it. The acid reacts with the glue paste.

ramio · January 23, 2009, 23:45:44 CET

Just be carefull guys with Airolite. Its a very good glue when you have surfaces which match exactly. In fact its very good with plywood. The problem is when you have cavities which you need to fill in the joint.
This glue tends to become very brittle when aplied thickly between the wood. In this situation it tends to fail under movement. I prefere cascamite in this situation as it showed to be more flexible. In fact I used to use it mixed with saw dust to fill gaps.