Homemade Deep-Fried "Synthetic" Stock

Pcmx

Pcmx

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I want to make my own stock for an inexpensive gun. The original has some cracks so leaving it aside, I want one that I won't care about much when I take it out shooting. I got this idea after looking at a piece of plastic lumber.. then wondered about making some of my own with crap from around the house. After watching 10 minutes of videos, I decided to get around to some BBQ-ing:

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The mould was crude but I have the basic carveable shape. I'd like to have used wood, but I don't have many woodworking tools. It turned out better than I thought but could possibly be a poor material for a stock. That wouldn't really matter as a trial attempt. It's really tough but has some flex.

Couple things I'm wondering.. One, is I need to build it up a bit in areas and was planning on maybe using an epoxy of some kind which I assumed would be coloured; driveway sealer came to mind. People who seen it though suggested using something clear as the plastic has a neat marble look. I remember some epoxy in school in woodworking that could be used on table tops and intarsias but I think it was brittle when hardened(?) Any suggestions for a cheap, thick, shapeable, and durable plastic or bulk epoxy clear coating?

Second is I wonder if a heated barrel would have an effect on the plastic. I was thinking about bedding the action/barrel on some inset wood, and doing something with some metal for handling recoil. It's a bolt action shotgun and this is an extremely low budget endeavour, it needs to be safe, but not exactly refined or polished ;)
 
Very cool idea . you can buy clear epoxy at most craft stores or try amazon. . try making a mould out of plaster paris or cement with metal rods suspended in it to stiffen it up after the plastic is poured.
 
That's a pretty neat camouflage pattern.

I would have to say that whether or not barrel heat will affect the plastic depends on the exact blend. Likewise, depending on what went into the mix you might have ended up with structural weakpoints that do not have a complete weld between various types of plastic, or that are far more brittle than other sections.

Some JB weld, or that marine epoxy stuff, might work quite well, and you could even do something like implant a nut for use as an action pillar so the stock doesn't get undue stress.


Upcycling, I like it.
 
gaff said:
Very cool idea . you can buy clear epoxy at most craft stores or try amazon. . try making a mould out of plaster paris or cement with metal rods suspended in it to stiffen it up after the plastic is poured.
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X2 on this! A plaster mold taken from the original stock would be the way to go. It will be fun to experiment with, I may give it a try myself.
 
There are some air pockets too which I agree make for some structural weak points. It all melts into sort of a dough. I love the idea of casting a mold as long as there's a way that you could still push the plastic into it. Thanks for the suggestions, I'll share how it turns out :)
 
"...with crap from around the house..." The stock will most likely break upon its first firing, but don't let that possiblity stop you. Kind of a slick project. Can't do that kind of stuff in a one bed room apt.
I'd be inclined to cover the whole thing with several layers of fiberglass fabric(cover your carcass completely when playing with it. And use a mask.) and expoxy. I'd bet you could find some old fibreglass curtains.
 
For main buildup when reshaping stocks I use short strand fiberglass. Nothing beats it in my books. It dries to a very hard, rigid and solid material. I shape it first with a 36 grit flappy disc on my grinder followed by 40 grit sandpaper by hand with very firm pressure, and that's slow going. It mixes and applies the same as bondo but is much harder and stiffer when cured. It makes rock solid stocks. Touch up with a skim coat of bondo followed by glazing putty and you're golden. Epoxy will be expensive and slow going, like bondo it is not designed for much buildup. The end result will not be much stronger than bondo. You can buy it at crappy tire, princess auto etc with the auto body supplies.
 
sunray said:
"...with crap from around the house..." The stock will most likely break upon its first firing, but don't let that possiblity stop you. Kind of a slick project. Can't do that kind of stuff in a one bed room apt.
I'd be inclined to cover the whole thing with several layers of fiberglass fabric(cover your carcass completely when playing with it. And use a mask.) and expoxy. I'd bet you could find some old fibreglass curtains.
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I think it will break too. I made it into a full gun today. It's not finished and I'm not sure if I like it as it's an over complicated design and I probably made it weaker by trying to make it stronger. I'll post pics sometime during the day.
 
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Pcmx said:
I think it will break too. I made it into a full gun today. It's not finished and I'm not sure if I like it as it's an over complicated design and I probably made it weaker by trying to make it stronger. I'll post pics sometime during the day.
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Don't be discouraged if it doesn't turn out exactly right on your first try, there are few experiments that do. At one time I had the shop space to try sand casting aluminium. It was quite the learning curve and I had many failures before I finally got a usable casting. I think that you may be on to something that has a lot of potential. I always like free materials to work with and scrap plastic is abundant.
 
Polar_Hunter said:
Don't be discouraged if it doesn't turn out exactly right on your first try, there are few experiments that do. At one time I had the shop space to try sand casting aluminium. It was quite the learning curve and I had many failures before I finally got a usable casting. I think that you may be on to something that has a lot of potential. I always like free materials to work with and scrap plastic is abundant.
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You're right, and that's a good way to look at it. I think as others have said, the closer you can get to casting the actual shape by making a mould of the original stock, the better it should be. I feel pretty confident that this stock will work but I believe it will show signs of stress on the first time out.. which is expected for experimenting, as you say. Here it is now:

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I used a metal T.V. mounting bracket to support the action and "strengthen" the stock.. I wasn't thinking about all the metal working to accommodate the bolt movement, extractor screws and basically anything that protrudes from there and lack of tools to do that :p I think just a fatter stock with maybe some embedded metal rod, or fibreglass, like a hockey stick could have taken care of that. Next attempt could be done with a better mould and a larger propane deep fryer.

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Use a super thin saw blade and slice your donor original stock right down the center.
Build a small box 1 1/2" higher than the 1/2 a stock and a few inches bigger all around. Needs to sit even on a true flat board or aluminum sheet. Fill your 1/2 stock with wax and details all edges.
Place cut side down in box mold, contact cement in place so it sits flat. Trim away any excess cement.

Go get som HYDRO CAL modelling plaster. Mix as per directions. Pour into your mold and let plaster rise to cover 1/2 stock , level to top of box mold and trowel the top even all around.

Let it cure a couple days and remove your 1/2 stock. Make a left and right mold and pour in your plastic

Only problem will be how you join your 2 halves. I would imagine heating knurled pins or threaded inserts and pushing them into smaller holes would work well.

Ah, and if you try this, use normal Pam cooking spray as your mold release when making the mold and casting your part.

I suppose one could use pins and bolts to join the two half molds together and create pouring channels into the bolted together mold as well, just remember to use RTV sealant all around the center seam and preheat your complete mold to 150C before pouring in your liquid plastic from one end.
 
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