Props Wooden Props Question

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ImaGonnaGetYou

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Hey, everyone! I've got a question for anyone here who has experience with woodworking or making props with tools and dremels:

Can a dremel be used instead of a bandsaw for cutting out the basic shape of a weapon if I'm using blueprints?

I'm trying to make a Halo 3 Shotgun with wizardofflight's blueprints, but I'm unsure of what type of wood to use and what I'll need to get the details I want. I don't own any power tools besides a few drills and a dremel, and I'd like to know if I need to find any to use for my project.

My plan is also to have a working shotgun pump and a working shotgun shell ejection port on the right side, but I need ideas for how I can make that work other than using springs (although springs seem to be a useful option right now).

Thanks!

P.S - I'll post a quick sketch of what I'd like to do if that'll help you guys any.
 
You really should use a band, jig, table or scroll saw for the larger pieces if you are using wood or mdf. I guess you could use cutting blades and drum sanding bits on a dremel to cut and shape the wood but it would take forever. With no power tools its going to be difficult. I think thats why alot of guys do pep. You could hand saw as well.
Good luck..
 
smick6 said:
You really should use a band, jig, table or scroll saw for the larger pieces if you are using wood or mdf. I guess you could use cutting blades and drum sanding bits on a dremel to cut and shape the wood but it would take forever. With no power tools its going to be difficult. I think thats why alot of guys do pep. You could hand saw as well.
Good luck..

That's what I was afraid of... :(

If I got a majority of the main body cut out with power tools borrowed from a friend, would a dremel and less-than-power tools be sufficient for finishing the weapon?

I've got around 1 1/2 weeks of pure free time, and I've got basically nothing to do, so I thought this would be a fun time-consumer.
 
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If you can't get some power tools I'd say get a coping saw. Its great for cutting around curves and corners if you're short on tools.
A regular hand saw would be better for longer straight cuts though. The coping saw isn't the best for straight cuts.
 
CPU64 said:
If you can't get some power tools I'd say get a coping saw. Its great for cutting around curves and corners if you're short on tools.
A regular hand saw would be better for longer straight cuts though. The coping saw isn't the best for straight cuts.
I always slip when I try to cut straight with mine...my tools hate me
 
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ImaGonnaGetYou said:
If I got a majority of the main body cut out with power tools borrowed from a friend, would a dremel and less-than-power tools be sufficient for finishing the weapon?

I've got around 1 1/2 weeks of pure free time, and I've got basically nothing to do, so I thought this would be a fun time-consumer.

Anything that can be done with power tools can be done by hand - it's just going to be a whole lot harder, require more skill, and a lot more time...

You do a lot with a Dremel, unfortunately the shotgun has a lot of cylindrical and symmetrical detail which will be harder to recreate manually. Even an inexpensive jig saw and orbital sander will help and shouldn't set you back more than $30 each (more or less). Ryobi makes pretty decent tools for the money, especially for projects like this...

Good Luck!
 
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DogWizard said:
Anything that can be done with power tools can be done by hand - it's just going to be a whole lot harder, require more skill, and a lot more time...

You do a lot with a Dremel, unfortunately the shotgun has a lot of cylindrical and symmetrical detail which will be harder to recreate manually. Even an inexpensive jig saw and orbital sander will help and shouldn't set you back more than $30 each (more or less). Ryobi makes pretty decent tools for the money, especially for projects like this...

Good Luck!

Thanks for the advice, I'll look into buying some tools from Ryobi. Hopefully, any of the local hardware stores will stock their products.
 
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It sound like you are getting some good advice.

Another thing you can do for the barrel and some of the small round stuff is use dowells.

I use some pretty thin wood. Most is not over a quarter inch thick. Poplar is my favorite!

You could get by with a straight saw and couping saw for some of the finer cuts, but a scroll saw and small table saw make it a lot easier.

I also use small chissels and a razor knife for detailing.

Have you figured out how your going to do the pump action and ejection?

GOOD LUCK
 
LeeKegan said:
It sound like you are getting some good advice.

Another thing you can do for the barrel and some of the small round stuff is use dowells.

I use some pretty thin wood. Most is not over a quarter inch thick. Poplar is my favorite!

You could get by with a straight saw and couping saw for some of the finer cuts, but a scroll saw and small table saw make it a lot easier.

I also use small chissels and a razor knife for detailing.

Have you figured out how your going to do the pump action and ejection?

GOOD LUCK

Thanks a ton for the advice.

As for the pump, I plan to use a spring that gives enough resistance to feel like a real shotgun, and it will also lead to a trigger for electronics that produce the ingame sound. The trigger will have a very slight delay, but will produce the ingame firing sound. As for recoil, I'm stumped. Finally, I'm still working out the details for the ejection port, since I'm not finding any useful ideas for it so far.
 
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I've actually been thinking about building the M90A (Halo 3 shotgun) for the past week or so as well using Wizard Of Flight's Blueprints and came across something interesting yesterday. If you have a look where the back of the slide sits in comparison to the ejection port on Wizards plan you'll notice that they're very close together, too close if you need to pump back from that location.

So I went home last night and mucked around in Forge. Wizard's blueprints are spot on (as if there was any doubt), it's the game model that is... inaccurate for a real weapon. After firing off a bunch of rounds in Forge I then went back and re-watched the footage in Theatre, and sure enough the slide covers up the ejection port each time the rifle's pumped. The shells just magically appear through the slide.

Another thing I found in my research is that the M90A uses a big 8 gauge magnum round which is 3.5'' long! I haven't checked it to the blueprint yet but I wouldn't be surprised if the loading and ejection ports aren't that big.

Here's details on the shells the M90A uses from halopedia-
http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Soellkraft_8_Gauge_Shell

And the diameters of the different gauages including 8 gauge-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shotgun_shell...ameter_Formulas

Hope this info is of some help, and good luck. ;)
 
I'm also building the shotty and up until recently i've had to use the basic tools myself. I got most of it done with just a dremel and a jigsaw. Luckily i've recently been able to build my tools up and let me tell you a scroll saw works wonders. But it can definately be done. If you want to share notes on construction i'll be happy to let you know how i did a few things.
 
at wal-mart they have a jig saw for 20$ and thats what i got
all i use is a dremel and a jigsaw to make these
PICT0471.jpg

PICT0465.jpg

so you could probably make something decent if you get a jigsaw.
 
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