Barrel Polishing

These instructions are presented here for informational purposes only. Any modifications you choose to do to your gun, you do so at your own risk. Be sure to REMOVE the CO2 or other gas source from any paintball marker before you attempt disassembly. Wear eye protection when using ANY power tools. If unsure about safely modifying your gun, consult a professional airsmith. Remember, safety must ALWAYS come first!

Submitted by Chris (aka Sugar Ray)

Polishing

I've tried four substances, excluding sandpaper to polish aluminum..

I've used a Dremel with small felt wheels and the felt tip and I've used a drill/shop rag combo. I take an old all cotton t-shirt, cut it into 4"x12" strips. I tape one end to a plastic dowel (just the straight part of a plastic hanger cut off). I wrap to the right and tape the bottom of the rag. Load 'er up and polish the insides to my heart's content.

I've had pretty good success using a 12 gauge shotgun swab and cleaning rod. Just screw the swab into the rod and insert it in the drill, then polish, polish, polish! I use the rubbing compound first, then the finer polishing compound. The same swab works well for polishing the inside of the hammer tube, too. The swab cleans easily with warm water and dish detergent. As for polishing the hammer itself, even with a Dremel tool, it's time consuming. I've had better luck with a 6" stitched cloth wheel in my bench grinder, and the two compounds. Makes a big mess, though! Be sure and wash the swab and cloth wheel thoroughly before changing polishing compounds.

Polishing Componds

1. Turtle Wax polishing compound. $1.99 green plastic tub at most auto parts stores. This is a good, general purpose finishing compound. Not much punch though. Can be spread on wet over the metal, dried, buffed, and polished. Use either the small felt wheel or the felt tip. A dry cloth on the drill, as described above can also be used. Buff until it shines. This will probably not get a fine mirror finish if you started from a metal without a highly polished surface (like the inside of a Ray barrel or hammer tube). Can also be used as a wet polishing compound. Use an old dremel polishing tip or the like or a damp clean cloth on the drill/dowel trick. Use excessive amounts and rub the compound in its wet stage for an extensive period. Rinse with warm water, dry, and buff with a clean polishing tip or clean cloth.

2. Turtle Wax rubbing compound $1.99 red plastic tub at most auto parts stores. This is a very good and very abrasive compound. This is more abrasive than the polishing compound. Use the same as the polishing compound. It is better to use this if you only want to use one of the two. It will do the job. You can also use the polishing compound after you use the rubbing compound to help put a little finer shine one the metal.

3. Dico Premium Bufing Compositions TC6 - Tripoli - for non-ferrous metals "to remove surface imperfections" This comes in a cardboard tube and, like the label says, is for doing the rough work. It is hard and brittle and is best used if applied to a high speed polisher while the polisher is moving. $2.28 from Lowes hardware. Can, most likely be found at Home Depot or similar.

4. Dico Premium Buffing Composition JR1 - Jewelers' - for non-ferrous metals - "to achieve a high luster finish" - Yeah, no kidding. More like a mirror. This is Jeweler's rouge. Jewelers use this or similar to polish gold and silver. This comes in an identical looking tube as #3 above.

One is a rough agent (TC6) and the other is ultra fine polish (JR1) also called jewelers rouge. They come in tubes and are very dry and hard. Bottom line with these. These are best used with a Dremel. They must be applied to the felt tip while the tip is turning (it needs the heat to break up the compound). Smear the stuff with an old small felt polishing wheel. Let it dry. Polish/buff it off with a clean polishing wheel. I used these wheels up pretty quickly. I think I used up 1 old tip, 1 new tip and about 3 small felt wheels on the outside of a Ray 1 barrel. By using both of these together, I was able to obtain an absolutely amazing, brilliant chrome-mirror finish on the outside of a stock Ray barrel.

The Nitty-Gritty

1. Item modified- Inside of stock Ray 1 barrel.

2. Intended effect - Polish the inside of a Ray 1 barrel to obtain a mirror-like finish. This should decrease friction on the inside of the barrel as the ball travels down. This should increase both accuracy and range.

3. Tools/equipment/supplies needed: Electric drill, 3/8" wooden dowel (you can also cut the straight part of a plastic clothes hanger off and use it), old all cotton t-shirt, scissors, masking tape, Turtle Wax Rubbing Compound (in the red tub), water, shop goggles

4. Description: With the scissors, cut 2-3 strips from the t-shirt (3-4"x 12-14"). Run one of the strips under a faucet to get it wet. Wring out the cloth so it is just damp (not dripping wet). Tape one end to the end of the damp cloth to dowel with the masking tape. Wrap the strip around the dowel so it is just slightly larger in diameter than the inside of the barrel. Tape the loose end to the dowel. Insert the dowel in the electric drill chuck and tighten. Smear the damp cloth with rubbing compound (More is good here). Also take some rubbing compound and smear it on the inside of the barrel. Turn the drill on low speed and slowly insert it inside the barrel. Once you see the cloth fits, crank up the drill and polish away. Polish up and down the length of the barrel for about five minutes. You should be getting some ugly, black crud out of both ends of the barrel. Do this for about five minutes. Now, smear some more compound on the cloth and do it again. Repeat this as many times as you want. you will not hurt the barrel. I usually do it about 3-4 times. When you are satisfied, take the barrel to your bathtub or sink and rinse it with warm water. Let it stand and dry.

While the barrel is drying, take the cruddy ole rag off your dowel, and tape a nice clean and dry rag to it. When the barrel is dry, run drill with the clean,dry cloth on the dowel through the barrel to polish/buff it. You should get a slight amount of crud and some black residue on cloth. Take that beauty and look through it toward a light source. It should shine like a mirror. If not, polish it some more. Make sure your barrel is very clean before shooting paintballs through it. Some times, I run another clean cotton cloth through it to make sure.

5. Mirror smooth interior finish. Shoots further, straighter, and with less breaks. Not empirical evidence at this time.

6. Pictures to come

1. Item Modified - Ray 1 stock barrel exterior.

2. Intended effect - To make the outside shine like a chrome package for Hog.

3. Tools/equipment/supplies needed: Dremel moto-tool, Small felt polishing wheel for the Dremel, XXX rubbing compound, XXX jewelers rouge, xacto knife

4. Description: Attach an old small felt polishing wheel to the Dremel. Take the cap of the rubbing compound and peel back the paper an inch or so. Turn the Dremel on the lowest setting and touch it to the compound. The idea is to cover the polishing wheel with the stuff. with the Dremel on its lowest speed, apply and work it into the exterior surface of the barrel. When the stuff starts to turn black and does not spread any more, put some more on the tip and apply more. When the surface is covered, get a clean small felt polishing wheel. Be sure the compound is dry. Turn the speed up to a slightly higher setting. Begin buffing the dried residue off the surface. you will reach a point, after a couple of inches, where the polishing wheel is entirely black and it is very difficult to remove the compound. Get the X-Acto knife. Very carefully, turn the Dremel up to setting 4. Touch the tip of the knife to the felt wheel. What you are doing is removing some of the saturated outside felt (like using a lathe). When the wheel starts to turn white again, get back to polishing. Repeat until all is removed. Now, do the same with the jewelers rouge. This takes time. Sweet and long time. Well over an hour.

5. Results of the modification. When you are done, and you will start to notice the results as soon as you buff off the first layer of the jewelers rouge, you will have a very, very shiny mirror-chromed look. It is very sharp looking and very shiny. Did I say it was shiny? Nice for a display, speedball, arena ball, or indoor.

6. No pictures at this time

Hope this helps,

Sugar Ray