UHMW Plastic....

[SDale]

I used it to make some bushings in my race car a few years back  and have two 4x4x2 inch blocks of it left.  It looks like white nylon, but it's Heavier (hence the name UHMW - Ultra High Molecular Weight). Seems to have the same properties.

Any thoughts as to what it can be useful for in an airgun??? I was thinking that I could use it to make some parachute style seals for a B3.

[Gene_SC]

I think it would be to soft for spring guides and have no idea where else it could be used.. Maybe the seals.... good idea.. I know that CDT knows alot about plastics and there uses.. Maybe he will chime in on this..

Gene

[JMG]

UHMW plastic is usually polyethylene, which is a member of the polyolefin family. It is very durable and very heavy for its size. It is usually used in industrial applications that take a lot of abuse. Hmm some companies use it in there truck bed liners. I am thinking if ya had a table saw you could saw out slabs of different thicknesses and make washers for them like barrel block side washers where the barrel pivots in the block. Could also be used as a spring bearing assembly. I use teflon and stainless steel washers on both ends of my main spring to act as a thrust surface. It seems to help the spring twist thing quite a bit. So I would put some moly on teflon washer #1 slide it down the tube then do the same with teflon washer #2 then moly up the stainless washer and slide that on top of the 2 teflon washers then put the spring in and then the same thing for the spring guide end. Works real well. I use .010 washers so I am not loading up the spring too much... only a total of .060 so thats not to drastic of a preload hehe. But it does work wonders.

John

[SDale]

Those are some GREAT ideas JMG! I DO have a new table saw! Just got it the other day to replace a 35 year old Craftsman Hand-Me-Down that was repaired way too many times.

It IS rather soft for spring guide material. BUT, like JMG said...Great for bearing surfaces. When I was building my car I used the UHMW for steering bushings, engine & tranny mount inserts (stiffeners), sway bar bushings...The cars handling tightened up considderably and I wanna translate that into airgun stuffs!