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All About Guns What's your weapon of choice, and why? Discuss the beloved speargun here!

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Old 06-01-2012, 09:30 PM   #1
J&JC
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Square push rod

My buddy and I are building our first mid-handle and when discussing the location of the handle my dad brought up the point that we should use a square push rod vs. a cylinder because we are welding the remote trigger to the push rod and being round would allow it to wobble it sounds like it makes perfect sense but I have never seen it done before any opinions?
thanks
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Old 06-01-2012, 10:06 PM   #2
Wood Guy
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Re: Square push rod

Are you talking about the bottom of the remote trigger rotating left and right? Usually a slot is cut into the trigger guard and the bottom of the trigger slides in it. The slot captures the bottom of the trigger and keeps it from rotating. If you didn't want to do that, a square push rod would help, but the slot would still have to be cut carefully to not stick and still keep the trigger from rotating, but I don't see why it wouldn't work.

Phil's probably welded a few hundred or more pushrods, and I'm betting he's tried a square one - maybe he'll share his experiences yet another time.


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Old 06-01-2012, 10:59 PM   #3
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Re: Square push rod

A few people I know often have to remind me, "Think AK-47, not sniper rifle." Just about every time I've tried to build a speargun with close tolerances, I've regretted it.
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Old 06-01-2012, 11:42 PM   #4
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Re: Square push rod

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Originally Posted by Tin Man View Post
A few people I know often have to remind me, "Think AK-47, not sniper rifle." Just about every time I've tried to build a speargun with close tolerances, I've regretted it.
Plus a square pushrod is heavier than a round rod. Also you have to weld the trigger square on to the rod or have a slightly tilted to the side trigger if the rod runs in a square cross-section tunnel. It can look odd having the trigger out of alignment with the trigger finger guard, I had to modify a gun to eliminate this defect which was due to poor workmanship.
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Old 06-02-2012, 01:01 PM   #5
troutbum24
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Re: Square push rod

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Originally Posted by J&JC View Post
My buddy and I are building our first mid-handle and when discussing the location of the handle my dad brought up the point that we should use a square push rod vs. a cylinder because we are welding the remote trigger to the push rod and being round would allow it to wobble it sounds like it makes perfect sense but I have never seen it done before any opinions?
thanks
I'm sure a square pushrod would work but like others said a round one is lighter and it travels through a slot cut into the wood which is just big enough for the round pushrod to travel through and prohibits side to side movement. I would stick with round since it doesnt have square edges to cut into the wood if the weld is not perfectly straight. Not saying square wont work though.
Make sure you document your build in the All About Guns section!!! Cant wait to see it.
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Old 06-02-2012, 05:32 PM   #6
J&JC
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Re: Square push rod

Thank you everyone for your input we will take it to heart when making our finial discission. I will definetly post pictures of the finished product when we get there
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Old 06-02-2012, 08:19 PM   #7
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Re: Square push rod

A few people I know often have to remind me, "Think AK-47, not sniper rifle." Just about every time I've tried to build a speargun with close tolerances, I've regretted it.

Classic. I know this feeling.. regretting usually means hours spent with chisels and sand paper..
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Old 06-03-2012, 09:38 AM   #8
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Re: Square push rod

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Originally Posted by Behslayer View Post
A few people I know often have to remind me, "Think AK-47, not sniper rifle." Just about every time I've tried to build a speargun with close tolerances, I've regretted it.

Classic. I know this feeling.. regretting usually means hours spent with chisels and sand paper..
yes, we know it, chisel, sand paper, epoxi, sandwood, and many many hours of hand work
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Old 06-04-2012, 07:51 PM   #9
Ric.Fallu
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Re: Square push rod

For a while, I used plastic chopsticks for push rods in mid-handles (I can hear the howls of derision as I type). They did work OK, but could wear down a little over time,

Most of the body of the chop stick is square, and this fitted more or less nicely into a square bottomed channel routed into the gun. The round end, I had go through the tunnel through the handle, which is always harder to engineer neatly. They were less massive than metal, and less likely to accidently fire the gun if it was jerked.

But, other people didn't like the chopsticks all that much. I have bent to popular opinion and now use 5 mm stainless rod. I put it in a 6 mm round bottomed slot. With the rod, and trigger(s) all fitting loosely in gun, there is a bit of wobble room, but this doesn't appear to impact on effectiveness.

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Old 06-04-2012, 08:29 PM   #10
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Re: Square push rod

Some other pros of using a cylinder.

If you need to adjust your Handle, i.e. file a bit to allow for an easy flow, or if you need to file your pushrod retainer, it's easier to file with a circular file. Another Pro. Square edges are easier to catch on bits of the mech.
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