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GeckoSub Mirage Evo - And Adventures in 3D Printing Speargun Parts

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
Maybe Mares loss of confidence and dominance is exemplified by the minnow that they now use for a logo!
 
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Looking at those video frame grabs you just posted and my pic of the SS trigger - it seems the front of the plastic trigger is much lower compared to the ss version. That could allow the plastic trigger to swivel a whole lot more forwards giving it more travel.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
One way to find out would be to obtain the "Cyrano Evo" two-piece plastic trigger from someone's busted gun. When word spread about problems with the then new "Evo" few divers here bought one, thinking that if they waited then Mares would have to fix it. All the experienced staff at Mares had probably retired, so no one was around to fix it who would have seen the problem when the gun was still on the drawing board (or computer monitor).
 
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Line Holders
As I am chipping away at the smaller projects it was time to make some line holders for the nose cones.
Though I am in Bangkok now, there's still a Chinese connection as it took a trip to the old industrial part of Chinatown to find some ø2mm stainless steel rod. Not as convenient as ordering it online back home in Shanghai, like all my other stuff, but a whole lot more interesting


The food there is also a whole lot better than at my apartment. Though this is Isaan food from the Thai Northeast and not Chinese please do notice the SS rods in the corner of the pic;-):


Anyways, back home at my friend's place I cut, bent and glued in the line holders:





They aren't meant as line anchors to hold the end of the shooting line to the gun but only to wrap the line around as this long gun will always be rigged with either a reel or breakaway,

I think that was it for today's work. Quite easy;-)
 
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Reactions: jorz21, landshark sa, Nico66 and 2 others
Well as we know what the “Cyrano” blue and black (nee “Evo”) handle looks like, albeit now with a longer gate, and we have this red nose cone and muzzle I can see in my mind's eye what the final gun looks like. So bar a bit of tweaking and finishing you have done it, which I think is an enormous achievement. Hence the “Mirage Evo” is now a reality which is something you should be proud of and Mares, if they are looking, should be shuffling their shoes and nervously looking down at their feet in embarrassment. Fortunately for them many buyers still go for the "Sten" which has soldiered on from 2001 without them fiddling with it. If I was making a new "Sten" I would just replace the current slab sided over handle with the grip shape that made the "Sten" a success for several decades and that is the three finger ridge grip handle. Everything else can stay as is.
 
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Management Master!
Damn, I am so proud today - I just received my Master's Degree in (Shooting Line) Management... I have tried for years to crack this one and it finally happened. I don't know if I can take credit for it or someone mentioned it back when I asked on Spearboard what people did to keep rigged spears from dumping their shooting lines all over (I'll check).

Anyways, here's the thesis:


It's just cable/wire management cover. It tends to come in packs of ten meters and it's cheap. This one is the 10mm size and the line is two wraps from a 130 shaft (1.4mm mono, I think) and it's a little tight. I would think the next two sizes up (12/15mm) would be better.
I think this will really work - it holds the coiled line firmly in place so far.
 
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Reactions: landshark sa and Kodama
I think that is a great idea as mono is such springy stuff and the cable wrap is similarly springy that they work together to make a stable package. With woven shooting line, which I use more often than mono, but it depends on the u/w terrain, wrapping the spear end to end with the shooting line as “Taimen” do keeps the line in order, but mono will develop kinks at the wrapping ends and will not stay in place with that method. Mono in my view is a necessary evil, it has its nicking and then total loss of strength problems, but cannot be beaten for low drag, and so on occasion it needs to be used.
 
Reactions: Diving Gecko
I notice on other forums this cable wrap idea flushed out dive equipment retailers wanting to put in a plug for their little shooting line satchels that slip on the shaft, but in my opinion this cable wrap idea wipes the floor with all the other methods and will soon become industry standard practice as it orders the loops of monofilament which is notoriously springy stuff to bundle together.
 
Carbon Fiber Reservoir Epoxy Coating
Today, I coated the inside ends of the CF reservoir to stop any leaks (I had a tiny one at the handle end). In the past, I have had problems with the epoxy fisheye'ing which is a real nightmare. Last time around, I solved it by using some extremely lightweight (thin) glassfibre which helps the resin stay put but I forgot to it to Thailand so I was a bit worried but the resin has behaved nicely and has not fisheyed at all.
Supposedly, just a a bit of contamination can cause it. It can be fabric softener in the rags or tissue you use to degrease with, a low quality brush or even low quality acetone but no issues this time:



The resin seemed to lay down so nicely I may not even need to sand it after it has cured.
 
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I decided not to do a custom grip in my fancy carbon fiber epoxy putty after all. Though I brought all the "ingredients" to Thailand from China, I ran out of time so just did a quick Polymorph grip - I had a MediSten in parts at my friend's place and used the Polymorph from that handle:

I will fine tune the grip once I get to Indonesia in a few days - I am meeting up with friends there and one of them is bringing a bit more Polymorph which I might need.
Oh, credit where credit is due... I found two things I actually like about the Evo handle, haha. The transverse pin which holds the trigger sear extends quite a bit from the sides of the barrel and does a very good job at keeping the barrel from twisting when you (dis)assemble the gun.
And the safety seems to be nicely thought out. It kinda pokes into your palm/trigger finger when on, so you can feel it (at least easily without gloves) but lies flush when it is off. Pretty clever (it is in the off position in the above picture).

I had mentioned that the newest nose cone is not only lighter (bigger cutouts on the sides) but it also has a larger fiber optic sight:


The red one is 3mm, the green one 4mm. But it's not as glossy a surface as the red one as it was originally a 6mnm rod that I turned down to 4mm but I couldn't get a perfect finish on it.

Finally, a pic of how the breakway bungee will insert into the CamWing sleeve:
 
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Well we can even see the sight glowing on the sight ends in the photos, so it is all looking very good. Considering the grip shapes I often think the manufacturers figure that an average grip shape that will fit everybody but suits no one is the way to go, yet ever since they used these hollow column grips they should have been more adventurous with left and right-hand grips and customizable grips. The LG-Sub Manilu “Revolution” gun comes in left and right hand versions, my gun is a right hand version although being able to shoot with either hand I could have used a left. By the way if you ever wonder what it would be like to carry two guns cocked and ready to shoot I have tried it and I don’t recommend it. On seeing a likely target move into my field of view on my left I was swinging my right hand long gun to bring it onto an intercept shot heading when my auto shoot brain pulled the trigger on the left hand smaller gun. The shot whizzed past the victim’s head and alarmed it bolted. “Fire control” was unable to sort out shot priority and I realized this could be rather dangerous in the company of other divers.

A white handle is good if you drop your gun cocked and ready to shoot on a weedy bottom as surge whips the weed tendrils back and forth as then you can catch a glimpse of it. A gun as black as the Ace of Spades can disappear as the gleam of the shaft cannot be seen as it will be stuck under the weed cover and many shafts are black or dark brown any case.
 
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Haha, good story on the double gun wielding underwater cowboy.

Honestly, the Polymorph isn't that great. Well, it's not terrible but not as good as the epoxy putty grips I have made as Polymorph is heavier, but also it is rather slippery. I have tried coating it with silicone or PU caulking but it comes right off. The best is to make an imprint into it while it is still somewhat warm. The metal pads used for scrubbing pots and pans work alright.

I never really let go of these long guns as they are set up for breakaway and if I need to used both hands I clip the gun to my belt. I think I have only ever put it on the seafloor once while trying to hand grab a lobster. That said, I did once - early on with the breakaway - let go of the gun after a shot while grabbing the line to fight the fish totally forgetting that the gun was not tethered to the line at all.
I got the fish, turned around expecting to see the gun behind me but it was nowhere to be seen. I got really nervous and thought I had lost it, but luckily our boat was just next to me and my friend could spot it from his elevated position. With a bit more current or the boat not there, I think I would have lost it. Not my proudest moment and I hope never to make that mistake again. If I did, I would have to make up some story about how a jaguar shark ate it;-)

 
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Reactions: Zahar
I have rarely dropped a loaded gun, but at times I had no choice when I required both hands to render assistance to my buddy (such as help in stuffing a reluctant fish into a bag that was a tight fit) or some unexpected development meant that the gun would need to be parked. A sandy bottom is best as then the gun can be found again and at least you keep away from rocks. On weed covered bottoms there are inevitably rocks below as the kelp, seaweeds, etc. all have to be anchored on something and flat spots are hard to ascertain from up above. Once one of dive boots zippers undid and feeling that awful belling effect as on each fin stroke the ankle area on the dive boot flared open I required the use of two hands as I needed to simultaneously pull the boot halves together while hauling up on the reluctant YKK zipper tag. I let go of my gun, then I spent five minutes finding it again as a slight current had shifted it in its plunge to the bottom. This was my Scubapro Magnum 95 pneumatic (black all over) and I only spotted it on the dark bottom by the white lettering on its sides, once I saw that and the white trigger I breathed a sigh of relief. Similarly I let go of my "Taimen" which vanished when it should have been on the surface after I had thrown it aside. I looked around in puzzlement and seeing the spear on the bottom despite the gloomy conditions I realized a clump of floating weed the size of a small car had caught the shooting line and in drifting along had hauled the gun to the bottom as the weed occupied the entire height of the water column. Thrashing through the weed and tearing it apart I was mighty relieved when the Taimen's white handle came into view and I could grab onto it.

P, S, never saw the Life Aquatic, but will now buy it!!
 
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Life Aquatic is a bit of an acquired taste as is all Wes Anderson's movies with his quirky universes and story telling. But I love his work and though Life Aquatic isn't his best (Royal Tenenbaums is!) it's still very good.
Supposedly, he wanted the movie to be a Cousteau tribute (you will see it in the ship, speedos, wet suits and the hats) but the Costeau family wouldn't have it, hence the main character is Steve Zissou.
 
Just bought it on eBay, 2 disc edition brand new, $20 including shipping. Looks like a good cast, although Bill Murray I am not a fan of, some parts he does well, others seem to suffer from his shtick.
 
This may explain why the new Cyrano, which looks just like the Cyrano Evo, has had some internal remedies applied as otherwise these parts would be interchangeable. Those stuck with an Evo, or Devo, might consider upgrading to the new guns or possibly throwing away the entire rear handle and bulkhead and replacing them with the new "blue gun" parts.
 
That Busted Memory...
Finally made it to Indonesia but a few minor setbacks traveled with me...

I have "mapped" all the different sizes of o-rings I have used in this build and the day before leaving China I made a proper replacement set of o-rings but I managed not to pack them at all... I wasn't missing all the o-rings as though the gun was taken apart for flying out of China I had left some o-rings on e.g. the barrels and nose cone. I also had some other spares with me but I was still missing a few! The worst one was the main power regulator bulkhead but I managed to sand down a 2mm thick o-ring so that is would pass for the 1.5mm I had designed the bulkhead to use.

Anyways, the gun is at 30 bar and has been so for the past three days so that's the good news. The bad news is this:


Somewhere between my days in Thailand and flying to Bali, I caught a flu. I normally just ride a flu out and stay off meds, but this time I will take any help I can get, so that means four pills and cough syrup 3 times a day. Having a flu in the tropics rates high on on my list of least enjoyable things...

I still had to get some practical stuff done, e.g. hit a local machine shop to have a longer polespear shaft made and have some relief cuts made at the end of the threads on my shafts so they would work with my new (reversed engineered, 3rd party) UBL-style tail ends and sliders:


I love finding local machine shops like these and the lathe guy knew his stuff. Though he really didn't like cutting the titanium shaft for my polespear he did a good job with it:


I had gifted a local friend, spearo and gun builder a small handheld drill and some polishing bits, which was kinda lucky as I needed to do some polishing on the new shaft sliders. (The reason I basically had to copy my older UBL parts and another guy to make them is that Dima/UBL has been away from his machines for almost a year but he should be up and running in a month or so. I just coudn't wait any longer):


I then rigged a brand new 8mm slip tip shaft from Andre Spearguns in Bali with dyneema (the slip tip itself is the smallest Spearmaster):



Also, I treated myself to an FRV and will probably do a separate post or thread about that once I have used it for a while:


I think I am beating the flu, too so I am hoping I can get in the water tomorrow. I have plenty of time on this trip so I will take it easy no matter what.

Forget to mention that I have also dialled in the trigger now. I had to shorten the pin my 1mm to allow the trigger to travel a bit more before before the sear releases. Before I shortened the pin, I couldn't get the line release to drop before the sear at all, but now it works. The pull is still extremely short but as long as it is only me using it, it's alright.
(Remember I don't have the stock piston in this gun so I can't make any firm conclusions on how the trigger pull is on the new Cyrano 1.3 handles in general. Except that I think it will still be very short).
 
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I hope you soon get over the flu as it can certainly make you feel terrible. I had a bad dose many years ago, it hung on for weeks, but have not had it since then mainly due to good luck and avoiding crowded places as people can cough right over you. In Asia a handkerchief seems to be a rarity and some people just snort back then spit all their mucus on the ground (how charming). Someone once jokingly said that it dates back to the Lost Hanky of Genghis Khan. Anyone found with a hanky was executed, so to this day there are no handkerchiefs in China.

The Mirage Evo looks good now we see it all together. The proof of the pudding is easier muzzle loading and a powerful shot, as we know in the past the Mirage delivered easier loading, but not always a powerful shot. I have been thinking of a way to retract the piston plug in my gun right into the regulator tunnel which means making something like I originally thought that the "variator" worked. The regulator control shaft has to be effectively changed in length by using rotation to select a different length, the problem is stopping the piston plug rotating as well. Sort of like the selector rod in a gear box tail shifter, and of course getting it to fit in the available space.
 
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Referring back to the spare parts from Edosub I see that there is an ergonomic handle for the Cyrano rear handle that has a wider butt. I think if Mares had an improved handle then they should fit it on the gun as stock, same as the “Race Kit” for the Predator which should come as stock, although mainly for everything but the piston which may be less durable than the standard item.
 
I actually bought that extra grip - but I don't like it at all. It's still an ambidextrous grip and also too angled back for me.
 
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