• Welcome to the DeeperBlue.com Forums, the largest online community dedicated to Freediving, Scuba Diving and Spearfishing. To gain full access to the DeeperBlue.com Forums you must register for a free account. As a registered member you will be able to:

    • Join over 44,280+ fellow diving enthusiasts from around the world on this forum
    • Participate in and browse from over 516,210+ posts.
    • Communicate privately with other divers from around the world.
    • Post your own photos or view from 7,441+ user submitted images.
    • All this and much more...

    You can gain access to all this absolutely free when you register for an account, so sign up today!

Making a wooden gun - trigger prices in Europe

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.

portinfer

Aquatic shopper...
Jul 3, 2003
1,327
408
173
Hey
I was thinking about making a gun - well, I have been thinking about making one for a while and figured that this was aboutthe best time to make one.

But as I was pricing up all the parts I found that the trigger can be really expensive.

This is what I found out - rough prices:

wood for stock = about £25
(3 pieces of teak from the local and only lumber mill - I am limited to what they can get as this is an island - I have tried emailing people like goodtimber.com but as far as I can see they are anything but as they never bothered to reply to numerous emails)

wood for handle = about £5
(teak or something else more fancy and exotic)

trigger...
now this is the part that gets pricey.
I figured that most euro gun makers sell a trigger suitable for a wooden gun - like totemsub / devoto etc - and they charge about 50 euros plus postage.
Is that reasonable ?
It seems like alot but I havent looked at how they are made etc

rubber = about £15 (17mm or 18mm) plus postage

devoto shaft = about 18 euros plus postage

line = no idea !

Anyway, my main concern was to find out about where people are buying their triggers from in Europe and what is a decent price to pay for all the parts before you break out the welding torch and steamroller...

Cheers
Ed

Oh - or are there any decent ones in the USA that ship to Europe - now that the dolla-pound is advantageous...

I am not interested in making a wooden gun with a plastic handle - gotta go wood - so trigger must be of this kind (quite inspired by that italian site that Alison mentioned - rollerguns, hmmm !)
 
Stainless mechanisms can be had for 23 euro's, well in a couple of weeks they can be :)
Edit Trouble with American mecanisms is they use American spears, and they arent the easiest or cheapest things to find in euroland :(
 
Last edited:
Well there you have it .Right from the man himself.


Portinfer. look up maltospero in the search and you will find some pics of the trigger mech he made. I think used just basic tools to build it.
 
Hello Alison,

Stainless mechanisms can be had for 23 euro's, well in a couple of weeks they can be
What is the brand name of this trigger,Will it be totally stainless mechanism??
Thanks
Aydın
 
Yes.....I'm all ears too!!! Alison....keep us posted.
I do not think E50 is that bad for a good quality mech.
The one I have now is around that mark in retail and I feel the price is about right.

Portinfer...are you sure about using that shaft? Something a bit heftier for this project do you not think?

Make the handle of walnut if you plan on coating it well. Should eat away some of the recoil. If not, stick to teak or mahogany.

15 squid for band??? Why? How much of it you'll need?
I suppose you will be using dynema wishbones?

Yes....stick to using wood all the way. I'm not too big on wooden barrels with plastic handles either.

Let us know how it goes.
If you need a quote for the fittings, please PM me. ;)

Cheers,
Mikko
 
Cheers everyone - I didnt read Alisons mail until after she edited it so no idea which trigger mech you are refering to !

Mikko - thinking of making a small quick gun of about 80cm - I think that a 6mm shaft of about 120cm total length should be good.

Thinking of getting 18mm rubber or maybe 16mm - somewhere around there.

Walnut sounds good - I'll see if it is available locally.

Any links to trigger mechs ?

I tried to search for maltosperos post but didnt find it - I have a friend who may be able to help make a trigger as he has his own metal shop - think I;ll try and track him down today so if you know of the best diagrams or pics of a taken apart triggr let me know.
I was thinking of busting open my totemsub trigger but then again I think it is best left alone !

Cheers
Ed
 
Yep...for that lenght 6mm is OK. I would however suggest 6.35 or even 6.5 for this.
Especially if you are planning on using 18-20mm bands. I think that for gun of this length 16mm is the way to go. Maybe have them a bit shorter that in usual 80cm gun. I prefer using a bit shorter bands to the default ones.

Walnut is most likely readily available as it grows in UK. The variety in UK is better for this purpose than the US one as it has tighter grain. Also, local timber has always some magic to it.

Have fun!

Mikko
 
I suspect that the mechanism has stainless steel parts with some sort of other material case @23 euros. Colin had some mail off this guy the other day and he said that he was also going to be making and selling a beefed up all stainless one for around 60 euros as well in a week or two. The problem is that at the moment that the shop doesnt take credit cards untill next week, so we are waiting too :(
 
Hello Portinfer,
You can make the trigger mechanism in your friends metal shop,I think.
Take a trigger mechanism whatever you want,get them in to pieces and make the steel copies ,if your friend have a laser cut you can get superb trigger mechanism,its a painful but also very cheaper way,trust me..
Alison keep us informe dabout the trigger mechanism.
Here is the trigger mechanism of my friend(www.esperasub),totally steel,and I want to show the details of the mechanism(it has a bearing ).If you want I can send you a little mpeg that shows how it works....
Aydın
 

Attachments

  • çiftlastik 051.jpg
    çiftlastik 051.jpg
    10.4 KB · Views: 296
Last edited by a moderator:
Thats a naty looking trigger Aydin, a really low profile. Will keep you updated on those triggers, Colin has 3 of them on the way apparently, so I will give an update when I see them but the guy who makes them swears they're the bees knees, we'll see:)
 
Thanks Alison,we will waiting information about the naty thing. Have you got the video??Mikko?? and Ed??
 
Aydin - cheers, yes I got the video - looks like a nice mechanism. To be honest I wouldn't know how to make one ! I might make some diagrams of what I think is going on.

Presumably any euro type trigger will work with a devoto shaft ?

Do different triggers take different shaft thicknesses ?
ie do you get a trigger for a 6mm shaft or are they all universal ?

Cheers
 
Yes of course Ed,
nearly all the European triggers work very well with the Devoto shaft..We can put 6 - 6.5 - 7 mm shafts with no problem to those mechanisms.
Aydın
 
portinfer said:
Cheers everyone - I didnt read Alisons mail until after she edited it so no idea which trigger mech you are refering to !

Mikko - thinking of making a small quick gun of about 80cm - I think that a 6mm shaft of about 120cm total length should be good.

Thinking of getting 18mm rubber or maybe 16mm - somewhere around there.

Walnut sounds good - I'll see if it is available locally.

Any links to trigger mechs ?

I tried to search for maltosperos post but didnt find it - I have a friend who may be able to help make a trigger as he has his own metal shop - think I;ll try and track him down today so if you know of the best diagrams or pics of a taken apart triggr let me know.
I was thinking of busting open my totemsub trigger but then again I think it is best left alone !

Cheers
Ed

sounds like a plan!!!

go ahead and do it...
 
DeeperBlue.com - The Worlds Largest Community Dedicated To Freediving, Scuba Diving and Spearfishing

ABOUT US

ISSN 1469-865X | Copyright © 1996 - 2024 deeperblue.net limited.

DeeperBlue.com is the World's Largest Community dedicated to Freediving, Scuba Diving, Ocean Advocacy and Diving Travel.

We've been dedicated to bringing you the freshest news, features and discussions from around the underwater world since 1996.

ADVERT