How's it going guys? It looks like there are a few familar screen names chilling on the inception forums, so you may know who I am already.... My name is Rob, Pbpixels, Bunny, etc and I'm a big fan of the X-mag platform and run the fan-site www.xmagworld.com. I recently acquired a prototype version of the Aztec X-mag and wanted to see what you guys think about an idea I have. I only have the body and a blank feedtube. I did not get any of the milled battery housings. (see below)
Overview: A long time ago John Sosta and Simon worked on a few prototype ideas for the modular Xtreme and this was one of the ideas they had.
Below is the Aztec prototype. No-one on AO liked it originally so it never went to production… (but then not everyone liked the C&C either…) It’s nicer in the flesh and feels very ‘primevil’ to hold. It’s definitely different. The battery case was just following the same design theme around the X-mag ‘X’ logo…The way the metal cuts makes it very hard to appreciate it, and you can ‘see’ or not ‘see’ features purely depending on the direction the tool went across the surface.
Parts look very different once polished and annodised. It was amazing with the C&C how many people didn’t like it as a raw prototype but then loved it once polished and annodised. And also how many more people liked it once they saw it in real life rather than just in pictures.
Quite amazing really. And one reason I am not an advocate of showing prototype work too early on here anymore.
Also it sucks for you guys to see stuff so early in the prototype stages and expect to see it out the next month when in reality that just isn’t how it works.
My idea: I have been toying around with the idea of completing the prototype and finishing it with a proper anodizing. I really like the design and think it would be awesome to see it put together.
Should I leave the prototype as is, with just the milled body, blank module, sitting on an e-mag frame? Keeping it raw.
or
Should I finish it, mill a new battery pack, module, and get it anodized in a solid color?
If I decided to finish the prototype my next problem would be to find someone who could actually help me mill the parts. Since I'm no machinist/expert/etc I have no clue how this is done. My assumption would be to find the "G-code" for it. I spoke with John about the code, but since it is specific to his machine and tooling I couldn't just copy and paste his file and give it to someone to reproduce. John also mentioned things like toolslot8 ,12mm ball end-mill, featurecam, Tebis, but it all went over my head. Maybe Simon can chime in and explainDo you guys think this could be easily produced or recreated?
I figured this would be a good place to start. I would love to see what you guys think of this.
-Rob
I vote you leave it and just ano it
milling it would be like altering a piece of mag history imo, regardless of how small or unheard of it may be
Having the old code would not hurt by any means but ideally the programmer you give the body to would have an accurate model of the body with genuine Aztec milling to generate new code off of.
ABET accredited level II machinist - CNC Programmer - Mechanical Engineering Technologist
Rio Grande Inc.
Were complete (fully functioning) prototypes made and these are 'leftover' parts? If so, I'd see little historic value in parts from an incomplete gun unless it was a concept that was never completed (well, as completed as a prototype could be). However, take my opinion as a grain of salt as I know next to nothing on collecting.
I think Rob means milling the battery pack again as it's missing.Originally Posted by ElPanda
The underlying body surfaces at the lower front and lower rear are very similar to the eventual CNC X-Mag, but the grooves were never modelled, just cut to a depth and with a certain step over that I can't remember but could work out from the toolpath.
A full body set was made, but everything else used was stock e-mag parts (other than my frame that you see in the picture that was never meant for that gun anyway). It was supposed to have the X-mag frame with the cut down back strap (not the curvy hump) IIRC.
Seems like this was only yesterday that I did that but in reality it's 13 years or so! Wow. Time flies.I recently acquired a prototype version of the Aztec X-mag and wanted to see what you guys think about an idea I have. I only have the body and a blank feedtube. I did not get any of the milled battery housings. (see below)
My idea: I have been toying around with the idea of completing the prototype and finishing it with a proper anodizing. I really like the design and think it would be awesome to see it put together.
Should I leave the prototype as is, with just the milled body, blank module, sitting on an e-mag frame? Keeping it raw.
or
Should I finish it, mill a new battery pack, module, and get it anodized in a solid color?
If I decided to finish the prototype my next problem would be to find someone who could actually help me mill the parts. Since I'm no machinist/expert/etc I have no clue how this is done. My assumption would be to find the "G-code" for it. I spoke with John about the code, but since it is specific to his machine and tooling I couldn't just copy and paste his file and give it to someone to reproduce. John also mentioned things like toolslot8 ,12mm ball end-mill, featurecam, Tebis, but it all went over my head. Maybe Simon can chime in and explain
I figured this would be a good place to start. I would love to see what you guys think of this.
-Rob
I would finish itI'd love to see it build into a full gun and anodized. Maybe a gold colour to go with the Aztec theme?
The module wasn't milled as far as I can recall. A stock x-mag module should work just fine. The only thing you are missing is the milled body of the battery pack which would be pretty easy to replicate.
If John still has the code it's possible to take that and run it on any HAAS mill (some codes may need to be tweaked but most of it should be just fine). I can even reverse engineer it pretty easily and tell you the set up location, although that would be very obvious the first time you run it.
The battery packs were only ever milled in a vice, without fixtures, at that point in time so the zero location would be from the top surface and one of the corners.
Editing in new tool locations etc. is easy as long as you know the tools used and any CNC machine shop can do that. Pretty sure my code will call out each tool in the comments in the code.
Try to get the code from John if he still has it
What was that SS001 frame for again? I can't remember...
Simon: When I had the opportunity to purchase a few of my dream guns I was definitely ecstatic to see this sitting in the pile of mags parts. I remember drooling over your teaser shots on AO many years ago. It was such a fun time to see what you guys were coming up with overseas. To me it seemed like this piece has been neglected for many years so I thought it would be a pretty cool project to actually finish it and use it on the field. My main reason why I want to finish it is to showcase it at Living Legends this year. Other than the UK Storm paintball team, I really doubt many people have gotten to see this hit the field.
I had this body sitting next to me on my desk for a few months and figured it needed a face lift. I'm glad you would actually like to see it finished. You also made up my mind on an anodizing schemeI posted the only pictures I could find of the Aztec and it doesn't look like the vert module was milled. One of my ideas was to get the module (both vert and warp) finished as well. When you have the module sitting on the body, it just screams out "mill me" I'll try and get some pictures tonight to visualize.
I'll talk with John again and see if he can send me specific Aztec files. When I first spoke with him he said he might have the g-code somewhere, but later in the message he states, "I never got the files as he used a completely different program than me so the files are not suitable for my software that i now use. I use Featurecam and Simon uses Tebis." I'm not too sure what that means since I'm not really a machinist so take it for what it's worth.
new ion?: The SS001 frame was the "Simon Stevens" version 001 gripframe. Unfortunately, Simon took too long to finish his manik-e-magso John Sosta stole it and put it on his personal Xmag.
In that case the battery pack can never be an exact replica. The G-code is separate to the CAD/CAM files used to program it. The G-code is the program you put into the CNC mill to make it move around.
It's the g-code that ran the machine that you want. Everything else can be reverse engineered from it.
If you can't get that, try to make a vector image of all the lines that would represent the center of the cuts on the back pack and it can be worked out from that.
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