Reproduction Nishijin Shooter lenses

[Rival]

Well, I found myself in need of a 1973 Nishijin recycler lens for the shooter, sometimes called a shooter window. I looked everywhere and even asked here, but there simply were no spares to go around. So in the end I was forced to make some.

lens.jpg

On the left from top to bottom are:

1) the original

2) reproduction using standard clear plastic

3) reproduction using acrylic

On the right is a 1973 standard Nishijin shooter window.

Top : original

bottom: Acrylic reproduction.

The clear plastic reproduction gets lots of bubbles that I just could not remove. Maybe a vacuum or pressure setup might make it better, but I have neither. So I was forced to go with the acrylic. Man, that stuff is really nasty. It has MEK and plenty of other unruly chemicals in it, and even though I mixed and poured it outside in a stiff breeze it stuck up my whole backyard for a good 4 hours. I was afraid the neighbors would call the ATF and get me SWATted for cooking meth or something.

I am not 100% satisfied with the results shown here, because I opened the molds too soon and caused some edge striations, and some barely discernible fingerprints. I opened the molds after 4 hours, I should have waited 12 I guess. I had hoped to mass produce these for sale to those who have them broken, missing or scratched, but the process is just too toxic to be running off dozens of them. The good news is, the molds are well done and solid, so if I (or someone else) really really really needs one and cannot find a replacement, they can be made. I will make molds for the 1971-1972 recycler and the little 1976-style window later this week just to make certain if one is needed it can be made.

[PachiNC]

Maybe a vacuum or pressure setup might make it better, but I have neither.

Just thought I would share this. A few years ago I was doing some very small scale concrete cast sculpture and needed a vacuum chamber to get the bubbles out. I picked up one of the clamp top style plastic kitchen canisters at walmart for the chamber. I drilled a hole in the top and fitted an automotive tire valve stem into it. For the vacuum source I used a hand opperated vacuum pump used in automotive testing (about $30 on sale at harbor frieght). Whole setup was less than $50 bucks. I worked well enough for my application, not 100% sure how it would work with plastics. Takes a couple minutes to get it down to full vacuum which I recall was about -1 BAR.