Legal and technical requirements for DIY silencer?

Hal9000, thanks for the links to the anodizing and electroplating, they were enlightening. You core with the pressed baffles sounds interesting, but I am afraid the welds might fail under stress after a while if they are not against the tube wall. But I'm not sure.

My attempt at pressing sheet metal with dies was very rudimentary, I used a 6inch vise to apply pressure and I attempted to heat the metal with a propane torch. I am not surprised that I failed. :)

I watched a program where a guy was making aluminum pot lids by spinning a piece of aluminum sheet metal on some sort of lathe and pressing it with a round tool of some sort to mold it into a concave shape. I would like to be able to do that to make the basic shape then trim it down to the exact size required to fit snug in the tube.

I think some engine mufflers use a design that is not linear. The engineer can make the gases go any direction he wants without worrying about a projectile passing through. Anything that wears away (wipes and mesh) is a poor choise for a gun silencer unless you are able to replace it requently. The ATF allows wipe replacement, but only after destroying the ones in use.

Ranb
 
Last edited:
No problem, I hope you get a chance to use them. I haven't done any home anodizing, but am constantly on the hunt for a project that might "require" it.

What are you envisioning in terms of the cause of the weld failure? Just vibration? One fix I could think of would be to slot the outside edges and install several guide rods around the perimeter, welded to each disk. It would be fairly easy to make the guide rods sit flush against, or even index into grooves in the housing. That would supply lateral support while minimizing the chance of permanently lodging the insert into the housing if it gets dirty.

BTW, for those that can't envision it it would look vaguely like this: ()()()() I've seen commercial designs which are similar, so assume it's not a bad idea in theory at least.

It sounds like that guy in the video was stretching the metal on a lathe, I've heard of this but never seen it done. The way I understand it its kind of like throwing a clay pot on a wheel, only with metal.

Press forming metal:
The two types of press forming I'm familiar with are 1) forming the stock between two hard dies (example, somebody over on silencertalk suggested making a die to insert into a loading press to make aluminum cones from soda can bottoms... this would have two interlocking dies); and 2) pressure forming. This involves making a concave female die from a durable material (micarta, wood, aluminum, or plastic all work) and placing the metal between the die and a flexible material like urethane or rubber. Usually this is done on a small hydraulic press. Pressure forces the metal to stretch into and conform to the die.

In my opinion, the second method is easier for the DIY'er, but it's hard to get very sharp corners if that's what you need. You can buy or build a press for not very much money, and the rest of the supplies can be made from your choice of materials in a variety of ways. If you want sharp edges, you can also pressure form first, then finish in a two die system, but that doubles your equipment needs.
 
Last edited:
Like most kinds of metal work, the setup takes longer than the actual forming does. Also, the equipment cost and skills needed are minimal.

You can make a die that produces several items at once which decreases the overall time input. Stamping a single baffle would take longer than making one on a lathe, but stamping 6 at once.... maybe not.

Thanks again for all the advice. I've had some personal issues come up in the last week so I haven't been able to give much time to this. Soon as everything cools back down I'll be back on the path I think
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top