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how to increase an ID of a steel pipe?

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 12:37 pm
by POLAND_SPUD
I have a problem my steel/malleable iron barrel has an ID of 15 mm and I want to use marbles that are normally 15.5-16mm...

Is there any way to increase the ID of the barrel ? I've tried using an electric drill but with little luck....

what tools should I use or what to attach to my electric drill to do it ?

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 12:50 pm
by mopherman
maybe superheat the barrel and hove the marble down it? other than that, your f ucked, sorry

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 12:55 pm
by Hotwired
Very impractical to bore out a tube. More practical to try sourcing another type of pipe with the right ID.

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 1:02 pm
by paaiyan
Yea, also, any attempt to change the ID will most likely result in a weakened pipe. And it'll also probably leave the inside uneven, which could play havoc with your shots.

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 1:23 pm
by Hubb
You could always pack the pipe with a solid, flammable compound and light it. The will expand the inside diameter (but probably more than what you want).

Seriously, the best way to expand it is to replace it.

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 1:33 pm
by paaiyan
hubb017 wrote:You could always pack the pipe with a solid, flammable compound and light it. The will expand the inside diameter (but probably more than what you want).

Seriously, the best way to expand it is to replace it.
Oh great, teach the kid how to make a [censored]. But I think he's right, get a new one, it''s save you loads of trouble.

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 1:36 pm
by Hawkeye
You can smooth and enlarge a barrel by spiraling various grades of sandpaper with cloth backing around dowels and spinning them inside the barrel with a drill.
I wouldn't try to remove huge amounts of material but if the fit is very close and the weld seam is part of the problem then it is worth a try.

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 1:39 pm
by POLAND_SPUD
so far I widened about 8 - 9 cm the surface inside is very smooth... I've used something like a die grinder but attached to the electric drill it was possibly pre-1980's so the addaptor broke down.... it isn't really about cutting removing a lot of metal but rather about polishing it....
so is there any other tool ,apart from die grinder, that can do this ? theoretically i can buy another die grinder bot how am I supposed to widen the whole 110 cm pipe ?

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 3:28 pm
by jimmy101
You nned to remove ~0.5mm from the wall of a 110cm pipe? Good luck. The best idea is probably to chuck the current pipe and get a different one.

You'll need a honer with drill extensions that is ~3.5 feet long. A honer usually uses sanding stones and is used in cylinders bigger than your ~15mm pipe. A honer can be as simple as two pieces of sheet metal in an s-shape coated with silicon carbide sanding paper (the black sand paper). Since your honing iron/steel you'll need water or oil as a lubricant. Google "cylinder honer" or "deglazer" for the basic designs.

Like I said before, easiest is probably to chuck the current pipe and get one that is the correct size. Or, change your ammo to something that fits the current pipe.

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 4:46 pm
by brogdenlaxmiddie
It would be easier to grind down your marbles than your pipe.... Or, if the pipe isn't too thick, you could get a steel ball about the same size as your marble and put it ontop the pipe and hit it down it... U hit it as far down w/ a hammer as you can. then use a smaller dowel/pipe to hit the marbel down... Thats what i would try but like everyone said, your screwed :(

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 4:51 pm
by POLAND_SPUD
yeah I was experimenting with this today and i see htere is no point in trying that.... well at least iti is not cost-effective........ thx for the input....

ohhh BTW if anyone is interested :D my dad bought an electronic scale so I had the opportunity to weight 16 mm marbles.... there are exactly 5g each... to make sure that it is an accurate result i measured 50 of them at once and the result was 250g.... so 16mm glass marbles are likely to be almost exatly 5g (ok maybe I should have posted this in some ammo thread ) LOL now I am going to weight all my ammo :twisted:

Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 6:47 pm
by cdheller
adjustable reamer, or regular reamers in steps

Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008 8:56 am
by SpudFarm
give it an acid bath and keep it under control

Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 12:38 pm
by POLAND_SPUD
sorry cdheller could you tell me how does a reamer works and whether it can be used with an electric drill or not ? (yeah I've tried to google it but I oculdn't find much info about that)