Home made Texas Star

[GrumpyOne]

I started on this a while back, worked on it whenever I was home and had time (my job makes me travel, ALOT!). Most of the material I had lying around, or it was scrap left over from work. The bearing cost $9.00 at Northern Tool, the shaft cost $12.00 at Lowes, the 1/2" rods cost $5.00 each (total of 3 rods for $15.00), the clamps were $2.00 each (total of 5 for $10.00) at Lowes, the pipe was scrap from work, the angle was scrap, all the bolts were scrap, the plate was scrap. The rest was just elbow grease, measuring, cutting, and welding. What ya think?

[Heckler]

Man thats cool. Look forward to a range report.

[Too_Slow]

The only problem that I see is that eventually you WILL get a bullet through the gap and into the bearing. Thats why the regular ones all have the shaft welded to the center plate and the bearings mounted on the stationary mounting unit.

Brian

Edited May 9, 2010 by Too_Slow

[GrumpyOne]

The only problem that I see is that eventually you WILL get a bullet through the gap and into the bearing. Thats why the regular ones all have the shaft welded to the center plate and the bearings mounted on the stationary mounting unit.

Brian

It is a small gap! Less than 1/8". But I kind of figured as much as well, but being that the bearing is only $9, and it's bolted on, fixing it wouldn't too bad. When it does happen, I'll cut the shaft off, weld a plate over the hole and that'll be the end of that problem. I'm going to shoot the crap out of it on Wednesday, with everything from a 9mm to a 357 mag and see how it holds up. Our motto down at our club is "If you don't want destroyed, don't bring it here for us to shoot at it".

[steel1212]

The only problem that I see is that eventually you WILL get a bullet through the gap and into the bearing. Thats why the regular ones all have the shaft welded to the center plate and the bearings mounted on the stationary mounting unit.

Brian

It is a small gap! Less than 1/8". But I kind of figured as much as well, but being that the bearing is only $9, and it's bolted on, fixing it wouldn't too bad. When it does happen, I'll cut the shaft off, weld a plate over the hole and that'll be the end of that problem. I'm going to shoot the crap out of it on Wednesday, with everything from a 9mm to a 357 mag and see how it holds up. Our motto down at our club is "If you don't want destroyed, don't bring it here for us to shoot at it".

How are you going to be able to do welding during a match? What strengh steel is it? I like the fact that its only 60 bucks and your on the right path though!!

[GrumpyOne]

The only problem that I see is that eventually you WILL get a bullet through the gap and into the bearing. Thats why the regular ones all have the shaft welded to the center plate and the bearings mounted on the stationary mounting unit.

Brian

It is a small gap! Less than 1/8". But I kind of figured as much as well, but being that the bearing is only $9, and it's bolted on, fixing it wouldn't too bad. When it does happen, I'll cut the shaft off, weld a plate over the hole and that'll be the end of that problem. I'm going to shoot the crap out of it on Wednesday, with everything from a 9mm to a 357 mag and see how it holds up. Our motto down at our club is "If you don't want destroyed, don't bring it here for us to shoot at it".

How are you going to be able to do welding during a match? What strengh steel is it? I like the fact that its only 60 bucks and your on the right path though!!

I live less than 1/4 mile from my home range, so welding won't be an issue (I have never had a weld break, YET. The metal has fatigued and broke, but not the weld). The targets are 3/8" 500 Brinnell armor plate, the rest is just mild steel. My biggest concern are the clamps, but, being that they are bolted on and only $2, if they break, no bigger, 5 minutes to fix.

[Glockcomma]

Good job, you could just put a heavy washer over the shaft or a tapered metal collar to cover that gap. I'd prefer round white plates that's just what I'm used to shooting.

Tim

[GrumpyOne]

Good job, you could just put a heavy washer over the shaft or a tapered metal collar to cover that gap. I'd prefer round white plates that's just what I'm used to shooting.

Tim

I wanted round plates as well, but the steel I had was a rectangle, I didn't want to cut it with a torch and ruin the hardness, I don't have a plasma cutter, so....I took it to a metal shop (free, cause we do a lot of business with them. Who'd have thought that a telephone system installation tech would have steel connections? ) and had them shear it into 6" x 6" squares, used a Makita grinder to round the corners.

[gfmun]

Wow ! That is a great job. I really envy people with that kind of talent.

George

[GrumpyOne]

Wow ! That is a great job. I really envy people with that kind of talent.

George

Talent? I just wish I could shoot as good as I can make stuff! Shooting is talent!

[Flexmoney]

Nicely done.

[lcs]

Very cool!

[Pezco]

Very nice, I wish I knew how to weld.

[jmorris]

Good job. Most all of the 2, 3 and 4 bolt flange bearings as well as pillow blocks allow the bearings to articulate in the housing to ease the alignment of shafts, if this is the case, with your bearing, you will need two or it will move around and not remain perpendicular with the shaft (see photo below). What drill bit did you use and who did you get to shear 500 BH plate? Angle iron over the mild steel clamp holding plates will help the plate when someone misses directly over the clamp and keeping them from getting hurt by your ,357. Let us know how the clamps work.

[GrumpyOne]

Svinga Bros salvage in Ocala, FL sheared the plate for me. As for the bearing, yes it did move around a bit, but not any more. I used some high grade marine epoxy and sort of welded it intothe housing with the epoxy. No amount of hammering on it with a 6lb mini sledge could get the bearing to move after the epoxy set. I used a HSS 5/16" bit to drill the holes in the plates, and it took a good bit of time. This one is not electric, it's a gravity machine.

Range report. We shot it last night at the local match with mixed results. While everything technically worked, there were some hangups. One, every once in a while, more than one plate would fall when it was shot (OK, more than once in a while), so I brought it back home, cut the bolts off, put some new ones in (longer and somewhat beveled to let the plates off easier), also rigged up an activator plate directly onto the upright post, so with a weight on one end of the star, shoot the activator, weight pulls the end down, starting it to spin. I'll take some pics of the modifications and post them here when I get the time. The clamps are holding up fine.

[jmorris]

The machine above is a gravity machine too, I just use 12v to spin it up, power is shut off before it's engaged. I was just showing how I arranged the bearings but as long as your epoxy holds up I wouldn't mess with it. The pins on my stars protrude 5/16" through the backing plate and I sanded the edges so it makes realignment with the target easy. I am interested in your activator, sounds like what I wanted before I just stuck a motor on the one above.

[GrumpyOne]

I'll try and get some pixs of it this weekend. But, what I did was, I welded a small piece of iron pipe to the side of the upright at an angle towards the back, near the top (center of the star). I then bent a 1/2" rod into an "L", welded another rod to the long part of the "L" that makes contact with the rear of the star, where the arms of the star are welded to the back of the pentagon. Then I welded another plate a little further out on the "L". When you shoot the plate on the "L", it falls backwards and down, out of the way, but when it falls, it also unblocks the other rod that contacts the rear of the pentagon. With a 10lb weight on the arm where the block is, as soon as you hit the activator plate, the weight pulls the arm down, spinning the star. The weight drops off at the bottom of the spin.

I think I'm also gonna beef up the clamps by cutting and drilling and tapping some small piece of flatbar, drill a hole in the clamp, and bolt the flatbar inside the clamp. The metal of the clamp itself is pretty thin, and repeated slamming shut after hitting a plate is likely to bend them. So, the flatbar will take the brunt instead of the clamp. The flatbar is 1/8" thick, while the clamp is more like 1/16" sheet metal. I'm also gonna weld a new piece of 2" x 2" angle iron along the front of the pipe. I shot it with every handgun I own at least 6 times each yesterday after working on it, in every concievable and possible area, to find out it's weaknesses. The 44 damaged the pipe pretty good, all the others kinda bounced off, leaving a small ding. The only thing I didn't hit was the arms, ever try to hit a 1/2" rod at 15 yards?

[GrumpyOne]

Ok, Here are the pics of the modifications. Again, tested after completion with a variety of handguns. Everything seems to be working perfectly now. Only thing left to do is weld the angle iron along the front of the pipe.

[jmorris]

I like it, thanks for the photos.

[ArmdCtzn]

I like it. A lot simpler than most. I'm gonna try one.

The bolts stick out about 5/16" beyond the mounting plate?

Do you round off the ends of the bolts?

Are you using 1/4" bolts in 5/16" holes so there's a little wiggle room?

I think this is the critical area, how the plates are held on.

I love that activator arm, very cool set up. I usually just stick a rod under an arm

and have a popper knock the rod out.

thanks for all the info!

[GrumpyOne]

I like it. A lot simpler than most. I'm gonna try one.

The bolts stick out about 5/16" beyond the mounting plate?

Do you round off the ends of the bolts?

Are you using 1/4" bolts in 5/16" holes so there's a little wiggle room?

I think this is the critical area, how the plates are held on.

I love that activator arm, very cool set up. I usually just stick a rod under an arm

and have a popper knock the rod out.

thanks for all the info!

Yeah, the bolts stick out about 5/16" behind the mountiing plate and are kind of rounded off, more like an angle towards the way the plate would get knocked off. They are actually 5/16" 316 stainless bolts I had laying around. The holes were drilled to 5/16", and then kind of wobbled out a bit. I didn't have anything else to make an activator out of, so, necessity is the mother of invention. I also wanted it completely self contained, so nothing else is/was necessary.

Edit to add: Thanks!

Edited May 24, 2010 by GrumpyOne

[EEH]

To make my star turn I use a stick under one arm attach a bunjie cord to one arm,so when the popper is hit it will pull the string with the stick on it and the bunjie cord starts it swinging,,make the arm you put the stick under stick out level on one side attach the cord to the same arm,,just my way--also have put two stars side by side one popper two strings two bunjie cords one shot both stars turn,,BUT I PAID A LOT MORE FOR MINE THAN YOURS AND I LIKE YOURS,,GOOD JOB

[jmorris]

I like the bunjie idea. Here is a set up we did five or six years ago when our match was rained out. Two stars back to back one plate was a no shoot (black paint), hit one plate off each first then any order.

Oh,and weak hand only.

Not sure why the sound is not right but...

[GrumpyOne]

I'm mulling through the idea of building another star, with a pass through shaft, put a gear on the back side of the shaft, have another set of bearings with a shaft under it, put a gear on it, and add a star to that shaft as well. They would be counter rotating (when it started spinning, one would spin clockwise, the other counter clockwise. I don't think it would be hard to do, but I'm in the middle building a Polish plate rack right now, and I'm not home terribly much cause of work, so, all I been doing is mulling it over. What do you guys think? think a double Texas Star, counter rotating, would be fun to shoot?

[jmorris]

They would be counter rotating (when it started spinning, one would spin clockwise, the other counter clockwise. I don't think it would be hard to do, but I'm in the middle building a Polish plate rack right now, and I'm not home terribly much cause of work, so, all I been doing is mulling it over. What do you guys think? think a double Texas Star, counter rotating, would be fun to shoot?

Like this?

It has been done with no shoots before and called the evil star, by a guy here. It is pretty simple, I'll try to get some pics.