New shroud design and baffle materials.

I think I hit pay dirt with my new shroud design! Many of the versions I’ve seen here and other places are over-thought, add more weight and reduce more volume than necessary.

I recently bore scoped a well known makers’ dust collector at work to see exactly what’s inside. No magic, but I think I now know his mojo.

The one I made is actually on a BSA Sportsman HV but the construction would easily adapt to the Talons. My next one will be for my Talon SS.

His had three perforated tubes, wrapped in fiberglass and separated by washers. No expansion chamber. It works extremely well. I rough measured the perforated tubes ( 9/16″ x 1-1/2″) and found something at work that was identical. We use them for 1/2″ steam Y-strainer inserts. I ordered some at work, to replace worn out ones of course, and tried them out. LOL

I think I may have also found them in a McMaster-Carr catalog too (page 340-343). The ones to fit 3/8 and 1/2 strainers. They’re about $7-9 each and made of 304 stainless. I didn’t want THAT much added length so I cut them down to 1″ each, for a total of 4.75″ beyond barrel, including blast baffle, guts and endcap. In hindsight, I shouldn’t have even bothered.

I made some alum. washers on the lathe vs fender washers for a precise .930″ fit.

I wrapped the strainers tightly in strips of fiberglass window screen (6ft each), cut to same width as strainers length. I bought a repair roll from Home Depot to try out (it works). A tip I learned was once they’re hand wrapped, I place them on a table and lay a stiff ruler on top and continue to roll them, under pressure, to reduce their diameter and increase their density. Two 36″ lengths of wrapped screen will reduce down to perfectly fit a 1″ tube snugly. I did up all three and used some tape to hold them together until ready for install.

I made a tapered blast baffle to direct air rearwards back into the shroud instead of a regular flat washer. This got red loctite and a snug press.

I then made up a three sided vent bushing, versus radial holes, and used brass countersunk screws to affix the bushing permanently to the tube. I did this for lack of a rotary table. 😥 I countersunk them just enough to put the countersunk head in shear with the tubing and bushing but still leave the screw slot exposed so it could be turned down. These had red loctite applied prior to assembly.

I then turned down the CS screw heads flush w/ the tubing and threaded the bushing center to screw onto the barrel threads to make my shroud removable. For the Talon, a close fitting hole would work fine. I went the extra distance here so when the shroud is screwed on and off, there’s more than just loctite holding the bushing in place, considering the torque applied. Once the tubing is painted, there are no visible screws either.

Looks are one thing but effectiveness is quite another. It works better than I could have imagined from 1″ tubing. I’m getting the proverbial “Hammer click” from 30+ ft/lbs. I plan to measure the sound with an old RadioShack dB meter. I’ll also test w/ shroud removed and on an empty air tank for pure hammer noise.

First shots started off 2″ low at 25yds. but no clipping was evident.
My 50 yd groups are still dime and nickel sized so I think it will do fine for what I want. The starlings aren’t spooked and are standing around watching their buddies fall over, waiting their turn. LOL Two and threesomes are less rare now.