Polish internals and finish problems?

[Lord Odin]

Now that people have polished their internals for a while now, has anyone had any problems with pitting, rusting, etc on their receivers? I heard that if you try the same thing on the inside of your barrels, that the results will be disastrous after a short period of time.

[Papiriqui]

Well what made you think you could do it to the inside of the barrel, remember is 2 different things completely.

The inside are polished with the sole purpose of the metals rubbing against the receivers become more smooth, thus preserving the life of the orings and parts like bolt and hammer.

The barrel is a complete different story since you will have balls going through it. They have coatings inside the barrels making the ball travel smoother on the barrel, the reason for the coating is because the paintballs that are made out of gelatin will rub to much on the bear metal with the exception of the brass barrel. All other barrels have a coating inside to make it smoother so there is less friction on the paintballs while traveling down the barrel.

About the rusting part, remember that even the worst metal, the metal the rusts the easiest when properly lubricated and good maintenance will never rust.

This is the explenation of rust.

Rust is a general term for a series of iron oxides, usually red oxides, formed by the reaction of iron with oxygen in the presence of water or air moisture.

This clearly is not the case inside a Tippmann.

[Lord Odin]

Ok, I was just checking. I heard over on T8OG of some people unhappy with how rough the barrel was, so they sanded it smooth like the internals. After a month, the barrel was garbage. So not my idea.

[Papiriqui]

The only barrel you can mess with is the PPS Brass and the only thing that it should be done to it, is polish it with any polishing agent like BRASSO.

Every other barrel will be destroyed by polishing or sanding the inside.

[chl2onic]

I polished a stock 98 barrel and it dodn't ruine it... I did only use it for about 2 weeks until we got a big shot for the 98, so I can't really bias my comment.

[Red Dog]

Originally Posted by LordOdin99

Now that people have polished their internals for a while now, has anyone had any problems with pitting, rusting, etc on their receivers? I heard that if you try the same thing on the inside of your barrels, that the results will be disastrous after a short period of time.

Discovering why airplanes don't rust: In the atmosphere, aluminum oxide provides protection
BY MARK SHWARTZ
Did you ever wonder why airplanes never seem to rust, despite their constant exposure to rain, sleet and snow?
The quick answer is that most aircraft are made of aluminum -- a chemical element that seems to resist corrosion even when exposed to air and water.
But the fact is that pure aluminum reacts so readily with water that, according to the laws of chemistry, the aluminum shell of an airplane should actually dissolve in the rain.
Fortunately for the airline industry, when aluminum metal is placed in the atmosphere, a thin layer, known as aluminum oxide, forms on the metal's surface and acts like a protective, rust-resistant shield.
Scientists have long known that aluminum oxide does not corrode rapidly in water, but they have been unable to fully explain why.
Now, for the first time, researchers have shown that liquid H2O has a surprisingly potent effect when it comes in contact with the surface of a metal oxide, a finding that has industrial and environmental implications.
"Water actually changes the structure of the solid surface," says Gordon Brown, Jr., the Dorrell William Kirby Professor of Earth Sciences.
Writing in the May 12 issue of the journal Science, Brown, graduate student Thomas P. Trainor and collaborators from the University of Chicago and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab present the first atomic-level model of what happens when water and aluminum oxide meet.
Shifting atoms
Aluminum oxide consists of atoms of aluminum and oxygen bonded together.
But Brown and Trainor discovered that, when water molecules come in contact with aluminum oxide, the aluminum and oxygen atoms on the surface move apart -- in some cases separating by more than 50 percent compared to their normal molecular positions.
As a result, when the outer layer of aluminum oxide gets hydrated or wet, its
structure changes just enough to become chemically inert and thus unable to react rapidly with additional water molecules or atmospheric oxygen. This change in molecular structure is why aluminum oxide metal resists corrosion.
Brown notes that these findings have widespread applications for the multi-billion-dollar catalysis and semiconductor industries, which are concerned with the effects of atmospheric water on metal oxides used in chemical catalysts and silicon chips.
However, he adds, the real driving force for this research is the important role that hydrated metal oxide surfaces in soils and sediments play in removing toxic metals like lead, mercury, chromium, arsenic, and selenium from contaminated groundwater.
"Understanding the molecular structure of the particle surfaces with which these metals react is essential for determining how effectively they are removed from the environment, and hence how available they are to organisms, including humans.
"Now for the first time we have a picture of the molecular structure of one of these surfaces and a better idea of what controls its reaction with environmental contaminants," Brown concludes.
To conduct their analysis of the surface of hydrated aluminum oxide, researchers used the most powerful synchrotron x-ray source in the U.S. - the Advanced Photon Source located at the Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois.
"Our research required the brightest synchrotron x-ray source available," says Brown. "The biggest surprise is that we could do it at all."
The other co-authors of the May 12 Science article are Peter J. Eng, Mathew Newville, Steven R. Sutton and Mark L. Rivers with the University of Chicago's Consortium for Advanced Radiation Sources; and Glenn A. Waychunas of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. SR

[Lord Odin]

Although Aluminum "resists" rust, it still rusts nonetheless. That's why seaplanes have such a tough time with rusting. I remember hearing a story about a seaplane near FL that crashed that normally goes to the Bahamas (Bimini, I believe) because it had rusted too badly. It is one of the better materials to resist corrosion but it still happens.

[Red Dog]

Actually, I think the issue with rust isn't really the aluminum at all. It's that what we call aluminum is actually an aluminum alloy. 6061 Aluminum is the most commonly used in paintball. Which is an alloy of 0.40-0.8% Si, 0.7% Fe, 0.15-0.40 Cu, 0.15% Mn, 0.8-1.2% Mg, 0.04-0.35% Cr, 0.25% Zi, 0.15% Ti, and Al making up the remainder. Many of these other metals handle oxidation much worse than aluminum.

[bm303]

I have polished the internals on both my 98c and A5, and have never had any problems. Only difference is that it cocks a lot easier and seems to run more efficiently.

[tagMAN]

ive done the same ive polished my a5 and 98 i havent had any problems yet. Ive heard of polishing the barrel but ive never tryed it.