Fireaxe and Pro Fireaxe Bodies [ZDSPB Custom]

Custom work - Fireaxe and Pro Fireaxe Bodies

"Fireaxe" bodies were made by taking the FireShocker CAD pattern and adjusting it to fit on the smaller Axe classic body blanks. The flame concept makes good use of the redesigned Axe body in particular, because the fire shapes extended around the front and back of the marker body, allowing the cosmetics to flow onto the barrel and bolt endcap.

Once the preliminary design was finished and ready to be made, I threw one of the Axe bodies into the mill then set out to reveal the final asthetics. Here's a couple pictures from the fabrication:

Fireaxe body machining

Fireaxe prototype

Fireaxe prototype - eye covers removed

Permalink: https://www.youtube.com/embed/QWeZz_Rl4h8

Permalink: https://www.youtube.com/embed/-RSppTlEaPI

A small batch of these bodies were produced in the Summer of 2015. The exact number of bodies is currently 28 in total. They were anodized either red or black, but some were also sold as raw aluminum to a few custom marker builders.

Dust raw Fireaxe bodies waiting for anodizing

Fireaxe partial batch

Black/gold Fireaxe (picture from K. Na)

Lava Fireeaxe (picture from D. Berdan)

Red/orange Fireeaxe (picture from Caustic Customs)

Fireaxe Pro 2015+:
I redesigned the classic Axe body blank design and adjusted it to be functional with the newer (and improved) AxePro marker platform. Making a new "Fireaxe Pro" body was a great way to test the cosmetics for the new AxePro marker. These bodies are very similar to the classic Fireaxe, but the flame features were made to be slightly more subtle in order to ease the fabrication process. Fireaxe Pro bodies also have some noticeable changes to the design when viewed from above, because the fire shapes were redesigned to wrap around the marker body in an asymmetrical pattern. The newer bodies still show a high level of detail but they appear to be smaller on the outside because the fire features are slightly more shallow in depth.

The prototype turned out very nice! I attempted some new milling methods which involved some refinement time to achieve high-enough quality for my standards, but the final workpiece had a great appearance and was fully-functional.

FireaxePro body machining

FireaxePro prototype body finished

Permalink: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_6H01Z23yk