Rifle Scopes Cutting a scope sunshade.. who has done it?

Jbova

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Mar 31, 2018
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Who has cut one down? What did you use to cut it straight? I’m thinking a bandsaw would make the straightest cut but not sure I can clamp it down tight enough so it doesn’t move without eggshaping the sunshade.

Currently my sunshade is about 1” too long to clear the NV bridge on my MPA chassis. It hasn’t been a big deal running without a shade until a week or so ago when I was trying to get some practice in at the range.


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Who has cut one down? What did you use to cut it straight? I’m thinking a bandsaw would make the straightest cut but not sure I can clamp it down tight enough so it doesn’t move without eggshaping the sunshade.

Currently my sunshade is about 1” too long to clear the NV bridge on my MPA chassis. It hasn’t been a big deal running without a shade until a week or so ago when I was trying to get some practice in at the range.


View attachment 6940503
I'm leaving on vacation in 2 days but if you PM me after the 21st, I can modify it in my lathe for you if you pay shipping both directions. It will take 5 minutes to part off the excess and chamfer the inside and outside edges. I'll treat the exposed aluminum with some Alumablack, too, but that may or may not work (its effectiveness varies depending on the alloy) so you may have to go with good old black Sharpie.
 
I'm leaving on vacation in 2 days but if you PM me after the 21st, I can modify it in my lathe for you if you pay shipping both directions. It will take 5 minutes to part off the excess and chamfer the inside and outside edges. I'll treat the exposed aluminum with some Alumablack, too, but that may or may not work (its effectiveness varies depending on the alloy) so you may have to go with good old black Sharpie.

Very cool!
 
I can't beat Scudzuki's offer. I had a low tech solution. Get a piece of 1" square tube, a new fine cut hack saw blade, two small machine screws that fit through the holes of the blade, thread tap and bit for the screws. Drill and tap the square tube so the blade will stick out along the edge just far enough to cut through the wall of the shade. Lay the tube with blade on a flat surface and work the shade carefully while rotating it to keep an even cutting depth. The front edge can be rounded and cleaned up with 400 & 600 grit wet or dry then colored as recommended by Scudzuki. Wouldn't be cost effective but given the track record of USPS, UPS, DHL and Fedex it might wise.
 
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Who has cut one down? What did you use to cut it straight? I’m thinking a bandsaw would make the straightest cut but not sure I can clamp it down tight enough so it doesn’t move without eggshaping the sunshade.

Currently my sunshade is about 1” too long to clear the NV bridge on my MPA chassis. It hasn’t been a big deal running without a shade until a week or so ago when I was trying to get some practice in at the range.


View attachment 6940503

Just cut a relief in the bottom of the sunshade so the bridge will fit under it. Then eat your cake, too.
 
take the rail on the NV bridge off? that's what i did with my mpa comp. razor gen 2 in 1.18" 6 mil spuhr. clears even with aadland caps but just barely

that way the bridge is still there to rest hand on for barricades/etc but you can open scope caps with sunshade on
 
I'm leaving on vacation in 2 days but if you PM me after the 21st, I can modify it in my lathe for you if you pay shipping both directions. It will take 5 minutes to part off the excess and chamfer the inside and outside edges. I'll treat the exposed aluminum with some Alumablack, too, but that may or may not work (its effectiveness varies depending on the alloy) so you may have to go with good old black Sharpie.

Thank you for the offer, I didn’t even think about a lathe. We have one at work I can use. I’m assuming you’ve done it before? No issues with clamping it down and deforming it?

Why not remove the night vision bridge? You’re not running night vision with a sunshade, correct?
take the rail on the NV bridge off? that's what i did with my mpa comp. razor gen 2 in 1.18" 6 mil spuhr. clears even with aadland caps but just barely

that way the bridge is still there to rest hand on for barricades/etc but you can open scope caps with sunshade on
I did take it off but I like the looks with it on better. It’s not a big deal either way, I’ve just seen people selling scopes with cutdown sunshade so I thought I’d just do that.

Find someone with a ban saw or a lathe.
we have both at work I can use, I just didn’t think about the lathe.
 
I would be curious how many of those suggesting using a lathe have done machining on thin tubes? I agree that using a lathe is the way to go, but thin tubes require some special fixturing that completely support the tube. Learned this this the hard way on a couple occasions.
 
JFC.....A feller coulda scribed a line around it, put a little cut-off grinding wheel in a dremel, cut it just shy of the line, then touched the edge up with a belt sander and deburred it with a pocket knife/chainsaw file and painted with a sharpie, all in less time than it took for the mental masturbation of wondering how to use a frigging lathe and set it all up.
 
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You grab it from the inside at the scrap end with a 3 jaw and then stick something fat in the tail stock ( a hole saw will do) and part it off. Deburring tool will handle the rest of the work. A black sharpie will clean up the cut. You could even use a wood turning lathe for this stuff.
 
Awesome members always doing awesome deeds for one another on here, that's cool as shit that you got an offer to send it off and get it cut right on a lathe! Only on Sniper's Hide! I'd send it to scudzuki and be done with it! If the color doesn't take you can also use a black touchup paint pen, they make 'em for touching up AR's and other "black" finishes. I'd try that over a sharpie, they work well. Every AR owner or owner/gunsmith should have one.

Brothers here have come through for me in a big way when I really needed it, and I've had others also offer to custom one off or modify some parts. My custom spotter setup was impossible without deeds like these. And I pay it forward where and when I can too. It's part of what makes this site so awesome, actions and not just words.

What you can also do is rubber band, tape, lace or otherwise attach a piece of opaque black plastic cut to make a long "bonnet" if you will, that extends over and sort of out, is open at the bottom for the most part, and can be cut or assembled however suits you. People make these and 3D print similar ones and they sell for $100 but all you need is a razor blade/knife, drill would be nice, and a sheet of flexible black plastic. Or leather. Seen that used too. You can also pack black coffee straws in a sunshade or long flip cap to make an ARD out of a short sunshade; a 1" ARD is equivalent to 7" sunshade? Or you can always buy one if they make one that'll fit your caps, the Tenebraex caps are pretty nice too. That's another solution.

Good luck either way!
 
The lathe sounds like the way to go. I did the redneck version on one with a cutting wheel on a dremel. I used a thick layer of tape as a guide and just shaved down any spots that weren’t perfectly straight. I wasn’t too concerned about it being perfect since I put a scope cap on it so it worked fine.
 
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