This is a question that often comes up, so I decided that it was time someone did a simple pictoral guideline. I've had to cut a lot of these recently, and I figured others might need something like this.

In general, I made most of my cuts into the cage using a Reinforced Cutting Wheel with my dremel. For any round cuts, I use a Drum Sander. I debur with sand paper.

* Front of the cage:
The first cut you need to do is at the front of the cage to allow the Grenade Launcher Front Block to slot into it. (In all the pics in this pictoral guideline, the first pic is the unaltered cage, the second pic is the rough guidline as to where to cut, the third pic is the material that would be removed, and the final pic is the altered cage.)



Here's a before and after:



* Left side of the cage:
On the left side of the cage you need to remove three small sections to allow the pump grip's racking mechanism access to the inside of the cage.



* Bottom side of the cage:
To make the cuts for the loading port, you need to extend the length of the hole that's already there like so:



* Right side of the cage:
IMHO, the hardest cuts to make are those of the ejection port. I start by cutting the small section at the top, followed by the long horizontal cut at the bottom. Two vertical cuts completes the rectangular cut out. All that's left is the curved cuts:



Here's a close up of what it should look like:



Edit:
Here's a little extra info. Personally, with the way my Pulse Rifles are constructed I don't bother with the following two cuts because I'm using a resin M870 receiver, and I attach the triggers seperately, so I can simply slot the receiver through the front of the SPAS12 cage (and not worry about the trigger getting in the way). However, if someone plans to use either an airsoft or real steel M870 receiver, they'll have to load the M870 through the back of the cage and therefore needs to do the following:

* Back end, Major cut:
To be able to load the M870 receiver through the back of the cage, you'll have to remove the following material:



Actually, I've probably highlighted more than actually needs to be removed from there, but you get the idea. The cut can probably be more squared off, like on the altered cage on the right. I found this cut to be about the same difficulty as that of the front section cut... which was very easy.

* Back end, Minor cut:
The last cut is a tiny one... but a necessary one. This one is needed to make way for the trigger assembly:



Here it is from a slightly better angle:



As I said before, these two cuts I typically don't bother with, but they are cut in all the SD Studios SPAS12 cages so it doesn't hurt to be aware of them.

Hope that helps answer one of the most commonly asked questions regarding the SPAS12 cage.

-Alex Ko
"The M41-A. When you absolutely, positively have to kill every mofo in the room. Accept no substitutes."

Excellent, Alex! I still haven't cut my cage, been holding off until I have something to place in it. I'm archiving these images for when the time comes. I was worried this was another of those 'I had extra cages, so I thought I'd try different cuts!' tricks ala Matsuo
Exo2

My Props WebsiteEdited by: [url=http://p220.ezboard.com/bthealienslegacy.showUserPublicProfile?gid=exoframe2>Exoframe2[/url] at: 1/22/06 10:00 pm

Absolutely awesome Alex!

I have a couple of SPAS cages that will be needing this treatment in the near future, so this tutorial will be invaluable. Actually, after seeing these great photos I realized that I only knew where to properly make about half the cuts necessary.

You make this look sooooo easy -- but I suppose you really nailed it down after the first 10 or so, right?
Rick "Ripstick"

[img]http://www.Route73.com/RPF/images/Ripstick_Aliens_Legacy_Banner.jpg[/img]

Yes that Matsuo is a tricky one ain't he? Especially around April 1st!


Nah, I got the hang of it after the first 4. It was the 17 cages that followed that were easy. Well maybe not easy... but a lot easier once I got into an assembly line like fashion about it. I typically do the same section on all the cages at once, then repeat with the next section.

-Alex
"The M41-A. When you absolutely, positively have to kill every mofo in the room. Accept no substitutes."

Excellent work, Alex. I would love to include your material in tutorials section of my site. With your permission, of course.
Tom
[img]http://www.m41a.com/z_temporary/octsig.jpg[/img]

Of course Tom!

-Alex
"The M41-A. When you absolutely, positively have to kill every mofo in the room. Accept no substitutes."

Excellent tutorial!!

That'll definitely come in handy. Gracias!

Lonnie

i was just building the spas cage from scrab
so this tutariol came right on time, perfect timing

Great job Alex. Very well done indeed


<img border=0 src="http://www.hkmproductions.dsl.pipex.com/ff%20okay%20copy.jpg" />

Now if we could only get some SPAS cages!

Thanks Alex for that tutorial,
I was waiting for that to cut my SPAS cage and now, because of you, I can do it.
That's the problem when you have only one of it And you so much scared to fuck it up because you know it's hard to find one....

So thanks again

I hope know ther will be someone with a tutorial for Putting the M870 inside and to connect the pump part of the M870 to the SPAS 12 parts.


Take care

Stephane

<bump>

MODs... Can we have this archived? I'd imagine it'd be pretty useful for anyone cutting their SPAS12 cages.

-Alex
"The M41-A. When you absolutely, positively have to kill every mofo in the room. Accept no substitutes."

Done!

Great info Alex, many thanks.

Harry.
<a href="http://www.harryharris.com/welcome.htm]<img src="http://www.triotech.demon.co.uk/hhacabanner.gif" border="0][/url]