80% build tips

[Duge]

Hopefully they will be a little faster. My order from 5D took almost a month. I ordered the Jig, lower, upper that was complete, and all parts to make an AR9 so don't know if that was part of the hold up. Of course after chomping at the bit for it to get here then it sat on my bench for weeks
Just as I was getting dressed for work a partner who I had tried to get to come in instead of me woke up and took the OT so I went back out and finished the one I had started. All milling and drilling is now done. Came out quite well. Some tool marks on one side that will be easy to smooth if they make problem but doubt they will. Now that I have done it once it will be far easier to do it again. After you start using it you can get the feel for it. Now just got to try to put it all together

View attachment 629948

Awesome. I haven't picked out parts yet for the AR9 I'm going to do first. I want to do the smallest possible pistol build so I can have it as a truck gun or pack it in a backpack. I've even been eyeing the folding stock adapters.
What kind of build are you doing?

 

[Alexx1401]

Awesome. I haven't picked out parts yet for the AR9 I'm going to do first. I want to do the smallest possible pistol build so I can have it as a truck gun or pack it in a backpack. I've even been eyeing the folding stock adapters.
What kind of build are you doing?

This one is a full size. It's sold by 5D as a complete kit. Assuming this works a pistol with a brace is next for the same reason. It can be carried in the vehicle since it's a hand gun. Not to mention will just plain be fun. Been looking at some uppers. Looks like one with a 7inch tube would be perfect. Nice thing about me making the lower is I can just buy a pistol upper and slap it and the brace on there It was fun once I finally got to doing it.

 

[Duge]

This one is a full size. It's sold by 5D as a complete kit. Assuming this works a pistol with a brace is next for the same reason. It can be carried in the vehicle since it's a hand gun. Not to mention will just plain be fun. Been looking at some uppers. Looks like one with a 7inch tube would be perfect. Nice thing about me making the lower is I can just buy a pistol upper and slap it and the brace on there It was fun once I finally got to doing it.

Palmetto State armory sells an upper called the Marauder in 556 and 300 BLK. $200 (if it's still on sale). Can't put front sights on it though so you have to have an optic. Also doesn't come with BCG or charging handle. Looks pretty mean.

 

[Alexx1401]

Awesome. I haven't picked out parts yet for the AR9 I'm going to do first. I want to do the smallest possible pistol build so I can have it as a truck gun or pack it in a backpack. I've even been eyeing the folding stock adapters.
What kind of build are you doing?

Here is build #1 for me. Was a lot of fun. Made a couple mistakes that should amount to nada other than making next one easier. Feeds and ejects so now have to get it to the range and see if it goes bang and hopefully not boom
Have to say now that I have done it I want to buy some more, this could get addicting
I bought a DVD and a book on the AR's. Turned out I did not even need them. Putting a lower together is a lot easier than I expected it to be.

 

[Duge]

Here is build #1 for me. Was a lot of fun. Made a couple mistakes that should amount to nada other than making next one easier. Feeds and ejects so now have to get it to the range and see if it goes bang and hopefully not boom
Have to say now that I have done it I want to buy some more, this could get addicting
I bought a DVD and a book on the AR's. Turned out I did not even need them. Putting a lower together is a lot easier than I expected it to be.

View attachment 630794

Nice. I would maybe put some sights on it though, just for like, accuracy reasons. Lol.

 

[Alexx1401]

Nice. I would maybe put some sights on it though, just for like, accuracy reasons. Lol.

Yes I thought I would slap a dot on it . There is a thread here from a while back guy was mad he got charged at some indoor range for hitting the carrier. He put an AR together and tried to test it with no sights. I got some quick mounts a while back that were super cheap and work amazingly well for the how damn cheap they were. Have a couple Bushnell Dots on them and can swap them from gun to gun at the range and they seem to hold zero shockingly well for something that was like $10.

 

[notazombie]

Palmetto State armory sells an upper called the Marauder in 556 and 300 BLK. $200 (if it's still on sale). Can't put front sights on it though so you have to have an optic. Also doesn't come with BCG or charging handle. Looks pretty mean.

I know a guy who built one. Feels good in the hand and functions as intended. Not the cheapest truck gun but definitely backpack sized.
Marauder, Law folder, Sparc...

 

[Duge]

I know a guy who built one. Feels good in the hand and functions as intended. Not the cheapest truck gun but definitely backpack sized.
Marauder, Law folder, Sparc...

View attachment 630868

That's badass. I have a 10.5 inch AR pistol that I built, but I wish now I would have got the Marauder upper. I may pick one up eventually after I finish the AR 9.

 

[Duge]

So hypothetical here, let's say someone had access to cnc Equipment and knew how to use it, but had not milled a lower before. What would that person need to complete the lower? Is there blueprints that can be downloaded or something?

 

[Alexx1401]

So hypothetical here, let's say someone had access to cnc Equipment and knew how to use it, but had not milled a lower before. What would that person need to complete the lower? Is there blueprints that can be downloaded or something?

I am sure there must be the program floating around out there if you search for it. You would need a fixture to take advantage of it though. You could make one of the Jigs work with just a vice for the milling work. The set up to do so would take quite a while if someone knew what they were doing. By the time you set it up you could just make it with the router. Now once set up machine would be much faster. If you wanted to leave it set up and make more the rest would be far simpler. Again the down side would be you would have to leave it set up. If you have to take it down then next time it's all got to be set back up again. The machines have not yet got to the point where they can do it without the humans help. In mass manufacturing the guys who can set the jobs up are the real machinists who make the money. Since once it's set up most jobs only need someone to put the part in correctly and push a button.

 

[Duge]

I am sure there must be the program floating around out there if you search for it. You would need a fixture to take advantage of it though. You could make one of the Jigs work with just a vice for the milling work. The set up to do so would take quite a while if someone knew what they were doing. By the time you set it up you could just make it with the router. Now once set up machine would be much faster. If you wanted to leave it set up and make more the rest would be far simpler. Again the down side would be you would have to leave it set up. If you have to take it down then next time it's all got to be set back up again. The machines have not yet got to the point where they can do it without the humans help. In mass manufacturing the guys who can set the jobs up are the real machinists who make the money. Since once it's set up most jobs only need someone to put the part in correctly and push a button.

I was wondering if that was the case. My easy jig is supposed to be here tomorrow so I'll just go that route.
Another question though, would it be easy for a person with access to machining tools to engrave a lower? I don't know how the CNC stuff works.

 

[Alexx1401]

I was wondering if that was the case. My easy jig is supposed to be here tomorrow so I'll just go that route.
Another question though, would it be easy for a person with access to machining tools to engrave a lower? I don't know how the CNC stuff works.

Now that would be FAR easier so yes. It would be easy to make a safe way to hold the lower in a vice and the set up would be very simple.

 

[Duge]

Jig came today. Ready to go. Just gotta find some time to do work.

 

[Duge]

Okay so it turns out that my friend in the machine shop doesn't have equipment capable of engraving. Anybody know a place in Western WA that would engrave my lowers? Or alternatively has anyone had success with some form of DIY engraving?

 

[Ownerus]

What sort of engraving? Most CNC routers (usually used for cutting wood or plastic) should be able to do shallow engraving in aluminum. Especially on a flat surface like the side of the mag well. The main challenge is holding the part. Decent programming software usually has an assortment of fonts to choose from if you want text. A logo of some sort just needs a clean line drawing that can be made into a vector file. 3D carving can be done though there's not a lot of thickness to use on a standard lower.
I don't know if the ATF would consider someone engraving a lower to be engaging in gunsmithing without a license.

 

[Duge]

What sort of engraving? Most CNC routers (usually used for cutting wood or plastic) should be able to do shallow engraving in aluminum. Especially on a flat surface like the side of the mag well. The main challenge is holding the part. Decent programming software usually has an assortment of fonts to choose from if you want text. A logo of some sort just needs a clean line drawing that can be made into a vector file. 3D carving can be done though there's not a lot of thickness to use on a standard lower.
I don't know if the ATF would consider someone engraving a lower to be engaging in gunsmithing without a license.

Yeah the shop doesn't have a CNC router at all I guess. Just milling machines and whatnot. And I was assuming that if I had someone engrave the 80 percent lowers before I milled them then I would be fine on any laws.

 

[Alexx1401]

Yeah the shop doesn't have a CNC router at all I guess. Just milling machines and whatnot. And I was assuming that if I had someone engrave the 80 percent lowers before I milled them then I would be fine on any laws.

You would be fine decorating a lower you made any way you want. It's after all still a gun you are making for yourself which is still totally legal. That's the only reason we can still do this, make 80%'s into a gun. I don't know of anyplace that does it off hand but as mentioned any tool to do this would work as the metal is easy to work. Set up would be fairly simple for something like this, part just has to be level. Only catch I could see is suspect many places that have the small machines for doing this may have a problem working on a "gun". As long as they are not anti, they should be glad to have the business.

 

[Alexx1401]

Update on my first. fires fine no problem with my part of the job. Some feeding hickups but that's the upper. Should be simple to work on. When playing with it at home I had managed to booger up the rear detent and had to remove it. So to range test just used a .25 bolt while waiting for a pin from KNS that has a push button instead of the detent. Pin got here and I love it. Going to buy a few more for use on the front and rear of this one and the next build. Here is the first try after just slapping a Dot on it and shooting off hand, 17 round and 33 round. Easy to see the rifle will do fine if I actually try
This is easy to see going to become addicting here

 

[Alexx1401]

Another question of 80% builds. I see some of the blanks that are sold in the white. Has anyone tried the cold applications to color these? I noticed Birchwood Casey makes a cold solution to black aluminum. Thought I would give a small bottle a try just for kicks. Anyone used it and how did it work, or any other ways to do it without buying a set up to do a pro job?

 

[Ownerus]

It's after all still a gun you are making for yourself which is still totally legal.

To be more clear, I was referring to having someone ELSE doing the engraving. But, yes, an unmachined lower shouldn't be a legal issue even if done by someone else.