1/2 scale AR-15

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Make that 1/4 scale able to open beer bottles and you won't be able to make enough

Now, there's an idea! Wouldn't be that difficult, either. I'm not going to give away my nifty idea on how to incorporate that function just yet, but I think everyone will like the way I do it.

That would add a little to the cost, though......
 
Mil-Spec hinged winter trigger guard folded down I tell ya!

The cap lifter shape is almost already there.

Rc
 
Mil-Spec hinged winter trigger guard folded down I tell ya!

The cap lifter shape is almost already there.

I like the idea, but the logistics favor a different approach. Even if I could beef up the attaching point enough, I don't think it'd provide enough leverage, unless I started putting buffer tubes on them. But then they're getting rather long for a keychain piece.

Trust me, ya'll will like my idea ;) It's slightly complicated, but doesn't take away from what this is. Complements it, in fact.
 
I'd buy a keychain bottle opener version. It'd be way cooler than my Gerber Curve, which is cool enough in its own right.
 
I know I've paid $75+ for hand forged wrought iron bottle openers. I suspect there'd be more of a market than you think.
dead on. never underestimate what people will pay for something. Back in my geologist days I used to do some fossil collecting. ended up with a large tub with probably 100# of various dinosaur bone which I couldn't positively identify. Ended up making some odds end ends like book ends and that sort of thing out of them. I was selling them for just a few bucks a piece here and there and another friend of mine (who does sales) saw them one night. he was appalled at what I charged. He took my entire supply along with him on his sales route. I have no idea what they eventually sold for. but the money I got the next time he stopped by paid for a week long family vacation for 4, and covered a little "get away" time with the wife.
 
I have to agree - die hard AR fanatics would love a key chain fob like that, perhaps anodized in various colors, just a 80% lower style deal. Half of it would be to stick a figurative finger in someone's eye - "here's a lower receiver you can't take"!
Of course, you might have to figure out what states would outlaw such a dangerous "ghost gun" of Lilliputian size...
 
Of course, you might have to figure out what states would outlaw such a dangerous "ghost gun" of Lilliputian size...

I can't see there being any prohibitions whatsoever, even with 100% finished receivers. 1:1 scale AR receivers have to be determined incomplete to a non-firearm point by BATFE because they are easily assembled into finished firearms at the kitchen table with readily available parts and very basic tools.

However, once the scale is changed to where those readily available parts no longer fit, making the receiver into a functional firearm is a monumental task with many dozens if not hundreds of hours in design and fabrication.

As can be witnessed with this 1/2 scale project, the completed lower receiver was the tip of the ice berg. Without the remaining 200+ hours of design and fabrication, it is a paperweight. Even as complete as it is now, I'm still not sure it could be classified as a firearm, since the actual barrel will require significant machining operations-far more than finishing any "80%" receiver.

Making the 1/4 scale into a functional firearm would be exponentially more difficult, and there is but one cartridge in existence that would fit it; the proprietary Swiss mini gun 2.34mm round that is, to my knowledge, not available in the USA. Incidentally, the Swiss mini gun is almost exactly 1/4 scale as well.
 
My friend, make it a bottle opening hardened D2 1/4 scale, advertise it on ARF and you'd be making them for years. At $159.99 each you'd be amazed at how many you'd sell.

Just sayin . . .


Cat
 
My friend, make it a bottle opening hardened D2 1/4 scale, advertise it on ARF and you'd be making them for years. At $159.99 each you'd be amazed at how many you'd sell.

Just sayin . . .


Cat
SSSSHHHHHH!!!!!!
they WERE $100:banghead:
Just sayin........
jell-dog
 
I have access to a pretty large machine shop here at school, maybe I'll CAD something up myself and sell them...Fortunately for Mach I have too many finals and not enough time for tinkering...
 
1/4 scale GAU-8

The good--would be a nifty fit for 7.5 Swiss.

The bad--pretty sure there's no way to "semi" the GAU-8. So, building one would be an exercise in "post-86" burning up scandalous quantities of 7.5 Swiss. But, it'd be a huge hit at Knob Creek. (Pretty sure there's plans for a turbine-powered 1/4 scale A-10, too--but what certain agencies would make of flying Title II items . . . )
 
First 1/4 tool steel lower is done, was a 9 hour project. Haven't fully decided on how I want to do the bottle opener yet, but I may make it homogenous. This one was a test run, see how much longer it takes than a 7075 piece. Hard to say, as I didn't have my prints set up with radius accounted cutter coordinates on the aluminum one, but I think steel is gonna be +2 hours just because the feeds are that much slower.

Mag well isn't perfectly square, mostly because I was impatient and aggressive, kept bending the 1/8" square needle file

It weighs triple what the 7075 piece does. Still just 15 grams, though. Plan was to blue it, but the D-2 took on such a nice dark grey from the heat treat, I see no reason to apply a different finish.

And no, those aren't scratches in the mag well and FCG pocket; it's paper towel fibers from wiping it with CLP to improve rust resistance.

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Have you considered a 1/2 scale AR-180? Which was designed to be more easily machinable in less sophisticated places.

The AR-180 simplified manufacturing by using mostly stamped parts. Easier for a large manufacturer with gigantic die presses, but like hammer forging vs. cut rifling, it's economics of scale. Yes, if you're making enough products to amortize the equipment, then stamping/forging/investment casting/injection molding become much more cost effective methods of manufacturing. For small time guys, though, the quantity isn't there, so cutting from billet allows the manufacture of new products with only a small investment in cutters and fixtures. Lots more time, tons more material waste, but much more cost effective for small runs.

I have access to a pretty large machine shop here at school, maybe I'll CAD something up myself and sell them...Fortunately for Mach I have too many finals and not enough time for tinkering...

More like fortunately for me, I know what CNC can and can't do, and even if you had a 5 axis high speed ATC machining center, you'd still be spending quite a bit of time doing manual operations-particularly finish work. CNC doesn't do stoning and sanding. Unless, of course, you don't care about tool marks. You'd also play merry hob with tool paths, cut depths and speeds & feeds trying to get a CNC to run these 3/32, .082 and 1/16 cutters through steel without snapping them. I'm flooding and running <1 IPM with a 1R DOC max on full diameter cuts, and pulling the cutter out frequently to clear chips. And they still break.

If my reply feels rather pointed, that's because I perceive your comment as a snarky idle threat at intellectual property theft. If you intended humor, it didn't come across that way to me.
 
Wow. Very cool MachIV.

And about The Next Generation, I wouldn't be too concerned. I'm pretty sure that the old saying "When all is said and done, a whole lot more is said than done." After all, he's already making excuses.

That old saying obviously isn't one you live by! :)


Cat
 
A fully assembled 1/4 scale AR would make the penultimate "assault laser pointer" the batteries could be stored in the magazine for added effect
 
Out if curiosity, how much money do you get back when you recycle the metal chips relative to what you paid for the billet?

For example, you start with $100 worth of billet and end up with 80 percent chips. How much money would you get for recycling the chips?
 
Sorry there have been no updates, guys-I'm still waiting to hear back from ATF to finish the weapon out, and didn't have a chance to rendezvous with my buddy this past weekend to borrow his EOTech 512 for scaling. Hopefully the latter will happen this weekend.

Out if curiosity, how much money do you get back when you recycle the metal chips relative to what you paid for the billet?

For example, you start with $100 worth of billet and end up with 80 percent chips. How much money would you get for recycling the chips?

Dirt. Clean steel scrap price ranges from ~$80 to $200 per ton, and clean aluminum is typically around $2.50/lb. I don't even bother trying to save chips, not when a single radiator I would recycle has more aluminum than the entirety of what I've produced on this project. And recyclers don't care if it's cast, 1000 series or really good stuff like 7075 and 2219; they melt it all down just the same.
 
I knew a guy that tried to save chips from his mill. He said it was more aggravating than it was worth.

His rule of thumb was simple, if it had to be swept up, it went in the steel drum. If he could pick it up, it was worth sorting.

I took the same approach when I cleaned out my shop.
 
Sorry there have been no updates, guys-I'm still waiting to hear back from ATF to finish the weapon out
Oh come on!

You have been shooting it for two weeks already haven't you? :D

rc
 
Haven't fully decided on how I want to do the bottle opener yet...

Wouldn't the buffer tube opening be about right for the bottle opener part?

Still one of the best threads on the 'net.
 
My dad had a machine shop.
As a kid he would pay me to clean up the mills and lathe, especially between working on different materials.
Everything was put in appropriate 55g drums.
I can imagine it wasn't much, but going to the recycler with truck and trailer packed full with 55g drums of chips will add up.

small scale like this, doesn't seem worth it.
suppose you could toss in with the aluminum can recycle bin
 
Well, STILL no word from ATF (big surprise there, right?), but I did get some time in on the mini EOTech, which is basically done except for the secondary hood. I will probably redo the glass, as it chipped a little when pushing it into the tunnel, and I also need to figure out a less reflective coating than low gloss black engine enamel; it's fine when it's shaded, but if there is more light shining into the tunnel from the rear than the front, the reflection of the lower tunnel is superimposed on the image through the sight.

Anyway, obviously the tunnel is a little long for scale. I split the difference between the scale size and the distance from LED to lens on the micro sight. Also clearly a different adjustment screw arrangement. Otherwise I tried to keep it right. The original micro RDS used a CR2032 cell, but due to size constraints, I chose to go witha CR1620 at only .63" wide.

Roughed out, about 4 hours:

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Another 2 hours saw the underside profiled for electronics:

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Profile finished and sanded:

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And done:

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Look closely and you'll see the dot. It doesn't show up well on camera.

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