GunLab (KnownHost) » AR=180

Interesting AR-18 tool

Chuck — Mon, 05 Oct 2015 08:00:19 +0000

It is not often that most people think how something was done in the “Old Days” but I do. Lots of times you can not reproduce a part using modern machinery with a great deal of work. The “Old Days” I am talking about is not the 1600,1700, 1800, but the middle 1900’s. I just received some real interesting pictures on making the AR-18 bolt carrier. Did you ever thing how they made the bolt cam track on an early AR-18. This is the days before cnc machining. This is the tool used to make the cam in the bolt carrier for the first prototype rifles.

Sorry for the quality of the pictures, it is how they cam. If anyone knows the were about of this tool please contact me. I would like to take better pictures.

Sunday Answer 10-4-15

Chuck — Sun, 04 Oct 2015 08:00:36 +0000

Okay had enough on this what is it Saturday. It was a tough one. A friend of Gun Lab sent this to me to add to my reference library.

It is an early rear sight aperture spring for the very first AR-18’s. It never went into production. I am looking for pictures of these rifles or drawings of this rear sight. If and when I find it I will post it here.

As sent to taped to the card.

AR-180B safety spring bending

Chuck — Thu, 27 Aug 2015 08:00:25 +0000

A while back we showed you the springs that we obtained for the AR-180B safety and bolt hold open. We bought these with out the tabs pre-bent and trimmed.

The next step was to design the tooling necessary to bend the springs for an AR-180B rifle. A couple of pictures of the tooling necessary to bend the spring at a proper angle

Not as simple as it looks.

The spring wire put in for the first bend.

The tool necessary to bend the spring.

After the first bend

Pivot pin moved to second op position.

The bending handle re-installed.

Second op completed.

This is where and how the spring is installed.

A quick video showing how it’s done.

AR-180B parts update

Chuck — Tue, 25 Aug 2015 13:36:58 +0000

With the parts coming back from the heat treating company on Friday it was time to get busy getting them finished.

This is how they look after heat treating. This is the safety.

And this is the bolt hold open.

The first step was to run them through the tumbler to remove the majority of the scaling.

After the tumbler they are then bead blasted to clean them for parkerizing.

This is how they look after finishing.

You will notice the different colors. They were parkerized at the same time with the same solution. The reason for the differences is the material , 1018 vs 4130, and the heat treating performed on the parts.

We are working on the spring bending die today and hope to have the parts set up for sale this weekend.

AR-180b upper receiver

Chuck — Wed, 19 Aug 2015 08:00:41 +0000

Here At Gun Lab we actually have a number of projects going on. While we are waiting for our heat treating to come back for the VG1-5 and AR-180b parts we started on the AR-180B upper receiver. This receiver is design to fit on the Nodak-Spud lower as well as the AR-180B lower and the original AR-180.

The project was started July 20th when a friend sent me a original flat for the AR-180. That evening I sat down and started the solid model drawing for the upper receiver. It was not a priority project here and was put on the back burner until the projects on the mill were completed. However, by July 30th I had completed the solid model and had completed the first set of basic modelling for the stamping die.

This first picture is of an original AR-18 flat that has had ribs pressed in.

This picture shows what it would look like after the next stamping. The basic shape is cut out.

The next step that was performed was to bend the bottom tabs.

The next step was then to punch out the ejector port and cocking handle opening.

With the advent of technology we have made a few changes to the process in which this part will be made.

In looking at an original AR-180b upper you can see a few of the manufacturing changes. Looking at these pictures and at the actual part you can see that a laser cutter was used versus stamping them out. The cost difference is huge.

What we have done is drawn up the receiver then changed it into a flat design then had that laser cut out of the proper material and thickness of sheet metal

Next we started working on the stamping design.

Once the basic design is completed we start working on each component of the design and changing the parts and assembly as we go along. Finally we come up with a working model.

Then every part and component is accurately located and attached.

Down to the pins and screws.

Once this is done we start making each of the individual pieces. Starting with the basic stock.

To the final products.

The next step and post will be the assembly then off to testing.

This is were we stand now on 8-17 and starting from 7-20. Less then 30 days from concept through design and modeling to programming and machining.

Not bad.

Gun Lab update

Chuck — Tue, 18 Aug 2015 02:15:58 +0000

This is an answer to a friends question about a particular project.

It is good to always keep checking with me. Things can get a little hectic around here. This is the status of the projects here.

1) the MP-44 trunnions test pieces have been completed and sent to the buyer. A few changes need to be made and we are correcting the drawings now.A post coming up about that next.

2) I hope to have the parts to fix the wire edm in this week and have it back up and getting it operational, this is for the mag wells on the AR-10.

3) we are finishing the tooling for the VG1-5 project so spot welding can go on in mass next week. While on the subject of the VG1-5 a new trigger guard stamping die has to be made, to look more like the original one. Still waiting for the heat treated parts to come back. The parkerizing set up is ready to start parking parts.

4) The cetme receiver has been solid modeled and the stamping dies are currently modeled as well, need to finish up the final oddities.

6) The AR-10 lower receiver has been modeled and half of it has been programmed to machine.; The work on the AR-10 lower will start again as soon as I can get the VG1-5 off of the HAAS machining center, need to change all the tooling out to aluminum cutters.

7) The AR-180b upper receiver stamping dies are 98% complete and hope to have them finished tomorrow. We are still waiting for the parts to come back from heat treat for this as well. Then we will start parkerizing them also.

So far That is about it. I am still working on the cnc router, made a new panel this weekend.

Weekend update and the fun of machining

Chuck — Mon, 10 Aug 2015 08:00:23 +0000

Nothing really exciting to report. I spent the weekend machining large pieces of metal into smaller pieces. We have shipped the test MP-44 trunnions to Pete and while we are waiting for his report back we are filling our time working on making stamping dies. In this case all the pieces are sized and we have started machining the the individual pieces for the AR-180 upper receiver stamping dies. A quick look at the solid model of the stamping dies

This is what it looks like in the making phase. Here are a few pictures of the top and bottom plates being sized up on the Allan Bradley cnc mill. A great deal of the die steel is not heat treated and just basic run of the mill scrap steel. These sections came from torch cut trash steel from different job sites. You can see the type of edge it has and need to be cleaned up and sized.

A close up of the edge. This will take a great deal of work to clean up and make useable.

So Saturday and Sunday I got to do this. A basic program was written to reduce and clean up the edges 0.030″ at a time until they were clean up.

The two bigger pieces were machined. The top and other edges will be cleaned up on the HAAS machining center.

All three of the pieces ready to continue on to the next phase.

The actual heat treated press areas are also machined to size and we have started on the forming portion of the dies.

AR-180B trunnion design

Chuck — Thu, 30 Jul 2015 13:54:25 +0000

An interesting question was brought up by Rick at http://ar180s.com/ a while back about making new AR-180B upper receivers. The actual receiver is not much of a problem however the trunnion is. The expense of making a new trunnion would be cost prohibitive so a different solution had to be found. In this case the thought would be to do what was done, or thought to be done by Armalite and that is using an AR-15 barrel extension pressed into a new trunnion block. So looking at a AR-180B we can see what the trunnion looks like in a receiver.

Looking at the above pictures you can see the difference between a AR-180B and the AR-180 below.

The above picture shows a flush front end with the threads. While of the 180B it is recessed.

There are a number of differences. The original is forged and then machined. You can see how the boss sticks out in front of the bolt locking area. While the 180B the rear of the trunnion is flush.

The reasons for these differences is because a AR-180b does use a AR-15 barrel extension pressed in. However there are changes to the barrel extension.

In this hidden view you can see that a AR-15 barrel extension would be to large for a trunnion as originally designed for an AR-180

This is a solid view of the same model. The barrel extension would get in the way of the recoil rods.

Even reducing the diameter of the barrel extension would not be enough to correct the problem. The extension has a diameter much larger then the inside diameter of the trunnion.

This can only work if the trunnion is also re-design. This is what Armalite did for the AR-180B.

Instead of a rounded bottom they squared it off to allow more material to support the turned down barrel extension.

As you can see in this cut away the reduced size of the outer ring of the barrel extension.

In this picture you can see the hole for the guide pin on an AR-15 barrel extension.

In the white AR-180B upper receiver

Chuck — Mon, 20 Jul 2015 08:00:55 +0000

A friend of mine sent me a AR-180B upper receiver to look at and study. Here are a series of pictures giving you a more detailed look at it.

This is a right side view. As you can see they were made with out a dust collector flap.

A shot of the under side showing the welded seam.

Close up of the rear sight stamping.

A close up of the tig welded area for the front trunnion.

This is a series of pictures showing the front of the trunnion

A couple of shots of the bottom of the trunion

Pressing the AR-180B bolt hold open

Chuck — Wed, 08 Jul 2015 14:33:51 +0000

Previously I showed a few pictures of the process in pressing the AR-180B bolt hold open device.

We started with a laser cut then machined blank.

This is the video showing the steps.

And after the pressing operation we have a completed part ready for heat treat.