My Welded AR Build

ddexd · Sep 27, 2016

I'm a new member to this forum, but not new to the AR platform. I've built a couple of retro rifles as well as lately a welded up AR lower using the jig saw puzzle pieces from an online vendor.

I welded up the lower using a TIG and I'm not the best welder, but it's stuck together pretty well. Did I mention this thing required a lot of grinding and sanding to get looking decent. So here are some photos taken during the build.

First is a good start on welding up the lower.

Next one shows everything welded, sanded and ready for paint.

I elected to use Duracoat flat black, which was a learning experience with our southern humidity. I learned if you are the recommended distance away the Duracoat actually was flash drying which led to a rough sandpaper texture you see on the last photo.

Last photo of fully assembled rifle. I even did some engraving on it to give it personalized look. Look closely and you can spot the sand paperish spots on it. But overall it came out pretty good and it does shoot.

notasheeple · Sep 27, 2016

Looks great!Nice work indeed.

What tips do you have on using Duracoat in our humidity?

bonewagon · Sep 27, 2016

Nice job. I bet that took a lot of patience and a few hours to do.

Creoleman · Sep 27, 2016

"Weld" done, sir!

mineralman55 · Sep 28, 2016

Why did you have to weld it in the first place? This sounds like a story in itself.

3fifty7 · Sep 28, 2016

Also curious about the online vender, almost looks like it was a de-mil cut ?

Sent via telegraph with the same fingers I use to sip whiskey

DAVE_M · Sep 28, 2016

mineralman55 said:
Why did you have to weld it in the first place? This sounds like a story in itself.

3fifty7 said:
Also curious about the online vender, almost looks like it was a de-mil cut ?

I've seen them before, but never a completed lower until now.

Whitebread · Sep 28, 2016

DAVE_M said:
I've seen them before, but never a completed lower until now.

And I decided against 80% lowers because I thought the benefit didn't outweigh the aggravation. I've spent hours painstakingly welding stuff like that, and I would take milling out an 80% over that any day.

OP: All that said looks like it came together nice, and good God do you have some patience.

DAVE_M · Sep 28, 2016

Whitebread said:
And I decided against 80% lowers because I thought the benefit didn't outweigh the aggravation. I've spent hours painstakingly welding stuff like that, and I would take milling out an 80% over that any day.

It may not benefit you, for whatever reason, but some TIG welders can do amazing things. Would I ever use an 80% lower or weldable lower for a HD gun? Hell no, but it probably makes a neat conversation piece, if you're into that sort of thing.

Whitebread · Sep 28, 2016

DAVE_M said:
It may not benefit you, for whatever reason, but some TIG welders can do amazing things. Would I ever use an 80% lower or weldable lower for a HD gun? Hell no, but it probably makes a neat conversation piece, if you're into that sort of thing.

Yeah I just don't have the patience for that. Someone left their calling card on whatever that is. That's an artist. The level of precision and patience that it take to burn those dots in.

Wait those aren't dots they are scallops.

John_ · Sep 28, 2016

Yeah, I don't understand why. Not when you can purchase a quality lower receiver these days for $80. Ditto the 80% receivers. I guess the novelty of building/welding/machining your own LR.
I just cannot understand the logic in it. Same for plastic/synthetic 100% lower receivers.....versus a 6061 forged and tempered aluminum receiver?

ddexd · Sep 28, 2016

Yep the flatspot is where I got the puzzle pieces from. As to why would anyone build one of these things. Well, its kind of like asking the guy that climbs a mountain why on earth would they want to climb a mountain. Same reason, I like building stuff and I've done the 80% forged lowers and there just isn't much challenge in doing them. So I decided to see if I could make one of these welded lowers and try to push my abilities a bit, and my patience as well.

In the end the lower came out pretty well, but now that I've climbed the mountain. I'm not sure I would want to do it again. Just waaaaaaaaay to much work with all the grinding, but was still a fun challenge.

Next on my list in no particular order are: UZI; AKM-47; CETME-L; AR-9 & AR-47.

ddexd · Sep 28, 2016

Almost forgot. My learning on using Duracoat in our southern heat.

1) Degrease before blasting
2) Aluminum Oxide blast the parts (I use 100 mesh media @ 30 psig).
3) Do NOT touch the parts without a glove on.
4) Blow off the dust from the parts.
5) Mix up the Duracoat per the instructions and I added 15% reducer so it would flow nice out of the siphon fed air brush. The use of 12 cc hypodermic syringe without needle, were a big help.
6) Spray light coats.
7) Get 4" or a little closer to the part when spraying. I noticed that any father away from the part being sprayed and you can visibly see a sandpaper finish. Best advice is a little trial and error to see what works for you.
7) Let flash dry for ~5 minutes before spraying next coat.
8) Because of the rapid flashing of the solvent from the Duracoat, I had a separate spray bottle with lacquer thinner in it to spray through the air brush to clean it between coats.
9) I ended of spraying about 5 coats.

What would I do or try different? Well I would buy the Duracoat Retarder to slow down the flashing of the solvents, which was causing the sandpaper look and feel. Of course I could wait until winter when we get 70 degF weather to spray, but who can wait that long.

John_ · Sep 28, 2016

ddexd said:
Yep the flatspot is where I got the puzzle pieces from. As to why would anyone build one of these things. Well, its kind of like asking the guy that climbs a mountain why on earth would they want to climb a mountain. Same reason, I like building stuff and I've done the 80% forged lowers and there just isn't much challenge in doing them. So I decided to see if I could make one of these welded lowers and try to push my abilities a bit, and my patience as well.

In the end the lower came out pretty well, but now that I've climbed the mountain. I'm not sure I would want to do it again. Just waaaaaaaaay to much work with all the grinding, but was still a fun challenge.

Next on my list in no particular order are: UZI; AKM-47; CETME-L; AR-9 & AR-47.

And I can respect that. Not many can say they welded up their own functional AR LR. In fact, I have never seen anyone before, here or on the AR15 forums. Very rare for sure.

DAVE_M · Sep 28, 2016

ddexd said:
Yep the flatspot is where I got the puzzle pieces from. As to why would anyone build one of these things. Well, its kind of like asking the guy that climbs a mountain why on earth would they want to climb a mountain. Same reason, I like building stuff and I've done the 80% forged lowers and there just isn't much challenge in doing them. So I decided to see if I could make one of these welded lowers and try to push my abilities a bit, and my patience as well.

In the end the lower came out pretty well, but now that I've climbed the mountain. I'm not sure I would want to do it again. Just waaaaaaaaay to much work with all the grinding, but was still a fun challenge.

Next on my list in no particular order are: UZI; AKM-47; CETME-L; AR-9 & AR-47.

Makes you really wish you had an endmill though, huh?

A desktop type lathe has always been on my want list.

mineralman55 · Sep 29, 2016

ddexd said:
Well, its kind of like asking the guy that climbs a mountain why on earth would they want to climb a mountain. Same reason, I like building stuff and I've done the 80% forged lowers and there just isn't much challenge in doing them.

whitsend · Sep 29, 2016

DAVE_M said:
Makes you really wish you had an endmill though, huh?

A desktop type lathe has always been on my want list.

Not quite desktop, but here is a lathe for sale. Should just need a little work.

http://www.govliquidation.com/aucti....html - eh&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua

And a milling machine.

http://www.govliquidation.com/aucti....html - eh&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua

:dogkeke:

DAVE_M · Sep 29, 2016

whitsend said:
Not quite desktop, but here is a lathe for sale. Should just need a little work.

http://www.govliquidation.com/aucti....html - eh&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua

And a milling machine.

http://www.govliquidation.com/aucti....html - eh&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua

Some people dream of owning a Ferrari, I dream of owning a CNC mill.

Tormach makes hobbyist to professional grade machines, but you will cringe when you see the prices.

tallwalker · Sep 29, 2016

I bought a cheap mini-lathe and later a mini-mill just to play with a few years ago. I have been completely amazed at how much I use both for one thing or another. They are cheap, but if you take some time to true them up and tweak a little surprisingly accurate. LOTS of uses. Check out good old Varmint Al's pages. He has a lot of shooting related stuff and does projects with his. http://www.varmintal.com/alath.htm

ddexd · Sep 29, 2016

I've done the same thing. I've bought a small lathe (7"X12" lathe) and small mill (Grizzly G0619). I've converted both to CNC and I've added a rotary 4th axis to my mill. I threaded the lower buffer extension lug on the CNC lathe before I welded it to the lower.

I've used the mill to CNC 3D contour an A2 style reinforced lower to the A1 style for my retro build. Having the CNC also makes it easy enough to also do the engraving. The CNC conversion is actually pretty easy, hardest part is learning how to use CAD and then the CAM side to get the G-Code to run the machine. Very steep learning curve on the CAD/CAM, which I'm still learning. I'm using Fusion 360.

My Welded AR Build

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