First, I'm looking for common sizes in aircraft-grade square tube, angle and plate to see if there's one appropriate to my needs or if I'm going to have to weld multiple sections together. I've got a project and I need to find an online reference for 6061 aluminum and the like.
Second, I need to know if anyone here is a gunsmith/machinist here who can help advise me on the welding and recommend steps to take in creating a prototype and possibly arranging for a limited production run.
That gunsmith part kind of scares me...
6061 is the material, T6 is how it's heat treated.
"On line reference"? Source for mechanical properties, machinability or where to buy it?
What are you making?
Dan
Google Dillsburg Airplane Supply
If they don't have what you're looking for, or can't get it, it probably doesn't exist.
I'm wanting to build a "chassis" made of aluminum for a receiver. The purpose of the chassis is that it would enable the use of standard collapsible AR-15 buttstocks, AR-15 pistol grip and AR-15 handguards to the rifle.
Familiarize yourself with the myriad laws regarding making gun parts or anything that might resemble a gun part.
Some of these laws say you can make certain things for yourself but not for resale.
I just welded some alum. parts for a X for a guy who had a bunch of federal paperwork/stamp/etc. ensuring it's legality. Some people will run when you tell them what you want to do, legal or not.
I can do lathe work and tig welding, so feel free to email me.
-James
*The "I'm officially a Dork" post*
Tifosi2k2 wrote: The use of the term "chassis" tells me this might be for something else, but I thought I would throw that out there anyway, just in case. Good luck with your project!
Yes, it's for a different receiver but I want the rifle to be AR accessory-friendly.
This is obviously more of a gun forum thread. Sporterizing.com is a good but smallish site. Be careful with your terminology, as mentioned. I'd call it "stock" and not "chassis" to avoid confusing people. You'll need some CAD stuff. You might be able to find the AR15 receiver in CAD already, (blueprints are online somewhere), you could modify that up to fit whatever receiver you want, like a 700 I'm assuming. Once that's done, a machine shop should be able to take that and make your stock. I think milling that much metal is not going to be cheap, though. I think you pay by the hour for the machine time, like with waterjet machines. While that might be OK for a one-off prototype, I don't think it's economical for a production run unless you own the mil.
AR15 blanks used to be like $15-20. Haven't seen them for a while, but I haven't been looking either.
Dr. Hess wrote: Be careful with your terminology, as mentioned. I'd call it "stock" and not "chassis" to avoid confusing people.
Yeah, I'm sensitive to the terminology but the word "chassis" fits better than "receiver" as it holds the receiver much like a chassis supports an engine.
It's not a 700, though, it's a semiauto, a lot like what you'd find here:
http://www.sageinternationalltd.com/si/access/ebr.html
Since they call it a "chassis" that's what I did.
