Billet AR180B Lower, Project Defiant (range report post #92)

Armedsask said:
I use MasterCAM. I am self taught and find it to be a complete pile of s**t when it comes to ease of use and working with solid models. MasterCAM has a huge learning curve and in my opinion is klunky and a waste of money. When working with Solids, I'm constantly having to draw in geometry just to get it to do what I want. I'm rarely ever using the actual solid model create the tool paths. Change the location of a single hole? Good news, you are starting from scratch.

I've done some looking around and have a hard-on for SolidCAM, since I use Solidworks for my modeling. It plugs right into Solidworks and is completely associative to the model. It's look ridiculously easy to use.
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Thanks, similar experience with mastercam here. We have an older version, fine for lathe but a pain in the butt for mill. I'll look into solidcam. I was looking at Gibbs for the same reasons, ease of use and plug and play with solidworks.
 
Nice work. Looks like you accomplished what alot of people here have always wanted to do. At least I know I would :D.
 
cyclone said:
Volk Arms - loving it ! :D
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When I was trying to think up names, it was one of the first I thought up. It's simple, works, and I love the double meaning. As many know, "volk" is the German word for people and all of my designs really are meant to be arms for the people.

It's also my last name, for those who don't know. ;)
 
For you non-machinists out there, this is how the curved surfaces of the "buffer tower" were made. It's a process called 3D surface machining. What happens is using a rounded cutter, (1/4" ball nose in this case) the machine cuts along a path moving all three axis to create the desired surface. It was first roughed out to near nominal with a 1/2" ball nose cutter, leaving about .01" to take off. The 1/4" ball nose cutter is stepping over .01" every time it moves back and forth to create a smooth, blended surface. The final product just needs some buffing to clean up the tool marks and it's done.

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wood800 said:
Nice, were did you find the 3d file?
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Um, I made it. This lower is entirely my own design. I've been working on it off and on for 5 years.
wheels said:
maybe the cold has froze my brain or I missed it... are you making these AR180b lowers to sell or just to be cruel to all us non-machinists out there? :)
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No intentions to sell at this point in time. I'm not set up to do it legally, nor does my shop want anything to do with the liabilities of selling guns.
 
I've been playing around with inventor suite. I've had a number of things cut out on the waterjet, but I haven't had chips fly from any 3d designs yet.

Looking at all these different cool ideas and designs people have come up with makes me want to design a rifle from scratch even more.
 
Armedsask said:
DSC00393.jpg
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Are you going to have to send it to the RCMP Firearms lab for them to "verify" it? Because if they have to read that in person, it would make me so happy....
 
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