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I built 7 firearms in one afternoon

13K views 35 replies 20 participants last post by  wpage 
#1 ·
Well sorta, at least in the eyes of alphabet guy's.

I received Stitckerman's bending jig Friday, so I spent yesterday afternoon bending up 7 flats.
6 Tapco's and 1 FAC I've had hanging around for a while. All 7 came out perfect.

Stickermans jig does a fabulous job bending these flats, however setting them up is a royal pain in the kiester.
Setting them up by measuring is very time consuming and frustrating (have you ever tried to move something .002?)

On top of that, once you finally have it perfect, it changes when you tighten the plate.

After doing the first 3 by measurement, I decided to drill the jig to use locating pins.
After carefully locating a flat, I drilled the jig center piece for pins, what a relief, the last 4 went very quickly, and were right on the money.

Bending 7 flats, does not make me an expert on the subject, but I have a couple of observations as a guy whose been there, done that.

After seeing how much force is required to start the initial bend, I'm very leary of DPH's new jig base design,
His die looks very robust, even more so than stickermans, (although his works perfectly) but the base concerns me.

I would be afraid that the angle iron would tend to splay after a few bends, it appears to be only 1/4" stock, and with those huge notches on either end, there is nothing to hold the two sides parallel.
I don't know this as fact, it's pure speculation on my part.

Judging by how hard I worked my press, I would say it takes at least a couple of tons of pressure to start the bend.
I do like their full height center section, and that it's threaded instead of having to fumble with nuts.

I'm not sure why stickerman does not have locating pins on the jig itself. There are a couple of undersized pin holes on the bottom plate to get you in the ballpark, but man, it's a big freakin park when you're working in thousandths.

I know both of these are new products, and will certainly be refined as time and experience go on, both are proven performers.

But as they sit right now, I would say the ultimate bender would be DPH's die in stickermans base.
 

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#4 ·
So , as I understand it, you drilled two 1/8" holes in the die in the areas of the alignment holes on the flats and then put two roll pins in them. Is that about right?
 
#5 ·
That's the kind of feedback I wanted to hear. I'll make some changes on the next ones. Threading the holes instead of using nuts will take longer to make though. Maybe just tack welding the nuts on would work?

The pins I sent were .1093" and the holes in the flats are .120" I have a piece or two of .120" drill blank and the right bit so I'll try one to see if it centers up right on the two flats I haven't bent yet.

It's nice to see pictures that somebody else has taken of the one I built :)
 
#6 ·
flat jig

stickerman i would like to buy one of your jigs i emailed you for info.the jigs look great let me know how to pay and time frame for del. thanks i just checked my email ill send mo on tuesday let me know how much and were to send thanks rick
 
#8 ·
mike said:
max how do you bend the top rails with stickmans jig.those flats you bent look great.also what will you do for heat treat? great job! rick
I start the upper rail bend with a super high tech tool I designed. lol
I ground and polished the head of a H-D head bolt, it works good to get the bend started.
Then I use a hammer and a block of steel to finish the bend.

I have a Mapp/Oxy torch for heat treating.
 

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#9 ·
Chiroone said:
So , as I understand it, you drilled two 1/8" holes in the die in the areas of the alignment holes on the flats and then put two roll pins in them. Is that about right?
More or less.

The pin holes in the flats are .120 I opened them up to 1/8" (.125)
Drilled two .125 holes in the center section about .500 deep, opened up the holes in the plate to .125
Then used two 1/8" drill bits to align the flat while I tightened the the plate.
Then removed the bits.

The plate locks the flat in place nicely, so the pins are only needed for alignment.
 
#10 ·
Cephus said:
Are the insde walls of the lower polished very much,just so i'll know. because I want to be sure that i've got all the little trix in my head before i get this done.
Cephus,

When I got the jig the first thing I did was polish the inside of the base with 400 wrapped around a wooden block.

I'm not saying this is necessary, it probably would have worked just fine right out of the box, but I decided, why not, it can't hurt.

I also lubed the inside of the base as well as the flat.
The pressing itself went very smoothly.
 
#12 ·
I'm trying to catch Winn, I'm not there yet, but I'm gaining on him.
Anybody remember the pic he posted of his receiver drawer?

Clockwise from left.
3 piece weld up, 1 finished and 1 partially finished bent blank, 1 finished laser cut, 1 bent FAC flat and 6 Tapcos.

Come on 9/14
 

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#13 ·
7 in a day.... geeeez.....
I've been over a month waiting for Global to get thier thumbs out of thier asses for 3 of them!!! WTF??? I feel like I'm being Joe-Kenned without a so much as a simple reach-around.
I gotta start going with flats.
I'm working on building a jig right now, and if I ruin too many flats trying to get it right, I'm buying a "Stickerman's Famous Jig"!
(Remember Zuckerman's Famous Pig from "Charlotte's Web"?)
Which flat do you like better, Tapco, or FAC???
 
#14 ·
sks_hunter said:
Which flat do you like better, Tapco, or FAC???
The FAC has a little more authentic looking magwell dimple, it also comes blued.
The latter is of little consequence since it gets scratched up pretty bad during the bending process.
Other than that, they are pretty much identical.

When I bought the FAC, (over a year ago) they were the only game in town, and at the time they were getting $49 for them.
They have since lowered the price to $39.

But at $19 ($15 on sale) Tapco gets my vote.
 
#15 ·
Stickerman said:
That's the kind of feedback I wanted to hear. I'll make some changes on the next ones. Threading the holes instead of using nuts will take longer to make though. Maybe just tack welding the nuts on would work?
Sure, tacking them would accomplish the same goal.

It won't be as big of a deal (not that it ever was) once you add the pins.

With the pins in place you will only have to tighten them once.
While I was setting the flats up by measuring them, I had to to tighten and loosen them many times, before I was happy with the set up.
On top of that, I only received 3 of the serrated nuts (which do help quite a bit) so I was using a standard nut on one of the bolts.

All in all, the jig works very well and I'm very happy with it. :thankyou:
 
#16 ·
Ok, all of the jigs I am sending out in the next couple of days will have the pins permanently attatched to the jig and there will not be any measuring needed. I'll tack weld the four nuts if somebody wants, but the serrated nuts aren't that much to deal with.

So anybody that I told I was going to send a jig out today will have it shipped tomorrow with the updated design.

After that I will probably add it as an option with a price increase due to the extra setup time to get the holes in the exact locations. The price of the other jigs on the market will factor in also. Right now I can take an order and ship within 1-3 days as long as I have materials.
 
#17 ·
7.62x39 said:
I start the upper rail bend with a super high tech tool I designed. lol
I ground and polished the head of a H-D head bolt, it works good to get the bend started.
Then I use a hammer and a block of steel to finish the bend.

Like the idea of dual purpose use, so is that a shovel head or a evo head bolt? :cool:
 
#18 ·
7.62x39 said:
I'm trying to catch Winn, I'm not there yet, but I'm gaining on him.
Anybody remember the pic he posted of his receiver drawer?

Come on 9/14
You will have to buy a whole bunch more to catch up with Winn. If Winn, sees all the receivers that you bent, he will surely get a jig and then the race will be on!
 
#21 ·
7.62 x39,

Thanks for the honest opinion. We felt that centering the flat needed to be automatic and thats why we incorporated alignment pins from the very first design that we came up with. We are taking in all of the new ideas. That being said, we are also trying to keep the price down. The flats that have been bent on this jig so far look great. I have gotten some feedback on the bend radius not being as sharp as "factory" and we have tried to get them tighter but I'll be honest with you guys, I feel like we are putting a lot of time into a minor detail that doesnt affect the fit, form or function of the gun. The fit of the trunions is perfect as well as the fit of the furniture (as seen in sniper69's post). We have made one impovement that will add some strength to the sides of the "box"...the bolts that hold the forming block together are now gone. We are using countersunk allen head bolts and that allow us to keep the "box" sides solid (no slots cut out for the bolts to go down through). This should allow the box to take all of the pressure that you can apply as well it should help create sharper bends.

It won't be long now, we hope to have it availble by Monday or Tuesday.

Scott
 
#22 ·
Scott,

That's great, I hope you have great success with these jigs.

I was a die hard bent blank builder, but after seeing the success You, 555th and stickerman were having with these jigs, I knew I had to try going the bending route.
I am now a convert.

These jigs are a little pricey (as is any good tool) but if you're a hard core builder, they are the only way to go.
 
#23 ·
Thumbs up to Scott/DPH Arms on his bend-jig! At a 'building party' yesterday,
I had the chance to examine and use one, and I'm now seriously considering
buying one for myself!

I used a Tapco flat, and it came out looking great. It all went together very
easily, and worked perfectly, and this is from a first-time AK-building newbie.
It's still not together yet, as the guy who had the headspace gauges had to
leave early, but once I get the headspace done up, I'll be finished.
:woot:
 
#24 ·
Yea, sounds cool!!! I just went out with my buddy blew off a couple hundred rounds, got back home to see the final quarter of Steeler game. Max, what was that about Halloween? :lol: Where were the Patriots? :woo:

GO STEELERS!!!
 
#25 ·
7.62x39 said:
I'm trying to catch Winn, I'm not there yet, but I'm gaining on him.
Anybody remember the pic he posted of his receiver drawer?
Max -- looks like you've got no shortage of receivers to use.

I was slow to get on the flat wagon -- Making them using your procedures from blanks.

I'm a believer now.

 
#26 ·
I looking fo the mother of all bending jigs gee there,s so many out there how much you charge for yours and the wieght going to alaska and needed is a 10 ton press? well this is a start I mean how many home made guns can you have befor they start giving you a hard time I wanted to make sure each child has a few home builds for himself to enjoy
 
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