I posted this on another board but they don't seem to understand my question.
I have the lower modified tong installed and in order for the tips to touch, I had to bend the lower tong in an upward angle. With all the top adjustment the tips would not come together with the modified lower tong.
My question, when I insert the modified lower tong into the receiver it touches the other side. Do I need to bend the bent blank open slightly untill I finish the spot welds and then bend it back together.
I haven't actually welded any rails with it yet only tested on old receiver stubs and any part that touched the tong sparked, that's why I'm aksing about it touching.
Can you remove a little more material from the lower tong in the area that is touching?
You could wrap the lower tong with electrical tape in that area.
I don't have a digital camera but I bought the lower tong and it looks exactally like the one in the link above BUT I had to bend it upward in order to make contact with the upper tong. I didn't buy the harborfreight one I got one from Ebay and all the adjustment wouldn't allow the tongs to come together with the straight lower tong so I had to bend it. That's why it touches. If electrical tape will work then I'll just wrap the lower tong with that.
when I have that problem I just stick an old credit card or some other thick piece of plastic on the back side , you def dont want any contact other than the contact tips
Well I tried some test welds last night and couldn't get any to take, I tried long counts, multiple hits and nothing held, The metal would glow hot orange and smoke and both side were VERY hot but they didn't stick together. I am testing on old receiver stubs they have been blued so does that make a difference. I was holding the two stubs together with plyers.
Are you getting good tight contact between the tips?
It should feel sort of like a pair of visegrips that are set to tight.
In other words, the lever should not go over center.
No I'm simply getting contact which required me to bent the modified bottom tong in an upward arch just to make contact. I can't even imagine what it would take to get a tight grip between the tongs. If I have to bend the modified tong much more up toward the upper tong if won't go into the receiver, maybe I can bend the upper downward?
I should have bought the Harborfreight, this unit doesn't have much adjustment downward for the upper tong and by replacing with the straight modified tong it doesn't even come close to making simple contact.
Is there a way I could put an extension on the screw in tip to make it longer for just the upper?
I would say go ahead and extend the upper tong tip as necessary to get a firm clamping action.
It needs to be tight to fuse the two pieces together and to ensure good contact.
I would pull the top tong out of the machine and clamp it in the vice by the the end that fits in the clamp and bend the top tong down an inch or so, what ever it takes to get that tension screw at the front of the clamping lever back in the middle of its adjustment range .
when I have that problem I just stick an old credit card or some other thick piece of plastic on the back side , you def dont want any contact other than the contact tips
That is very important.. all the heat energy gets dumped into the metal away from the spot weld itself.
With these bigger tips like Curtis has (ak-builder) its even closer to touching the lower rail mag stabilizer walls. got to be precise.
End result of non perfect alignment, acetone clean parts, lack of clamping force..causes nothing but warping and wasted energy. IF you unlucky, it will cause a bad weld that will just pop out later.
Yes I guess the advice would be buy the HF since that's what the modified tong was built for.
So far no luck with mine, I cannot loosen the top screws to remove the upper tong so I can bend it. I tried heating it up and hitting with a hammer and also tried to bend with plyers, couldn't get it to move.
So for now it's a pile of junk, the welds simply pull apart since it doesn't have enought pressure to hold the parts thight.
I may see if I can get the upper thight in the vise and try pounding on it then.
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