[crackerboy]

Have a ak receiver flat with holes and all done, put temp plate on and marked where to bend on dotted lines. Found small brake bender on web site that will fit. It says it does 90 degree bends, is this enough bend too put both sides up like an "L". ? Is this enough bend or too much? :scared:

 

[7.62x39]

L = 90 degrees.

But that's the least of your problems, I sincerely doubt you will have any success properly bending the flat with that brake.

I've seen it attempted many times, but none successfully.

The problem area is the magwell, it is very difficult to make a bend there without distorting the magwell

 

[Winn R]

Max--Is there still a shortage of folks who've made those things work?

Maybe an integral part was the front brake rotor on the pic I saw!!

 

[Grendeljaeger]

Max--Is there still a shortage of folks who've made those things work?

Maybe an integral part was the front brake rotor on the pic I saw!!

Darn Winn that's why I can't get mine to bend right, I've been using a disc brake! :dunno:
But seriously crackerboy you need a BIG metal brake. I asked Gough1 what he used and it was like an 8 foot brake. These little ones you see that claim to do bend 20 guage or even 18 guage are talking about bending mild steel which makes a big difference. Believe me I understand the lure of bending one!

 

[Winn R]

Grendel-- you and Max are right. It's extremely difficult to make a bend where one leg is only a few multiples of the thickness of the material. It takes one hell of a heavy-duty brake to do that.

I just picked up a bag of 16th inch Mills. I'm thinking, perhaps, it may be possible to etch the metal and produce an accurate bend.

We will see.

 

[Thanatos]

Let us know how the etching before the bending goes. I have an AMD-65 kit and a receiver flat etc coming and I want to try just scoring the bends and hope that it won't distort the mag well. I was also thinking that perhaps I could cut completely through at the mag well area and weld that after the bend. Anyone had any success that way?

 

[Winn R]

Thus far I'm going through 1/16 end mills like a teenager through a gum pack.

I can't figure out how to keep from snapping them.:dunno:

 

[Plinker762]

Thus far I'm going through 1/16 end mills like a teenager through a gum pack.

I can't figure out how to keep from snapping them.:dunno:

How about using a slitting saw instead?

 

[Toten Kopf]

Winn R......

Is your system setup correctly? Is the table/vise set at 90 degrees to the end mill? I know that some experienced machinist's angle the end mill slightly so that only a percentage of the end mill is cutting. Sometimes if the table/vise is off just a little and your moving the stock into the end mill it will cut at different depths thus loading up the end mill. Also the feed rate for that small a end mill should be very slow.

Or could you have bought end mills that are for side finishing instead of a plunge type mill? The plunge end mills will push the material you are cutting out of the way but an side cut end mill won't and that would cause breakage.

Not that I'm really knowledgeable about such things but I know that there's a difference in end mills. Don't know if I've helped or hurt on this one.

I was just thinking, maybe you could use a angle vise to secure the flat and then use the end mill to cut a line the length of the flat. In another word the end mill would be cutting at say a 45 degree angle to the flat. The end mill would be kinda cutting a slot by using the just the cutting edge of the end mill not the whole end mill surface.

 

[Winn R]

Toten--Thanks for the leads.

I don't know what these were designed for but they're two flutes, carbide.

Angling the work sounds good; also the rotation and direction of movement makes a difference.

The bridgeport's got a broken part-- the operator!