Finishing AR 80% Lowers with small Mill ? ?

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Hylander
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Location: Lincoln, CA
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Finishing AR 80% Lowers with small Mill ? ?

Post by Hylander »

Will this Little Mill Finish 80% AR Lowers.
I just found this local, new for $350 with some Collets a Vise and an air upgrade "What ever that is" ?
Milling out the FCG is the main part of the work.

http://www.harborfreight.com/two-speed- ... 44991.html

I did this one on a freinds big Bridge Port, but I would like to have a small unit at home for little projects like this. Will the HF unit get the job done ?

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hammermill
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Re: Finishing AR 80% Lowers with small Mill ? ?

Post by hammermill »

yes it will with some inventiveness the real challenge would be the magwell
Hylander
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Re: Finishing AR 80% Lowers with small Mill ? ?

Post by Hylander »

hammermill wrote:yes it will with some inventiveness the real challenge would be the magwell
Magwells are already finished :)
So my main work would be the FCG

Would a used RF-31 be a better choice ?
ctrmass
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Joined: Wed Dec 01, 2010 10:34 am

Re: Finishing AR 80% Lowers with small Mill ? ?

Post by ctrmass »

I'm new at this, but I'm learning a lot.
IMO The rong fu 31 is considered inferior due to it's a round column. Not a big deal if you think you wont be moving the head up & down too much. Also, belts are a PITA to change speeds.
IMO You'd be better off with one of the square column models in the 1 HP range.
I may be getting one of these:
http://www.penntoolco.com/catalog/produ ... oryID=4493
I'm told that this is capable of about 75% of what a full size B'port can do.

Edit: For $350 I think I'd pick that up. It's about the minimum you'd need to do lowers.
I've done lowers on a $59 harbor freight drill press, but it shows. Yea, it'll function but looks like Fred Flintstone did it. :lol:
ctrmass
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Re: Finishing AR 80% Lowers with small Mill ? ?

Post by ctrmass »

I just ran across this. It might be of help:

Rong-Fu's nomenclature for these benchtop mills is as follows:

* RF-20 - Round column mill/drill w/step pulley drivetrain
* RF-25 - Round column mill/drill w/step pulley drivetrain
* RF-30 - Round column mill/drill w/step pulley drivetrain
* RF-31 - Round column mill/drill w/step pulley drivetrain
* RF-35 - Round column mill/drill
* RF-40 - Round column mill/drill w/gearedhead
* RF-45 - Dovetail/square column mill/drill w/geared,rotating head
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Rex
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Location: DFW Texas

Re: Finishing AR 80% Lowers with small Mill ? ?

Post by Rex »

Hylander wrote:Will this Little Mill Finish 80% AR Lowers.
I just found this local, new for $350 with some Collets a Vise and an air upgrade "What ever that is" ?
]
That will work just fine. With vise and collets that's a decent price. Keep it in good shape and you can get your money back, and maybe a profit years from now.

Nothing wrong with the round-column mill--drills. Lots of gunsmiths use them, but they are a bit crude.
I had one for a few years, but I rarely used it, preferring the minimill for most work. When I bought a Millrite, the mill-drill was sold, but I kept the minimill
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