gunfun 3,931 Posted December 28, 2016 Report Share Posted December 28, 2016 What did you lot do? The original plan: make 1-3 80% AR lowers and assemble them. Using a few purchased jigs and a full machine shop of WWII era tools and tooling as organized by a hoarder. Get at least two built and play with them The bloated plan: Make several more than three AR lowers and a 1911 and a glock clone. I did all the drilling on the lowers, but realized we wouldn't have time to get everything done. Plus I succeeded in breaking both of my end mills I intended to hog out the bulk of the material with. Just not used enough to the gear boxes on that mill to make sure it feeds smoothly. (No DROs or analogue equivalent, so eyeballing it is the best I could do.) So I opted to mostly make sure the pistols came out right, since those are the more challenging of the tasks. We made: a PM80 glock clone with a bunch of race features, This one would fail to cycle if you limp wrist it or use weak ammo. Probably a new roll pin and some fitting will get it the rest of the way. A basic 1911 using an 80% frame, a hitachi mill, a bunch of hand filing to make up for the parts we didn't get done on the mill and a rock island slide kit. This one ran pretty nicely after filing from about midnight to 5 in the morning and assembling. Lapping compound made a lot of difference too. Basic action is as nice as any Ed Brown, but the trigger and beaver tail need a lot more fitting to be anything I would be proud of. He's probably going to pick up some nicer parts anyway and we were short on time and sleep, so we left these rough. The nice parts will get the fitting. The main goal was to hang out with family and get a few guns into cali before December 31. IMO, he successfully made all the guns he wanted to the degree that they are complete per ATF. (If it is made enough that they could charge you with having the gun, then I don't think they can assert that you haven't completed it before the deadline.) The owner did the smithing on his own and I just assisted to make sure he is good to go. Since his main goal was to legally have several guns off any record system, I won't go into more detail than that. I did not complete my 80% lowers but he gave me a few parts that don't help on a "featureless" AR anyway. I went home with the jigs and will be modifying them to fit on my brother's mini CNC machine. 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
evlblkwpnz 3,418 Posted December 30, 2016 Report Share Posted December 30, 2016 Well, that's a lot more exciting than how I spent my time. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
jerry52 893 Posted December 31, 2016 Report Share Posted December 31, 2016 What is your opinion of the PM80 overall, is it worth the time? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
patriot 7,197 Posted December 31, 2016 Report Share Posted December 31, 2016 The Polymer80 works great. Easy to machine, lightweight, good looking, and has been holding up well. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
saltydecimator 482 Posted January 4, 2017 Report Share Posted January 4, 2017 PICS OR IT DIDNT HAPPEN!!! if a ghost guns in the backyard and the interwebs doesnt get pics, did it actually gun at all?!?!?!?! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
patriot 7,197 Posted January 4, 2017 Report Share Posted January 4, 2017 PICS OR IT DIDNT HAPPEN!!! if a ghost guns in the backyard and the interwebs doesnt get pics, did it actually gun at all?!?!?!?! Check the gallery. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gunfun 3,931 Posted January 20, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2017 (edited) What is your opinion of the PM80 overall, is it worth the time? Sorry guys for some reason I didn't get the reply notices on this thread. Jerry-- I think it is an expensive way to make a glock. More than buying one. At least it was while things were time crunchy for California. It did have things like built in magwell and no hump on the grip. Still felt like a glock to me. A little harder plastic to my feel. I think it is easy to have the jig flex and let a hole offset if you don't keep it clamped together more solidly than they instruct. It looks like some fitting / Casting tolerance complaints from early adopters have been well addressed. You might have to file and trim here and there. I think you could do a lot of the operations without their special cutter kit too. I was tempted just to use my pocket knife for one step, but we did it as the instructions called for. Basically, worth doing for privacy. Not worth doing for economics. If you like Blocks for functional reasons, more than brand idolatry, you would probably like one. I thought it shot pretty well. the owner migrated one of the pin holes for the trigger block assy. He got extra drag on the slide, and limp wrist based intermittent feeding. Ran 100% when I shot it, so I should have held it worse. Anyway, he was going to shim it and off drill a spare part to compensate based on other people's hackery and guides. I convinced him to plastic weld the holes and re drill first. Now he has flawless function. He used some snow board filling candles (plastic fill material) to redo that and said it bonded very well with the glockish plastic. Not what I would have done exactly, but if it works... I tried to take pictures of the ghosts, but instead all I got was hyperventilating losers on Discovery channel. Weird how that happens. Spooky. Edited January 20, 2017 by GunFun Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gunfun 3,931 Posted January 20, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2017 The 1911 came out very nice and ed brown smooth in the operation. I think most home DIY guys would be better off buying the jig that has a carbide single tooth scrape out the channels like a hand plane, rather than the mill fixture. Much easier to get right if you don't have a mill with DROs that you are used to running with tiny little cutters. We did the SS frame, which I am sure is harder to get right than the aluminum frames. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gunfun 3,931 Posted January 20, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2017 We have the home CNC mostly set back up, and the garage about 75% unpacked. We are going to verify it's true in each axis and probably use it to modify the jig in the next couple of weeks. The mods I have planned should allow the gantry and Z axis to clear the whole jig easily and have good reach into the cavity while having clearance for the plunge cut near the threaded ring that holds the buffer tube. (Easy to have your tool holder hit that and crash the machine) The other modification I have in mind should make it possible to use the halves of the jig as a way to hold the lower horizontal for milling fancy cuts and engraving on the sides if we feel like getting clever with future versions. Should be useful if my state ever fixes the wording of our statutes to allow Form 1 DIY NFA Title II manufacture. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
gunfun 3,931 Posted October 8, 2017 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2017 PICS OR IT DIDNT HAPPEN!!! if a ghost guns in the backyard and the interwebs doesnt get pics, did it actually gun at all?!?!?!?! Finally got a cleaned up pic of one of the featureless guns after engraving the receiver. Pertinent info removed for privacy of the owner. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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