Flat Bending

[my-rifle]

I started reading about making my own receiver a couple days ago, and it seems like something I'd like to try. Does anybody have suggestions about using the jig with an alternative to a $150 12-ton press? I saw a thread elsewhere about doing it using a vice. Any thoughts?

[Wrangler]

You can buy a 12 ton press from Homier for about $50.00, I did a few months ago.

[my-rifle]

In that case I'm going to have to get a press. Does the vice damage the die? Remember I'm trying to get information here not suggesting a way to do this. I'm going to look into renting one from a nearby equipment rental place. I found a press on eBay for $50 too, but it costs $80 to ship to me. That puts us back to $130. To get that back out of the deal I have to make five receivers. That's why I was asking about the alternative to the shop press.

[Quarterbore]

You don't need a huge press for bending the flats... 3-ton or larger will do it. The advantage with the 12-ton to 20-ton press is that you can also press your barrels, headspace, do rivets, etc... The small presses will not do that.

Look at your local hardwares or farm supply places, or similar shops and you will find them. Harbor freight often puts their 12-ton press on sale for $99 and shipping on that is only $10 as I recall...

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=33497

HF also sends out 20% off coupons via e-mail every month or so and if you get one of those the price is down around $90 shipped for a new 12-ton H-press.

As for a vise, the jig is pretty darned large so unless you have a huge vise I doubt it will work well for you and frankly here again I request that the tools be used the way they were supposed to be used or I am really not willing to rent them. It isn't fair to the next person in line and it sure isn't fair to me when the tools get damaged.

[ShuckersFan]

I bought a 12 ton press from Homier at one of their travelling sales for $49. You can go to their website, homier.com and see the locations for the sales. They will also email you when a sale is in your area. There just happened to be one about 40 miles from me at about the same time I needed the press. Otherwise Harbor Freight is the way to go. You can get 20% off coupons for them off eBay for $3-$5 for use at retail locations. They come in those coupon books they sell for fund raising.

[Wrangler]

I got mine when they came to town too. Or with HF you can get a 20% coupon emailed to you for free from HF if you are on their email list.

[my-rifle]

I think I'm going to buy DPH's jig. Since I have to buy a 12-ton shop press and an acetylene torch to weld the rails and heat-treat the gear as well as all the other smaller expenses, the $150 outlay for the jig seems less significant in the grand scheme of things. By the way, if there's anobody in the Greater New Orleans area who wants to bend flats, let me know. I'll charge a fee to help me pay for all this stuff, but it'll be reasonable. The advantage will be that it's right there when you need it. Email me at admin@my-rifle.com, to let me know that you want to bend a flat.

[my-rifle]

It's hard to believe it's only been a year since that last post. I've built four AKM's, two AK-74's, and an RPK since I posted that last post. I've also hosted a build seminar and helped three guys build their own AK's. Wow. It's amazing too how far the hobby has come since then. I just read a thread on another forum about a guy who bolted together two pieces of angle-iron to form a frame, then pressed his flats with pieces of flat steel stock from Lowes.

The GunsGutsAndGod website helped countless builders get their tools built, and AK-Builder has his new riveting tool for sale, and it does everything except flush after you. A buddy of mine even cut down an AK to a 10" barrel, then moved the trigger forward of the front handgrip on a Romanian G kit, resulting in a bullpup hand-cannon that's super stable and accurate.

Sadly it looks like this may all be coming to an end with the barrel ban finally beginning to be felt. The additional difficulty of drilling and fitting the barrel may make it all not worth it, and the thought of a new comprehensive "Assault Weapon" ban may make all this moot (except for the criminals of course who will continue to have guns). Let's hope we can get past this, and move on to another golden age of kit-building.