0% lower on ebay

dontpanic · Sep 5, 2018

Cast your own AR lower. Just drill and tap. Looks like one lower per mould. Could be fun and it's on ebay.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/232884823872

ToolAA · Sep 5, 2018

That’s very cool. In all honestly, it might be cheaper to build your own crucible to melt down aluminum cans and cast your own lower of better quality than buying a 3D printer and making an inferior one in plastic.

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whistlersmother · Sep 5, 2018

The ad says "One mold, one casting". Given my propensity to f* up the pour, I'd get "one mold, one ah-sh*t".

I find the 3D printing stuff much more interesting for creating reusable molds for green sand casting.

DutchV · Sep 5, 2018

This would be a ton of work. And there's way too many steps where something could go wrong.

IX-3 · Sep 5, 2018

I feel like I would have better luck with a brick of aluminum and hand tools. It would take longer but it would be cheaper and more importantly not involve 1200º molten metal.

dontpanic · Sep 5, 2018

ToolAA said:
That’s very cool. In all honestly, it might be cheaper to build your own crucible to melt down aluminum cans and cast your own lower of better quality than buying a 3D printer and making an inferior one in plastic.

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I actually have an 80% that I screwed up. Perfect material for this. Has to be better than beer cans.

ToolAA · Sep 5, 2018

dontpanic said:
I actually have an 80% that I screwed up. Perfect material for this. Has to be better than beer cans.

I’ve read that cans are 6061 alloy so the can make good castings.

The added benefit is you need 80 cans to make one lower. That a good about of beer that you need to consume to properly prepare for casting a 0% lower.

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kaliroger · Sep 5, 2018

IX-3 said:
I feel like I would have better luck with a brick of aluminum and hand tools. It would take longer but it would be cheaper and more importantly not involve 1200º molten metal.

And better quality!)

IX-3 · Sep 5, 2018

ToolAA said:
I’ve read that cans are 6061 alloy so the can make good castings.

The added benefit is you need 80 cans to make one lower. That a good about of beer that you need to consume to properly prepare for casting a 0% lower.

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You can buy a 0% Lower from 80% Arms and melt it down. Cheaper than a few cases of beer.

dontpanic · Sep 5, 2018

IX-3 said:
You can buy a 0% Lower from 80% Arms and melt it down. Cheaper than a few cases of beer.

I'm going to drink the beer anyway. Might as well get a fancy paperweight out of it.

lazarus · Sep 6, 2018

Environmentally conscious real men recycle their range brass to make their guns.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z353BT6I18

jrumann59 · Sep 6, 2018

only issue I see is, how close is the mold, after taking down casting marks and such either too small or may be too big if you anodize. Again I do not know what the tolerances of this mold are made to.

Muleskinner · Sep 6, 2018

You can buy 80% lowers for less than this..I would expect something like this to go for about half of what they are asking. I can find blem 80s for $20 that are completely functional unless you know what you are looking for you will never know they were blems..

DutchV · Sep 6, 2018

jrumann59 said:
only issue I see is, how close is the mold, after taking down casting marks and such either too small or may be too big if you anodize. Again I do not know what the tolerances of this mold are made to.

Unless you have a machine shop and a lot of skill, it'll never work. There's no way, for instance, to get the magazine well right as part of a casting.

There's a bunch of simpler ways to get a lower. Even Polymer80 is a better bet.

3paul10 · Sep 6, 2018

If i had the skills to do it, it would be a very cool project. Yes, of course 80% would be easier and cheaper, but its a challenge....and saying you did it.....not ease or money...

gwchem · Sep 6, 2018

Beer cans have plastic liners. Best to avoid melting those for castings.

jrumann59 · Sep 6, 2018

gwchem said:
Beer cans have plastic liners. Best to avoid melting those for castings.

Wouldn't those liners burn off in the melting process.

benton0311 · Sep 6, 2018

I wonder if these molds would work for steel? AR receivers are supposed to be forged aluminum, not cast. I suppose cast aluminum would probably work fine for most casual use and I've never seen the two tested back-to-back in firearms but I do know from experience that forged aluminum wheels are a lot stronger than cast aluminum wheels. If building 100% from scratch then I wouldn't mind the extra .5 lb weight for the durability of steel.

DutchV said:
Unless you have a machine shop and a lot of skill, it'll never work. There's no way, for instance, to get the magazine well right as part of a casting.

There's a bunch of simpler ways to get a lower. Even Polymer80 is a better bet.

I'm sure it would likely be off when first out of the mold but you'd be hand fitting the parts and magazines anyway. It would take some time but I don't see why a file and Dremel wouldn't work just taking off a little at a time until you got everything fitting the way you wanted.

I've got a few paperweights that have been left in paperweight form but for some reason this casting option intrigues me if the metallurgy can be made to work.

Pinecone · Sep 7, 2018

ToolAA said:
I’ve read that cans are 6061 alloy so the can make good castings.

The added benefit is you need 80 cans to make one lower. That a good about of beer that you need to consume to properly prepare for casting a 0% lower.

From Wiki.

Modern cans are generally produced through a mechanical cold forming process that starts with punching a flat blank from very stiff cold-rolled sheet. This sheet is typically alloy 3104-H19 or 3004-H19, which is aluminium with about 1% manganese and 1% magnesium to give it strength and formability.

kstone803 · Sep 7, 2018

Muleskinner said:
You can buy 80% lowers for less than this..I would expect something like this to go for about half of what they are asking. I can find blem 80s for $20 that are completely functional unless you know what you are looking for you will never know they were blems..

Can we get a link to those $20 blems? Best I've seen is $40 plus shipping

0% lower on ebay

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