Celebrating the Armalite AR-180
Lots of modeling in Fusion 360 and I got myself a 3D printer and started building my own stuff!
Here is the one I picked up Amazon Click Here
It is the Monoprice Maker Select Plus. I’m loving it.
Some stuff I have been playing with.
AR180C front sight base.
AR180B trunion.
SA80 L85A2 Airsoft bolt carrier
AR180S Hand Guard Retainer and fixture.
AR180B Upper Receiver
Took some doing and I uploaded a video of the process to the Autodesk site.
https://knowledge.autodesk.com/community/screencast/99733363-7f9b-452f-ab85-a9ebd86dc028
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I finally figured out how to add a way to link to the AR180B lower completion kits that I sell. I have created a couple pages that you see at the top of the page and a shopping cart feature. It is still very basic with just the two items for now but I hope to add other stuff down the road. This should make it much easier for folks to find these kits in the future.
Who knows, maybe some AR180B trunions and flats might end up there some day.
Still making progress on the trunion and I am hopeful I can make it work.
Progress so far.
I even got the bolt carrier to sorta feed and eject. The green one is the latest version and I made a couple tweaks and I should have it printed by the time I get back in town.
Then a present showed up in the mail.
Two reasons I wanted to see this original AR180B trunion, first to actually measure the ID of the hole so I could find out the amount of press fit. Second I want to build some. Before I can do that I need to model it right?
How did I do?
Had my daughter’s friend 3d print me some parts to mock up and it sure is easy to find your mistakes that way.
I have the firing pin retainer hole in the wrong spot as well as the charging handle. The outside dimensions are too big and the bolt carrier rubs on the inside of the upper receiver shell.
The design has been updated and I will get them printed up soon.
I also took the opportunity to model the original bolt carrier that I borrowed.
It is much slimmer than what I was building and it actually will ride on the airsoft guide rails since the holes are larger. This is where the frustrating part starts. When putting the original bolt and carrier in the gun it won’t strip rounds from the magazine. Either the original guide rails are lower in the receiver or the magazine is higher. I’m working on getting some more original parts to try in this shell and see where I am at.
I’m not giving up but I am having that nagging feeling that I might be stuck turning this into a .22LR instead of a 5.56.
Regardless of how it turns out I have learned a lot just from teaching myself Fusion 360 and from the study of these original parts.