I don't work with a lot of hard materials, but I have drilled holes in steel targets before (AR500). Carbide, carbide, carbide. Something hard enough to actually cut the material without being damaged. I drilled several holes with a center-cutting carbide end-mill, it worked just fine (in a mill). I...

Any reason not to use a square thread or acme?
Noob here just wondering.

How do HSS tool bits cut titanium anyway?

edit, I guess I just realized I have heard V threads tend to tighten up and stick under load compared to acme or square, that might be desirable?

Threading baffles together is likely going to make them heavier than welding them.

Sounds like a good tip for getting cheap pieces of inconel/titanium.

Does anyone know if I need a quality spot welder to spot weld thin sheets of titanium together? I have one of those 115v HF spot welders that are really nothing special. Need the welds to not break though ;) I guess they sell a 120v model now, but this is pretty similar. http://www.harborfreight.com...

If you drilled small holes through the foam the chambers would connect together for sure.

Is it true most people don't bother with suppressing AR SBRs?
What kind of tube wall thickness would be required for a 2" diameter tube with a 10.5" 5.56x45 barrel? Assume it's 6" long or so.

What about an aluminum front endcap?

Pretty sure I saw pictures of a surefire can with holes drilled through the inconel baffles in all different directions. They were visible toward the barrel end of the can, the first baffle the gas would hit. That would make for some turbulence, I don't think it messes up the bullet flight because i...

If anyone has a factory AR can, they could surely see for themselves

Can it be assumed that the shoulder next to the relief for the threads on an AR-15 barrel is concentric to the bore, or do suppressors use the face of the barrel near the crown as a bearing surface?

Any AR-15 spec. documents relating to this?

speed6 wrote:I can't just put the baffle in my cutoff saw because there is not enough length of bar to clamp on to.

For round objects I find it's usually helpful to use a V block on one side for clamping in a band saw, might increase surface area enough you can clamp it successfully.

I haven't used a combination machine myself, but have heard people say they aren't very good.

I think $1,200 is pretty high too.

I agree with Historian. There are good deals on old lathes out there, you might have to look in person though. Call up a local small machine shop and ask if they have any machinery for sale, or ask if they know a used machinery dealer in the area. Alternatively if you can find a used machinery deale...

Maybe the first baffle having a larger diameter hole and opening up into a larger chamber would help keep some of that gas from blowing back at you?

If you are fine with making or buying a new gear for the apron, and installing a two-speed or VFD motor it should be a fine machine. Alternatively, in the rural midwest (here) the best place to find used machinery is actually word of mouth. There are a lot of used machinery salesmen that don't have...

You know, an accurate 3-jaw is pretty handy. Try to find a piece of drill rod (tolerance usually pretty good) and see how much runout is on the 3-jaw chuck (using an indicator). If the runout is too much, you could see if you can get someone with a toolpost grinder to grind the jaws for you, be care...

Find a 4-jaw for it, look at the lead-screw and see if it's worn down to V-shaped threads already, put an indicator on the ways and run it back and forth.

watch this too: youtube.com/watch?v=i-94Oh2VgQo

I used this calculator to calculate a thread depth the other day. theoreticalmachinist.com/Threads_UnifiedImperial.aspx 1.565" OD, 28 TPI, 3A (male, precision fit) depth calculates to: Thread depth: 0.0265 / 0.0180 1.565" ID, 28 TPI, 3B (female, precision fit) depth calculates to: Thread d...