OK  guys been pawing around here a bit, but  some of the threads  are old info.  Due to the recent  political wranglings,  things  seem to be in flux

I'm 75.  Not much money.  But I do have a Jet  drill mill, and a bit of tooling, including  some  DRO scales   I'd like to build one or two  AR-15's  and  one   dedicated .22 rimfire, not  using  an adapter/ conversion.

I've done some online searching, and  most sites I come across  show up in a search with jigs or   80 lowers, but when you click them they are  OUT.  backordered.

Tonight, on this site,  someone seemed to thing  a lot of RTB  so I ordered  a pair of  80's from them

Here's what I need:  Anybody give me advice on  CURRENT  jigs to buy  (March 2024?)

I have  downloaded  "the book"  by  Ray Brandes  (Ray Vin publishing)   and I believe if  I  can not find a jig,  I could stumble my way through that.  I've also downloaded   about 3x  jig  destructions  as well

I  ALSO  bought a PSA  used/ like new  5.56  factory made PSA    from a local gunshop, on the theory that  it would be good to have  one that  was put together  properly,  LOL

An  yeh.  I know I'm new. Probably in the wrong spot here.  Any advice you can pony up.  I'm in  the N end of IDaho, by the way, untroubled with state restrictions.  I'm 75 by the way. I really did  at one time own a  (70) 440 Roadrunner.

At the end of Ray Vins document, there's prints to make jig plates from flat stock.

Ray's is a great book, but it is meant for 0% lowers.  For an 80%, you don't really need his jig plates.  If you have a mill with a vise, you can use the relevant sections of his book to finish a lower.  It would also be good to have a copy of the lower drawings from the Technical Data Package to doublecheck dimensions.

I'm not seeing your point. The plates help fix a lower in a mill vise, while clearing the FCG pocket. In what way, does it matter if the lower is 0% or 80%?
You can cut a lower any way you wish, but at the point in his doc he's cutting said pocket, it's basically an 80%. There's only 2 minor ops after this (safety detent hole and trigger guard slots).

How do you hold a lower in a milling vise, to cut the FCG pocket?

Where do  I get this  "technical data package?"

Thanks for replies

If you have a manual mill you can do it with:

5/16" endmill, plunging
7/16" endmill, plunging
23/64" drill and .376 Reamer
#24 or #25 drill and 5/32" Reamer
#31 drill and 1/8" Reamer
DRO or Dial Indicators






Tips:

Backlash sucks on table top mills and very few people rebuild the table feedscreews with ball screws or split-nuts.  Even then, backlash is not awesome or near zero, it just doesn't suck.  Get either a DRO kit or magnetic dial indicators (cheap) to track your XYZ movement and be creative with the magnetic mounts.  I use two 2"x.001 indicators on magnetic arm mounts for X/Y and a 1"x.0005 indicator with magnetic back on the column for Z.  They're all Harbor Freight or Shars brand (<$20ea) and I can move them back and forth from the lathe to the mill.  DROs nowadays are cheap too, but involve some time/effort getting installed.

Most cheap vertical mills don't have a quill in the head to fed vertical; they travel vertical on the column bed. The columns on cheap benchtops can be adjusted left-right for putting the head at an angle, so you can square the column up perfectly to the X-direction... but the fore-aft column verticality is almost never adjustable.  So even if your head is perfectly tram, the column bed is almost never *perfectly* perpendicular to the table.  So when you traverse along the Z, you inevitably walk the y-direction a couple .0001/1 or  something. Measure yours, know it, and you can work around it.  Although not much on an AR lower is precise enough that this matters.

Table top mills are not rigid enough and these tools are too small of a diameter to attack the target dimensions directly.  Nor do they climb mill more than a several thou radial DoC without walking/chattering/pulling the table, so just stick with conventional milling on finish passes.  Dykem and scribe everything on the top of the receiver and hog it out leaving ~.025 or so... then bust out the DRO/indicators and make a few passes to cut the pocket walls to final dimension.

Use reamers if at all possible on the FCG holes. If you're anodizing, you want to be .0015-.003 oversize to the print because the hole will shrink with the anodize build up.  If you can't use reamers, quality American made 135deg split point cobalt drills are the way to go (shars or mcmaster is great for small quantities, but shipping will get you so get everything on one order).  Spot drill to prevent wander and make sure the spot is bigger than the drill bits dead space or split point.  There's 3 ways to do the FCG holes; all the way through before milling the pocket, all the way through after milling the pocket, or drilling the holes from each side after milling the pocket.  The last way is the best, but without a jig or $$$ DRO setup this is not practical.  I prefer to drill the holes through the solid receiver before milling the pocket.  If you drill after milling the pocket you can't spot-drill the backside hole, the tip can walk, and the nearside hole will wallow.  don't tru to mill-drill these holes on a tabletop mill or they'll end up oversize.  

Use a tight fitting gage pin on the front receiver takedown hole to establish your origin and a Dial Test Indicator to get the top Z-plane leveled.  

If buying coated bits, make sure you get appropriate coating for cutting aluminum.

I've used this drawing, as well as follow what Millennial has typed above.
I do have the benefit of being able to use a milling machine at work that has X & Y DROs.

I'm very familiar with Ray's book.  I'm just saying he won't use about 75% of it.  There are other drawings and even threads on this site that can be followed.  A lower can be milled out in the FCG without having vice plates.  When I did my first lower, I made and used a pair of Ray' plates.  Now, I tend to use aluminum shims.  I've done it both ways.  But, I also use a full milling machine with DROs.  I couldn't find any photos, otherwise I would post some.

The fire control hole sizes have already been sized for a .001" thickness anodizing. I would not make them bigger.

This.  And unless you have a very rigid setup, twist drills usually produce oversize holes.  

On our prints we make at work for general purpose parts,  we call out -.001/+.006 diameter variance on small holes for twist drill holes... and that's for real CNC machines.  Ye olde' clapped drill press in the garage or DeWalt hand drill is probably more like +.002/+.010 for twist drilled holes if not using bushings or jigs.  When you see people calling out stuff like +/-.001 on diameters, those holes are getting helically milled to undersize then proper finish bored (or reamed if the holes are too small to bore).  Point being... play it safe and ream the FCG holes.  I'm not saying you *can't* do it with twist drills to finished size, but they better be top shelf new cobalt/carbide drills with spot on speeds, feeds and cutting oil... don't dig through the ol' drill index for whatever HSS jobber bit.

Oh, MAN!!  Thanks!!    It will be awhile,  becuz,  winter in the N end of Idaho, and my little shed is full of  sh**!!!

My old  Jet,  bought used,  is a  model 16, so it's the typical  round column  but it does have a  separate  quill  / spindle movement.   It's just that if you run out of  range with that, you have to  adjust the column,  so then the column alignment has to be re done.    The table seems  to  go  9 3/8 X  23 1/2.