Got my XM16E1 receiver back from Braceman today...

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Got my XM16E1 receiver back from Braceman today...

Posted: 3/11/2020 6:12:46 PM EDT

... and I couldn’t be happier!!! He even used one of his 80’s to get the forge flash on the underside and backside of the receiver!

Posted: 3/11/2020 6:27:15 PM EDT

[#1]

That man is a wizard.

Amazing

Posted: 3/11/2020 6:43:21 PM EDT

[#2]

As a so-so aluminum tig welder I am impressed with his craft.

Posted: 3/11/2020 6:51:44 PM EDT

[#3]

Quote History

Quoted:
That man is a wizard.

Amazing

View Quote

Agreed!!! This is what i sent him.

Posted: 3/11/2020 6:52:20 PM EDT

[#4]

Quote History

Quoted:
As a so-so aluminum tig welder I am impressed with his craft.

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I can’t weld for shit so I’m amazed it can be done period LOL!

Posted: 3/11/2020 6:54:24 PM EDT

[#5]

I thought he wasn’t doing anymore work ?

Posted: 3/11/2020 7:00:55 PM EDT

[#6]

Quote History

Quoted:
I thought he wasn’t doing anymore work ?

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Well he did mine and he was working on a few others when I talked to him last week

Posted: 3/11/2020 7:10:49 PM EDT

[#7]

Quote History

Quoted:
I thought he wasn’t doing anymore work ?

View Quote

He's not engraving trademarked logos anymore.

ETA- Just noticed the liquid on the bottom right of the magwell.
Tears of happiness?

Posted: 3/11/2020 7:25:12 PM EDT

[#8]

That's beautiful. It's funny, my 556XXX serial XM16e1 is a full fence lower while yours, built after mine, is a partial fence.

Posted: 3/11/2020 8:59:36 PM EDT

[#9]

Quote History

Quoted:
That's beautiful. It's funny, my 556XXX serial XM16e1 is a full fence lower while yours, built after mine, is a partial fence.

View Quote

From what I’ve researched the serial numbers weren’t run in order

Posted: 3/11/2020 9:25:05 PM EDT

[#10]

Don't anodize it because you'll see the weld and it will look "distracting" to say the least. I used Duracoat on my GM reweld that Braceman did and you can't tell. Plus you get to use their swatches and get the color super close. I bet you can't tell where the weld is....

BTW...........that is a kick ass lower sir!!

Posted: 3/11/2020 11:15:40 PM EDT

[#11]

Why not use moly resin? This is killer!

Posted: 3/12/2020 10:46:52 AM EDT

[#12]

Quote History

Quoted:

He's not engraving trademarked logos anymore.

https://i.imgur.com/s9PdmEO.jpg

ETA- Just noticed the liquid on the bottom right of the magwell.
Tears of happiness?

View Quote

HAHAHA!!! Yeah either that or water LOL

Posted: 3/12/2020 10:48:23 AM EDT

[#13]

Quote History

Quoted:
Don't anodize it because you'll see the weld and it will look "distracting" to say the least. I used Duracoat on my GM reweld that Braceman did and you can't tell. Plus you get to use their swatches and get the color super close. I bet you can't tell where the weld is....

BTW...........that is a kick ass lower sir!!

https://i.imgur.com/dcGWU4l.jpg

View Quote

I plan on using Norrells, I think it was M4it who posted that he had one of his anodized and during the prep process his roll marks were all but destroyed

Posted: 3/12/2020 3:30:23 PM EDT

[#14]

Do you mean re-anodizing roll marked aluminum?

I was just wondering why some markings get washed out looking.

Posted: 3/12/2020 6:52:50 PM EDT

[#15]

Quote History

Quoted:
Do you mean re-anodizing roll marked aluminum?

I was just wondering why some markings get washed out looking.

View Quote

Yeah, during prep they sand blast the receiver and if there’s any hidden pitting under the existing anodizing it could mess up the roll marks.

Posted: 3/13/2020 9:53:54 AM EDT

[#16]

You might see some color difference between the raw aluminum and black anodized portions of the receiver.
The raw eighty percent lowers that I’ve coated with Norrell’s Colt grey are noticeably lighter than the black
anodized lowers that I coated with same bottle of Norrell’s.

Posted: 3/13/2020 9:56:38 AM EDT

[#17]

That's awesome. I have a pristine XM16E1 COMPLETE upper with BCG and all. I really need one of these.

Posted: 3/13/2020 1:58:33 PM EDT

[#18]

Quote History

Quoted:
You might see some color difference between the raw aluminum and black anodized portions of the receiver.
The raw eighty percent lowers that I’ve coated with Norrell’s Colt grey are noticeably lighter than the black
anodized lowers that I coated with same bottle of Norrell’s.

View Quote

I’ve been mulling over the idea of not even touching the magwell with norrells and keeping the original anodizing visible anyway. Plus the magwell isn’t black

Posted: 3/13/2020 4:22:03 PM EDT

[#19]

Quote History

Quoted:

I’ve been mulling over the idea of not even touching the magwell with norrells and keeping the original anodizing visible anyway. Plus the magwell isn’t black

View Quote

Boy, me too.
I'm wondering if the DoD stamp will survive a bake in the oven.

Posted: 3/13/2020 10:15:09 PM EDT

[#20]

Quote History

Quoted:

Boy, me too.
I'm wondering if the DoD stamp will survive a bake in the oven.

View Quote

I’m sure it will most people use norrells on them

Posted: 3/21/2020 8:09:52 PM EDT

[#21]

Op that’s nice, I blasted a few of those w/o losing the engravings and reanodized In black , yes you can see the weld but I sprayed with norrels and they looked great I did darkened then up some to match the og anodize of the original receiver. Just gotta take your time with them.

Posted: 3/21/2020 11:53:57 PM EDT

[#22]

Your XM16E1 reweld is pretty nice.
I really think that you should only blast and apply finish to the rear half of the receiver leaving the original anodizing alone.
Using an airbrush tuned to a very small pattern you could fill in a few of the really bad areas of the anodizing.
Give it a chance, then later if you don't like it, you can completely refinish it over again pretty easily with the Norrells.

I blasted, and sprayed the rear half of my braceman reweld with Norrells greyish black flat, and then cooked it at a temperature of almost 350 degrees.

The DoD stamp is still quiet visible.
For what it's worth, I wrapped several layers of aluminum foil over the painted stamp before baking.
I'm happy to say that the Norrells matches the original anodizing pretty good.

Pictures to come later in my 1968 M16A1 build thread.

Posted: 3/27/2020 5:07:32 PM EDT

[#23]

Quote History

Quoted:
Your XM16E1 reweld is pretty nice.
I really think that you should only blast and apply finish to the rear half of the receiver leaving the original anodizing alone.
Using an airbrush tuned to a very small pattern you could fill in a few of the really bad areas of the anodizing.
Give it a chance, then later if you don't like it, you can completely refinish it over again pretty easily with the Norrells.

I blasted, and sprayed the rear half of my braceman reweld with Norrells greyish black flat, and then cooked it at a temperature of almost 350 degrees.

The DoD stamp is still quiet visible.
For what it's worth, I wrapped several layers of aluminum foil over the painted stamp before baking.
I'm happy to say that the Norrells matches the original anodizing pretty good.

Pictures to come later in my 1968 M16A1 build thread.

View Quote

Yeah I’m gonna start out by only doing the back half of the receiver with norrells to see how close it is. I’m not sure when that’s gonna happen, I have to get a new router and endmill to mill it out first but that’s gonna have to wait due to this whole corona virus shit that’s happening

I look forward to seeing the progress on your build!

Posted: 4/4/2020 9:59:10 PM EDT

[#24]

Guys, new on here, if gentleman still does receivers, could someone give me his info? Thank you

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Got my XM16E1 receiver back from Braceman today...

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