OK, I will post pictures later. But picked up a small table top mini mill. Couldn't pass up the deal and the gentlemen kept throughing in extras the longer I stayed around and talked to him. Walked out with the mini mill, nice set of collets, michinist vise, end mill cutters, 3 fly cutters, several custom made mounting plates, and some other misc items.......I figured, for what it would cost me to send my Bushmaster m17 off to KKF, I was able get this mini mill and using Rail that I already have, I can do the same myself....and have fun working on it instead of sitting back and waiting fot it to eventually get back from KKF.

So far, I have a long, high rail mounted on the top, and a short low rail on the from bottom. now I have to decide what length rails to do on each front side, and how I want to do the cooling slots/holes. But been having fun so far. was up till 2 am playing working on the m17 with my new toy.....now to get a small to medium size table top lathe......one day. :)

will post pictures this evening, got some designing to figure out for the cocking mechanism....especially since I already milled the plastic part down....kinda have an idea of what I want to do....thinking something along the lines of a HK cocker that is up towards the front...........

I wouldn't mind having a little bit large of a mill. but for now and for the price, this will work.

Here is a link to what appears to be the same machine (or very close) from Harbor frieght:

www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=44991

and here is a link to where the gentlemen I bought it from got his: Micro-Mark

www.ares-server.com/Ares/Ares.asp?MerchantID=RET01229&Action=Catalog&Type=Product&ID=82573

The brand is MicroLux.



I expect to be able to hold tolerances in the hundredths. The guy I got this from was the type that is very anal and maticulous about his equipment. This unit looked brand new. I think before this guy goes to sleep everynight he scrubs all his machines with a tooth brush and oil. :)

Still trying to decide about slots and/or holes for cooling and how long to make the side rail sections. thinking about 5 cross slots on the rail sections.

Quoted: I wouldn't mind having a little bit large of a mill. but for now and for the price, this will work. Here is a link to what appears to be the same machine (or very close) from Harbor frieght: www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=44991 and here is a link to where the gentlemen I bought it from got his: Micro-Mark www.ares-server.com/Ares/Ares.asp?MerchantID=RET01229&Action=Catalog&Type=Product&ID=82573 The brand is MicroLux. www.micromark.com/detailimgs/82573d.jpg I expect to be able to hold tolerances in the hundredths. The guy I got this from was the type that is very anal and maticulous about his equipment. This unit looked brand new. I think before this guy goes to sleep everynight he scrubs all his machines with a tooth brush and oil. :) Still trying to decide about slots and/or holes for cooling and how long to make the side rail sections. thinking about 5 cross slots on the rail sections.

That's the same model I have.  I got ahold of some cheap DRO scales, and now need a display

So much for a CHEAP mini-mill...

thanks for the website.





First, the bugger on the side of the top rail was already there.

I used the fly cutter and took a little of the bottom of the 6" rail so it will sit nicely on the bottom of the tube. I drilled and tapped the tube to mount the rail. also put a slight angle on the bottom of the rail (tube side) to give me a little "Play" room for fitting so I would not have to cut on the tube.

The top rail: well, I did the two cut outs for ventelation. Thinking about going back and doing a slight V to the cut outs so if you looked at the rail from the bottom side you would see the bottom of the V running front to back. Thinking of this just for cosmetics to get rid of the bugger, and think it would look good. May also put a taper on the front edge to match the front of the tube, still deciding on that. I cut the holes for the machine screws to sit just under flush so they will not interfere with mounting anything on the rail. and drill and tapped two additional holes in the tube. so there are 3 machine screws holding the top rail inplace. I used the existing threaded hole in the tube for the center mount.

I still need to tap the hole where a longer screw passed up into the handle, this holds the front of the return springs (well, the attaching plate) for the charging handle. so I'll just find a shorter larger machine screw and it'll thread into the top of the tub from the inside.

I have also cut down the rear charging handle.

still left to do:

1:) cut down short rails for each front side, thinking 5 cross slots will be good, then mount these.

2:) cut cooling holes/slots. been gathering alot of pictures to try and decide what shapes and locations I want for these.

3:)new charging mechanism.....for outside of the tube. I am not going to mess with the inside, yet. Going to work on something that will kinda be like the HK style charge where it will be up towrds the front, top edge of the rifle and be attached to the existing charging plate. thinking a small round piece of steel/aluminum should work, something the size of an AK cleaning rod. I'll have to do some sort of bracket towrds the front to hold the rod so if it gets snagged it does just bend out of break the charging mount. something simple with a pass through hole. I was even thinking the eventually I could do something more elaborate and get the return spring for the charging handle out from the inside of the tube....but that, if done, will be a later project.

4:) and looking at Kurts webside, I do like his cheek rest. Think something very thin with maybe a thin leather covering would keep the heat of off the face and not race my line of site much or else I might need a taller top rail of different sights. I kinda like the HK sites. I had picked those up from a friend for use on one of my predator rails, but when I started designing this up, I opted to use those on this rifle for now. been drawing, designing and thinking about this for a couple years now...mostly just waiting on the proper tools to do the work.

Been looking at this and thinking the accudot from trijicon might work well. 1x- 4x with a LONG eye relief might be a cool scout type setup. I'll have plenty of time to play and dress her up later.