[gnarlytoes]

I had a couple hours to play this afternoon, so got another of my Centerfire Yugo kits out. I decided to try a weld build, since I've never done one before. Vulcan receiver, Romy triggerguard and PSL rear trunion, Century handguards, Tapco T-6 stock and G2 trigger set. I think I'll blast and finish the metal in Gunkote brushed stainless. Should set it off with the black stocks. Oops, I forgot the cleaning rod.

 

[Tyrvidar]

haha cool man hows she shoot? Lets see that final product once you get it done.

 

[Turbothis]

i tryed it once and it worked but i scared. :shock:

 

[ak_nut]

Better you then me...Good luck and be safe

 

[gnarlytoes]

I don't understand why it would be unsafe. The pressure is held by the bolt lugs and the trunion. All the rivets do is hold the trunion in the receiver. I drilled down into the old rivets a bit, then back-filled with weld and fused it to the receiver and ground flush. It should hold as well as a rivet.

 

[rj308]

weld

I think you are absolutely correct. The "toothpick build" prooved that. The only problem I see that you could get into by welding trunions is over heating them during the welding process. I'm sure a competent welder can prevent that from happening. I don't care for AR stocks on AKs, but your gun looks damn good. I too want to see the finished product.

 

[gnarlytoes]

Controling the heat was no problem. I used a DC stick welder and nickel alloy rod. One hole at a time and let cool before the next. It never got too hot to handle with bare hands. If you were really anal about it, you could use a water bath. I've built up many a track roller using water bath without melting the bearing seals.

 

[metalmole]

I have done quite a few AK builds welding the trunion in, NO problems. Remember the HK G3 trunion is welded to the receiver and thats 7,62 x51!!

 

[Tokarev]

weld builds

I TIG weld mine and it works great

 

[rj308]

weld

It sounds like you guys know what you are doing.

 

[Tokarev]

weld build AMD

Heres the first one I grabbed in the safe - one nice thing about the weld builds are they go fast. This one was 2 hours max plus the park job. Nice muzzle brake

 

[Turbothis]

i think now that i have the tools a rivet job might take less than 1 hour.
this is from a demilled state to a firing rifle.

 

[Tokarev]

Does that include removing the barrel too.

 

[walt-oxie1]

I don't build every day but I can knock out a build in about 2 hours start to finish using rivets and a NDS receiver. I have never tried welding one but if done correctly it should last a lifetime.

 

[Turbothis]

i figure almost every step takes a minute or less. how many steps are there?

 

[gnarlytoes]

I have started with a pre-bent blank (not a flat with everything already cut and drilled) and Romy kit and had a functioning rilfe in less than 4 hours. That included de-milling the kit and locating, cutting all holes, magwell, rails with only drill press, dremel, files, and a BFH. The only really time consuming thing on a build is if I get one with a really stuck barrel pin and/or barrel. Then I have to drive down the road to my farm shop and use the 60 ton press.