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Crowd funding 80% lowers

In my humble opinion, if you are milling out the fire control pocket, the jigs offered should be fine (as long as they arent alum).

When I CNC out the FCP, the jig is a guide. I use the print to set my X/Y and the jig is a fail safe. If youre not comfortable with an endmill possible opening up yout jig specs, then I would invest in a more expensive one. But what they are offering looks fine to me. Jigs are only mucho $$ because they do not incur a reoccuring fee. You are suppose to buy one that will last for(awhile)ever.

Buy the jig and if you sneeze while moving your axis wheel, oh well. You can buy 3 on their site and youll still be in the plus compared to the expensive ones out there.
 
Terminator03 said:
Actually I have never seen ANY set of fixtures that wasn't made of aluminum.
Click to expand...

I recall a jig being sold that was polymer/plastic. Not sure, but I think it was to go with an 80% polymer lower though. I wouldn't trust any polymer jigs due to the amount of force being applied to them by the vise.
 
mclina said:
Pretty sure they are aluminum
Click to expand...

Terminator03 said:
Actually I have never seen ANY set of fixtures that wasn't made of aluminum.
Click to expand...

Golddiggie said:
I recall a jig being sold that was polymer/plastic. Not sure, but I think it was to go with an 80% polymer lower though. I wouldn't trust any polymer jigs due to the amount of force being applied to them by the vise.
Click to expand...

These are mine. 80% Jig Kit

My apologies, they are milled anodized aluminum. I just recall them being beefier and heavier when I last grabbed em. They have steel inserts as guides for all various side wall holes though haha

The anodize definitely helps with f**k ups though.
 
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Golddiggie said:
I recall a jig being sold that was polymer/plastic. Not sure, but I think it was to go with an 80% polymer lower though. I wouldn't trust any polymer jigs due to the amount of force being applied to them by the vise.
Click to expand...

Yep I remember those polymer jigs, and you are correct, they were being sold really cheap to finish some polymer lowers that they were selling. I believe it was another one of these crowd funded ventures that was discussed on here awhile back. I think the general feeling was that a poly fixture would be fine for a one time use, but not for several lowers.

- - - Updated - - -

dessert1st said:
These are mine. 80% Jig Kit

My apologies, they are milled anodized aluminum. I just recall them being beefier and heavier when I last grabbed em. They have steel inserts as guides for all various side wall holes though haha

The anodize definitely helps with f**k ups though.
Click to expand...

That is a really nice fixture that should last a lifetime, especially with the use of those hardened drill bushings.
 
dessert1st said:
These are mine. 80% Jig Kit

My apologies, they are milled anodized aluminum. I just recall them being beefier and heavier when I last grabbed em. They have steel inserts as guides for all various side wall holes though haha

The anodize definitely helps with f**k ups though.
Click to expand...

$190 for those??? [puke2]

You're paying out the ass for a jig that's of inferior design. Aimsmall (from calguns.net) sells a far better jig for less money. It's secure via side bolts, not the top plate. You don't have to deal with the master plate and sub-plates either. He's done a lot of work to make a far better jig, that he sells for less money. I saw the TM jigs in person (part of the AA group buy butt-hurt) and didn't want them. Returned them and ordered up jigs from aimsmall instead. Far better IMO/IME.

I just joined calguns.net so that I could find the thread for the jigs (and such) by aimsmall. If you want the url for that thread, PM me... His 'normal' price for AR15 jigs is $140... Shipping is cheap, and fast.
 
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Since you can buy a 100% polymer lower for that amount (or less), it is over-priced IMO (too)... I wouldn't trust a $15 polymer jig on any lower. The stresses it would be placed under would cause it to either flex, making for machining errors, or break.
 
chaser001 said:
I just found out via their FB page that I won their drawing. I will get production lower #2 and all the parts to complete the rifle.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/embed/iFNLbAs3KAU?rel=0[/video]
Click to expand...

Awesome. I have been watching their FB page, and it's been pretty quiet lately. I hope they are getting close to producing some (my) lowers.
 
Dear Funders,

First off, we would like to thank you for your continued support of The Gun
Vault, LLC. Without you, this project would have never gotten off the
ground. I would like to assure everyone that we are working our hardest to
get these lowers produced. We intend to fulfill all of our original gift
offers from the Rocket Hub project as soon as we have lowers produced.
Additionally, we intend to increase our commitment to communication by
responding in a more timely manner to emails and phone calls. I apologize
for the previous lack of communication previously, I have been entirely
committed to the start up and operation of the shop. I will also strive to
more regularly post updates on the company's Facebook page.

I would also like to announce that we are in negotiations to lease a
horizontal milling machine. This will allow us to produce enough lowers to
fulfill all of our outstanding project gifts. More information on this will
follow in regular updates.

Finally, we are also working out the specifics of our anodizing process. On
that, I have attached a color chart. Please respond to this email with your
choice of colors for your gift receivers. Additionally, if you have any
updates to your mailing address or contact information, please let us know.

Thanks Again,

Joe
Click to expand...

Email Sent today
 
I got the color choice email yesterday as well. It sounds like they are close to producing something.

I wish I knew more about metallurgy and aluminum processing to know if I should be concerned about the comments on the FB page. Can you make your own billets from scrap Al bars? Does what they are doing sound right?
 
At least now they are starting to post some pictures and send some communications. I was starting to wonder if I was our a couple hundred.
 
So, how many of us are stuck waiting for this thing? I've been following their facebook 'progress' and it has been incredibly frustrating.

They seem to have their heads way up their asses. They can't get a machine to work to save their lives. Everything they touch seems to break, and every time you post a cricital comment on their facebook page, they delete it. They haven't posted a status update in a month, but they delete criticism within 5 minutes of it being posted.

The thing that bugs me more than anything, is that they continue to sell these mythical lowers on their website, with a promised 8 week lead time, to new customers. They have been doing that since at least Christmas. These customers are getting screwed, and they don't even know it. I get that my money was venture capital, and it was a risky investment. I accept that I probably won't get crap from these people, but customers who are ordering from their website are not in the same position.

http://www.thegunvault.co/index.php?route=product/product&path=63&product_id=64

At this point, I have pretty much given up.
 
Yeah I am likely out a few bucks myself, but I figure I'll wait it out. Who knows, it could honestly just be that they were not as prepared as they should have been.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk
 
mclina said:
So, how many of us are stuck waiting for this thing? I've been following their facebook 'progress' and it has been incredibly frustrating.

They seem to have their heads way up their asses. They can't get a machine to work to save their lives. Everything they touch seems to break, and every time you post a cricital comment on their facebook page, they delete it. They haven't posted a status update in a month, but they delete criticism within 5 minutes of it being posted.

The thing that bugs me more than anything, is that they continue to sell these mythical lowers on their website, with a promised 8 week lead time, to new customers. They have been doing that since at least Christmas. These customers are getting screwed, and they don't even know it. I get that my money was venture capital, and it was a risky investment. I accept that I probably won't get crap from these people, but customers who are ordering from their website are not in the same position.

http://www.thegunvault.co/index.php?route=product/product&path=63&product_id=64

At this point, I have pretty much given up.
Click to expand...

Says in stock???
 
rjh200 said:
Did you just buy in? Can you get your money back?

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

No, I 'invested' during the campaign in September. I'm not looking for my money back, as I knew it was a gamble. They actually came out several months back and told everyone who was asking about refunds that 'the money was gone', and the only way people would get refunds was by waiting until they finally started delivering the lowers, and they could sell theirs to somebody else.

They did post yesterday that they supposedly have their CNC working, and are supposed to submit their sample to the BATFE for approval next week, and that should take 60 days. That would be the soonest they could ship any lowers.

The other problems with this buy, besides them being a year off on the delivery (if it comes) is that instead of buying aluminum billets and machining them as promised, they bought thousands of pounds of scrap aluminum which they are melting down and casting their own 'billets'.

Also, the original campaign showed jigs with guide holes on the top plates. They decided later that this was too hard to make, so they just made jigs with open tops. At one point, they tried to say that the screws that hold the jigs together would be extra $, but they got hammered and backed off on that.

Anyway, maybe they will eventually send me this stuff. Whether or not it is going to be functional is another story.

And their website does say that they have lowers in stock, but if you click on the item, it shows an 8 week backorder on the lowers. This is what it has said since December. Today, if everything went perfectly, 8 weeks is the soonest they could ship to people who paid last summer.

I probably got my ~$200 worth in entertainment out of this circus.
 
Meh. All investments carry risk, don't risk more than you can afford to lose. I chipped in for some lowers and no jig, so whenever they get here, they get here. At least these guys didn't just evaporate.
 
Still waiting we'll see. I think he really has to produce product, and sell it to raise new funds to complete his backlog, I sent him $25.00 for the mill an drills package he was offering and received the jig. Not bad pretty basic.
 
I was asking Drradknot65 if he just in. I know you have been in for a while as have I.

I counted the money as lost a long time ago. So if they do come through i'll just end up with a stack of free 80% lowers. :)

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk
 
mclina said:
No, I 'invested' during the campaign in September. I'm not looking for my money back, as I knew it was a gamble. They actually came out several months back and told everyone who was asking about refunds that 'the money was gone', and the only way people would get refunds was by waiting until they finally started delivering the lowers, and they could sell theirs to somebody else.

They did post yesterday that they supposedly have their CNC working, and are supposed to submit their sample to the BATFE for approval next week, and that should take 60 days. That would be the soonest they could ship any lowers.

The other problems with this buy, besides them being a year off on the delivery (if it comes) is that instead of buying aluminum billets and machining them as promised, they bought thousands of pounds of scrap aluminum which they are melting down and casting their own 'billets'.

Also, the original campaign showed jigs with guide holes on the top plates. They decided later that this was too hard to make, so they just made jigs with open tops. At one point, they tried to say that the screws that hold the jigs together would be extra $, but they got hammered and backed off on that.

Anyway, maybe they will eventually send me this stuff. Whether or not it is going to be functional is another story.

And their website does say that they have lowers in stock, but if you click on the item, it shows an 8 week backorder on the lowers. This is what it has said since December. Today, if everything went perfectly, 8 weeks is the soonest they could ship to people who paid last summer.

I probably got my ~$200 worth in entertainment out of this circus.
Click to expand...

The only thing that bothers me about this whole fiasco (other than the timeframe) is the bait and switch with the "billets". There is no way they can claim them to be billet lowers, even though they are "technically" machining them from blocks of aluminum, they are essentially going to be cast lowers with tool marks instead of smooth profiles is all. They will not be close to the strength of a true billet lower, or standard forged one, as the metallurgy is questionable when using scrap, and you'll have the porosity of a casting. I'd rather just use a polymer lower at that point since you have the added weight of aluminum with no strength benefit. That is a huge non starter/red flag for me. Glad I was broke when this "deal" was running!
 

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