AR10 gas block thread repair

[tpryder]

A customer brought his AR10 in with the broken bolt in the gas block. He had just finished putting it together. This took an hour to repair. I buddy of mine recently mentioned a meme that said," Every 5 minute job is a broken bolt away from being a 3-day ordeal." Or something like that.
I didn't break it, but I fixed it.

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[MadPick]

Wow. Nicely done, Tom.

Yeah, I can see my life flashing before my eyes as something like that breaks....

[jukk0u]

Even machinist/gunsmiths have those moments; tell them about the super hard, slightly curved rear trunnion on my M92 and the several broken drill bits, Tom.

( There's a happy ending or I wouldn't have mentioned it. In comparison I don't think this broken bolt was much of a challenge for TP)

[Stokes]

I don't mean any disrespect, but this seems like a bad use of resources from the outside. Maybe I just don't understand the value of that gasblock, but it looks like a $20 part.

For a problem with a $20 part, I'd just cut it off as quickly as I could and replace it. If you have an hour tied up in it, what did that job cost trying to save the part? If you're $100/hr, you could have bought a lot of gasblocks for that.

I'd have put it in a vise like you did there, use a cut off wheel at the thinnest part of the block that is exposed and grind a slot almost all the way thru. Then, I'd whack the meatiest part of the block with a punch and hammer a couple of times, cracking it the rest of the thru on that newly ground groove. This would also negate the risk of knocking the corners off my mill when cutting into something other than flat and square.

If you had 10 minutes into that, it's probably more because you forgot what drawer you put your cutoff wheels that fit your Foredom.

I guess if your customer just had to have that gasblock, maybe just replacing the set screw was worth it, but my financial calculator also puts a high value on time.

[dreadi]

I don't mean any disrespect, but this seems like a bad use of resources from the outside. Maybe I just don't understand the value of that gasblock, but it looks like a $20 part.

For a problem with a $20 part, I'd just cut it off as quickly as I could and replace it. If you have an hour tied up in it, what did that job cost trying to save the part? If you're $100/hr, you could have bought a lot of gasblocks for that.

I'd have put it in a vise like you did there, use a cut off wheel at the thinnest part of the block that is exposed and grind a slot almost all the way thru. Then, I'd whack the meatiest part of the block with a punch and hammer a couple of times, cracking it the rest of the thru on that newly ground groove. This would also negate the risk of knocking the corners off my mill when cutting into something other than flat and square.

If you had 10 minutes into that, it's probably more because you forgot what drawer you put your cutoff wheels that fit your Foredom.

I guess if your customer just had to have that gasblock, maybe just replacing the set screw was worth it, but my financial calculator also puts a high value on time.

I did the same thing for a customer who had a BCM gas block. It was a $60 part and he was very thankful to still have use of the gas block for other builds since he was replacing it with an adjustable gas block.


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