Won’t spend $300 on a Precision Bipod!

[David Hoback]

So I’m making my own. I started this in the other Bipod thread, but decided to make a new thread & not continue hijacking, LOL.

I had a large Billet of 2024-T3 Aluminum. Ordered som 3.5mm Carbon Fiber plate & 16mm OD, Carbon Fiber Tubing. Also got some 12mm 6AL4V Titanium Rod, & all Ti hardware, a QD lever fitting & Rubber feet,


Cut the CF plate, tubing & Ti rod in half. Also machined the 2024 Al into the blocks I needed.



One of the legs completed.


I like Bipods using a forward set Spigot. So, no different here. Machined a 6” section of the 12mm rod for the QD fitting and fixed with m5 Ti flathead screws.




Can anyone see it taking form yet?


I’m very thankful to be able to do this. To look at a precision part and say… “Hey! I can make a better one of those with better materials. And I can do it for a FRACTION of the price!”

 

[Walkalong]

Outstanding!

 

[David Hoback]

Appreciate it. Ya know, I’ve been doing this stuff for quite a few years now. It’s never been my profession, I’m just a hobbyist. But I’ve turned out out some next level machining in the last years. Any machinist knows Titanium is a a ROYAL pain in the Taint! BLAH! It’s super tough, gummy, eats up your tools… (and I swear I heard it LAUGHING at me one time as I tried to cut it!) But once you have its number, it truly increases the machinists prowess. Everything else just seems easy to machine. Example: the Aluminum. 2024-T3 Billet is no joke! It’s some insanely tough stuff. Much more so than 6061, actually very close to 7075. And machining it was a pleasure. This will be finished this week. The rifle is finished, save for Cerakoting the Chassis. I’m waiting or humidity to break first.

 

[Bcwitt]

Im curious how many hours you will spent on it.

 

[David Hoback]

Im curious how many hours you will spent on it.

Hard to say. I’m disabled and only have one arm/hand to use. I’m in debilitating pain 24/7; So I make my way downstairs to my little shop room to work on my machining, building, Custom Knifemaking whenever pain allows me. I might get an hour or two a couple days in a row, or I may not be able to do anything for a week at a time, as was the case week before last. I can say however, if I was my old self with no pain or incapacities, it would be finished in likely one day, two if I was feeling lazy. But as it stands now, I have many hours into it. Although, I’m glad of this. Mostly sitting in a chair doing these things are about all I can do anymore. And I do sincerely enjoy when I’m
able.

 

[taliv]

Very cool!

 

[doubleh]

Excellent work. I wouldn't spend $300 dollars on a bipod either. In fact I wouldn't spend a dollar on any of them. They are just an item I have no interest in using. The only use I would have for one is prone shooting and I can't do that anymore.

 

[BigBlue 94]

Any machinist knows Titanium is a a ROYAL pain in the Taint! BLAH! It’s super tough, gummy, eats up your tools… (and I swear I heard it LAUGHING

My first experience was on a super cheap chinese benchtop lathe. With not so sharp HSS bits. The chips started to catch on fire in between the ways

Stuff is nasty!

 

[The Glockodile]

Hard to say. I’m disabled and only have one arm/hand to use. I’m in debilitating pain 24/7; So I make my way downstairs to my little shop room to work on my machining, building, Custom Knifemaking whenever pain allows me.

Makes your work all the more exemplary!

Nothing beats a labor of love...

 

[jmorris]

Keep it going, looking good so far. (Thumbs up)

 

[David Hoback]

Little closer. Finished the spigot & attachment. The Al block is drilled/tapped for a clamp screw that captures the groove in the spigot..


And the attachment points for the center block & Carbon Fiber plates.

 

[Remington1911]

I think that is fantastic. I have been eyeballing some of the small lathes, everything from horrid freight to Matthews and about everything between. This field really interests me. I know a mill would be close to follow.

I am still in the research stage, and learning how that extra money comes into play between machines that LOOK very much like each other.

At this second I am thinking going to the more inexpensive end as I wonder how much I will really use it.....I can think of a few things I would make off the bat but nothing really after that.....with so many other "hobbies" I am not sure I can justify something like a JET for getting my toes wet, but I don't want to fight the machine. Still very early in my research.

 

[792mauser]

Looking good dude!

 

[David Hoback]

A bunch of drilling & tapping today!

Heres the body section. And, of course, Titanium screws!

 

[David Hoback]

I think that is fantastic. I have been eyeballing some of the small lathes, everything from horrid freight to Matthews and about everything between. This field really interests me. I know a mill would be close to follow.

I am still in the research stage, and learning how that extra money comes into play between machines that LOOK very much like each other.

At this second I am thinking going to the more inexpensive end as I wonder how much I will really use it.....I can think of a few things I would make off the bat but nothing really after that.....with so many other "hobbies" I am not sure I can justify something like a JET for getting my toes wet, but I don't want to fight the machine. Still very early in my research.

That’s good stuff! I encourage anyone to who is a tinkerer to get into machining. I just have a bench mill. It started as a Mini Mill, but doing what I do it’s been modified like everything else… bigger motor, heavy duty bearings, filled the upright & bottom with Granite-Epoxy…and a bunch of other doo-dads. So it performs like a much larger unit. I only have a very small Shop room, so I’m limited in space. I can’t even fit a proper sized lathe, but oh how I want one.. All the turning I do is with the mill, and I’m limited to small pieces.

Everything is finished with the Bipod. All the parts machined. Just need to clean them all up, deburr, etc., & assemble everything. It came out FANTASTIC!

 

[Remington1911]

Well lets see the pics, to coin a phrase......come on man.

 

[LoonWulf]

Yep, wanna see!

 

[David Hoback]

Just finished today. I have to say, sometimes plan just blows away ALL your expectations. I knew it would nice when I designed it. But the finished product really has blown me away!

Front view.


From the back.


Spigot attached to Picatinny rail.


With rifle. Now, I’m not actually using it with my AR. This was just for a pictures sake, because my bench rifle isn’t in the Chassis currently.

 

[David Hoback]

I think next I’m gonna a folding bipod for the AR. Maybe an Atlas hybrid style.

 

[LoonWulf]

Thats a sexy beast!

 

[Mk-211]

I would think that you could easily modify your bipod to copy the articulation of an Atlas bipod.

 

[Space Ghost]

Nicely done.
That said, if anyone were to pay somebody to replicate yours... it would cost the $300 (or more) like you were trying to avoid.
Not just because of the materials cost, but the skilled labor that went into it.

 

[David Hoback]

Thanks guys. Appreciate the feedback.

I purposefully made this one the way it is. No folding joints. Just fixed legs that adjust for length & LOCK when set. The attachment to the spigot rod can index, but it to LOCKS in place. It wasn’t made to move around. I made it for my bench rifle for shooting long distance.

I want to do a smaller, lighter bipod like the Atlas for my AR.