Adjustable Cheek Riser Project - fabrication steps with pics

[RawHP]

http://www.snipercentral.com/karsten...e-cheek-piece/http://www.ebay.com/itm/181430977458;





Pic of the carriage bolts and washers that I picked up at Home Depot today, and the star nuts that I found in my junk box that I will use until the knurled nuts arrive.

[RawHP]

Fabrication: Step by step with pics

The Kydex sheet came in from Amazon a day early, so I was anxious to get home today and start working on my project. I’d been thinking about what steps I’d go through for a decent outcome. I’m sort of a perfectionist when it comes to fabricating things, so I wouldn’t be able to deal with a half-assed job. As with many projects, I felt that most of the work would be in the planning and preparation, which ended up being the case. Here are the detailed steps I went through, in case anyone is interested in doing something similar.

Sorry about the fuzziness of some of the pics. The room lighting wasn't too good, but I had good lighting in my garage for the pics taken there.


I first measured the length of the existing comb, since I wanted the riser to be the exact length for a custom fit:



Next, I created a pattern on construction paper. I folded the paper, the same width as the existing comb, covering the stock, approximately at the final height I was shooting for. I laid out lines on the paper that followed the bottom of the existing stock, but with the top of the riser parallel to the action/barrel. For the portion near the grip area, I drew a curve that followed the existing grip:



I used one of my collar weights to trace the curves at the corners of the riser. I measured down from the top of the existing comb to where the stock reaches its widest point when viewing from the butt end, and transferred that to the pattern for the approximate position for the mounting screws:



Next, it was important to mock up where the riser would be in its final position, mainly because I was concerned about it interfering with my grip on the stock. I used a rolled up piece of paper to position the pattern correctly, with the correct curve. The bottom left pic shows where the pattern stuck out too much and would interfere with my thumb/palm. I trimmed the pattern to remove the problem:



Next, I needed to transfer the pattern to the piece of Kydex. I used both a magic marker, and a razor to do this. I paid special attention to the slots that would need to be cut later, and the center of the drill bit that I would use to located the end of each slot.



Now that the prep work was done, it was time to start cutting. I decided to pull out my old scroll saw that I haven’t used in 35 years. That was the first tool that I bought way back when I had my first apartment. I used it for many small projects back then, but haven’t used it since. Crossed my fingers that it would still work. I used it to make the rough cuts, but the narrow blade allowed me to follow the curve pretty well. Then I used my table sander to clean up the edges, and finally some 80 grit paper for final smoothing of the curves. Finally it was time to drill the holes with my press. I used a Forstner bit so I could get nice clean holes in the plastic:



Now back to the scroll saw to rough cut the slots. And then put the riser in my vise and cleaned up the slots with a flat file. Finally, it was time to form the riser. I put a metal tube in my vise to use to form the curve of the riser. I slowly heated the portion of the riser that I needed to bend, using the low setting on my heat gun. I was thinking about using the oven, but decided on the heat gun, since I was only going to bend the one area:



Now was the moment of truth, the test fit. It fit almost perfectly, so I marked the holes for the bolts. I marked in the same location as my earlier measurement, where the stock is widest, but also allowing the riser to go to its lowest position. This would give me about 1-1/4” of adjustment. I used my press to make the holes, but only one side at a time. The Hogue stock is hollow, but I managed to hit the an inner brace piece with the rear hole, so I need to clean up that one a bit with my round file to allow the bolt to go straight through.



The last thing I need to do was shorten the bolts by about a 1/2”. I guess I could have gotten some shorter bolts, but I wanted to get the project done, so out came the hacksaw. The bolts didn’t stick out too much with the big knobs I’m using now, but the new knurled knobs that I got on ebay are lower profile, so I wanted to make sure not to have to do more cutting later. Before the new knobs come in, I'll hit the bolt heads and ends with black epoxy paint, for a blacked out look.



I’m pretty happy with the final product. I adjusted the riser down about 1/8” to bring my eye in perfect alignment with my scope. The ability to make those small adjustments really makes it easy to dial in the setup for a perfect fit. For less than $15 and about 1 - 1/2 hours of work, most of which was in the prep time, making the pattern, it was a worthwhile project. I noticed today that I could have gotten the knurled knobs off of another seller on ebay for $3 less, so it’s possible to build this on a total budget of about $12:

[Yugo]

Awesome.... maybe change the knobs to something more subtle.

[RawHP]

Awesome.... maybe change the knobs to something more subtle.

Yup, these are the kind that should be arriving soon:

[defcon]

Yup, these are the kind that should be arriving soon:

you got a link to these knurled knobs? how much was this knob?

[Citadelgrad87]

This is a great idea and well executed.

Any plans to fab up more? I can guarantee at least one sale.

[RawHP]

you got a link to these knurled knobs? how much was this knob?

I paid $4 including shipping for 2:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/181430977458

But found out later that I could have gotten 2 for a buck:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Durable-1-4-20-Tripod-Screw-to-Flash-Hot-Shoe-Mount-Adapter-2014-Black-2014-New-/171311658986?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27e2f877ea

[Yugo]

Those new ones look great, I get all my hardware from McMaster.com Really great pricing and super fast shipping.

[RawHP]

This is a great idea and well executed.

Any plans to fab up more? I can guarantee at least one sale.

Thanks. No plans on making any more. You really don't need a bunch of tools to make one. I think a hand drill, a jigsaw or coping saw, a flat file and some sandpaper would be enough, but might take another 1/2 hour and a little sweat. That, and waiting until the wife is out of the house, to use the oven to heat up the plastic.

I'm thinking about another project now, an adjustable butt plate. Not quite sure how I'll accomplish that, but I'll be looking out for hardware that I can adapt to the project. I'm going to give myself a $20 budget and see what I can come up with...

[Citadelgrad87]

Well, I do have a heat gun somewhere. Is the kydex tricky to work with? Is the heat part forgiving, and how does it clean up where you cut it?

I have a jigsaw and drill press. Looks like I'll give it a whirl.

You saved me the expense of a new stock.

Thanks. Great idea.

Edit, how thick is that kydex, and, having done one, would you go thicker or thinner?

[RawHP]

Well, I do have a heat gun somewhere. Is the kydex tricky to work with? Is the heat part forgiving, and how does it clean up where you cut it?

I have a jigsaw and drill press. Looks like I'll give it a whirl.

You saved me the expense of a new stock.

Thanks. Great idea.

Edit, how thick is that kydex, and, having done one, would you go thicker or thinner?

It's really easy to work with. It's like ABS, but much more stiff, almost feels like tile when you first handle it, but easy to cut and shape, and sands quickly. On the stuff I got, it had a shiny pebbled finish on one side, and a pebbled matte finish on the other. I did all of the marking/etching, etc., on the shiny side since the matte side is what I wanted to show.

When I was ordering it, i thought the same thing, whether thicker was better or not, but now having worked with it, I think I made the right choice, because the stiffness when cooled makes it feel substantial and it doesn't flex on the rifle, or not enough from your cheek hold. If your pressing hard enough to flex it, then you're accuracy would probably go to hell. I think if it were thicker, my comments on how easy it was to work with might change.

On the heat, I just moved the heat gun around on the low setting (my gun has high and low), and on one side then the other. I didn't have to heat it hot enough to need gloves or anything to hold it while heating or shaping it, so the heat didn't transfer to the other parts I wasn't heating, which made it even easier to work with. (there are some oven heating directions on Amazon, which mention around 375F as the suggested oven heat, but I don't think I got anywhere near that). Once I started shaping it, I would heat mostly one side and just a little on the inside. I never felt like it was going to crack while shaping it, but I suppose if I went to fast, there's a possibility, but I just took my time just in case. Once it was close to the right shape, I'd eyeball the curvature to see it was nice a round, and placed the two parallel edges on a 2x4 to see if they were even, and tweaked the bend a little to address either.

For the pipe/tube I used to form the curve around, I had an old tubular speaker stand lying around that I wasn't using, and it was right around 1 1/4" diameter, close to the thickness of my stock, so I used that. Anything would work though, because of the low heat of the Kydex, like a wooden closet pole or stand from one of those cheap Home Depot torch lights, etc.

Like I said, I'd invest the time on the pattern. You could even do that while waiting for the Kydex to arrive. Once you get to the cutting and shaping, it will go pretty quickly. Let me know if you have any more questions. Good Luck!

PS. Oh ya, two last tips. First, I just measured my final bolt length, which is 1.8" (shank, not counting the head), so unless I could find 1 3/4" carriage bolts, I'd be cutting anyway for the lower profile nuts I'll be using. So, the 2 1/2" ones I got were probably just right, since it gave enough length to hold in my vise. Second, try not to go to wide on the slots if possible, so that the square part of the carriage bolt shank will be held by the slot and kept from spinning when tightening. Not a big deal if it does, since just holding your thumb against the head works (this is just a perfectionist thing; I can live with it, I swear).

[RawHP]

I paid $4 including shipping for 2:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/181430977458

But found out later that I could have gotten 2 for a buck:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Durable-1-4-...item27e2f877ea

Note that these are anodized aluminum, not steel or brass, etc. I'm not sure how durable they are, but by the dimensions, I don't think they'll be a problem. I'll post one more follow up on this thread once they arrive to share my thoughts, and provide a pic with some scale, so you can picture the actual size better.

[Citadelgrad87]

Op, ordered up the kydex and those knurled thumbscrews.

Both are on a slow boat, so I have time to find my heat gun and figure out the bolts.

Awesome little project.

[DAVO]

Well done, came out well.

[RawHP]

Here's the pics of the aluminum knurled nuts that I got off of ebay, and the blacked out carriage bolts. I initially installed them with the beveled side out (left two pics), but it was too hard to tighten and loosen them in that position without a rag or pliers to grip them. Turning them around helped a lot (bottom right pic). Either way, they are really low profile, so much less bulky.