Part 1 was the first attempt to secure the forward charging handles into the La Chassis' foregrip, this is attempt number two.... This time I was a bit more successful.
My first attempt to secure the linear sildes that will become the foundation for the forward charging system involved a couple different sizes of nuts, some cutting and lots of JB Weld. All of which broke a part before I was able to rough mount it on the M-LOK foregrip.
As a fresh start, I ordered some 1/2" by 1/2" aluminum stock and a 6-32 drill & tap set and started machining a new mount from scratch.
I cut a 1" block off the end of the aluminum stock and then marked, drilled, and tapped 6-32 holes across the short side to which I could attach the linear slide guides. The image below shows this first mounting block with both guides atttached.
I then drilled a hole just smaller than 1/4" in diameter the long way through the mounting post. A long 10-24 bolt will drop through this hole from top to bottom and tighten into an M-LOK T Nut on the bottom of the foregrip.
The 6-32 bolts are short enough to not interfere with the 10-24 bolt going from top to bottom of the mounting post and then out through the MLOK slot.
The front mounting post I made a little differently.... I cut a 1.5" piece off the 1/2" aluminum stock and drilled the 10-24 hole through the short side. I did this for two reasons:
1. I want it to extend all the way to the front of the foregrip so that it has a stop against sliding forward and
2. I need some room in front of and over the top of this mounting post for the laser & light combo on/off buttons
These mounts work (and look!) much better than the first ones I tried. I am pleased with how they look and how secure they hold the charging handle slides. With the anchor functions of these complete, I started modifying them to allow for the on/off switches that I want at the very front of the foregrip.
As I was rough-fitting the small on/off switches that will control the Streamlight TLR, I found that, when pressed up against the front of the foregrip, the aluminum mounting post didn't give me enough space for both on/off switches and wires in front of the charging handles. To remedy this, I cut a small peice of black Delrin to place between the mounting post and the front of the foregrip. This adds about 1/4" of space for the on/off switches and has the added bonus of being less likely to scratch the foregrip than is the aluminum post.
I made two other modifications to the mounting posts. The first was sloping the front of the front post to give more space for the on/off botton wires.
The second was drilling a 3rd hole in the rear mounting post that would allow the wires from the on/off switches to go through the post, around the 10-24 bolt inside it, and connect with the wires up the the Streamlight TLR. Once the wires pass through the rear mount, they enter the brass tube that will guide them up the the light mounted atop the Superlite receiver. You can see these modifications and how the wires will flow in the two images below.
There are a few more finishing touches before the mounts are complete. However, they're 95% done and providing a very solid platform for the future charging handles they'll support.
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