Todays Project - What did you do today?

[Highpower]

Today I started working on trying to salvage an AK scope mount for a guy I used to work with. The cast steel "T-bar" was originally riveted to the top of a sheet metal "U" channel, which is spot welded to the stamped steel receiver cover. Apparently the T-bar had worked it's way loose and was wobbling around. So he took it to a friend of his who "fixed" it for him by welding the tops of the rivets to the T-bar.

   
   

The first problem was trying to weld a steel bracket to a pair of aluminum rivets.
The second problem was putting so much heat and weld bead into it that it completely filled in the holes and warped the bracket.

   

I ground down the welds, milled out the remainder of the rivets, and milled the bottom of the bracket to get it flat again. Now I've got to make up a thin steel plate that I can insert under the "U" channel and drill and tap it for mounting screws. There is no way to access that area to install new rivets after the cover has been welded together.

   

So now I'm waiting on raw material to be delivered.