Break Rotor (heavy) LoP Spacers

[Nebulous]

Since we are all hunkered down for Covid 19 I figured I would put together a little DIY for making your own heavy butt-pad spacer from an old break rotor.

Tools:
Angle grinder
c-clamps
hammer
bench grinder
drill press and bits
thick work gloves
safety goggles

Materials:
Buttpad and or spacer template
Old break rotor
emery cloth/ wet sand paper
white vinegar
cleaning supplies
sharpie

I used a spacer from my stock (KRG Bravo) to find a rotor in my pile that was wide enough for a spacer;
I’m working with a rear rotor from a Subaru Impreza.

I mounted it to a work surface and used an angle grinder to cut the rotor disc into sections. Then using a large hammer, I could just break the sections off with a whack or two.

using my spacer as a template i trimmed up the hunks with the angle grinder.

I then drilled out the mounting holes on my drill press.

with the spacer drilled out I can mark the final areas to remove on the bench grinder.

Take your time and check your piece often its easy to go too far. Also the piece will get very hot.

Once you're happy with the fit you'll want to clean up the edges.
my bench grinder has a wet stone which worked great for me.

 

[Nebulous]

after a bit on the stone

To finish up the whole thing I gave it a good rub down with some 800grit wet sand paper

Now comes the coolest part. Since this is some type of carbon steel we need to coat or paint it to keep it from rusting. In this case we are going to patina the steel with vinegar.
Clean your parts really well with a de-greaser and then don some gloves and give the part a really good wipe down with some alcohol. The better your clean the part the more even the finish will be.

Place the parts in a plastic or glass container.
Heat up enough vinegar it cover your parts by a 1/4" or so. Heating the vinegar should make the reaction go quicker but I haven't researched it.

Now we wait.
The parts will visibly bubble and will start to go a matte grey.

I gave mine about 15mins a side (total ~30mins) I wiped them off with a paper towel when I checked them.
Wash them off and you're good to go!

The three I made came out to 8.9oz 8.85oz and 8.66oz

 

[clcustom1911]

GOOD JOB!

I love little DIY stuff like this. So much fun to be inventive.

 

[Nebulous]

on the rifle

 

[ken4570tc in WY]

Good job! I learned something new today, thanks.

 

[Sean the Nailer]

Now that you've got that brake rotor part on there, you've a whole new tangent of fact when you say it "pulls to the right".... Haaaaaaaaa

Good job.

 

[Bcamos]

This is slick. I'll have to look around to see if I still have the ones I took off of my F250.

To get a deeper patina on the steel, introduce air to it (pull it out of the vinegar) and scrub it with a brush, then put it back in. Do that a couple of times and it should get significantly darker. Toss them in a bucket filled with river rocks and a little bit of WD40 to get a nice stonewash finish that won't show scratches.

 

[seanh]

Nice work. Never would have considered brake rotors as source material. Maybe next time use a vented rotor...for that "sniper bling"...lol.

 

[199 398 500 A]

Never would have thought of this. Now I want one haha

 

[Nebulous]

@seanh the thought had crossed my mind, using a vented rotor and filling it with resin. Might just have to make one and see how it looks.