Just got a 3D printer, anyone else have one ?

[inerlogic]

Updated my post.... It was a fruitless search...... I'll keep looking though.....

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[garandman]

Updated my post.... It was a fruitless search...... I'll keep looking though...../

Do you have some existing grips? We can take measurements off them, shouldn't be too difficult. No charge as long as you're not in a big rush.

 

[dnepro-mike]

cz82 grips are too three too dimensional - not for your average home-brew 3d printer. there are some precise wrap around mag curves in those grips.

some serious printer that uses lasers and powder i'm sure can do just fine, but not filament extruding kind.

you will almost be better off with taking alginate molds and casting those out of some good polymer resin.

just my $0.02

 

[Boris]

That's a valid question, but he is learning to control it. It probably is cheaper to buy mugs, potato chip bag clips or vise blocks, but when you master the machine you can make ... well, I don't know, but I want one anyway and I'm wicked jealous.

As these machines mature I predict a resurgence of American Enginuity (engineering ingenuity - my word, just coined, TM pending) like we saw from home workshops in the 1910's and 1920's. That is a GOOD thing for our future as it trains people to think again (a lost art).


It's worth pointing out there are hobbiests with complete (small scale and mostly homemade) CNC machine shops in their homes, capable of producing working machinery in "real" metal. That equipment is probably on a par cost-wise with a decent 3d printer kit.

I've been saying this and I'll say this again. You may not 3D print in metal yet, but 3D printing is a great way to print patterns for casting in metal and plastic, so in one more step you can get a considerably more tangible part.

 

[Boris]

you will almost be better off with taking alginate molds and casting those out of some good polymer resin.

This ... and there are color additives that would color it pink, you want pink grips, don't you?

 

[inerlogic]

Do you have some existing grips? We can take measurements off them, shouldn't be too difficult. No charge as long as you're not in a big rush.

If I had a spare set I would send 'em off..... Just ordered one set of aftermarket grips (resin/carbon fiber) if I get a second set, or come across a spare factory set I'll get 'em to you.....

And if someone on the forum gets a fancy powder/laser 3d printer.... Contact me


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[namedpipes]

I've been saying this and I'll say this again. You may not 3D print in metal yet, but 3D printing is a great way to print patterns for casting in metal and plastic, so in one more step you can get a considerably more tangible part.

One of the Gingery books walks you through the process of making molds and casting aluminum parts. The technology can be achieved in a backyard setting.

Now, an aluminum receiver might not be perfect but it is an order of magnitude stronger than plastic.

 

[Boris]

One of the Gingery books walks you through the process of making molds and casting aluminum parts. The technology can be achieved in a backyard setting.

Now, an aluminum receiver might not be perfect but it is an order of magnitude stronger than plastic.

I have ACHIEVED this

for ages and to this day, people in 3rd world countries successfully cast lots of shit in cast iron and bronze, which is considerably hotter than aluminum

 

[garandman]

cz82 grips are too three too dimensional - not for your average home-brew 3d printer. there are some precise wrap around mag curves in those grips.

some serious printer that uses lasers and powder i'm sure can do just fine, but not filament extruding kind./

Damn, thanks for the heads-up - I'll stop doing it!
JK. Done all day every day in industry. This is all I had on my desk that I can show you at the moment.

These machines can resolve details that are roughly 0.005". A human hair on your head is approximately 0.004".

The hobbyist desktop systems are much more coarse: often 0.020", or four times larger.

 

[inerlogic]

This ... and there are color additives that would color it pink, you want pink grips, don't you?

actually, i want aluminum.... get on it......

- - - Updated - - -

holy shit... you have a C&R? i'll send you the whole gun

Damn, thanks for the heads-up - I'll stop doing it!
JK. Done all day every day in industry. This is all I had on my desk that I can show you at the moment.

These machines can resolve details that are roughly 0.005". A human hair on your head is approximately 0.004".

The hobbyist desktop systems are much more coarse: often 0.020", or four times larger.

 

[garandman]

/holy shit... you have a C&R? i'll send you the whole gun

I want to build a half-sized Garand in the worst way.

Scale models, like this 33" long F4U Corsair, are a lot of fun.

 

[richc]

I recall watching a documentary of some sort a few years ago where they talked about in the future being able to print out your own plates and cups and utensils at home, and perhaps being able to recycle the materials. They had some far reaching ideas that, now, don't seem all that far reaching.

This is such cool technology. Kudos to hminsky for starting this thread.

 

[Boghog1]

how expensive would it be to print up a non functioning MG34?

 

[garandman]

how expensive would it be to print up a non functioning MG34?

Hundreds or thousands, and you'd have to get the data files. 3DP material is relatively expensive.

I still want to create a fully-detailed half-sized Garand, but it's not in CAD so there's a lot of modeling work to be done.

 

[Boghog1]

yikes! oh well

 

[garandman]

But you could reduce the cost by making the barrel and other easily-turned parts out of wood, etc.

The AR15 receivers you see are cheap by comparison - maybe $20 to $50 max in material. Stocks aren't too bad, either because they are hollow.

 

[Boghog1]

I would basically nee the receiver and muzzle, the barrel shroud and stock would not be required, trying to make this

sans stock and bipod, figure I can use a piece of PVC pipe for the barrel shroud
Would plans like these work for printing?
http://www.john-tom.com/ForSale/ForSale.html#MG42Plans

 

[atilla]

i love this thread so much.

how about an AR-15 receiver? make a .22 AR out of it. IIRC there were problems with the buffer tube area cracking so unless someone has solved that issue it might be a short-lived receiver.

 

[garandman]

I would basically nee the receiver and muzzle, the barrel shroud and stock would not be required, trying to make this

sans stock and bipod, figure I can use a piece of PVC pipe for the barrel shroud
Would plans like these work for printing?
http://www.john-tom.com/ForSale/ForSale.html#MG42Plans

Probably not, they appear to be 2D. Do a search on grabcad and see if anyone has modeled it. Update - all I found was the bolt.

i love this thread so much.

how about an AR-15 receiver? make a .22 AR out of it. IIRC there were problems with the buffer tube area cracking so unless someone has solved that issue it might be a short-lived receiver.

Everyone is being careful about that.

The Undetectable Weapons Act of 1988 makes it illegal to build or possess weapons that could pass through airport security. Stratasys recently took back a leased system that was acquired for the express intent of 3D printing firearms by folks who did not have an FFL.

So far, if a business has an FFL - be it a gunsmith or manufacturer - the 3D printer manufacturers have sold them whatever they want. If they don't have an FFL, and want to lease the machine from the manufacturer, different story as they might conceivably be prosecuted, since the manufacturer still technically owns the machine.

Michael Guslick, the guy who made a .22, is reported to be a "gunsmith" and thus may be licensed. Also, he owns the machine versus leasing it from the manufacturer and the rest of the gun was metal.

 

[garandman]

Here's a model with printed from Grabcad. The advantage of parts like this for manufacturers is that they can test-fit other parts or make manufacturing jigs and fixtures, without having to worry about the legalities of actual firearm parts.

Kids, don't try this at home: remember this is a plastic model for demonstration purposes, not an actual firearm.

We're looking at buying one of the inexpensive kit systems, then reproducing the parts on a Stratasys machine. So we would have a 3D printer made by 3D printers....

 

[Boghog1]

very cool

 

[atilla]

badass, dude.

the moral of the stratasys story is: don't lease. doubt it was in the contract before, but i bet it is now!

either way under .fed law if the firearm is for personal use you can of course go hog-wild!

 

[namedpipes]

We're looking at buying one of the inexpensive kit systems, then reproducing the parts on a Stratasys machine. So we would have a 3D printer made by 3D printers....

Isn't this how "Terminator" started out?

 

[BillO]

Meh, I'm holding out for the Mila Kunis cloning kit.

 

[rupluggedin]

Here's a model with printed from Grabcad. The advantage of parts like this for manufacturers is that they can test-fit other parts or make manufacturing jigs and fixtures, without having to worry about the legalities of actual firearm parts.

Kids, don't try this at home: remember this is a plastic model for demonstration purposes, not an actual firearm.

We're looking at buying one of the inexpensive kit systems, then reproducing the parts on a Stratasys machine. So we would have a 3D printer made by 3D printers....

Very nice work

 

[Timber]

Here's a model with printed from Grabcad. The advantage of parts like this for manufacturers is that they can test-fit other parts or make manufacturing jigs and fixtures, without having to worry about the legalities of actual firearm parts.

Kids, don't try this at home: remember this is a plastic model for demonstration purposes, not an actual firearm.

We're looking at buying one of the inexpensive kit systems, then reproducing the parts on a Stratasys machine. So we would have a 3D printer made by 3D printers....

Hey, I know that Grabcad file!

Did you mention your company provides not only the printing, and printers, but also the software and training for anyone who wants to work in this field?

The following is a rendering of that particular Grabcad file with a quick grab on "scene" and "environment" taken from an image capture of this NES page. No Photoshop involved. You'll see the girls bikinis reflected in the forward assist assembly, etc.

 

[taggart]

Just to bump the thread, anyone else get one? I was thinking of getting myself one for christmas but was hoping to spend only $3-400. Anything good in that range? Not worth it? I'd rather pay $700 than save a few bucks and not use the thing because it's useless.

 

[natf]

I saw a few prints that came out of an Ultimaker kit the other day, the high detail print sample the company ships with the kit is incredible but it takes some work to get it setup to print that well. The first print to come out of the just assembled kit I saw was pretty poor but it printed well enough to bootstrap itself through several improvements and it was now printing well enough to replicate the sample given enough time and a paid license to the slicer used to generate the g-code for the print. I think the owner said the kit and components cost him about $700.

This weekend MakeItLabs in Nashua should have a MakerBot 2 up and running, I'll let you know how it prints, but it's likely way above your price range. Supposedly ready out of the box though.

 

[hminsky]

I can say from experience that it is very time consuming to get optimal quality from these extruder printers. People tweak and tune these things like crazy. If you think you're going to make high res reproductions easily, it's going to be disappointing, and most objects don't translate easily from other materials like metal. But if you work within the parameters of the materials and system, you can produce useful things quickly.


It's funny though, once you have one of these, you think differently. Like just this morning, i noticed we could use a soap dish in the bathroom, and while checking my email, I browsed over at Thingiverse.com for "soap dish", picked one out I liked, and set it printing. In 20 minutes I had a nice soap dish, and I didn't really think about it, but it's kind of futuristic...
I could have spent a few hours tuning the printer to get the curves just right on it, but whatever came out the first time was functional.

 

[namedpipes]

It's funny though, once you have one of these, you think differently. Like just this morning, i noticed we could use a soap dish in the bathroom, and while checking my email, I browsed over at Thingiverse.com for "soap dish", picked one out I liked, and set it printing. In 20 minutes I had a nice soap dish, and I didn't really think about it, but it's kind of futuristic...
I could have spent a few hours tuning the printer to get the curves just right on it, but whatever came out the first time was functional.

A time will come when there is a 3d printer in the kitchen next to the Keurig. Need a mug? A potato chip clip? Paper Plate holders? Mailbox? Bring it up on the menu and print it just like every other middle income family does.

The first automobiles were bought (or made) and maintained by the tinkerers of the day. You did NOT buy a Model T and expect to commute 50 trouble free miles per day for 250 days out of the year and see the mechanic a couple times a year. You were either your own mechanic or you spent more time with him than your wife.

You're just a couple dozen years ahead of the curve.