Has anybody had any joy with 3d printing?

[KenIchikawa]

There are always bits that are no longer made or downright super expensive.

I've always thought 3d printing my by the answer! Yet have never actually had anything 3d printed preferring to modify something that already exists.


So has anybody had any success with 3d printing for your airsoft stuff?

[Digital]

Re: Has anybody had any joy with 3d printing?

YES.

I love 3D printing. I love Airsoft. Goes hand in hand. I've printed everything from canted iron sights to AFG's. However plastic is annoying, though strength is not an issue, it feels tacky, doesn't take paint well and a large problem is if the tolerances is wrong - upon sanding to correct you may cut into the inner honeycomb structure. HOWEVER

Ever been jealous of those AR15's and their billet recievers? Today I modeled a WA GBBR lower receiver based on the F1 firearms Skeletal Lower. It's off to be 3D printed in steel/bronze soon! I am extremely excited as you can probably imagine.

Next up is a clone of the Cobalt Kinetics Bamf stock and the Strike Industries PDW stock.
I'll probably create a thread about 3D printing if it goes well! (And a business too :D).
Keep tuned on my instagram : @digital.airsoft

[woottonp]

Re: Has anybody had any joy with 3d printing?

I had a printer for about 1.5 years, sold it recently for various reasons, but simply put it is difficult to make something strong and with small detail

I had a simple flash hider on my g36c as it didnt have one when I bought it (2nd hand), it did the job until i got a cheap spare, though not up to the same abuse as metal. Certainly possible but would need to pay for a higher quality print, I have a few, but nothing for airsoft, you can proto with a cheaper printer and then get it dont professionally, but then the cost is a bigger issue.

everyday 3d printing its just not far enough along, well if you have the cash it isnt so bad, I am thinking of building an SLA printer next, and if your thinking of getting your own printer I would say go for SLA, the finish quality is so much higher, and that opens up the usability massively

[KenIchikawa]

Re: Has anybody had any joy with 3d printing?

I'm not thinking of buying a printer. I do however have some 3d modelling software (Blender) and I also used to work as a 3d artist a very long time ago. So I thought I could make a model in 3d then get somebody else to print it.


In the far future I might do the lathe trick a buddy of mine did. He bought a very old not so good lathe. He used that lathe to build himself a better lathe and used that lathe to build himself a fantastic lathe. Buy an OK 3d printer to print yourself a better one etc.

[Digital]

Re: Has anybody had any joy with 3d printing?

I'm not thinking of buying a printer. I do however have some 3d modelling software (Blender) and I also used to work as a 3d artist a very long time ago. So I thought I could make a model in 3d then get somebody else to print it.


In the far future I might do the lathe trick a buddy of mine did. He bought a very old not so good lathe. He used that lathe to build himself a better lathe and used that lathe to build himself a fantastic lathe. Buy an OK 3d printer to print yourself a better one etc.

Pm me - If you are interested in helping to design some stuff for us. Obviously we will pay you, and you can see your stuff printed in metal! Currently a team of 1 concept artist, 1 designer, 1 photographer and 1 CAD + concept art guy

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

[KenIchikawa]

Re: Has anybody had any joy with 3d printing?

Pm me - If you are interested in helping to design some stuff for us. Obviously we will pay you, and you can see your stuff printed in metal! Currently a team of 1 concept artist, 1 designer, 1 photographer and 1 CAD + concept art guy

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

I'm afraid I'm no more than a hobbyist right now. It's been over a decade (longer even) since I've done any real design work plus I'm fairly busy IRL... probably why I don't go to many games these days

But thanks for the thought.

[Digital]

Re: Has anybody had any joy with 3d printing?

That's no problem. It'd be more of an informal, irregular arrangement but if you are sure then that's no problem.

[Rabi0sa]

Re: Has anybody had any joy with 3d printing?

I've printed a handguard for my l85 ugl because ares don't make those anymore, adapters to mount an rmr sight on top of an elcan spectre and many other things for airsoft. It's just so useful and using ABS plastic, the parts are all totally solid.
20161002_133508[2013].jpg

[mrflib8le]

Re: Has anybody had any joy with 3d printing?

Holy sheet, that handguard is awesome. I imagine you could make some decent money selling those

[mightyjebus]

Re: Has anybody had any joy with 3d printing?

I've been messing around with 3d printing for a while now.

The correct term is additive manufacturing and there are a few ways to do this but the cheapest currently is FDM (fused deposition modelling) also know as FFF or PJP. FDM uses a spool of plastic which is heated and extruded onto a flat bed and slowly builds up the layers (around 0.2mm at a time) until the 3D object is created. There are now quite a few different materials to use included wood, metal infused plastic and a few other different materials. The 2 most common plastics used are PLA and ABS. Both have there pro's and con's with PLA melting at a lower temperature and ABS being stronger.

The biggest gripe about 3D printing is that the finished model will be a bit rough with the lines that have been printed at each later being visible. The better the printer the better this will be but even on the top end printers it will still be seen. There are a few ways to deal with this. With PLA it involves sanding, priming and painting and with ABS you can use acetone to melt the plastic slightly to smooth it out. Printing takes time and the bigger more complex the model the longer it will take. Expect to spend around half the time it took to print in PLA finishing the model if you want it to look perfect.
I've embedded a few things I have made below but before that I'll talk a bit about what you can do and what you need to do if you don't have a printer yourself. For info the printer I use is about 200 quid and comes as a kit which needs to be built. I went down this route as I wanted to figure out how they actually work. I've had a few bits break on mine which has added to my learning curve.

If you want to make some models and have them printed then the best option is shapeways.com
They will make your model for a cost (not too badly priced) and they have some interesting materials. The finish is very good and if you choose this as an option for your model they will supply the finished item without the print lines.
To get a model printed you need to do a couple of things. First create your model then save it as a .stl file. Go online and use a model checking website which basically checks the model for leaks and fixes any it finds. this just means that your model will print fine. Once you have a checked model you then upload it to shapeways who will also check it and them give options and prices on different materials. They will also offer a resell option so that you can make a bit of money from people buying your model from them.
If you owned a printer you would convert your .stl to gcode using freeware software (cura being a good one that comes with a lot of printers)

Here's a few of the models I have printed:




Shapeways printed MP5 magazine


One of my 3D designs.

[Caldo]

Re: Has anybody had any joy with 3d printing?

^ Pretty much what Jebus said, the only real limit is your design skill and knowing the limitations of each process and material choice (and your imagination). I've made tons of things from my own hop ups, flash hiders, stock hinges, rails, UGL rail adapter, GBB magpuls, feed lips, discontinued parts for a Tanaka M870... The list goes on.

KAC MAMS Flash Hider


Rail to for converting LM4 to a HK416.


M870 Shell Holder


LM4 Hop Up 1


LM4 Hop Up 1

[Boo-Sabum Ben]

Re: Has anybody had any joy with 3d printing?

Had anyone made any GBBR bolts yet?

[Caldo]

Re: Has anybody had any joy with 3d printing?

Had anyone made any GBBR bolts yet?

I could if I was so inclined... The issue is that the surface finish is generally pretty rough; so the inside at least would need to be machined post-print in order to get a good o-ring seal. The best material would be some metallic combination using SLS, it would be interesting so see how long plastic would last though. To be honest the biggest hurdle would be to get a printer to accept something that looks even remotely gun like.

[Digital]

Re: Has anybody had any joy with 3d printing?

I could if I was so inclined... The issue is that the surface finish is generally pretty rough; so the inside at least would need to be machined post-print in order to get a good o-ring seal. The best material would be some metallic combination using SLS, it would be interesting so see how long plastic would last though. To be honest the biggest hurdle would be to get a printer to accept something that looks even remotely gun like.

Hmm I could print one steel, if you think it could work? Not too practical though i guess - just a proof of concept

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[Boo-Sabum Ben]

Re: Has anybody had any joy with 3d printing?

I just doesn't understand why no ones made a very solid ABS bolt. Surely winter performance would be incredible still, and you'd still get moving parts against a spring and recoil buffer. Just surprises me that no ones done it yet