So I bought a 3D printer...
- Thread starter Kanwar88
- Start date
Exactly. I had been biding my time for the past 2 years, then the ROBO 3D popped up and I knew this was what I was waiting for.
I'm also delighted at the fact that it's open source unlike the makerbots. Open source really opens the door to upgrades, i.e. the E3D extruder and a bunch of other tweaks.
The ABS option is the hot bed, which permits ABS to be printed with minimal warping. The E3D extruder is an entirely seperate upgrade which will provide a much greater level of utility to the printer. It's one of the reasons I bought the Robo 3D, because it is compatible with this J head type extruder.
Here Komrade: http://e3d-online.com/#/shop/4567186838/E3D-v4-HotEnd/3077284
It's currently not very well known, it isn't exactly advertised. I only know about it due to my affiliation with the 3D printing community on Google+
Link to the community below
https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/117814474100552114108
There's an enormous amount of information and expertise within the community. Most of the mods on there have built and designed their own 3D printers and started small 3D printer companies.
EDIT:
I almost forgot to mention, if you join the community, do not mention what you're getting the printer for, the community remains very divided on the subject of printing things related to firearms.
You'll likely receive more help for any questions you may have if you keep it un-related to firearms.
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^^ Thanks a lot for that link. The J-head i have right now uses an insulator that breaks down at 265C, to print with Nylon 6 and such a higher temp is necessary, I was waiting for the right extruder to come along. Appreciate that, as its a direct swap into my printer.
No it was not a Makerbot but a similar printer to it. ABS additive printer running open source Arduino board, NEMA 17 Stepper motors.
An AR 15 grip is hollow as well. You gotta understand, you can make the AR15 lower as solid and plastic filled as you want or as light and flimsy. Its all in the G-code generated. In the end a 3D printer is nothing more than another tool. I personally have a lathe, a mill and the 3D printer. Its made my manufacture of one offs so much faster and easier. What before i had to make out of Alu in a mill/lathe i can make on the printer. Yes, its not as strong and as durable as Alu, but for most applications it wasnt necessary, but had to be done as Alu was the easiest media to work with. a desktop CNC sound nice, and probably is, but it still doesnt deal with the chips, cooling fluid and mess associated with it. Thousands of dollars necessary for good tooling, jigs needed, holdown plates etc etc.
Now, there is nothing stopping someone doing the rough work on the 3D printer and then doing precision drilling and milling on proper equipment. Is that not the best solution?
Nothing says lack of arguments than a personal attack. I'll make sure to proofread my iphone messages i wrote during a party so that people like you dont get their panties in a bunch. You and everyone else knew what my message portrayed. Attacking my spelling errors just belittles you, not me.
No it was not a Makerbot but a similar printer to it. ABS additive printer running open source Arduino board, NEMA 17 Stepper motors.
An AR 15 grip is hollow as well. You gotta understand, you can make the AR15 lower as solid and plastic filled as you want or as light and flimsy. Its all in the G-code generated. In the end a 3D printer is nothing more than another tool. I personally have a lathe, a mill and the 3D printer. Its made my manufacture of one offs so much faster and easier. What before i had to make out of Alu in a mill/lathe i can make on the printer. Yes, its not as strong and as durable as Alu, but for most applications it wasnt necessary, but had to be done as Alu was the easiest media to work with. a desktop CNC sound nice, and probably is, but it still doesnt deal with the chips, cooling fluid and mess associated with it. Thousands of dollars necessary for good tooling, jigs needed, holdown plates etc etc.
Now, there is nothing stopping someone doing the rough work on the 3D printer and then doing precision drilling and milling on proper equipment. Is that not the best solution?
Nothing says lack of arguments than a personal attack. I'll make sure to proofread my iphone messages i wrote during a party so that people like you dont get their panties in a bunch. You and everyone else knew what my message portrayed. Attacking my spelling errors just belittles you, not me.
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Happy to be of service.
Nylon 6 is indeed available, and would be better suited for firearms. The G36 and its variants use Nylon 6 combined with glass particles.
Here's an article that might answer some of your questions.
http://www.3ders.org/articles/20121212-taulman-618-available-for-pre-order.html
EDIT:
I almost forgot to mention, that if you print with nylon be sure to do it in a well ventilated space.
It gives off toxic fumes, but it's not an issue if you've got an open window, or a printer enclosure with a tube to vent the fumes. An enclosure would also help layer fusion if you build a temperature controller in it.
The Glass adds significant structural reinforcement. Unlikely you could print glass filled plastics. The glass fibers must be unbroken to add structural support. it is much like fiber glass. There is also long and short fiber. Nylon6 is a great plastic. Glocks are apparently made from Nylon.
Nylon needs to be dried to a very specific moisture content before it is processed. Nylon absorbs moisture. Wet materials heated to melting points of plastics cause the moisture to boil off causing what is called splay. This greatly reduces the strength and appearance of the part. Wonder how the 3d printers get around that. I am in injection molding. I know a thing or 2 about plastics.
Oh wet Nylon makes things explode. Trust me.
Nylon needs to be dried to a very specific moisture content before it is processed. Nylon absorbs moisture. Wet materials heated to melting points of plastics cause the moisture to boil off causing what is called splay. This greatly reduces the strength and appearance of the part. Wonder how the 3d printers get around that. I am in injection molding. I know a thing or 2 about plastics.
Oh wet Nylon makes things explode. Trust me.
I could see a plastic Ruger 10/22 receiver being plausible, perhaps with sheet metal reinforcement. You could have the outside in different shapes, Krinker, Thompson, M1 carbine shape for dressup. By 2020, even a mechanically helpless person such as myself might be able to construct such a thing in a quiet evening.
I figured that was the case. I wonder though if printing complex geometries could somewhat compensate for that?
The nylon in this case is actually a nylon co-polymere. The article cites that "618 uses a modification to the base material chain to enhance bonding, thus increasing strength by eliminating layer delamination."
The article also claims that this material has strength similar to aluminum. That being said, it essentially means that it is a suitable material to use for making firearms.
If your magazine body design was internally limited prior to printing, then you could pring all the mags you want, as, they wouldn't be capable of holding more than 5 rounds at the time of manufacture....
That's the beauty of 3D printing. Die-lock is a non-starter....
Even crazier? Print your follower in place, with the magazine body "crimped" below the follower. All sorts of options here really, you just need to play with them. Of course, if you follower is already in place, it'll make it difficult to smooth things out, but, that's nothing a bit of working in can't fix either I suspect.
That's the beauty of 3D printing. Die-lock is a non-starter....
Even crazier? Print your follower in place, with the magazine body "crimped" below the follower. All sorts of options here really, you just need to play with them. Of course, if you follower is already in place, it'll make it difficult to smooth things out, but, that's nothing a bit of working in can't fix either I suspect.
Delamination is most often associated with material contamination. There are various other reasons that delamination may occur such as degradation or wet material.
When using glass filled materials it is necessary to use great amounts of pressure to force the plastic to the outside of the surface of the part. If you do not have enough pressure the glass fibers become visible and your parts look rough like a broken piece of fiberglass.
Another thing to remember when dealing with plastics and complex geometries is shrink rates and warp. Remember plastic shrinks. When you have walls of varying thicknesses the rate of shrink changes between the different wall stocks. This causes sinking in the parts or warp. Or in the case of nylon can swell due to moisture. This sometimes makes high tolerance complex parts difficult to control. We typically run tolerances of +/-.0001. This is a bit unusual in plastics. The standard deviation in most plastics is +/- .0005.
I am not a expert in 3d printing we usually have our prototyping done by outside sources. The parts that I have seen while excellent for getting a hands on idea of the part for fit and function tended to be brittle and delicate. I am not sure what they were printed out of.
When using glass filled materials it is necessary to use great amounts of pressure to force the plastic to the outside of the surface of the part. If you do not have enough pressure the glass fibers become visible and your parts look rough like a broken piece of fiberglass.
Another thing to remember when dealing with plastics and complex geometries is shrink rates and warp. Remember plastic shrinks. When you have walls of varying thicknesses the rate of shrink changes between the different wall stocks. This causes sinking in the parts or warp. Or in the case of nylon can swell due to moisture. This sometimes makes high tolerance complex parts difficult to control. We typically run tolerances of +/-.0001. This is a bit unusual in plastics. The standard deviation in most plastics is +/- .0005.
I am not a expert in 3d printing we usually have our prototyping done by outside sources. The parts that I have seen while excellent for getting a hands on idea of the part for fit and function tended to be brittle and delicate. I am not sure what they were printed out of.
Most of the software used with 3D printers lately compensates for a lot of the warping. So it's not as much of an issue. Most basic printers use PLA with about 80% infill, which sounds like what you're describing.
Considering what you've said concerning the fiber glass, I wonder if it might be possible with a dual extruder setup to have the nylon printing one layer and have another feeding some sort of glass fiber filament printing between layers?
Once filament can be made at home, I imagine a great deal more experimentation will be done by the community, and that day is nigh, from what I can see at least.
Ar180shooter
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Is it even worth the trouble? Remember, you're dealing with a firearm! (translation: you could get seriously hurt when the part fails - and it will !)
This whole 3D printing thing appears to produce worse quality than the cheapest Norinco ever built, lol...
There are many different materials that you can use in a 3d printer, and videos of these printed rifles shooting hundreds of rounds. Based only on this one video, I wouldn't pooh pooh the whole idea of 3d printing guns. The guys that did this likely chose a poor material.
