Got a new printer

[Rob M]

also a very good point.. something interesting that might take off at some point for non coders

[Insanity]

As a reminder folks please remember this is a family oriented forum please refrain from posting lewd pictures.

[Scotchmo]

I printed a simple stock for my P15/Skyhawk bullpup. The stock is PLA and the Buttpad is flexible TPU. It's the first pass and it took a little grinding on the inlet, trigger guard, and hole locations. It usually takes me a couple of design/print iterations to get it right. This one is usable but it won't be the last.

[Rob M]

thats awesome scott.. Youre a pioneer in 3d stocks.. And yes , i always need to make minor adjsutments to a 3d part, so if its big i print the rev 1 at 10 % infill to get it over with knowing ill be printing a second 1.
the gun likely lost 2 lbs , easily.

[Motorhead]

Scott has still not used up all the Neon green material ... dang thats LOUD !!!
pretty darn cool tho being able to print up those parts you can where FLEX don't matter ... not sure i would want a stock that flexes however ?

[Rob M]

Scott , Pla is very rigid  as far as plastics go.. It really wont flex easily.. Its like carbide , it wont flex , just cracks when the time comes.. ( its more rigid than abs , but the ultimate yeild is less ) I think youre referring to the buttpad he added, thats a flexible filament

[dan_house]

love the stock

love the color!!

gotta get back to my own projects.....

[Insanity]

Very nice be mindful PLA dose not like UV light. I had some parts I printed out warp when exposed to direct sunlight.

[Scotchmo]

Very nice be mindful PLA dose not like UV light. I had some parts I printed out warp when exposed to direct sunlight.

I don't leave guns outside so UV is not too much of an issue. But PLA melts at a fairly low temperature as far as plastics go. I normally start with PLA as it prints easily and is very forgiving as far as printer setup. I left a gun case in the hot sun, and the gun inside had a PLA scope wheel. The wheel ended up permanently deformed and out of round. I replaced it with one printed from ABS which is significantly better in the heat. I start with PLA and will use the part until it becomes an issue. Than I'll reprint it in ABS. Most PLA parts work fine for me. I have black ABS, and I ordered some spools of ABS/PLA alloy, as well as some PLA/Carbon. The PLA/Carbon will be used to replace the PLA carriages and corner parts on this printer. The ABS/PLA is to experiment with and see if it is a good alternative to straight ABS.

I have some PLA parts on my airguns that I have been using for a couple of years.

[Scotchmo]

Scott has still not used up all the Neon green material ... dang thats LOUD !!!
pretty darn cool tho being able to print up those parts you can where FLEX don't matter ... not sure i would want a stock that flexes however ?

The stock is PLA and is rigid (1.6mm wall and 20% interior infill). The buttpad is TPU and is soft (0.8mm walls and 20% interior infill).

I got a great deal on the neon green PLA a while back. I have about 1.5 kg remaining.

[Scotchmo]

thats awesome scott.. Youre a pioneer in 3d stocks.. And yes , i always need to make minor adjsutments to a 3d part, so if its big i print the rev 1 at 10 % infill to get it over with knowing ill be printing a second 1.
the gun likely lost 2 lbs , easily.

This printed stock is about 1.5lbs lighter than the laminated stock.

[Rob M]

thats awesome scott.. Youre a pioneer in 3d stocks.. And yes , i always need to make minor adjsutments to a 3d part, so if its big i print the rev 1 at 10 % infill to get it over with knowing ill be printing a second 1.
the gun likely lost 2 lbs , easily.

This printed stock is about 1.5lbs lighter than the laminated stock.

thats really good.. whats the Z height on the green part of the stock ?/ just curious

[Scotchmo]

thats awesome scott.. Youre a pioneer in 3d stocks.. And yes , i always need to make minor adjsutments to a 3d part, so if its big i print the rev 1 at 10 % infill to get it over with knowing ill be printing a second 1.
the gun likely lost 2 lbs , easily.

This printed stock is about 1.5lbs lighter than the laminated stock.

thats really good.. whats the Z height on the green part of the stock ?/ just curious

487.3mm

The extended rails that I installed allow me to go up to 950mm high.

[Rob M]

21 hrs not too shaabby for a drop in stock. very cool

[Scotchmo]

21 hrs not too shaabby for a drop in stock. very cool

That 21 hours was at 50mm/s. That's my normal default speed that I use for the slicer. I was not sure how it would do with the tall skinny stock. I think it could run OK at a higher speed. It's usually better to run it slower. I often use the control panel on the printer to increase/decrease the speed after the print starts. For TPU, I set the front panel to 50% on my smaller Delta printer with the longer Bowden tube.

I just got a set of hardened steel nozzles. I bought them mostly to use with PLA/metal and PLA/Carbon. Sizes: 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0, 1.2, 1.5mm.

I like to use either 25% to 75% of nozzle diameter for the layer height. Up until now, I have used only a 0.4mm brass nozzle. I often use the 0.4mm nozzle and 0.1mm layers for small parts. 0.2mm layers seem fine for others. I'll be experimenting with the 0.6mm nozzle and 0.3mm layer heights when I make the new printer parts in PLA/Carbon. I will lose some of the smaller details with the increased layer height.

It's possible to cut that 21 hours down to a several hours if I ran at higher speeds and was OK with a larger nozzle diameter and increased layer height.

[Rob M]

yep/. Ive never run a nozzle above .4 , but ive seen printers on youtube running as high as 1 mm layer height , printing full size chairs and so on. I think the finish on that stock is really good , so a .3 layer height might also look good. Especiaally if your printing something the sie of a marauder stock.

[Scotchmo]

I'd like to try printing a stock that was more traditional like for a Marauder. If someone has a model of a more traditional airgun stock, and they are willing to share the model, I'll print them a stock for no charge (except for the cost of plastic). I have a roll of brown PLA coming for that purpose, but could do any color.

[Insanity]

I'd like to try printing a stock that was more traditional like for a Marauder. If someone has a model of a more traditional airgun stock, and they are willing to share the model, I'll print them a stock for no charge (except for the cost of plastic). I have a roll of brown PLA coming for that purpose, but could do any color.

Someone did scan and post a file if a entire stock not long ago. It's no mrod stock but the scan is quite nice.

[Sbak]

Really cool print, just one thought on material. All composites are a give and take, you lose one attribute to gain another. 3d printing is no different, addition of carbon in filament can increase stiffness (if you get carbon fiber not the cheap carbon dust stuff) with a loss in layer adhesion. Pla and petg are not good carriers for carbon fiber, they become brittle and will have poor layer adhesion. The pla carbon and petg carbon filaments are just a marketing ruse. The materials will perform better in every way on their own without the addition of carbon.

That being said some materials make for a decent pairing with carbon fiber filaments, nylon and pc/pc blends make a pretty decent composite. A majority of my prints are using carbon nylon composites and have turned out quite well. Just a tip the nylon x is the best out there for functional parts, I have tried them all. Good luck, it's a fun hobby on its own

[Rob M]

my take on different materials is a simple equation
Hassle X potential gain / PLA = and thats why pla fits the bill for most prints.. Most materials being sold , the gain is fairly small versus the hassle of printing with them. I have seen some carbon fiber based stuff that was very impressive , but a stock on a pcp sees no stress or imact.. ( unlike a pumper, springer  etc