spandit Posted April 5, 2018 Report Share Posted April 5, 2018 Some of you may be aware that I have been trying to produce cheap magazines for the Sako Finnfire P94S. The first batch I sent out weren't perfect and although most recipients were grateful for the effort, not everyone was happy and I've been trying to improve the product, going as far as buying my own 3D printer so I could turn the prototypes around quicker. Currently on the 56th iteration and the magazines both fit and function. I've improved my spring production techniques too so they're far more consistent and close to the genuine article. One of the USPs of my design is that I can produce them in different colours. I bought some bright red material to make the latest variant and went out in the field with the only 2 I've made this morning to see how it would work. Fit and cycled fine so thought I'd prove how easy it would be to find if dropped in the grass (which isn't that long, about 4 inches). I shut my eyes and gently lobbed an unloaded magazine away thinking it would stick out like a sore thumb... from the title of this post I hope you can guess what the outcome was - couldn't find it. Took an hour or so of searching and still no result so have abandoned the quest! Throwing the other one a much shorter distance with my eyes open it was relatively easy to find but not quite the shining beacon I'd have hoped for! I've also bought some bright orange plastic which will help but I won't be deliberately throwing those away if I can help it. Fortunately the material cost isn't too high, even though there's quite a bit of work to do once they're out of the printer as the FDM process isn't always that neat. The pictured one has a clear base because that's what I had loaded in the printer at the time. I've been trying different materials too - here's a small selection of the ones I've made. The bright green is ABS which is quite nice because you can polish it with acetone but as you can see from the 3rd one along from the left, it's really prone to warping and I couldn't get any to print consistently (ABS needs quite high ambient temperatures and with the recent cold weather, it's amazing I've produced anything in my unheated workshop at all, frankly). If anyone wants to buy the prototypes to have a go at fettling them to work, I'm happy to send them on (charitable donation). Most of the issues were from the ramp angle on the follower being slightly too shallow so a few minutes with a bit of sandpaper and you could have a load of spare functioning magazines. The black one (carbon fibre filled PLA) on the far right was made on a friend's printer (same model) and although it's an older variant, it does actually work. There's probably double this amount lying around including some I had made on a professional machine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clakk Posted April 5, 2018 Report Share Posted April 5, 2018 Could u not put a washer on the side so when u launch it never to be seen again the metal dectector men could find it when empty?.Just a thought from a man who has lost a bright orange sheath for a Mora before now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mick miller Posted April 5, 2018 Report Share Posted April 5, 2018 Try the colorfabb range of filaments, some of the new abs types I've found to be really good at not warping. Personally I love the XT, but you can't glue it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spandit Posted April 6, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2018 9 hours ago, clakk said: Could u not put a washer on the side so when u launch it never to be seen again the metal dectector men could find it when empty?.Just a thought from a man who has lost a bright orange sheath for a Mora before now Wouldn’t fit in the rifle then. Left the printer overnight where it was supposed to be printing 9 more. It managed 2 and the 3rd one came unstuck. Printers don’t know this and just keep feeding more material. Arrived home where it was minutes away from finishing a 12 hour print to find a horrible mess. Ho hum! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oowee Posted April 6, 2018 Report Share Posted April 6, 2018 Impressive stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spandit Posted April 6, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2018 5 hours ago, oowee said: Impressive stuff. It has taken an awful lot of work to get them to this stage - not sure why it was so complicated. To recoup the R&D costs I'd have to sell hundreds at higher than factory prices so it's fortunate this is just a hobby! Left it printing overnight to mass produce them and woke up to this: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_R Posted April 7, 2018 Report Share Posted April 7, 2018 A lot of work as you say, but these hobbies do get a grip on us. What printer is that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spandit Posted April 7, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2018 It's a Wanhao i3 Duplicator Plus. Based on the Prusa mk.3 and essentially the same as the Aldi one. I've upgraded the Y carriage and use an all metal hotend printing on borosilicate glass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClemFandango Posted April 7, 2018 Report Share Posted April 7, 2018 On 05/04/2018 at 19:10, clakk said: Could u not put a washer on the side so when u launch it never to be seen again the metal dectector men could find it when empty?.Just a thought from a man who has lost a bright orange sheath for a Mora before now isn't the spring metal? pretty cool. And by the looks of it you'll never be short of ginger merkins. Bonus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spandit Posted April 7, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2018 Spring and fixing pin are metal but the driving factor for the entire project was to reduce the cost so it didn't matter so much if you lost one in the field. The material cost is almost trivial but the time taken to actually manufacture is quite high. Have just discovered a minor defect in the model too which hasn't really been showing up in the finished print because it's tiny but will be creating the 57th version next! Also about to model the 10 shot magazine to see if I can get those working too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClemFandango Posted April 7, 2018 Report Share Posted April 7, 2018 But it does mean that they are detectable by metal detector so you don't need to put a washer on them solely for that reason as Clakk suggests. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldypigeonpopper Posted April 7, 2018 Report Share Posted April 7, 2018 hello, interesting post spandit, what else can these 3 D printers do ? what is the strongest material you can use to make things like you magazines? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spandit Posted April 7, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2018 1 minute ago, oldypigeonpopper said: hello, interesting post spandit, what else can these 3 D printers do ? what is the strongest material you can use to make things like you magazines? Nylon is supposed to be the strongest but it's insanely difficult to print with. I tend to use PETG (essentially the same stuff plastic bottles are made from) as it's easier to work with and pretty tough. Currently working on something pretty exciting for us shooters... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldypigeonpopper Posted April 7, 2018 Report Share Posted April 7, 2018 (edited) 21 minutes ago, spandit said: Nylon is supposed to be the strongest but it's insanely difficult to print with. I tend to use PETG (essentially the same stuff plastic bottles are made from) as it's easier to work with and pretty tough. Currently working on something pretty exciting for us shooters... hello, cannot wait for that spandit, now what could it be Edited April 7, 2018 by oldypigeonpopper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old farrier Posted April 7, 2018 Report Share Posted April 7, 2018 Brilliant stuff thanks for posting just curous how accurate the the printing is Like to see the 10/9 shot magazine always found it would only work with 9 hollow points All the best of Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spandit Posted April 7, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2018 I've got my first 10 shot printing at the moment. It's trivial to change the length of it if I need to increase it to accommodate the full 10 but each one takes a few hours to print as I'm using high resolution. I hopefully have the springs ready and will be able to test later today... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spandit Posted April 7, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2018 Well, folks, the results are in... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1066 Posted April 8, 2018 Report Share Posted April 8, 2018 OOh! Those are looking good Spandit - I really love this 3d printing lark. Here's some of my efforts with a cheap Chinese kit printer: Magnetic rack for O/U shotgun - sticks firmly to the side of your vehicle or inside/outside your gun cabinet. Spent primer catcher for RCBS Supreme press. Box inserts for black powder phials 45-70 Reloading tray. Replacement trigger for FWB 124 airgun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_R Posted April 8, 2018 Report Share Posted April 8, 2018 I was curious as I had been looking at 3d printers last time I browsed the banggood.com site and other similar Chinese importers. There is quite a bewildering choice out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1066 Posted April 8, 2018 Report Share Posted April 8, 2018 I have a Tevo Tarantula - It's a cheap kit at around £200. I'm pleased with the results and it's been running reliably for around 6 months now. Building it wasn't too bad but poor Chinese/English instructions don't help. If you spent time as a kid playing with Meccano and enjoy tinkering around with mechanical stuff, you should be ok. If that's not your thing, then there are machines available that are more "ready to run", they just cost twice as much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_R Posted April 8, 2018 Report Share Posted April 8, 2018 (edited) I've seen that at Banggood, none of those look too tricky to assemble at all. All that has kept me back so far has been a lack of time to ask these questions, and to see which models are good, need a few tweaks/upgrades etc. such as strengthening, better nozzles and the like. Edited April 8, 2018 by John_R Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spandit Posted April 8, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 8, 2018 My Wanhao has a good community and is pretty solid - all metal. Parts are cheap if you buy them elsewhere and don't mind a bit of soldering or crimping JST connectors. The basic printer was £300, with additional Y carriage, metal hot end, hardened nozzle, glass plate and OctoPi it cost closer to £500 but none of it is vital. Software is all free (OpenSCAD, Cura and Meshmixer) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spandit Posted April 18, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 18, 2018 On 4/7/2018 at 15:38, oldypigeonpopper said: hello, cannot wait for that spandit, now what could it be Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldypigeonpopper Posted April 18, 2018 Report Share Posted April 18, 2018 (edited) 21 minutes ago, spandit said: hello spandit, that looks very good, i use a set of sticks eg 2 garden stakes from home base the thicker ones about 5/8 inch OD, how about something like that for a 2 pole with swivel Yoke top, but not in red ha ha, PS another good post on PW Edited April 18, 2018 by oldypigeonpopper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spandit Posted April 18, 2018 Author Report Share Posted April 18, 2018 5 minutes ago, oldypigeonpopper said: hello spandit, that looks very good, i use a set of sticks eg 2 garden stakes from home base the thicker ones about 5/8 inch OD, how about something like that for a 2 pole with swivel Yoke top, but not in red ha ha, PS another good post on PW Already done, designed it that way from the start! Not sure the colour will actually make much difference - do rabbits see in colour? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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