[joshobean]

Great work sir! Looks incredible and hopefully one day 3d printers and materials will match the strengths necessary for hard core use.

I tried 3D printing when COVID hit in 2020. Sadly I went with a cheap Chinese printer and probably was too ambitious for it's capabilities. I tried several filaments, from PLA to PETG and finally nylon.

What printer and materials did you use for this project?

 

[joshobean]

Awesome. I had an Ender3 v2. Went through 3 motherboards on it and 2 hot ends, wanted to pull my hair out but I probably started too aggressively and expected too much.

I think I had a lemon. Definitely needed an enclosed space to prevent nylon warping. Even bases and different techniques didn't really solve it.

 

[joshobean]

Appreciate the encouragement. It would be good to get back into it at some point. Some of the latest videos such as from Hoffman Tactical on YouTube are jaw dropping and what they are doing with 3D printed AR creations.

I confess my primary interest is in that space, and when I saw the time and effort 3D printing takes, and then what the material my setup supported, I decided it wasn't worth the effort at the time. I would need to invest in better equipment and possibly wait for the industry to catch up to consumer printing of items that stand up to abuse like modern metals and polymers in firearms today.

Having 3 young kids at the time also required me to limit my hobbies. Keep doing what you are doing however. Hopefully one day all this is still legal and we can print practically indestructible, real world tough parts.

 

[joshobean]

Sounds like I need to get a Makerbot if I get back into the game, appreciate the recommendation. Back when I was younger (teenager/college) I used to build and tweak endlessly computer gaming machines. Now I have little patience for that sort of thing - and I'm willing to pay to have it now. Probably not a good trait, but hey - is what it is!

 

[joshobean]

Looks very sharp, @Chowwow!