Print-your-own AR parts

[2ndamndmnt]

looking good. did it take long to put together and did you need any special tools?

[Rocster]

Umm, sort of. It was about two weeks, in three couple hour sessions (interuptions due to kids school year end events, etc.). Slow mainly because the instructions as still in flux, and the only real documentation is the assembly videos which were not 100% accurate due to minor design changes.

The video are here... [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

The Printrbot.com folks are still having growing pains due to difficulty with the various suppliers and ramping up from 100 kits to over 400+. I'd wait for a few more months before ordering. That way they'll have time to A) work out the bug in the supply chain, B) Get the new mini- and Large model refines, C) Get better build documentation created. They have also talked about eventually selling completely assembled one at some point.

[Coils]

Glad to see you got it going.
Looks like it would be easy to expand later if you wanted to.


Actually people who bought these (hint, hint ) need to start printing out the plastic parts to sell to others, and make a list of the metal parts needed, this way someone can put one together and only needs to buy things like the circuit boards and maybe the motors from PrintBot.
Isn't that what these things were originally made for?

[2ndamndmnt]

thanks for the advice rocster.

[gwood]

I have a Solidoodle ordered for a non-gun project. It's supposed to ship the last week in June. When I get the time I'll print out that AR mag and post some close-up pictures.

[Story]

Here comes the slander
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

[bbguns44]

3D printers are crap. Just toys for idiot nerds. Way too limited, way too flaky.

[kernelkrink]

Plastic parts make good cores for making your casting molds. Jay Leno uses a scanner and 3D printer to make his own replica car parts for some of his classic cars. Autozone don't exactly stock an exhaust manifold for anything before WWI.... He scans the part he does have into a 3D model, draws in the missing pieces, then prints out a prototype to check for fit. He then uses it to make a casting mold, or sends the program to his CNC center to mill it out of solid material.

[Greg B]

My friend has a Makerbot.
So far he has just made some toys for his kids.
Mostly I see the real drawback is just not enough variations in the polymers available to extrude. ABS is pretty brittle.
That said, I'm going to get him to try printing a 10 round AR mag.

[Greg B]

Maybe not.
Just checked thing verse & the files aren't there anymore.

Back on!
Found files at DEFCAD!!!