3D printed DC-15a

[Bally]

Well I've managed to get a few more pieces printed but have been told I can't use the printer anymore, even though I'm using my own material.

Pistol grip, lower rail and rear sight pieces.



And yeah, as per the WoF plans, that pistol grip is huge. Here it is in my carny sized hand for comparison.

[bigmac]

liking what i am seeing, how ling is it going to take you to finish this beast?

[Bally]

The main receiver group (a 32 hour print), the barrel sections and a few other assorted pieces to go. Unfortunately though it's come to a halt. When I spoke to the boss upstairs last week he was happy for me to use it, however we printed the pistol grip over the weekend and now he's gone a bit gun-shy (pun partially intended). Possibly the same obstructionist &$*^ that wanted a hazardous chemical hazard assessment done for the material being used has gotten in his ear. To be honest though I understand the cautiousness. I'd probably think twice too if I saw that pistol grip come off a work machine.

I'm in the middle of putting together a formal request to use it, outlining how it's perfectly legal against the QLD Weapons Act and referencing our own policies so keep everything crossed.

[Squirtle]

Hey Sac,
Any chance I could bum the plans of you?.
I'm interested in seeing how this prints out.

[Ghalgor]

Hope things work out.

[Bally]

Thanks. I've spoken to the boss upstairs and the main concern with it being available for actual work stuff which is fair enough. Their engineering workload is pretty heavy at the moment but he's allowing me to finish it off and then early next year reassess for continued use. I'm about to go on leave anyway so I'll pick it up again in the new year.

I'll PM you Squirtle.

[Whitey]

Looking good mate. Be interested to see this one finished.

[Bally]

It's been a while but there has been SOME progress. I started printing parts again earlier this year and had gotten most of it done before the kybosh was put on it again. The barrel segments are a lot of printing so as an alternative I'm using PVC pipe. The only issue is none have the exact outer-diameter I need, so I did some 2(pi)r and cut out a section of a larger pipe and am going to use this as the remainder of the barrel. This in turn creates it's own problems of fitting the subsequent barrel inner/insert into the receiver and the barrel but I'm hoping some expanding filler will be my saviour.

I've also ordered my own 3D printer so I'll be able to print the last couple of parts I need, e.g.- muzzle. (I didn't have the timber butt with me for the photos, and sorry the lighting in this crappy room is pretty bad). Obviously I still have a lot of sanding to do, but other than that the parts match up like a big lego scene.

[Studio 49]

Starting to take shape mate, great work!

[Sly]

Noice!


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[Diatium]

Looking good cant wait to see the finished product

[Oevil1]

That's one sweet build!!!

[Bally]

That's one sweet build!!!

This is what I was asking you about a large version of your holographic scout pistol sight lenses for. I'm looking for options for something to use in the large end of the scope.

[Bally]

After a bit of FB messaging with April Storm about her Wombot 3D printer, I bit the bullet and ordered one.

Tuesday was brown box day of a different kind:



Which, once I cleaned up the metric #####-ton of polystyrene peanuts, revealed this:



Due to having a little bit of experience with 3D printers up until now I jumped straight to ABS with a couple of small pieces to test it out. Aaaaand had the standard 'ABS not sticking to the print-bed' problem straight away. A glue stick helped get through the first tiny little print well enough, but I'm going to be looking for something better if I want to be using ABS as the standard material.

Also it's pretty much a pre-assembled kit using open-source firmware, a number of 3D printed parts, etc so I wouldn't recommend it for your first foray into 3D printing as the learning curve would be steep.

Once I get it printing reliably I'll finish off the last couple of parts for the DC-15a.

[Altair]

Hey Mate, welcome to the party! Your first 24 hours can be frustrating as all hell but keep with it! If you are looking to print using ABS as your standard material, here are a few things that help:

• Glue stick - Looks like you already know about this... but not all glue sticks are the same make up and react different to heat. I have found the Bostik brand to be the better ones. Give the glass bed a clean with a scraper between prints.
  
• Bed temp - crank your heated bed to 110 degree C, as you don't have an enclosure I would even go up to 115C.
  
• Enclosure - look at building yourself an enclosure, it really makes a difference. ABS prints can be affected by even a slight breeze causing fluctuations in temp.
  
• Level your bed - You want it so that first layer really gets smooshed on the bed but you don't have your nozzle too close to cause extrusion issues. The first layer is the most important.
  

Have fun!