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Not your usual 80%, unserialized lower
- Thread starter allen-1
- Start date
It’s different from normal CF - instead of woven cloth impregnated with some flavor of thermoplastic, it’s a polymer (suitable for 3D printing) with ground up CF mixed in.
ToddDubya
NES Member
Doesn't that defeat the point of carbon fiber?
VetteGirlMA
NES Member
It's PLA carbon fiber. It may look authentic and genuine but I would never chamber a round and pull the trigger in something like that. It only looks like carbon fiber when printed but it isn't.
BTW: there are 3d printed PLA filaments for steel, brass, copper, wood. Quite a few materials that can be put through the 3d printer.
VetteGirlMA
NES Member
There's no post-print curing with materials like. It's printed and it's done because inside it's still mainly plastic.
ReluctantDecoy
NES Member
Yes and no. It defeats the characteristics of woven carbon fiber, but still picks up much of the same properties as adding rebar structures in concrete. Improved rigidity and delamination resistance--both of which are important to 3D printing. All polymer handguns use some sort of fiber impregnation in their frames, so this is like an amateur version of that.
Depends on what you're buying. The stupid expensive carbon fiber filament is using real carbon fibers impregnated into PLA. The result is a material that vastly outperforms even ABS/nylon. It's to the point you need to use a steel nozzle on your printer, and even then you'll be replacing it faster than normal.
Still, anything 3D printed is only proof of concept, and in this case, functioning concept. I wouldn't want to find the failure point, which is definitely coming way faster than a factor part. I'd only use the 3D part for molding a higher quality part.
dcmdon
NES Member
You really can't. The fibers need to be super short to go through the printer. Is there fiber? Yes. Is it optimally oriented and of the proper length? No.
dcmdon
NES Member
Yes it does, by about 85%. You get some benefit, but not much. Its marketing more than anything. Its common for chopped glass fibers to be impregnated into injection molded items. Look at the trigger guard of a Ruger LCP. See how slender it is? Its also rigid. That's because there is fiber in it.
You can confirm fiber in any injection molded part by trying to cut a very thin sliver off an edge. If you feel any kind of graininess or crunchiness,its got fibers in it. Most likely glass.
Mesatchornug
NES Member
It'll also depend which printer they're using.
The Markforged machine running Onyx (their proprietary CF filament) makes impressively strong parts. It's also an expensive printer than requires using their cloud-based controller.
Running similar filament through an Ender, or even a Prusa, isn't likely to have the same results. At the same time, if they have their layer direction really thought out, they can do pretty well with it.
The Markforged machine running Onyx (their proprietary CF filament) makes impressively strong parts. It's also an expensive printer than requires using their cloud-based controller.
Running similar filament through an Ender, or even a Prusa, isn't likely to have the same results. At the same time, if they have their layer direction really thought out, they can do pretty well with it.
Mesatchornug
NES Member
there are techniques for doing inserts that are sort of like what you're describing. depends what you're trying to acheive
Not endorsing the strength of that particular 3D printed frame, but the general space of 3D printed firearms is getting pretty wild.
FGC-9 (F*&K Gun Control - 9) -
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zabSOHd0Ag
You can 3D print a mandrel with rifling twist groves, run copper wire in the grooves, put it inside an 8mm steel tube, and use a common benchtop power supply to apply current, and electrochemically machine rifling in your kitchen. Another printed mandrel and repeat the process to "machine" out your chamber.
www.thefirearmblog.com
DIY ammo is the last frontier... oh wait, that's just called reloading. I guess DIY Primers?
FGC-9 (F*&K Gun Control - 9) -
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zabSOHd0Ag
You can 3D print a mandrel with rifling twist groves, run copper wire in the grooves, put it inside an 8mm steel tube, and use a common benchtop power supply to apply current, and electrochemically machine rifling in your kitchen. Another printed mandrel and repeat the process to "machine" out your chamber.
Make a Factory Quality 9mm Rifled Barrel in your Kitchen Using Salt Water and Electricity (ECM) -
Back in March 2017, I reported on a proof of concept attempt to create rifling grooves using a process known as Electrochemical Machining (ECM). Fast-forward to 2019 and a decentralized collective of gun designers operating under the group name 'Deterrence Dispensed' have perfected a method of...
www.thefirearmblog.com
DIY ammo is the last frontier... oh wait, that's just called reloading. I guess DIY Primers?
