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What have you just 3d printed (for airsoft)

Not printed by me, but @GenuineGerman (Who I can not thank enough for doing these for me) 

Late war M16/XM DOD Stamps!

I made sure to smudge it a bit like seen on 99.99% of the real M16's for that added little bit of authentic touch

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So a while ago I started to build a hk21e machinegun based on a jg g3 but the gun was a bit screwed and I made a bit of a hash of upgrading it so That rather killed my motivation for working on that. I recently sold off that gun as part of my process of swapping entirely to gbbrs. Having watched a few explosive enterprises vids I decided to give this another go. This time the base gun is a we gbb g3. It came to me with the barrel shortened and Ive just picked up a proper hk21e style clubfoot stock for it. Im planning to model and print most of the bits for it in plastic and then send them off to be done in aluminium when im finished. This is just the first step. 

1 new sight block that just sits on the cocking tube and dosent go down to the barrel. 

2 front handguard cap with a block hidden under it which bolts to the handguard pinhole to keep everything rigid

3 a sleeve to go over the barrel to give it the proper machinegun profile. I have sanded and painted this bit since the proper barrel is tapered and making one of these in metal would be a pain. will probably leave it plastic. It just screws onto the outer barrel nut and gets pinned in place by the flash hider.  

next up is to make the rear handguard cap and order some steel or aluminium tube to make the actual handguard. Ill be building a pinhole into the rear handguard cap where the belt feed mechanism attaches. This would normally be on the reciever instead of the magwell but Im trying to make this in a way which requires as little modification to the base gun as possible. Once the belt feed assembly is made ill be making a box mag to slot onto it, fitting the guts of a 249 box in there, hpa tapping the original mag and drilling a hole in the front for bbs to feed in from a spring tube. Im not really a fan of hpa but for a gbb lmg like this its simply the best option. 

View attachment 127652

That'll be cool to see. My dad was working on his own using a tm as a base gun. Unfortunately as is to be expected from him it's fallen by the wayside

 
That'll be cool to see. My dad was working on his own using a tm as a base gun. Unfortunately as is to be expected from him it's fallen by the wayside
You posted this just before I was about to put an update on XD.  So originally I was trying to use the original mag and hide it inside the box mag which would have lead to a much larger box mag than reel steel. I was also considering chopping the mag in half and splicing it smaller until @The_Lord_Poncho Made a suggestion that had somehow entirely slipped my mind "3d print one" And so I have designed and printed a new bottom part using the top half of the original we magazine, no modification needed. To be clear this will be sent off to be machined or printed in metal before I use it but I have tested it by pumping it up very slightly with my hpa pump (while wearing safety glasses) and it does infact cycle the gun just fine though it leaks around the bolts even with o rings which a metal version will hopefully fix. Did also have to remove the paddle mag release to get the connector in a good spot. 

View attachment 128646View attachment 128645

having it this short also opens up an interesting possibility. I think I am going to add onto the bottom of it a dovetail or something similar and while I will make a box mag to use I am also considering a magazine adapter for vietnam style short m4 mags. With the belt feed mechanism and a short length of dummy 7.62 the mag would be barely noticeable and id be able to run the gun without the need for a box mag. Obviously Id need to get myself a supply of vn midcaps which are hard as hell to come across right now but I think this could be a great way to use it. If anyone has any suggestion's for some other 100 or so round midcaps that would be small enough to not be noticeable Id appreciate any ideas.  

Also 3d printed a guide to mark out the holes on the handguard and started drilling and cutting them into some 40mm aluminum pipe. The raised ridges on the handguard will be 3d printed additions and all of the small holes are threaded for m5 bolts so I can swap the ridges out for rail sections and the offset foregrip when I get around to modeling and printing it. 

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Was watching this last night & the last 10mins or so made me think it might give you some other options...



 
bottom half of the belt feed mech is getting there though I still need to build in a way to attach the box mag / mag adapter. Still tweaking the hpa adapter but it now only seems to leak from the bolt holes, the top half is entirely sealed so it may just be a matter of getting a metal one so I can better seal the threads. Decided for the vn mags ill be mounting it so they come in at an angle just below the feed ramp on the side so that the hanging belt can hide the end of it. should also mean I can get lower to the ground. I had a beaten up old tm g3 bipod and the hk21e bipod seems to use the same latch mechanism so i just chopped it a little shorter and made a new block for the top of it so it can slide into the handguard caps. 

View attachment 128959

 
He had these in the classifieds if you want one.
A printer? Wife won't let me have one of them. Ive got airsoft, pc gaming, lego and warhammer to hobby with. A printer will just be a death sentence for me. I'd have too much to print.

 
My son is floating the idea that we should get a 3D printer. I am not opposed to the idea but I first want to get some feedback from people who are using 3D printers for Airsoft (and other stuff). 

  • How much do you have to spend to get a decent one (not the cheapest and not the most expensive one)
  • Do you need to buy CAD software separate?
  • What are the material costs?
  • What size pieces can you print with Home 3D printers.
  • Any recommendations for 3D printers.

Thanks for your feedback and advice

 
My son is floating the idea that we should get a 3D printer. I am not opposed to the idea but I first want to get some feedback from people who are using 3D printers for Airsoft (and other stuff). 

  • How much do you have to spend to get a decent one (not the cheapest and not the most expensive one)
  • Do you need to buy CAD software separate?
  • What are the material costs?
  • What size pieces can you print with Home 3D printers.
  • Any recommendations for 3D printers.

Thanks for your feedback and advice
First decide if you pla (plastic) or sla (resin). Pla is more hardy and better for larger part whereas sla is better for smaller for detailed parts. 
 

Price wise you can spend £150 up to a couple of grand. I personally starting would spend no more than £300. Stick with the major brands like flashforge, creality or prusa etc. 

CAD can be expensive but you can download free CAD software or just use cults, thingiverse or something like that to download files. 
 

Slicers are free and should come with the printer. 
 

Parts size will depend on the printer but remember the bigger the print area the more money you will be paying. 
 

Costs personally are too much if you are only doing stuff for yourself. I use mainly resin and it can be £30-50 for a bottle of resin and it does last. 

hopefully that helps a bit 

 
I am currently looking at the Ender 3 V3 SE which looks quite interesting. That one would only be able to print PLA/PETG/ABS but I guess for Airsoft parts or parts around the house that is what you want.

 
I am currently looking at the Ender 3 V3 SE which looks quite interesting. That one would only be able to print PLA/PETG/ABS but I guess for Airsoft parts or parts around the house that is what you want.
Yeah they are decent printers. For most parts absolutely fine, I prefer resin for more detailed parts but they aren’t as hardwearing and you need to wash and cure. 
 

 
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