3D printers

[Dlane]

Hi all, thinking of getting a 3D printer “ Amazon ender s1” to make gun holster models to mold leather on and some stamps. 1, will it work ?,  2 ,are they expensive to operate “ energy wise” . 3, where can I get files of several hand gun profiles ?.  Any advice or info greatly appreciated.

Thanks 

[ArkieNewbie]

57 minutes ago, Dlane said:

Hi all, thinking of getting a 3D printer “ Amazon ender s1” to make gun holster models to mold leather on and some stamps. 1, will it work ?,  2 ,are they expensive to operate “ energy wise” . 3, where can I get files of several hand gun profiles ?.  Any advice or info greatly appreciated.

Thanks 

The electricity cost wouldn't even cross my mind! I have run my Ender 3 Max, resin printer, and two diode lasers at the same time and have not noticed any difference in my electric bills. 

Will it work? My best answer is, probably. I would probably print them in ABS to be sure they would hold up to repeated use. PLA tends to be pretty brittle. The other cost of printing, the filament, is not really going to be an issue either. A 1KG roll of Hatchbox, my favorite brand, is about $25. That roll should last your through several models. 

The files are the big issue. I have spent a lot of time looking and have found some files, just not good ones. The problem I have encountered is ensuring they are to 100% scale of the original gun. The worst thing is spending 8-10 hours on a print just to realize the model is too small. 

If someone here has a good source for files I would love to have that as well. 

[Littlef]

+1.  The electricity and filament costs would be minimal. The challenge will be finding ready made files available for "free" download with accurate dimensions.  The file is only as good as the skill of whoever wrote it.  Blue gun files are out there, but there is no guarantee as to the level of their accuracy, and there's no guarantee there's a ready made file for every model of gun you would need, just sitting out there for download.  You would probably need to spend time to learn to use a CAD program to be able to create your own file .... or tweak an existing file to ensure its within proper spec.    That's certainly a worthy skill to have, but you would need to determine how much time and effort you are willing to put towards it.

[kgg]

3 hours ago, Dlane said:

thinking of getting a 3D printer “ Amazon ender s1” to make gun holster models to mold leather on and some stamps. 1, will it work ?,  2 ,are they expensive to operate “ energy wise” . 3, where can I get files of several hand gun profiles ?

Yes you can use a 3D printer to do your molds, the cost of operation is very little at pennies a print to use. The major cost of operating a 3D printer is going to be the type and quality of filament you decide to purchase. Some people like the Enders I prefer the Prusa's but they are a lot more expensive. If you want very nice finishes I would suggest you go with a resin printer. Finding accurate files is going to be a chore as there are so many manufacturers and models available. Otherwise you need that particular model of gun and either 3D scan it or be very good with a micrometer and have some CAD skills.

kgg

[fredk]

I bought a resin printer. The resin costs about the same or less than the filament. The printer is very compact, much smaller than filament printers. Power use is very minimal. Downside is there are smells from the resin, although I use water-based resin and the smells are no worse that some smells from dyes and solvents I use with leather. Also, I can only print something about 7 inches x 5 inches x 5 inches tall, so a gun would need to be done in sections, but a large bed filament printer could do it in one. I did come across some files for guns but they were very generic looking. I don't think they had all the right shapes in certain areas for the guns they were supposed to be so I'd not trust them for making holsters. 

[K5HEP]

The Ender 3 Max is the filament printer that I would recommend because of the bed size needed to print a mold gun. As mentioned above PLA filament will not work well - it would probably a one time use thing. PETG or ABS filament is what you would need to use with ABS being the best. You will need a vent system for ABS due to the fumes produced when printing. As mentioned above - the CAD files needed to print a accurate mold gun are like "unicorn horns".. You will need to be able to design your own and good CAD software is expensive. 

[HaloJones]

If you do go down the route of making your own files, you have the option to sell them to cover your time costs 

[chrisash]

For thin objects like a template then PET-G is far strong enough without the fumes of ABS , I also find it relatively quite flexible and light enough to be dropped without damage, plus very easy to use. For templates the time on something as large as a gun holster would be probably a couple of hours at most

[$$hobby]

Welcome

not sure abotu what gun models you need to make.  But have you considered just buying what you can?   There are people selling them  New or used?

we use both types of printers (plastic) at work, and i can tell you, none of them will hold up to use as a "stamp".  there are metal type printers now.  We dont have one, yet and i havent seen one.

But if you are really serious, dont ask on here.

Go out and see what you can find locally.  use your google fu and start looking for places that have them in use.  you may find some place that offeres to "rent/buy" time on them and go from there.  Heck, they may have a metal type too.

while they are getting cheaper year after year, imo, i woudnt buy one now unless you really really NEED one.  Chances are the technology will only improve--- if you are old enough, think back to the cell phones.  If you remember how the 1st ones were literally bricks.

and if you really really need one, i would just find a place to rent/buy time and use them to LEARN how they work.  The printer is the endpoint.  what will you use for the modeling?   that way if you screw up buying one, you wont regret it. then make some of the stuff you want.  see if the part ends up working as you envision it.  And at one time there were places you could buy time on their machines.  IIRC, there was a place on the east coast that had a whole bunch of equipment you could do prototyping.  

good luck

 

 

 

[steveleather]

Many states have a "hackers-space" that offer i interested people the access and  use of lesser common tools like 3 d printers