Posted on 01/28/2013 3:13:23 PM PST by marktwain
More 3D printed magazines coming. The people at Defense Distributed are hard at work creating files to print out popular magazines in standard capacities of 10, 15, 17, 25, 30, 33, and 40 rounds. At least one of the people working on the DefCad site has already printed a floor-plate and magazine body for a Glock pistol. The early Glock magazines were made of plastic, so they are well suited for this process.
We will not know how these designs will hold up until they are actually printed and tested. However, 30 round magazines that were prototyped for the KelTec PMR-30 were said to last for 100 to 150 rounds before cracking.
Defense Distributed has already prototyped and demonstrated 30 round magazines for the AR15 platform. The 30 round magazine requires an easily obtained steel spring, but the site has files for a 5 round magazine with a printed plastic spring.
Here is a list of the models that are being worked on at present:
Glock 17, 19, 26, 34, 17 round and 33 round.
AK type 30 round and 40 round.
Saiga 12 gauge 10 round.
S&W M&P .40 cal. 15 round.
The data files to print the magazines are expected to take a few weeks to produce. They will then be made available to the public.
KelTec Magazine Link
30 round magazines Link
5 round magazine Link
Dean Weingarten
My high cap Glock magazines are steel lined. Not sure how ABS will function without that feature. Flawlessly I hope. I have been looking for a good excuse to get a decent 3D printer. Come to think of it, my Shearer high cap Glock mags are polymer without steel lining and they work well so it will probably work.
3-d printer ping
I wonder why folks would get a ‘3D Printer’ for this. Mags are nothing but thin metal, base plate, follower, and spring. One would think that basic machine shops could make these. I’ve seen lots of plastic AR mags, one wouldn’t really need machines for those. Just raw material, and moldings for the mag housing, base plate, and followers. Insert spring, and your done.
I could be ignorant here, as I’ve never tried it.
Injection molding machines and steel molds are more expensive to buy and make than a 3D printer.
Steel fabrication requires tools and skill too.
3D printing requires little or no skill.
The early Glock mags were not steel lined, I have read.
3D printed magazines? I really only read them for the articles...
Stamped steel or aluminum magazines aren’t as easy as they look. You have to make stamps and dies, and then you need a strong press to make the halves. The stamp and die will have to be machined to close tolerances, but with a small CNC machine, this could be done. The problem is, this would have to be machined in steel, and the steel would need to be pretty hard before using them for stamping out halves. You’ll also need a pretty hefty press - like 50 to 100 ton presses to get the crisp corners.
Then you need to weld the halves together. In industrial-scale manufacturing, this will be done repeatably and quickly. For a guy like me, making maybe a dozen in my shop, I can TIG weld the halves together and machine or file off the excess bead. But TIG welding on metal that thin is a skill most people won’t have.
OK, so the next tactic would be to injection-mold plastic or polymer into a mold. Making molds isn’t easy, either.
Compared to stamping and welding metal magazines or injection molding them... for someone who doesn’t have machining skills or a CNC machine, what they’re doing with a 3D printer is a logical path to explore.
“Stamped steel or aluminum magazines aren’t as easy as they look.”
Speak for yourself. You can’t make any money making them, but they’d be easy. After these magazines become illegal, there will be a cottage industry producing them cheaply and well.
The early Glock magazines were made of plastic, so they are well suited for this process.
The early magazines were, if I remember right, metal lined on 3 sides, with metal feed lips. (Current mags are metal on 4 sides.)
The "problem" with them was that the sides swelled slightly, and they did not drop free. Folks complained, and now they're fully lined.
They’ll be easy once you have the stamp and die.
And that’s where most people are going to have a problem. If you’re going to make them out of steel, you will need to use steel for the stamp and die.
For me, this won’t be a hassle at all. For most people, who don’t have a Bridgeport or CNC mill to make the stamp and die... it’s going to be a lot more challenging.
As I said, for people who don’t have machines at their disposal, the 3D printing of magazines looks very attractive.
I have to agree. What is the big deal? I can answer that question in at least one way. The ability of the majority to perform basic manual labor is shaping, forming and constructing metal is being left behind. However, the ability to buy the printer, insert the stock, press Enter, and have a cup of coffee, is just too dam easy.
The mags cracked? Where’s the dam duct tape? Baling wire? Clothes hangers?
“They’ll be easy once you have the stamp and die.”
You don’t need dies. That’s silly.
You don’t “need” dies. But making one 30-round magazine without one will take you most of forever to attempt to get the bend correct.
You could make 20 round magazines with a brake, but not the 30 rounders.
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