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3d printed titanium

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Quentyn

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One of my other hobbies is cycling where 3D printed titanium is really starting to take off.. I am really surprised that I haven't seen more parts for air rifles in 3D printed titanium. It appears that you can make virtually impossible to machine shapes and you can make things as light as possible while still maintaining strength

I bought a bike mount for my cycle computer today and it's a thing of beauty almost a shame to put on my bike :)

Are there many accessories in 3D printed titanium that people have seen? I could imagine that sound moderators will probably start to come in 3D printed titanium at some point? Trigger guards and stock parts were also make sense too ?
 
Considering the machines to do this cost the same as a 3 bed detached house I think we're a long way off. I first saw them used in F1 factories, RedBull in MK had one way back in 2015.

I don't see why you would need those advantages on a rifle though
 
Benjamin69 said:
Considering the machines to do this cost the same as a 3 bed detached house I think we're a long way off. I first saw them used in F1 factories, RedBull in MK had one way back in 2015.

I don't see why you would need those advantages on a rifle though
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Agreed, not when a lump of bluetac would achieve the same result :)
 
Benjamin69 said:
Considering the machines to do this cost the same as a 3 bed detached house I think we're a long way off. I first saw them used in F1 factories, RedBull in MK had one way back in 2015.

I don't see why you would need those advantages on a rifle though
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They must be coming down in price as I just bought a cycle computer mount for about £70 - it is a thing of beauty.

As for advantages - the fact that you can make something very lightweight and very strong which surely be an advantage in anything forwards of the trigger ?
 
Quentyn said:
One of my other hobbies is cycling where 3D printed titanium is really starting to take off.. I am really surprised that I haven't seen more parts for air rifles in 3D printed titanium. It appears that you can make virtually impossible to machine shapes and you can make things as light as possible while still maintaining strength

I bought a bike mount for my cycle computer today and it's a thing of beauty almost a shame to put on my bike :)

Are there many accessories in 3D printed titanium that people have seen? I could imagine that sound moderators will probably start to come in 3D printed titanium at some point? Trigger guards and stock parts were also make sense too ?
Click to expand...
I also have been watching the cycling world using this new found technology, would probably come out in 2 to 3 years, FX airgun might come out i think with something as they are the more active company that is pushing new cutting edge design and application.
 
Quentyn said:
They must be coming down in price as I just bought a cycle computer mount for about £70 - it is a thing of beauty.

As for advantages - the fact that you can make something very lightweight and very strong which surely be an advantage in anything forwards of the trigger ?
Click to expand...

You could of saved £75 by skipping lunch and saved more weight...

Follow me for more pro cycling tips 🤣
 
The answer is a simple as no true consumer grade machines exist yet for hobbyists. The consumer level machines around at the moment are still really targeted at businesses and cost in the multiple thousands.

There's been some talk and even demos of a consumer level machine at a couple of the big £D Printing events over the last couple of years, but nothing has made it to market yet. From memory they where aiming at a sub 2.5k dollar price.
 
A Ti 3d printed trigger guard would be a very expensive way to save a gram or two over a bit of bent aluminium. Although for the prices some high end rifles go for, I am a bit surprised we haven't seen more companies use it just for the sake of bling

Si Titor said:
Companies like pcbway.com will print Titanium items for you.
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Hmm, I wonder if they can print a good enough surface finish for a springer piston? That could be a fun project
 
I'd just like basic good quality equipment, carefully assembled and set up. It's this invisible yet expensive investment in a product that is difficult to market but crucial for performance.

Even top level target rifles often have basic faults.
 
Quentyn said:
I could imagine that sound moderators will probably start to come in 3D printed titanium at some point?
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There are other (cheaper) options though e.g. I use moderators machined from black Delrin on both my rifles. Those work really well ... lighter than standard and a 'deader' sound (being non-metallic). Much more resistant to scratches/scuffs too.

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Other than wanting a bit of 'bling' (which is fine btw) I can't see that titanium would give any real advantage.

I have a titanium air tube on one rifle as there's a big weight saving vs. the original steel one, but I doubt many would trust 3D printing for that. My other rifle has an alloy tube as standard.
 
One of the areas that I suspect that we will start to see 3D printed titanium is in the area of breach blocks. One of the advantages of 3D printing is that you can create whatever shape you can imagine. When I look at some of the breach blocks you can see that they've been machined that way due to the requirements of the machining process. There's lots of angle on them but quite frankly look ugly, if they swap across to something like 3D printed titanium then they can start to have much more organic looks and start to introduce curves. Not sure if I trust it for pressure bearing parts - so insert maybe needed but I'll definitely be interested to see the first manufacturer to move away from traditional milled aluminium and start to introduce some real style to their guns :)
 
Welding Titanium is a pretty complicated process so "printing" it must use some fancy machine
 
You can get some ‘metal-like’ plastics these days, expensive though…

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It depends on the application, but I’ll probably try and make some things with PPA-CF just ‘becuase’! 😆

I haven’t bought any of it yet, but do have some of the PAHT-CF (ie new version of PC-CF) just a shame they don’t have a few different colours.

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