3D PRINTING

[rcs9250]

Wow. I just watched a commercial during a youtube video by a company called trilab3d.com/3D_Printer.
Appears they are a 3D printing machine manufacturer but the commercial was primarily showing flexible (rubber like) 3D
printed parts. Needless to say, the skies the limit there. Custom grips of all kinds, butt plates, handguards and more.

 

[Deleted member 49222]

Cool stuff, I'd love to just have a 3D printer.

 

[delooper]

Resin printers have been printing flexible objects for years. For example, the Formlabs printers.

 

[Heavyopp]

Looks to be somewhere around $4000 for that printer.

 

[rockbass147]

Wondering if they make a smaller version

 

[delooper]

Wondering if they make a smaller version

There's lots of affordable resin printers out there. Most have flexible resins available. The new(ish) ones (really, several years old now) that use UV lasers + a high-res LCD screen are probably the fastest resin printers out there. I've seen a few that allow flexible prints. Formlabs is probably the most expensive of the resin printers, and it's probably the lowest-maintenance as well, i.e. requires the least amount of skill. I was able to buy one with someone else's money (a grant associated to my job).

 

[scotton]

Could you not just print TPU in a $200 Ender? I guess what I'm asking is, is the flexible resin better than TPU for things like grips and eye cups?

 

[delooper]

Could you not just print TPU in a $200 Ender? I guess what I'm asking is, is the flexible resin better than TPU for things like grips and eye cups?

I haven't tried filament printing TPU so it's difficult for me to say. From what I can see from on-line videos you'd probably have to make a TPU print quite thin to make it "pleasantly flexible". I don't know how they hold up strength-wise when you make the prints thin, but that might be a consideration.

On the plus side for resin printers is you can mix resins with whichever properties you like. So if your prints are a little too flexible? Mix in some acrylic or glass-reinforced resins, etc. And you can stiffen it up a bit.

Filament printers are generally more affordable, and can print bigger objects. It costs more to print in resin, and most resin printers are smaller. Resin generally has more variation in material types, allowing mixing, etc. But given that filament printing is so popular I imagine the variation in available filaments is staggering nowadays. In resin I can print in ceramics, for example, and there's bio-compatible resins, can print in wax, etc.

 

[bigHUN]

Filament printed parts are ROUGH surface, resin is precise. The best to have both printers for a variety of parts dedicated for specifics.