Hi everyone;
Those who frequent this section of the site are mostly aware that I've been working on design and implementation of a CF (carbon fiber) and PETG 3d printed moderator for about a year now.
The design is complete. The testers are happy. The device works and has been tested to about 80 foot pounds. It is a good moderator. It functions as a suppressor and as an air stripper and testers are reporting better accuracy with the device installed than without. It could be quieter but that would add cost and or degrade accuracy. It is a good compromise that stands on it's own beside the best names in the business.
It is available in .17, .20, .22, and .25 calibers and lengths between 110mm and 170mm. It is 30mm in diameter. The moderator features a helicoil insert in the plastic attachment. Getting that helicoil to be concentric in and parallel to the axis of the attachment and then getting attachment to do the same in the tube required the design of a number of (also printed) tools. I can now say that I can confidently build devices which do not clip when mounted on a barrel whose threading and bore are concentric and parallel even in runs as long as 170mm, possibly more. I can do that without additional machine shop tools. All the tools are also printed except the taps used and the metal parts of any jigs needed. The design and the process lend themselves to lost plastic casting. The tube could easily be replaced by a metal tube and a much more robust device then produced and costs could still be kept very, very low. That is a topic for a different forum as that product would certainly be NFA regulated. In other words the process itself is material agnostic and the device can be built with hand tools.
I have worked out the costs for all parts and materials (using FDM and plastics) and can build these moderators at costs which will allow me to sell them in quantity for prices between $45.00 and $60.00 shipped anywhere in CONUS. At that price I double my costs. That goes to labor and covers about 2 hours of labor per unit, possibly slightly less. A guy running two printers could produce enough parts for about three moderators per eight hour shift which he could also assemble. One person could easily run six printers in a production environment and produce perhaps ten units per man day.
I have no intention of doing that. I'll make a few now and then and sell them when my time permits. I have run afoul of Ebay (someone has complained (AKA shot himself in the foot)) and they have decided that airgun moderators violate their firearms policy They don't. You can find all sorts of airguns and airgun accessories including silencers and moderators with a simple search but once someone complains, good luck ever talking to a human without sending them a certified, notarized, registered letter ... in process.
Here are pictures of the final product as it stands today.
Mike Erskine
Systems Engineer
Those who frequent this section of the site are mostly aware that I've been working on design and implementation of a CF (carbon fiber) and PETG 3d printed moderator for about a year now.
The design is complete. The testers are happy. The device works and has been tested to about 80 foot pounds. It is a good moderator. It functions as a suppressor and as an air stripper and testers are reporting better accuracy with the device installed than without. It could be quieter but that would add cost and or degrade accuracy. It is a good compromise that stands on it's own beside the best names in the business.
It is available in .17, .20, .22, and .25 calibers and lengths between 110mm and 170mm. It is 30mm in diameter. The moderator features a helicoil insert in the plastic attachment. Getting that helicoil to be concentric in and parallel to the axis of the attachment and then getting attachment to do the same in the tube required the design of a number of (also printed) tools. I can now say that I can confidently build devices which do not clip when mounted on a barrel whose threading and bore are concentric and parallel even in runs as long as 170mm, possibly more. I can do that without additional machine shop tools. All the tools are also printed except the taps used and the metal parts of any jigs needed. The design and the process lend themselves to lost plastic casting. The tube could easily be replaced by a metal tube and a much more robust device then produced and costs could still be kept very, very low. That is a topic for a different forum as that product would certainly be NFA regulated. In other words the process itself is material agnostic and the device can be built with hand tools.
I have worked out the costs for all parts and materials (using FDM and plastics) and can build these moderators at costs which will allow me to sell them in quantity for prices between $45.00 and $60.00 shipped anywhere in CONUS. At that price I double my costs. That goes to labor and covers about 2 hours of labor per unit, possibly slightly less. A guy running two printers could produce enough parts for about three moderators per eight hour shift which he could also assemble. One person could easily run six printers in a production environment and produce perhaps ten units per man day.
I have no intention of doing that. I'll make a few now and then and sell them when my time permits. I have run afoul of Ebay (someone has complained (AKA shot himself in the foot)) and they have decided that airgun moderators violate their firearms policy They don't. You can find all sorts of airguns and airgun accessories including silencers and moderators with a simple search but once someone complains, good luck ever talking to a human without sending them a certified, notarized, registered letter ... in process.
Here are pictures of the final product as it stands today.
Mike Erskine
Systems Engineer
Last edited:
