Has anyone tried resin printed baffles? How did they hold up and what level of power have you put thru the moderator? What type of resin did you use?
Resin printed baffles
- Thread starter LDP
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Used cheap PLA and PETG and both held up to 70+ FPE just fine. Durability has more to do with print quality, baffle and joint design more so than just material.
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resin prints are more fragile than filament prints. I make moderators out of aluminum but looking at possibly using printed baffles with a resin printer.
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It is true that resin printed items aren’t as strong but if you have to use resin then make the baffle and joints thicker. Resin is designed to print in high detail and expensive so might want to look into a filament printer, much cheaper and less mess.
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Ya I am looking into both. I looked at filament printers a couple years ago and it seemed they had enough issues I passed on the idea at the time.
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I am using engineering grade resins for my engineering design prototypes. These resins can cost between $50 to $200 a 1/2 liter bottle. I even started playing - mixing some in different ratios.
I can recommend a eSUN Hard Tough (black or gray or blue) 300 ml + 100 ml Shiraya Tenacious (transparent) that is a ratio 3:1 and that gives you ABS like but machinable parts, you can mill-lathe-drill-thread. These two are relatively middle priced but better quality resins.
I made a detailed work process, my printer is inside a tent with full temperature and moisture control, air filtering, auto power down, 5 steps washing before UV, and also I am doing annealing on my parts after curing.
Back to OP. I would not do baffles but a single core inside that tube.
I can recommend a eSUN Hard Tough (black or gray or blue) 300 ml + 100 ml Shiraya Tenacious (transparent) that is a ratio 3:1 and that gives you ABS like but machinable parts, you can mill-lathe-drill-thread. These two are relatively middle priced but better quality resins.
I made a detailed work process, my printer is inside a tent with full temperature and moisture control, air filtering, auto power down, 5 steps washing before UV, and also I am doing annealing on my parts after curing.
Back to OP. I would not do baffles but a single core inside that tube.
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bigHUN is offering pretty solid advice.
As he mentions, "resin" does not mean much on its own. Which resin do you want to print with?
You can print in resins that are extremely rigid with glass fibre in it. That can shatter on impact with a round.
But you can also print in resins that have quite a variety of elasticity. These (if done right) can survive a collision with a round, taking minimal damage. Similarly they can sustain air-pressure shocks without cracking.
The resin you'll want to use will depend on your specific application. I imagine if you do the "single core in a carbon-fibre tube", something like what bigHUN is suggesting, something like a mixture 50/50 of ApplyLabWorks "Expert black" with "Robust champagne" would be great. If you don't need the moderator to be integral to the geometry, i.e. say if it isn't threaded onto the barrel you could probably get away with something closer to 20/80 and it would be extremely durable.
I 3d print quite a lot of things and have gravitated to the ApplyLabWorks engineering resins.
The cheaper and more typical resins used on resin printers are often called "modelling" resins. When printed, they feel quite a bit like a stiff acrylic. They shatter easily and behave quite a bit like glass. But there are plenty of different mix resins that have many other properties. You can even print in ceramic-style resins. Once you print them, you burn them out in a kiln and they are functionally like a 3d-printed ceramic and can sustain temperatures well beyond the flash point of plastics or woods.
As he mentions, "resin" does not mean much on its own. Which resin do you want to print with?
You can print in resins that are extremely rigid with glass fibre in it. That can shatter on impact with a round.
But you can also print in resins that have quite a variety of elasticity. These (if done right) can survive a collision with a round, taking minimal damage. Similarly they can sustain air-pressure shocks without cracking.
The resin you'll want to use will depend on your specific application. I imagine if you do the "single core in a carbon-fibre tube", something like what bigHUN is suggesting, something like a mixture 50/50 of ApplyLabWorks "Expert black" with "Robust champagne" would be great. If you don't need the moderator to be integral to the geometry, i.e. say if it isn't threaded onto the barrel you could probably get away with something closer to 20/80 and it would be extremely durable.
I 3d print quite a lot of things and have gravitated to the ApplyLabWorks engineering resins.
The cheaper and more typical resins used on resin printers are often called "modelling" resins. When printed, they feel quite a bit like a stiff acrylic. They shatter easily and behave quite a bit like glass. But there are plenty of different mix resins that have many other properties. You can even print in ceramic-style resins. Once you print them, you burn them out in a kiln and they are functionally like a 3d-printed ceramic and can sustain temperatures well beyond the flash point of plastics or woods.
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In theory, the nature of the resin system in the moderator could absorb more “sound” energy than comparable metal parts. Making a “foam” containing analog should also dampen sound.
Has there been any study on this? Improving noise suppression, I mean.
Has there been any study on this? Improving noise suppression, I mean.
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I am sure it would. Metal tubes resonate sound and foam should change tone of the frequency.
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I ordered a filament printer that gets delivered today. I have a baffle design thats used in suppressors that are made at a machine shop that is in one of our buildings at work. Its very similar to a design I used when I first started making airgun moderators so I think it will work good. I have my outer tube threaded for the end caps and waiting for the printed parts for testing and modifications if necessary. This will be interesting seeing how a printed baffle setup compares to my machined moderator designs.
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I got my printer setup last night. It was pretty easy and fast. I did the auto bed level then picked a rabbit to print of the three included files and hit print. The rabbit came out really good and clean. So I opened my baffle design and sent it to the printer.
I feel like the baffle came out good. Over all I am very happy with the pain free results I got especially without any tweaking and being the first part that I designed to be printed.
I feel like the baffle came out good. Over all I am very happy with the pain free results I got especially without any tweaking and being the first part that I designed to be printed.
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That looks pretty good! Do you have any idea how much that part cost you? A lot of slicers will estimate that for you.
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The estimate that was shown might be off because I didnt set it up before starting the print but the cost of the spool that was already recorded was more than my filament cost. With that pre entered info it said my part cost .25 cents. I will be doing some more printing tonight and this weekend so I will setup the filament info and see what it says.
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I thought that part looked like a filament printed part. I misunderstood. That's probably about right for that part. Are you using PLA? LOL all I needed to do was read what you had written.
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Ya this print was done with PLA. I will be experimenting with some other filaments and designs over the coming weeks.I thought that part looked like a filament printed part. I misunderstood. That's probably about right for that part. Are you using PLA? LOL all I needed to do was read what you had written.
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I have a spool of it and that was the next print I planned on doing.PETG
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Only major advantage PETG has is higher temp resistance, it's usually very easy to print just like PLA as long as you get a good setting that can put down a good first layer. I have few test moderators printed in PLA that has been fine on guns that are shooting 70-80 FPE. So when it comes to durability PLA isn't as good as PETG but still quite sufficient, granted for final product I would still recommend PETG.
Key to first layer with PETG is as clean as possible plate with a very thin layer of strong hairspray or glue. Keep in mind most of the time you don't need the hairspray or glue for good first layer if your plate is clean and at a good temp but the glue helps with release of PETG once the plate has cooled.
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“PLA Pro” (overture is the brand) is a modified pla that is much tougher than regular pla - less brittle for sure. I have pla pro baffles in a talondor shroud that have held up to hundreds of 140-165fpe shots.
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After printing some in standard pla I have no doubt they are plenty durable. I might try some other filament at some point but I dont feel its necessary.
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