It's been mentioned on the forum before the feasibility of 3D printing P220 10-round magazine sleeves.

I have exactly 1. Anyone willing to take of the project that is knowledgeable about 3D printing I'd gladly pay for the effort.

Let me know.

Are you just looking for someone to print an existing model off for you, or are you asking for help creating the model as well? If so, is there an existing design you are trying to adapt/modify, or would this essentially be starting from scratch? Just trying to get a better idea of the scope of what you are looking at doing. I am, by no means, even mildly competent at CAD, but I do own a shitty FDM printer.

- Bret

All I have right now is the plastic part I would like to replicate.

Nothing in the way of design for printing yet.

100% from scratch at this point.

There is software that will do a 3-D "scan" with a camera of a arbitrary object. The you have to run this model through "slicer" software that turns the 3-D file into a set of layers to be printed by the 3-D printer. Then this byte stream has to be fed to the printer to get it to print a duplicate. Note that attention has to be paid to the object's orientation so that subsequent layers have enough support to not collapse earlier-printed layers. There are printers that address this issue by filling in unsupporte areas with water-soluble printed filler, but these are far less common, and more expensive than run-of-the-mill 3-D printers. An open space object like a magazine body is among the most difficult shapes to print. Here is what I'd recommend:

1) Go onto Thingiverse and other print file repositories, and search for object already designed, or similar to what you want.
2) find a local geek with a high end 3-D printer who is willing to print the job, either for remuneration, or for fun (a local 3-D printing club might be the best place to look for this). Be prepared to have to learn a new language to be able to communicate with these individuals.

The other way to go, buying a 3-D printer and doing it yourself involves a long and steep learning curve with no guarantee of successful results. There are significant computer skills needed as well as learning how to best configure and operate the printer itself.

As a side note, I have found that most of the books, e.g. "3-D Printing for Dummies" are worse than useless as they are mostly focused on specific 3-D printers, and software, most of which have become outdated by time of publication. None of those I have seen provide specific details on how to actually plan and execute a printing job for a first-timer.

quote:

Originally posted by OttoSig:
All I have right now is the plastic part I would like to replicate.

Nothing in the way of design for printing yet.

100% from scratch at this point.

Can you post a pic of the thing you want to copy? I can at least look around and see any anyone has modeled something similar.

- Bret

This is what I’m looking to make.

I think I can help you with that, sir.
Can you lend me your original for a couple of days? And do you need that original texture on the outside?

quote:

Originally posted by vthoky:
I think I can help you with that, sir.
Can you lend me your original for a couple of days? And do you need that original texture on the outside?

Dan,
I’ll email you.

I’ve got your message — I have some thoughts on that texture. Let’s see what we can accomplish!