Where did it go?

To the archive.

https://www.ar15.com/forums/AR-15/Retro-style-pistol-Blade-Brace-wasn-t-someone-here-working-on-these-/123-744656/?page=5

No advertising in tech.

Very cool! What are you printing these out of? PLA+ or something stronger?

PLA+, I’ve tried multiple other filaments but this is the one that prints the most consistently and easily, and these take a WHILE to print as is; the black color also gives it the braces a pseudo-glossy look. I know BigRix uses ASA but I hate dealing with ABS-based filaments, although I’ve designed some printed sub-caliber .45-.22 inserts for my own use that I might try to print out of ABS  for shits and giggles.

@Red_McCloud
Love your braces - have 5!!

Hey I remember your orders haha! The braces been working fine? If any of them break/have broken I have an improved model I can send your way.

I really do need more feedback on how my braces are doing; my own testing has been pretty limited due to my living conditions but after someone broke his by rubbing it against a plate carrier (print had an internal failure while printing I couldn’t notice) I strengthened the design a good bit, although I haven’t had any more brace orders to capitalize on that

The reason I went with ASA is because I was getting a lot of my braces that were warping in shipping. I live in Tucson and all our mail goes through Phoenix.
The first August Phoenix was hitting close to 120 degrees and stuff was deforming while sitting in a mail truck or warehouse. I tried PETG first but didn't think they looked very good.

ASA requires an enclosure for the printer and that helps with the odors as well. I print just about everything in it now.

That’s very good to know! How is the durability of ASA versus something like ABS, in your experience?

Have you considered offering (contracted) Nylon prints as an option (obviously for a higher cost)?

Idk if this is for me or BigRix, but I can say for me relative to my braces that nylon would cost an arm and a leg for a durability increase that isn’t entirely necessary. However I HAVE been looking at other types of filament in general, and the redesigns to my braces have made them quite a bit stronger at the cost of 33~% longer print time, which means I *could* probably have them cost more which would scare off even MORE people from getting one , but I’ve lowered the price as I have a good surplus of filament at this time.

Red, I've got the first version you did on my Commando clone and it's held up wonderfully over the last year.

That’s good to hear! The first ones I made definitely looked cruder than intended, but hearing that they’re holding up is music to my ears!

And as I’m printing the first of hopefully the final few prototypes of an M4 brace (NOT very retro, haha!) I do have a generalized question for the other retroheads out here;

What do YOU want to see be done with 3D-printing for retro ARs?

I’ve ran out of ideas when it comes to new things, and BigRix is handing the 607 stock stuff I had planned to work on when my schedule cleared up (and it hasn’t, for a while ) but I’m curious to see if anyone out there has any ideas that 3D-printing/additive manufacturing could handle?

For reference, here’s what I’ve managed:
-CAR brace
-N1 brace
-CAR and N1 style N23 braces
-LSW handguards (need to be reworked but no interest so ehh)
-607 rear cap
-and a few other smaller projects that I’ll probably just freely post online, if I finish them.

And before anyone asks ‘is this advertising’, Hell No, I’m advertising nothing, I’m just asking what people would want made in the future cuz doing this is fun and a niche few have filled before.
I love this community and the builds people have managed and would like to figure out how to further that!

For all the creators here, Shapeways offers SLS nylon. I have purchased actual gun parts from them and they are stupid strong. Price would go up, but it would be production quality and you don't have to life a finger...

Add another to the list, very much not retro but something I feel some people would very much like (ignore the coloration, that’s the test filament I’m using to identify errors in the process). I also got rid of the sling swivel attachment point for a slot to make it more like a shockwave/simpler.



Finally the family is completed!



…minus the 607 at least.



I wouldn’t have to lift a finger outside of repackaging them, yes, buuuuut



this pricing is a bit much. A bit. I’m not out here selling $225 braces, the market for that is smaller than the potential profit margin! The dude who was selling ‘nylon M4 braces’ who ended up never coming through was ‘selling’ them for about this price as is.