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3D Printed VSR Magazine

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23K views 39 replies 15 participants last post by  bobcat  
B
#1 ·
Saw 1tonne ranting in reliku's VSR-R thread about manufacturers not making extended VSR magazines. Also saw what looked like reliku's solid VSR magazine model he printed.

Decided to try to 3D print a functional magazine. Here it is (silver) next to the original magazine (black).

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It's a rough prototype that was designed in two hours and printed in the morning. Due to a lack of sleep, it's missing some components like the indented grips to pull the magazine out, the bump latch thing on the rear, and the loading head is 2.9mm too large on both halves.

More pictures? What do you think?
 
#3 ·
what spring can use in that magazine xD ?
 
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#4 ·
Looks like you beat me to it making a functional one, hahaha! Looking good!

Indeed, it needs to be longer. Keep in mind what spring you're using, I'm using a double stacked one myself so I went with deeper grooves to fit a double stack of bb's. If you really want to make something with a high capacity then I think that is the way to go :yup:

Also, I made the top section a different part from the two main halves, because otherwise it's a PITA to print on an FDM printer.

Looking forward to how yours feeds... :)
 
#5 ·
Have you ever thought about making a long version of the standard magazine?
It would provide over 80bbs per magazine.

Not a bad idea IMO, good for skirmishes.
 
B
#6 ·
That was my goal- make a long magazine. I thought it would be a good idea to replicate the original magazine first to exact spec to get the fitment right. If that works, it won't be hard at all to just extend the bottom a little further out.

I'm planning on using a low-constant compression spring like any other you'd find in a magazine. Just have to find the right one...

I'll be printing the next version tonight; it'll be ready in the morning.

How long would be acceptably long? Like if it stuck out like an inch or two, maybe three?

Thanks for the feedback everyone!
 
#7 ·
I've designed mine to stick out about 5 cm, so about two inch. Double stacked with a spring from an SR25 magazine to hold 150 rounds. If you went with single stack you could do 80 that way wich would be nice. Single stack is more reliable too. The problem would be finding such a spring, like you said :hehe:
 
#9 ·
It's just a design for now, I haven't printed it yet. I haven't dine anything productive for the past month other than a pet project (which is pretty cool as well, it is sniper related but not sniper rifle related). I'll post details once I have them, haha. Currently too busy machining VSR-R's :hehe:

But don't worry, I'll post it... when it's done... :shrug:
 
B
#11 ·
Heh, I'll throw a rail on the bottom instead! Sure, you have to buy a new grip for every magazine, but whatever, right? *Undermagazine mounted grenade launchers*

I know for the Modelworks M40 stock, theres like an extra inch of space below the magazine. I've been wanting to make a flush mount magazine for that...

The extended magazines will probably be awkward to hold no matter...

--

Just another thing about my prototype. I was able to get a snap fit to work in addition to two screws, so I'm happy about that :D

You can see the extended lip on the top of this half that fits into a recessed pocket on the other half:

Image
 
B
#15 ·
Autodesk Inventor + Ultimaker 3. Super good combo :D

Autodesk said:
Free software access is available only for learning, teaching, training, and research and development. It cannot be used for commercial, professional or any other for-profit purposes.
Click to expand...
I'm researching and developing an additive manufactured magazine, so I'm covered there. It doesn't say much about collaboration, though. Only mentions for-profit uses. I'll look more into it.
 
M
#18 ·
Bobcat, if you're going to sell the design, then no sharing files... because you're not supposed to sell the design by the TOS. Sharing to collaborate and seek community help on an open source project should be good to go.
The chances of them litigating for you using a student license to design a part for small batch manufacture in such an obscure industry is however, near zero.. leaving only an ethical issue if you were to pursue commercializing the design. ;)
 
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#19 ·
I don't plan on commercializing the design because it's crazy uneconomical. I've got a 3D printer, but it takes 13 hours to make one regular sized magazine. Shapeways would cost about $40 as well, which is far off of the TM $10.

Plus, there isn't anything super proprietary about what I'm doing, so there's nothing stopping a guy from just designing the same thing and selling it.

Zuu said:
Here is a suggestion ... Put a pull on the bottom to yank out the mag or put in holes to thread a paracord loop.
Click to expand...
I actually did put an extra hole in the front of the first magazine for this purpose. You can probably see that in the OP, theres a small hole in front of that latch thing on the front.

Reliku said:
They're meant to be extended, so they stick out. No need to use paracord to pull it out of the magwell
Click to expand...
Annnnd thats why the V2 doesn't have that hole anymore :)
 
M
#20 ·
bobcat said:
I don't plan on commercializing the design because it's crazy uneconomical. I've got a 3D printer, but it takes 13 hours to make one regular sized magazine. Shapeways would cost about $40 as well, which is far off of the TM $10.
Click to expand...
If you really want a commercial grade solid end product, I'm gearing up to acquire some plastic manufacturing equipment within the next month, so I can turn all the 3D print ideas into viable durable goods...When you finalize the design/testing maybe you could send one to me and let me see what I can do. :)
 
B
#22 · (Edited)
Update time.

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Printed the V2 in the last bit of silver. Had an alignment issue, which was also present in the V1. You can see that in the feeding nozzle extrusion above; it's slightly off.

I tried to fix this in V3, where the alignment lips on the internals were replaced by locating holes instead. Problem is still present. Not a software thing - the two halves are perfect fits theoretically.

Here are all three versions together, in order (from left, V1-V2-V3)

Image


Here are the insides of each version. Notable changes here are the spring guide holder addition on the V2, and the lack of that hole we were talking about earlier for the magazine pull cord. On the V3 (red), the bottom guide rail for the spring has been filled in entirely instead of being a rail. This helped reduce print time by about an hour per half because it was less wall-making and more filling in.

The different locating holes on the V3 also make the magazine not snap together like the lips on the V1 and V2. This isn't a problem because either way I'll have screws holding it together, but still noteworthy.

There's also a new skeleton hole on the V3, but I'll be removing that for V4 to make it quicker to print.

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Jeez bob, V4 already? It's been less than a week! Yeah, 3D printing makes things quick :)

edit: I think I'll start designing the extended magazine soon. The alignment issue could be a problem with the Cura slicer for the Ultimaker 3 since it was a repeatable error through 3 prints. Again, CAD-wise, it's a perfect mirror part. The extended magazine shouldn't take too long to design, so I'd say perhaps it could have a V1 by the end of the week?
 
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