# 3D printed Slingshots!



## Btoon84 (Nov 22, 2011)

I just made a friend who happens to have a 3D printer!!! and i'm dying to get a slingshot outta that thing! I just have to get a design into STL format. A type of file used by 3D printers. There is some serious potential with this thing. The machine can be built by anyone. (Well mostly anyone) What's cool is that the designs are all "open source". Makerbot Industries has the Thing O Matic as it is commonly called, basically takes whatever image you give it and prints it out using a thermoplastic extruder across a variable axis. Picture it being made layer by layer stacked up until the image is what you intended. And the material used is ABS plastic. The same stuff legos are made with! This machine actually prints it's own parts. pretty cool.

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This website shows how you can build your own, or purchase one. It also answers all the questions you could have about it that are beyond this little post.

http://wiki.makerbot...ly-instructions

Has anyone used google sketchup for a 3D model of a slingshot? I just downloaded it and have been playing around with it. Seems to have some potential once i get used to the program. Anyone have any other good free CAD programs to mention. Need to get a slingshot design into STL format...

THANKS and Have a good one


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## flippinout (Jul 16, 2010)

I use these quite a bit for prototyping ideas. My dad holds the very first patent for this technology and it has come a looooong way in the last 20 years. The technology is getting easier to use and very cost effective.

Cool stuff for certain


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## Btoon84 (Nov 22, 2011)

Thats so funny you say that nathan, i was just about to foward you the link to that because i thought it was right up your alley! weird.


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## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

By all means, give it a try and let us know how it works out. I am very curious.

Cheers ...... Charles


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## orcrender (Sep 11, 2010)

Maker Bot has a new model out that will do 2 colors with 2 printheads. It costs around $1700 dollars. There are some sci-fi modeling clubs that have bought the older version for the club to use. Now instead of buying several model kits for parts they design and print.


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## Btoon84 (Nov 22, 2011)

very cool orcrender, some interesting possibilities here.


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## orcrender (Sep 11, 2010)

I have seen one that lays down layers of a binding agent that is then covered over with metal powder and repeated just like the Maker Bot. After the printing they showed the item going into an oven or furnance. When they came out they were fused metal. This was on a Modern Marvels show I think.


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## Hrawk (Oct 25, 2010)

Btoon84 said:


> Has anyone used google sketchup for a 3D model of a slingshot? I just downloaded it and have been playing around with it. Seems to have some potential once i get used to the program. Anyone have any other good free CAD programs to mention. Need to get a slingshot design into STL format...


If you draw your slingshot in Sketch Up, I can convert to an .STL file for you.


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## Btoon84 (Nov 22, 2011)

oh cool hrawk thanks. i'm going to try and learn how to draw it up tonight. hopefully i can get one on sketchup soon. (pass the sketchup please: )


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## Hrawk (Oct 25, 2010)

Shoot me a PM with your email address, I'll turn my Dragon design into an STL for you so you have something to play with.


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## Btoon84 (Nov 22, 2011)

well thats nice of ya. PM sent buddy.


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## Hrawk (Oct 25, 2010)

Got it bloke, I've emailed you through an STL version of my Dragon slingshot.

Have fun and get pics !


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## Bill Hays (Aug 9, 2010)

This is very interesting.
I have actually been looking into this (casually) for a very specific purpose.... handedness.
If I were to make a slingshot that fits the left hand hold style specifically, and have it absolutely perfect to my way of thinking... it would be nice to know if I can simply scan the image in of the left hand hold piece and simply reverse the image to get a right hand hold model... I haven't found a place that says it can be done this way... and that's what's really held me back in purchasing a 3D printer unit.


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## Hrawk (Oct 25, 2010)

Bill Hays said:


> This is very interesting.
> I have actually been looking into this (casually) for a very specific purpose.... handedness.
> If I were to make a slingshot that fits the left hand hold style specifically, and have it absolutely perfect to my way of thinking... it would be nice to know if I can simply scan the image in of the left hand hold piece and simply reverse the image to get a right hand hold model... I haven't found a place that says it can be done this way... and that's what's really held me back in purchasing a 3D printer unit.


Hey Bill,

Once you have the image in 3D, this is a single mouse click, using the mirror function.


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## Bill Hays (Aug 9, 2010)

Well that would be perfect then for making masters for casting then.... the one's I've been using lately are actually high end presentation type pieces and all that's really required is a plastic piece that can hold the form in the sand.


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## Hrawk (Oct 25, 2010)

Be sure to check out the end results from these printers before handing out hard earned cash. You might be very unimpressed with the finish quality. Sometimes they need so much finishing work, it would be easier to start with a lump of wood.


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## Btoon84 (Nov 22, 2011)

agreed hrawk. sometimes they just don't print well. but i have seen impressive results from units that are fine tuned.


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## Manx (Aug 29, 2012)

Btoon is there an update to this. I'm wonderign how your project went as i'm considering makign my own design


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## Shazam (Jul 2, 2012)

This was the first thing i saw on 3D printing last year. Amazing!


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## Manx (Aug 29, 2012)

shazam i've been aware of 3d printing for probably 20 years. But its only in the past few years that its gotten cheap enough for me to afford a printer.


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## Shazam (Jul 2, 2012)

I'd never heard of it until last year


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## Hrawk (Oct 25, 2010)

The current advances in DMLS (Direct Metal Laser Sintering) are really blowing my mind. The accuracy and strength are fantastic. Can't wait to play with one!


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## Hrawk (Oct 25, 2010)




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## Rapier (May 28, 2011)

Oh yeah. I want one of them 3D metal jiggers. the crap I could make....


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## reecemurg (Oct 9, 2011)

looks cool ,, has a catty be made yet ??


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## Manx (Aug 29, 2012)

reportedly someone has printed out an ar15 lower reciever and made it into a 22lr pistol from the blog post the creator has fired around 200 rounds through the pistol. now the concerns i would have are the structural integrity of the abs after say 30 rounds of quick fire due to the heat fromt he barel but the barel is attached to the upper which from what i read was not made of plastic but still the residual heat may affect warping.


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## mrpaint (May 16, 2012)

Manx said:


> reportedly someone has printed out an ar15 lower reciever and made it into a 22lr pistol from the blog post the creator has fired around 200 rounds through the pistol. now the concerns i would have are the structural integrity of the abs after say 30 rounds of quick fire due to the heat fromt he barel but the barel is attached to the upper which from what i read was not made of plastic but still the residual heat may affect warping.


the lower on an ar-15 doesn't take much stress during firing, even repeated firing, it is just a housing the the trigger assembly, and a base for the upper to sit on. now if he made an upper with a printer, I would want to be as far away as possible when it was shot, it would fail, probably quickly.


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## orcrender (Sep 11, 2010)

Hrawk that video is the same process I tried to explain. I should have hunted for the video.


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## dkdude7 (Jun 25, 2012)

Yep just yesterday I got to go see how these 3d printers work. I actually saw the same model that you posted when it was working. Making a slingshot from one is quite iffy though. Since 3d printing is a process of slowing building your 3d model by laying it layer by layer, and this 3d printer model is very inaccurate and the finish is sloppy, I would much rather make a slingshot from a block of wood than that thing... but if you have the money prototyping with it would be fun. 
Google Sketchup should be perfect for your needs, but I find it very frustrating in its functionality and efficiency. 
That's my 2 cents


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## Manx (Aug 29, 2012)

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/formlabs/form-1-an-affordable-professional-3d-printer?ref=live

They just started selling these a few days ago i thought soem might be interested as the price is un believable


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## Imperial (Feb 9, 2011)

?


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## orcrender (Sep 11, 2010)

Looks nice if you have about $2700 laying around.


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## Rapier (May 28, 2011)

I heard on Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcast they made an ol' lady an entire lower jaw outa titanium with one. beats the heII outa bone grafts. Is much quicker with 60% less recovery time and costs a ton less to boot. It said you can even make components with internal moving parts! Should think the model they use for this sort of stuff would come at a ludicrous cost though but hey, microwaves once sold for $7,000 now I can get one for $70.00


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## Manx (Aug 29, 2012)

http://store.solidoodle.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=59&product_id=79 Well my 3d printer is now on hold soildoodle let me know mine would be shipped in 19 days then they go and release the next version of it for pree order which gives about double the build area. Fortunately they let me upgrade my order and i should now get it in january

sigh


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