# 3D Printed Pouch Pocket Dies and Tying Tool



## calinb (Apr 4, 2015)

It took me three tries to get the size I wanted (middle). 50 cal. steel is shown and I might make another set of dies just a touch larger, but need to shoot some of my formed pouches first:









Printed in nylon. The great thing about prototyping with CAD solid modelling and a 3D printer is it's easy to tweak designs!









Just moisten a little and press:









If you happen to have a Swiss Zyliss vice, you also have a pouch tying jig! No need to crank the vice; just push the red the quick release button and slide the left hand side jaw back and forth to position it where you need it for clamping and then stretching the bands. I 3D printed some tapered feet to only contact the middle of flat bands, as recommended by Bill Hays to get the bands for pinch / fold over on themselves. Sorry--I'm too lazy to set it up with bands for the photo right now, but you know how these jigs work already:

















In addition to actual slingshots, there are probably dozens of SS widgets and tools I could design and 3D print!


----------



## shew97 (Feb 13, 2014)

You make some mighty neat and cool stuff with a 3D printer!


----------



## gonene1 (May 24, 2015)

If You'll make some for 3/8 and have them for sale , I'll buy a couple to test.

Today i put some tubes on my new WIP slingshot and tested it.

I got so many flyers maybe 90% of the shots that made me think that something is wrong with the frame.

but I knew better then to blame the frame .

I could get great accuracy even bareback shooting just a week ago.

I did not shoot for a week , and something got lost.

it was all to do with the pouch grip , and after i consciously worked on the pouch grip , i got my accuracy back with my new slingshot as well.

no doubt developing a pouch which helps with consistent ball release , can be the number one key factor for accuracy shooting .


----------



## calinb (Apr 4, 2015)

Maybe I'll become a forum vendor and start selling some of these 3D printed widgets (and others) someday. I've made three pouch sizes so far. The large one is best for rock chucker size pouches (like Tex-Shooter's large size). Here are the two smaller sizes with 1/2" and 3/8" steel for reference. The pouch without bands is from a Tex-Shooter bandset. Thex-Shooter only sells his formed pouches with his bandsets. His bare pouches are unformed and I used them to make the formed pouch bandsets below. They are Tex's "standard" and "small" size pouches. I think the standard works best for 5/8" to 1/2" steel and the small is best for 1/2" to 3/8" steel. I might make a new small die to deepen the pocket a bit more, but it works fine as shown.

All these pouches have shot a few to several hundred rounds of ammo. I've use my 3D printed nylon dies on PocketPredator, Trumark, Daisy, and my own home cut cowhide pouches. They all worked very well, except the cowhide on my Trumark pouches was kind of soft and floppy and did not take as definitive of a pocket set, compared to the others. The formed pocket on was still a useful centering aid with the Trumark, however.

I moisten the leather in the pocket area before forming and use an arbor press. Because the are not made of metal, the nylon dies can bend and deform, if not placed between metal plates when subjected to clamping pressure. If backed with metal (the base of my arbor press) or metal plates to cover the length and width of the die, they should last a very long time. I've put as much as 1000 pounds on them using my arbor press, but usually use about half that much clamping force. I don't really know the minimum force required, but 500 lbs is adequate--at least when the pouch area is moistened. I let the pouches dry after forming and the pouch area softens right up again very quickly (just rub for a few seconds between the fingers).

I have also used a large C-clamp to clamp the dies onto the pouch. It works too, but the arbor press is more convenient and there's no fumbling with the die, pouch, and metal plates stackup.


----------

