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Thread: Flexible Filament

  1. #1

    Flexible Filament

    Got out to the field this weekend to try out some new stuff.



    I keep losing little things like detents and fill nipple covers, plus I wanted to change the dimensions of some of them. All of these are printed with “flexible” filament.

    The detents are “Ego” style, but I lengthened them just a bit to fight doublefeeds, which I start getting when the normal detents are just minor-league worn out.

    The interesting one is the bumper. It seems that a certain pet thread on this subject got deleted, which is a real shame because I was looking forward to resurrecting it on its... 12th anniversary?

    The detail of the bumper is a little clearer in the rendering:



    Regular Ninjaflex durometer is 85A. I think this is softer than the blue bumper, but seemingly stiffer than the clear one. But the “give” of a printed bumper might be adjustable via infill and perimeter settings.

    While I was at it, I added an inner shoulder to fit into the groove on the power tube to lock it in. Neither the clear bumpers nor the blue bumpers really seem to fit correctly into the groove, which allows them to go flying off and I think is the root cause of bumper wear.

    I inspected the Ninjaflex bumper after today and there’s zero wear on it, although a typical day for me is only like 200-300 cycles. But I’ve seen blue bumpers that lose their inner ring rubbing against the power tube in that many cycles.
    Last edited by GoatBoy; 11-22-2015 at 07:00 PM.
    "Accuracy by aiming."


    Definitely not on the A-Team.

  2. #2
    I cant see pics :/

  3. #3


    Ah crap... uh, howsabout now?

  4. #4
    I can see the ring

  5. #5
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    I can see 2 pictures.

  6. #6
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    Are you hosting the images on Google Drive? May need to change permissions. But I see both.

  7. #7
    Yeah they were on Drive; I went in and fixed the permissions (I think) and re-pasted.

  8. #8
    I use the flexible filament for my bumpers.
    ive printed just square blocks with the fill nipple contour on the inside. to protect my fill nips.

    fexy filaments are handy.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by knownothingmags View Post
    I use the flexible filament for my bumpers.
    ive printed just square blocks with the fill nipple contour on the inside. to protect my fill nips.

    fexy filaments are handy.
    Well crap I didn't realize you were already doing this.

    So how durable have the bumpers been for you? I think that's the biggest question right now...

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by GoatBoy View Post
    Well crap I didn't realize you were already doing this.

    So how durable have the bumpers been for you? I think that's the biggest question right now...
    lol no keep doing it.
    my bumbers hold up great , but I barely play

  11. #11
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    I would love to get some next gen bumpers that actually hold up MUCH longer than the clear level 10 ones (so you know, like more than 3-4 times out, lol).
    Love the groove idea. Please keep us posted on your progress. I would most def buy some from you. And not to get too wish listy on you, but the original black bumpers for wave springs in a pump mag are non existent. i know the blue ones can be cut down, but they look like $hit doing that. maybe some wave spring bumpers too?

  12. #12
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    Nice. Some grooves on the bolt side might help keep it in place too. I always wondered if oil or paint on the bolt face created film adhesion which would yank the bumper down the power tube. Some grooves might help break that up.

    Also, you could try the infill variation and make a pump mag washer. Extra thick but light infill around the edges with the firm, final bumper near the center. Or vice versa, or any arrangement of tall and short bumpers I guess, now that I think about it.

    Anyway, try a pump mag spring/bumper combo. That would be a good wear test.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by skipdogg View Post
    I would love to get some next gen bumpers that actually hold up MUCH longer than the clear level 10 ones (so you know, like more than 3-4 times out, lol).
    Love the groove idea. Please keep us posted on your progress. I would most def buy some from you. And not to get too wish listy on you, but the original black bumpers for wave springs in a pump mag are non existent. i know the blue ones can be cut down, but they look like $hit doing that. maybe some wave spring bumpers too?
    If you can accelerate testing, I might just give you a couple as I'm not exactly a high volume shooter. Plus... winter is coming. They literally cost something like 10 cents a piece to print.

    What are the dimensions of the wave spring bumpers? Adjusting dimensions is easy, but if thickness gets less than 1.2mm, then it winds up being a solid piece without "infill". So stiffness will be hard to vary, but if it's just the same material as the blue stuff anyways, it will probably be OK.


    Quote Originally Posted by Spider-TW View Post
    Nice. Some grooves on the bolt side might help keep it in place too. I always wondered if oil or paint on the bolt face created film adhesion which would yank the bumper down the power tube. Some grooves might help break that up.

    Also, you could try the infill variation and make a pump mag washer. Extra thick but light infill around the edges with the firm, final bumper near the center. Or vice versa, or any arrangement of tall and short bumpers I guess, now that I think about it.

    Anyway, try a pump mag spring/bumper combo. That would be a good wear test.
    The bottom side, which is really nice and smooth because it's printed against the kapton, comes out "tacky". However, the top side naturally comes out "textured" and has slight grooves in it that lower the surface adhesion/friction. You can kind of see it in the crappy photo. The difference in friction between top and bottom is night and day. Obviously I put the smooth side against the valve body.

    The first washer I printed came out a little too thick and caused a tiny amount of bolt stick. I think for a single-unit wave spring+bumper replacement, I would do an extra thick half-donut washer, where the bottom half is normal washer, but the top surface is ... donut-ish.

    The amount of infill I can play with is limited though because at less than 30% or so, bridging no worky right. However, if I make the top side a donut, then it's not really bridging anymore (it's overhang). That might allow me to go much lighter on the infill. So... reason #2 for going donut.

    I uh... don't have a pump mag though.

    Other than durability, the other bit of testing would be impact performance. I'm thinking for that, I could either just suspend the gun with an accelerometer (cell phone) attached to it and remotely trigger it and compare against a clear one, or some more typical drop-weight-on-it or elastic/inelastic collision type deal. Not really sure I care that much though...

  14. #14
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    I dont have dimensions of the wave spring bumper
    as for testing, I'd love to, but...I dont have a winter indoor place anymore. I gotta wait until spring to play too.

  15. #15
    I have a wave spring and a bumper.
    shoot me a pm tonight that way ill remember to get you the dims

  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by skipdogg View Post
    I would love to get some next gen bumpers that actually hold up MUCH longer than the clear level 10 ones (so you know, like more than 3-4 times out, lol).
    What are you running, or specifically how are you running your mags that are destroying a bumper? Not that i have teched thousands of guns or anything, but i suspect i know the reason why.

  17. #17
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    The clear bumpers get destroyed on a level 10 bolt due to stretch and tearing. It doesn't happen on level 7 bolts because the contact area at the back of the level 7 bolts is larger which spreads the force over a larger bumper area, which results in less distortion of the bumper and less tearing. The tearing can be reduced by gluing the bumper to the face of the valve. This holds the bumper in place and reduces tearing.
    Except for the Automag in front, its usually the man behind the equipment that counts.

  18. #18
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    Just a normal xvalve level 10 set up. like athomas said, the problem is basically the inner ring touching the bolt stem frays and starts to tear away. I have done the glue trick, which does help.

  19. #19
    This bumper should cover all the bases, regardless of what anyone's pet theory is (unless said theory is far-fetched and not based on any logic, evidence, or data whatsoever).

    The material is more durable, less "tacky" on the top surface, it's dead simple to print, and it costs like 1/20th what a clear bumper costs.

    And never shall glue touch your valve, for glue is an abomination and shall be unclean unto thee.

    The only question is the long term durability and impact performance.

    The model is on Onshape if anyone wants to go find a local printer with 85A Ninjaflex and try one out. I used 0.8 perimeter, 0.6 top and bottom, 30% infill.

  20. #20
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    Junior Mint 1:1
    And never shall glue touch your valve, for glue is an abomination and shall be unclean unto thee.




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