Now that the season here is over, I'm focusing on upgrades for next year. I had one of those strap-on type comb extenders like you see in the background on my SML. It really wasn't high enough for good eye alignment. Rather than putting padding under it, I decided to try to 3D print a custom one. I'm still learning to print with softer TPU. I don't have that down yet. I decided to prototype it with TPU 95 for AMS which is stiff but easier to print.
This prototype aligns my eye perfectly. Once I get the correct nozzle, I'll try printing it in TPU 85A and in a less flashy color. It simply slips over the stock. I'll probably add custom pockets for carrying bullets, powder, and modules to the final version.
I finally got the correct nozzle to print in TPU 85A. This filament is much softer and more rubbery and can't be printed directly from the AMS. It took a lot of fooling around and bypassing the filament buffer, but eventually I was able to print it. You can see in the video how much the TPU gives:
Just for fun, here is a time lapse video of the build itself. TPU 85A must be printed very slowly, so this build took over 14 hours.
I used to use a buttstock ammo holder to hold my powder vials, bullets, and modules. Now that I plan to use this comb, I need to find another way to hold my ammo components.
I ended up designing this. It is specifically designed to hold the Pittman 275 grain .452 bullets I use, but I'm sure it would hold similar .45 cal bullets well. I also think I bought my powder vials from the Pittman web site, so it is sized for those specific vials. It is also designed for the Hankins .45 cal HIS modules that hold the large rifle primers.
As you can see from the video it is designed so you can invert it without the supplies falling out yet you can remove them easily when reloading. The video shows a prototype. I've since added tabs with holes to the top of the lid and bottom of the case so they can be attached with a string so you don't drop the lid and lose it when reloading. One could also use that to attach it to a retractable strap pinned to your vest or whatever. Personally, I plan to find a way to directly attach it to the comb.
I'm not sure there are many Smokeless muzzleloader hunters on this forum, but I thought some might find it interesting. There is no reason a variant could not be used for black powder.
I liked the flexible material (TPU 85a) that I used on the comb so much, I decided to try to print the ammo holder in in.
The print worked great and was more flexible, but everything was loose. Only the powder vials fit tight enough to invert it without falling out. I'm sure I could just make the model a bit tighter, but then printing in the TPU 95a would be too tight for easy removal.
I'm pondering why. I can think of two possibilities. First, it could simply be the difference in filament, but I question that as the explanation. Bambu makes TPU 95 (the green stuff in the video) specifically for the AMS so it is easy and convenient to print. It is also much faster to print. When I reconfigured the printer to use the TPU 85A, one of the things I had to do was replace the 0.04 nozzle that I had been using to a 0.06 nozzle. I guessing the larger nozzle does not print quite as accurately as the 0.04 nozzle.
There is a solution I could use if I really wanted to. Freecad offers configuration tables so I could create one and have a set of parameters for each nozzle. I'm not sure if I'll bother as the TPU 95A is good enough for this application. This experiment was more about learning the printer for future projects.
