How much does this weird beauty run to make? I’m really liking the idea of taking one to the range and seeing what everyone thinks.

Cool, thanks for the advice. I was running Siraya so it was just at the high end of manufacturer recs, but your point about cooling on bridges in a hotter chamber is very sensible.

I think my problem was that I expected something more Nylon-y in terms of flex since that’s my only frame of reference with engineering filaments, so a handguard like I printed isn’t the right application for this stuff. I was just focused on thermal properties, since it’s a handguard for an RDB, where the pins holding it in place get notoriously hot because it’s right up against the gas block, and I didn’t account for the need to flex.

What sort of things would you say this filament is good for?

I’m curious, is there a reason you went for 40c chamber temp instead of something hotter? I know when I print ASA or nylons I crank the heat up to the max for layer adhesion, but I’m not all that experienced with PETCF. I only printed a handguard with it and I was very unimpressed with how brittle it was (it cracked as I put it on my rifle), but now I’m wondering if my settings were wrong. I think I went with 320c nozzle, 100mm/s speed, and 65c chamber, so maybe the speed was too high or the temps were.

Basically, yes. It’s fine as a first printer. It can benefit from a couple modifications, but doesn’t strictly need them. Main mods are a riser (if you get the combo model with the Qidi Box AMS, it comes with one) that you print, and, optionally, a different fan duct (that you also print) because the part cooling fan duct is designed in a weird uneven fashion.

But engineering filaments generally have low to no cooling anyway, so the cooling duct is a low priority concern. I haven’t even bothered yet. And the riser is mostly just so your PTFE tube doesn’t rub against the lid and wear out prematurely. Only reason I have one of those is because the Box came with it lol.

Designs for both are available on printables or your model repository of choice. The guy who made the glock mag mod for the Urutau even made a Q2 riser with fancy LED lighting and put it on the sea too, if you wanna be real fancy.

It won’t be quite as turnkey as a P2S, but it’s close, it really just needs slightly more manual calibrations… Which you kind of need to learn to do anyway because this particular hobby can potentially blow your fingers off if your calibrations are wrong, so you really need to make sure they’re right instead of trusting Bambu’s default profiles. 3D2A is basically the redline of what these machines are capable of and doing it safely means a great attention to care and calibration - which is why the common advice is always “learn to print first by making little boats and cute dragons, then come back and start with gats.”

But yeah, for 3d2a, especially extreme high end 3d2a like the PPS you want, the Q2 is the printer to get. I’m not even sure a bambu machine short of an H2 flagship model can get hot enough for that.

Wait, didn’t your settings always have line widths at .5? Or am I going crazy?

Thanks, that was enough to find it. Looking around and checking TDSes it seems like esun’s ABS+ and ASA+ fit the bill, for anyone else wondering.

ABS and ASA that’s better than PLA pro? Do you remember offhand what brands are like that? I’d love to try them out.

Supposedly some sort of people asking for STLs situation caused it this time.

But honestly, I think the real reason is that Reddit doesn’t want 3d2a anywhere on their site. It’s the only reason I can think of why they keep banning 3d2a subs for “rule 7 violations” when all of the subs are very clear that anyone who asks for files will get banned. If reddit was operating in good faith they’d allow the sub mods to follow their own rules and issue bans before leaping to nuking the whole community.

I can say that my Q2 has been a joy to use. Every issue I’ve had with it so far has been user error. (Polymaker recommends no fans on their ASA. No, the ASA yearns for the fans, at least when your chamber is heated.)

And if you’re posting here, you probably want the option to print with high end engineering filaments. The P1S “can” print PA6CF, but you’re gonna need to upgrade it. And if you want to run something like PPACF? Gonna need even more mods.

The Q2 handles everything short of PEEK/PEI like a champ right out of the box.

But the Q2 is a brand new printer released three months ago, so don’t expect it to go on a good discount any time soon. But honestly, $650 isn’t a bad price for what you get. So yeah, I’d say go for the Q2 if you’re posting here. The Q2 is probably dollar for dollar the best guncad printer around.

Note: I can’t speak to how good the Box/Qidi AMS is. Because I ordered the Q2 Combo on week 1 and they still haven’t sent my box yet, apparently because they just released a new revision that fixes the big pain points of the design and they’re shipping that out instead of the v1.0 Box.

You mean a PDW kit? Most people associate pistol carbines with stuff like the Urutau or DB9 or stuff like that, not with chassis for handguns. PDW is the tearm most people use for what you’re looking for.

Anyway, I’ve never made one, but the Super Patriot has STEP files, so you could remix it for a Hellcat slide as long as you’ve got the measurements right. https://guncadindex.com/detail/Super-Patriot-PDW-Blank-Series:e

MA should probably be red because our state doesn’t just specific recoil mode of operation, but anything designed to mimic fully automatic fire.

Qidi Q2. Hands down the best 3d2a printer, dollar for dollar.

280x280 build space. It’s got the heat to handle anything short of PEEK with a 370c nozzle and 120c bed. It’s got the heated chamber we want. It’s got a bed probe that isn’t degraded by heat, unlike most leveling sensors on the market. Like most modern printers, it has hardened steel nozzle and extruder components, so it can handle CF out of the box. It has quirks and isn’t perfect - I dislike how the poopchute is almost always open rather than almost always closed, which makes the chamber heater slightly less efficient - but for the price it’s impossible to beat.

Mine has been a joy to use.

What kind of PAHT-CF are you talking, though? Each brand is different stuff. Siraya PAHT-CF is PPA. Elegoo is… PA612CF I think?

On paper the CC can handle PPA-CF since the hotend gets up to 320 and it’s hardened bimetal. It’s a good machine too from what I’m told. I’ve never used it, but everyone I talk to likes it.

That said, the Q2 is probably going to be a lot better for this hobby than the CC because of the heated chamber. That one I have used - I’ve got a Q2 and I love it. It has a couple extremely minor pain points and if you’re going to be printing CF filaments you really want a 0.6mm nozzle instead of the stock 0.4, but it’s a seriously excellent machine and it’s basically ideal for guncad purposes. If you’re seriously looking at engineering filaments, the Q2 is the one to get. Heated chambers do so much for layer adhesion, and it feels like layer adhesion is always the first thing to go when a print starts failing in use.

I have no idea how well the box works with the though. I bought the combo and they haven’t shipped the box yet. They said within two months and I bought it on week 1 so hopefully soon.