TSW base plates

[GaryS]

After years of delays, I have a person printing up some TSW style base plates for the pre rail 39xx TSW guns.

Of course they also work well for the CS9 and I'd expect any other 39xx gun.

I still need to meet up with him to do a test fit into my 3913TSW as he might need to "shave" a few mics off of the sides. I should know by the end of this week.

I'll also stuff a magazine full of rounds to make sure that they are strong enough. The person doing the printer is pretty confident that the material will be fine. He does a lot of 3D printing and is an experienced shooter.

I'm going to also give him the information for the pre rail 4513TSW base plates and he is willing to do those as well.

He does 3D printing of obsolete firearms parts and has a small business on Ebay. Once we're both satisfied with the product I'll post here and people can PM me for the information. That is in keeping with the rule on no links to active Ebay listings.

Note that I am just facilitating this project, he is the seller and I get no part of the sale. I don't know what he is going to charge for these.

Here is a link to his test prints. Note that there is no S&W logo or name, which should keep us out of trouble.

Feel free to ask questions, for which I may or may not have answers.

 

[GaryS]

Quick question.

Would there be any interest is a Hi Viz Green version?

 

[GaryS]

Still have to meet up with him for test fitting, but he worked up a prototype for the .45 magazines.

Don't be scared, he's just using green as he has a lot of it. Of course if anyone wants them in this color, he'll make them.

 

[GaryS]

I met up with my friend for fit and firing test for the new magazines.

First up are the 391x/CS9 base plates.

They fit on the magazine fine and I was able to fire two 7 round and two 8 round magazines worth with them on. No problems with holding the rounds, springs, and other parts in place. I got several and will try in other 39xx guns, but I don't expect a problem.

The material he used is "PLA Plus" which is more than strong enough for the job.

Here are some pictures,

I'll get a couple of bottom view pictures and update the post tomorrow.

The hitch with these is the bottom front. This was an error in the original file, not a printing issue. I'm going to try to find someone who can work with .stl files and fix this, but that could take a while. This doesn't effect the function or strength of the magazines. I think some black resin filler will fill it in if anyone is concerned about the appearance. I might try that on mine.

He only made one prototype of the .45 version as I didn't give him a magazine to test on.

Fit is a bit tight, but they loosened up after I slid them on and off the magazine a few times. He used "PLA" for this one as that's what he had in his machine. PLA Plus is a bit stronger, but this one also worked fine.

As you can see, there was no issue with the front on this as the issue is with the file, not the material.

As I stated at the beginning, I'm only facilitating this, I'm not selling.

Anyone who is interested should PM me and I'll give you his contact information. He'll let you know on price, shipping, payment, etc.

PM me if you have any other questions.

 

[olds350rocket]

Have him copy the CP baseplates for the 9mm and 40 PC magwell guns.

 

[GaryS]

I don't know anything about those guns and don't have baseplates for them.

Have him copy the CP baseplates for the 9mm and 40 PC magwell guns.

 

[4T5GUY]

Have him copy the CP baseplates for the 9mm and 40 PC magwell guns.

First off Gary thanks for the years of effort on your part. Looks like you made it happen.

I don’t know anything about that kind of “printing”. Looks like it’s done in layers? Not wanting to be a nay sayer or a critic but can the voids/layers be sanded/buffed smooved? Looks like the zombie apocalypse green are somewhat minus the things going on with the black. I suppose I need to get the link from you and ask a few questions, (and encouraging comments,) to the person that did all this.

olds350rocket, too funny I was responding to this original post asking the same wanting question. And then wondering about mag funnels, (depending on the material hardness,) that were on some of the PC’s. It was getting “too late”, (,) and I didn’t post.

There has been some discussion here about those magazine bases. The word was that a seller on eBay, that is doing grips is also offering the PC like Classic Pistol/ CP Bullets bases. Someone here got them but I never heard about how they were and I think I’ve been attentive.

Not that long ago guzzitaco offered real 9mm and .45acp ones here. In hindsight I didn’t get enough.

Jim

 

[BigBoss3006]

First off Gary thanks for the years of effort on your part. Looks like you made it happen.

I don’t know anything about that kind of “printing”. Looks like it’s done in layers? Not wanting to be a nay sayer or a critic but can the voids/layers be sanded/buffed smooved? Looks like the zombie apocalypse green are somewhat minus the things going on with the black. I suppose I need to get the link from you and ask a few questions, (and encouraging comments,) to the person that did all this.

olds350rocket, too funny I was responding to this original post asking the same wanting question. And then wondering about mag funnels, (depending on the material hardness,) that were on some of the PC’s. It was getting “too late”, (,) and I didn’t post.

There has been some discussion here about those magazine bases. The word was that a seller on eBay, that is doing grips is also offering the PC like Classic Pistol/ CP Bullets bases. Someone here got them but I never heard about how they were and I think I’ve been attentive.

Not that long ago guzzitaco offered real 9mm and .45acp ones here. In hindsight I didn’t get enough.

Jim

Im working on the magwell funnels actually, will be making a separate thread soon

 

[GaryS]

I missed that Guzzitaco had some for sale. I would have bought some, but now it's kind of moot if these work out. Unless someone really needs to have the S&W logo on theirs.

I'm going to experiment on mine with some filler to see about the filling in the void, but with luck we'll have an updated design soon. The guy doing that part is working on that.

Keep in mind that the person who did the design work is up in MA, and the printer is down here in TX. That wasn't by design, it was just how things worked out. One of the reasons for the delay was finding someone who does 3D printing. Another part was just being too busy to hunt around for someone for most of that three years.

I know very little of the process, but the product has to be designed using a Computer Aided Design (CAD) system and in this case the designer used a 3D scanner to capture the image and then loaded that into the CAD program. Then the completed design file has to be loaded into a 3D printer.

I won't say that the design is the hard part, because it's all hard to me, but it's certainly a vital part of the process.

I haven't asked the guy doing the printing how much design work he does, so I don't know what his capability is in the area.

First off Gary thanks for the years of effort on your part. Looks like you made it happen.

I don’t know anything about that kind of “printing”. Looks like it’s done in layers? Not wanting to be a nay sayer or a critic but can the voids/layers be sanded/buffed smooved? Looks like the zombie apocalypse green are somewhat minus the things going on with the black. I suppose I need to get the link from you and ask a few questions, (and encouraging comments,) to the person that did all this.

olds350rocket, too funny I was responding to this original post asking the same wanting question. And then wondering about mag funnels, (depending on the material hardness,) that were on some of the PC’s. It was getting “too late”, (,) and I didn’t post.

There has been some discussion here about those magazine bases. The word was that a seller on eBay, that is doing grips is also offering the PC like Classic Pistol/ CP Bullets bases. Someone here got them but I never heard about how they were and I think I’ve been attentive.

Not that long ago guzzitaco offered real 9mm and .45acp ones here. In hindsight I didn’t get enough.

Jim

 

[Heymatt]

Got in touch with the guy printing them (thanks Gary!). I have an order pending. I’ll post up feedback when I get them.

 

[GaryS]

Thanks. I'm hoping to hear back from the designer with a revision to the 9mm base plates. Since he's doing that gratis, I can't see rushing him.

Got in touch with the guy printing them (thanks Gary!). I have an order pending. I’ll post up feedback when I get them.

 

[scottr]

Those .45 baseplates are cool, and I don’t even buy ‘Zombie’ things.

 

[GaryS]

He only did it in that color because the machine had that loaded when he printed the prototype. Normally, they'll be black however if someone wants them in green, he'll do them. Or white. Or purple. I don't know if he has any other colors.

Those .45 baseplates are cool, and I don’t even buy ‘Zombie’ things.

 

[Heymatt]

Got my baseplates in for both the 3913 and 4513. On the 4513 the hole for the spring retainer was too small. Opened it up with a 9/64 drill bit, no biggie.
For the 3913 I used JB Weld two part black plastic bonding to close up the small holes. They’re curing and will put up pics after smoothing the edges.

 

[GaryS]

Thanks for posting. I was going to put something up but didn't get to it today. I think I used a 5/32 bit, but probably either will work fine.

I looked for JB weld black, but for some reason HD only had clear, gray, and white. Do you have a product number so I can look it up?

I see Permatex has some black plastic filler as well.

The guy printing them had someone he knows take a look at the .stl file to see if he can figure out the issue. He can see where the error is, but can't quite figure out a fix. For now, I think the ones with the "eye brows" are what we're going to have. I also haven't heard back from the guy who did the original 3D imaging.

Since he did that, I can't really push him to work on it more quickly.

Despite that, I think that they came out very well. The .45 ones are really nice and the 9mm ones are almost as good.

Got my baseplates in for both the 3913 and 4513. On the 4513 the hole for the spring retainer was too small. Opened it up with a 9/64 drill bit, no biggie.
For the 3913 I used JB Weld two part black plastic bonding to close up the small holes. They’re curing and will put up pics after smoothing the edges.

 

[Heymatt]

This is the product I’m using. Goes on a little glossy, once it gets scuffed up with some sandpaper. It dulls it down quite a bit.
Not perfect, not really noticeable unless looking close up.

 

[GaryS]

I think I was a bit over enthusiastic with the bonder. I probably should have used a tooth pick and tried to just fill in the eye brows.

What grit sand paper did you end up using? I tried using my Dremel like took, but got a lot of grayish finish.

I did the second one with a knife edge, but that made it look a bit rough. I used a Sharpie, but still need to do a better sanding job. The first few will likely end up on range magazines.

This is the product I’m using. Goes on a little glossy, once it gets scuffed up with some sandpaper. It dulls it down quite a bit.
Not perfect, not really noticeable unless looking close up.

 

[Heymatt]

I used the tip of a razor knife and skimmed over the eye brows. 220 grit paper and followed the contour of the base. The bonding mix is colored, it’s close in shade. After sanding I wiped it with a damp cloth to clear the dust off.

 

[GaryS]

Thanks again. Of course I have 80 and 180 grit sand paper but no 220. Yet another trip to Lowes or Home Depot.

The local ones are right across the road from each other. I go so often that my wife is convinced that I'm in some sort of secret DIY club.

I used the tip of a razor knife and skimmed over the eye brows. 220 grit paper and followed the contour of the base. The bonding mix is colored, it’s close in shade. After sanding I wiped it with a damp cloth to clear the dust off.

 

[mikerjf]

My two 45 bases needed a 5/32” hole… 9/64” not quite enough for my 457 mags innards.