Want to make open source 3d-printed mufflers for common barrels, need thread pitches

[gogi19]

Hello all,

EDIT: This is for reducing report and adding a small amount of back pressure to the bolt (like a paintball would) when dryfiring during tech work. No paint will be harmed in the making of this 3d print. Not a new idea, PE makes one, but it's $45; I intend on posting this for free at all the big .stl hosting sites, hence why I'm calling it open source. If you've got an oddball marker all I'd need is the thread pitch to make an adapter.

Like the title says, my idea is to make a muffler system for common barrel threads that use cheap 1/2" NPT (or other) pneumatic tool mufflers/silencers like this one. I'd like to make it fairly exhaustive, especially if the threads for barrel tips use standard thread pitches, since swapping threads is fairly trivial in CAD. I've got a thread pitch gauge on the way, but figured I'd sound the conch in case someone else has done the legwork and is willing to share.

Also, please feel free to speak up if this idea would be frowned upon in the pb community given that a few stores/airsmiths/designers (Superstanchy and BMC Fab. being the ones that comes to mind) design and sell kits similar to my idea.

I've found some common sizes already:

• Autococker Barrel backs: 15/16"-20 (this would be pretty universal if you don't mind threading directly into your marker)
• Ion/Impulse backs: 15/16" - 12 double lead
• Phantom Barrel back : 7/8"-14 ACME

• Freak Tip thread: 7/8" - 32 double lead : I think? This would thread into standard freak backs
• Dye Tip Threads: 7/8" - 24 UNS
• Eclipse S63 Tip Threads (left hand threads): ???

I have a decent amount of CAD experience from work and some 3d modeling experience in Fusion360 from a few years of 3d printing. I'll have to see what thread libraries I can scrounge up, but I may have to draft some of the weird pitches up from custom.

Found some tech sheets on zdspb.com which seem pretty accurate when compared to other forum posts. Feel free to post any corrections or missing threads you'd want to see made

Examples (pretty much the first design but for most common barrel threads):

Stella/Empire muffler tip: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6669083
BMC Fab. for the freak: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4117217

[SignOfZeta]

I don’t get it. Am I dumb? What is this for? It screws into…the gun?

How does the paintball get out?

EDIT: never mind. This yet another ill advised silencer scheme nobody needs.

[gogi19]

Nah, this is for dryfiring when doing tech work. It helps add back pressure on the bolt when firing (similar to when a paintball is in the chamber). You managed to sound uneducated and snide, the best kind of comment on the internet lol

[Siress]

I think his point is that it's so easy to diy a muffler for tech work that no one needs to buy one...? More power to you, though. Always nice to have options. Doc's tips are spot on. The one time I needed a muffler I fixed an old swab into the oem barrel I never used. After I no longer needed it, I still had an old swab and oem barrel I'll never use.

[Fossilhead]

Porting makes paintball markers quiet.

This is asking for trouble.

[gogi19]

See above comment. This is not a "silencer" for shooting paintballs out of the barrel. This is to stick on the end of the barrel when you're dryfiring your marker (sparingly and only during tech work).

[DocsMachine]

AKA sold a kit like that years ago. It was intended for use in brick-and-mortar stores, which were usually in places like strip malls.

Having the salesmen or techs dry-firing or demoing markers all day long, gets annoying to the other store owners, so a "muffler" system was pretty handy. It not only quieted the shot, but being "blanked off", made it impossible for an accidental/random ball to be fired, if one happened to be stuck in a loader or something.

They're less important today- how many actual walk-in stores are left?- but still handy. I'll jam a barrel swab down the bore, or one of the old style in-barrel plugs, I've also used rags and towels, etc. And that's just to save my own ears- for anybody that lives in an apartment, or next door to picky neighbors, etc. something like this can be useful.

Doc.

[gogi19]

That's cool! I didn't know AKA made a kit, I bet theirs was a lot nicer than plastic haha. I've been having to wrap the barrel of the Res I've been working on in my dog's bed since my office is small and not what you'd call sound dampening. My dog is getting tired of my shenanigans though so I figured it'd be nice to have a more elegant solution.

I'll reply or edit the post when I get a couple prototypes up and running in case anyone is interested in giving them a go. I bet I could even make a version similar to BMC's that uses those cotton rounds you can buy in drugstores as a baffle material. That way you'd only be out the cost of filament.

[Siress]

went looking for any backups of the rat's nest and stumbled across your woefully outdated list of tech resources. Blast from the past, though! http://www.docsmachine.com/tech/other.html

[Siress]

you can dig up some older specs here: http://web.archive.org/web/200710310...haveblue/tech/

[Drcemento]

ive been keeping my eye out for one. teching cockers in the garage late at night makes everyone insane. bolt upside down helps, but I cant help but wonder if thats a good thing?

[gogi19]

Yea, my wife is pretty patient but I am in the process of starting a collection it seems and all the misfit toys that I'm scooping up need a lot of test firing.

If you don't have a 3D printer on hand, I found these (https://stanchy.com/collections/tech...-printed-bases) which seem to use the same pneumatic muffler I found on amazon.

But if you do have a printer, I just whipped this little test up (https://www.printables.com/model/103...ococker-thread) and am printing it now on my X1C. I'll drop back in with results. I'm a little dubious about what quality the external AC threads will be able to achieve at normal print settings, but we'll see. I added in some tolerance so hopefully it'll work.

[tyronejk]

I like the idea. I don't have a 3D printer (yet) but would definitely print one of these for my own use. I can't justify buying that expensive PE one and don't want to pay for someone else's 3D print, so this is a good option. I've also stuffed a swab in a barrel, but IME, this frays the fluffy ends. Hold the bolt back with a finger down the feedneck also works but then I'm out one hand to do things.

[gogi19]

Yea that was kind of my reasoning. I also just have a weird aversion to sticking something down a barrel of something made to fire projectiles; I figure this is marginally better / safer haha

You can check to see if your local library has one. Ours has a maker space with all sorts of cool gadgets.

[BrickHaus]

Bmc seems to have designed these up already.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4117217

That's his freak version.

I was honestly trying to find the other design I've seen recently, where the 3d printed adapter is the barrel back, and a standard smc muffler threads onto the tip of that, but I landed on these this morning.

[SoKoPaTh]

I had the Stanchy one for a while. I liked the idea of it being A/C thread, and not specific to a barrel. I ultimately sold it. Just didn't drop the Db enough to justify pulling it out out the tool box when I needed to dry fire.

[Brandon]

I've printed both the BMC one and the one that uses the SMC Muffler (Paintball muffler for Stella or Empire barrels by bbaik - Thingiverse). IMO I think the SMC one is quieter than the BMC. But with the BMC you don't need to buy the extra muffler part, you simply print it. Both make the sound more tolerable indoors for sure.

[gogi19]

That's good to know ! I was going to print one of the BMC ones to do some A:B testing but maybe I'll save the filament haha

[boomersruckus]

I made mine out of a stock emek barrel, (most of the guns I tech are cocker threaded), a clear tube that some barrels get shipped in, some screen door, duct tape, and some drill holes. Works a charm for when testing in my paintball room.

[JonM]

Having both designed and printed Cocker barrels before, just know that tolerances are extremely tight using FDM printing. Your printer will need to be dialed in perfectly to get anything usable out of it. Here's a good starting point for you: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3828953

[gogi19]

Yea, I'm cheating a bit as I just upgraded from my ender 3 to an X1C. My first test print last night worked great on the marker side with about 0.2mm of tolerance built in to the threads, I'm just waiting on the muffler to get here to test it out. It seems like reducing the layer height to .12-.16mm and adding small chamfers or fillets to the thread edges helps as well. Thanks for the link !

[cougar20th]

Centerflag made the ninja muffler kit it was a pretty comprehensive muffler kit many years ago. There are sure to be newer threading that it doesn't cover.

I had one for awhile then sold it to a friend who teched guns. As far as I know its still the best paintball purchase he has made according to his wife.