market for custom grips, stocks and forearms

[racrguy]

I don't know what you are looking at as far as cnc pricing. But for 4k you can print a 10 x 10 x 9" part. The quality totally depends on the plastic powder you buy and the resolution of the printer. I have seen some amazing stuff.
This one prints up to 3 colors at once.

http://www.staples.com/CubeX-Trio-Commercial-3D-Printer/product_280603

Plus now you can print metals including titanium and stainless...

http://www.3dsystems.com/3d-printers...ction/prox-300

You can buy a real nice hobby CNC in the 2k range, give or take. That extra 2k goes a long way in buying materials.

[inline 6]

There is a guy on ebay selling some of the nicest 1911 grips that were laser cut and he will pretty much do whatever you want to them. They go for around $65 a set. I sold my cnc router years ago because for one the competition out there is heavy and on the other hand people think that because an automated machine did all the work that you didn't do shit and therefore they shouldn't pay much more than what the material cost. Now I wish like hell I had of kept it even if for just personal use. I have a small mill now that I am considering retrofitting to cnc. The key is to come out with a new design or something that isn't all over the place already. If you just take something that already exist and add a little twist to it, dont expect to make much doing it. Oh and 3d printing is garbage.

[Craizie]

I'd buy a 1911 grip or two just to help out a local guy start up.

[Craizie]

Or something like this.

http://www.recovertactical.com/shop/

[lilvega]

You can buy a real nice hobby CNC in the 2k range, give or take. That extra 2k goes a long way in buying materials.

I work in an aerospace machine shop so I am used to million dollar cnc's. I had no idea hobby cnc's were that cheap.

[inline 6]

I work in an aerospace machine shop so I am used to million dollar cnc's. I had no idea hobby cnc's were that cheap.

Good ones aren't unless you build it yourself. It all comes down to accuracy. Some of these guy would be happy with .010" tolerance. To me I like to keep sub .001" tolerances on personal stuff and at work I am into the microns.

[CJ]

1911 grips are so heavily saturated with competition it would be hard to make any money in my opinion. Especially if you're planning on CNC machining, the amount of tool changes and passes on each grip would be quite laborious.

[Ruffdaddy]

So basically I shouldn't expect to really make any serious money on some of the more popular grips like 1911 it sounds. Would it be reasonable to try making spare change when the machine isn't being used for actual design work?

[inline 6]

So basically I shouldn't expect to really make any serious money on some of the more popular grips like 1911 it sounds. Would it be reasonable to try making spare change when the machine isn't being used for actual design work?

Depends on what you know how to do or have an interest in that you can apply the machine to. Most of the time I see people that are already into a particular hobby and can identify a need that a machine will fill. From there you can for sure make a few bucks if your ideas are worth anything. I got into it as a hobby first and from there saw ways to make side cash. With my router I had people coming to the house a couple of times a week for me to cut parts for. I wasn't making much but I was learning a ton and still cutting great quality parts. I still wish I had not of sold it. I did more than double what I had in it when I sold it though. That felt nice but I wish I still had it. From there I got into more conventional machining and it has been many times more profitable.

[racrguy]

Good ones aren't unless you build it yourself. It all comes down to accuracy. Some of these guy would be happy with .010" tolerance. To me I like to keep sub .001" tolerances on personal stuff and at work I am into the microns.

This, except for tolerances I work with (I don't have a CNC) I was looking at a Tormach machine, and those go for 6k+ new.

[CJ]

I built a CNC machine out of a grizzly harbor freight milling machine (one of the older ones) it maintained about a .005" tolerance, not too bad. It worked well.

[YALE]

Anyone interested in making me some full length sizing versions of a lee classic loader for .223 and 7.62x39?

[inline 6]

I built a CNC machine out of a grizzly harbor freight milling machine (one of the older ones) it maintained about a .005" tolerance, not too bad. It worked well.

worked? as in past tense?