Paintball Pump Hinge Frame G.5 by Muddy Bloody Factory

Introducing: the G.5 (Gee Point Five) Pump Paintball Hinge Frame! 
The first half of a competition worthy fully 3d printed paintball marker! Let's kick off this paintball gear evolution! 

Get the parts kit here! https://muddybloody.com/product/hinge-frame-parts-kit/

Treating the parts kit sale like a kickstarter. I am trying to raise funds for a high temp voron style machine! Once I get that I will release the full bill of materials and sourcing guide! Till then source the parts from me! 

https://muddybloody.com/

This description is a work in progress. Also stay tuned for more how to videos. 

Facebook page 

Youtube channel 

Changelog:

2/28/22
Thickened front of trigger guard even more. 

3/12/22 
Added 15 remixxes with finger grooves, hump backs, flat backs, and no grip variations. 

Future changes planned:

Trigger Hole Tolerances could be optimized.

Trigger and grips could be optimized for durability.

Trigger pin hole area could be optimized for more durability. May require changes to trigger design. 

ASA nut screw hole area could be optimize for FDM printing and bridging. 
 

Inspiration 

Nerf, Airsoft, and everything else all have embraced polymers and 3d printing. Why hasn't paintball? The amount of weight cut, customization, and money saved, all make this inevitable in my opinion. And at the very least, its fun and freaking cool. 

I figured I could help get the ball rolling since trigger frames are so over priced right now. $250 for a ccm frame? Get outa here. I want to fund raise for some bad ass high temp printers and then release all the info on the bill of materials and everything. I think we will watch the industry radically change overnight. I know we can do it.

I also freaking love how ZDSPB and Nummech run their stuff. Very inspirational. Also this frame is based on their files (find listed in the sources section.)

This all feels to me like when hockey resisted upgrading their sticks from metal and wood to carbon fiber. Everyone caved eventually. Paintball will too. The weight savings with this stuff is undeniable and there are so many processes and materials we have yet to really explore. See the same thing in countless other sports and industries all the time, and even more crazy with 3d printers in the mix. 

 

Design

I got a functional version of this early on, in about 10 drafts and a month of work. Making this a real worthy piece of gear however, has taken over a year. The main things focused in on are:

•  FDM Printing
  • I could design it a little better for bridging with the asa nuts but the immense amount of work that went into this already is beyond me. Support free print in place set up! Even those asa nuts design was too much work. Look forward to ideas from the community to make it better, Im sure there are techniques out there. 
• Torque Durability
  • This needed to survive intense weight from the tank and ASA, and then also the Body and hoppers. 
    • The body and hoppers seemed sort of simple, meet minimum thicknesses, lots of top and bottom layers when printing, and enforce with a metal insert and washer. But then I found a weakness procured by limited space from the trigger pin. I really beefed up the trigger guard to sort of help compensate and make the frame a full unit. 
    • The ASA has offset nuts to help increase strength. also super thick and long screws to help. 
• Impact Durability
  • This was a minimum thickness thing. Couldn't have any thin spots. Petg is so tough when its thick. Kinda brittle when it's not. Also suggest printing at 250 degrees if possible. 
• Inserts and Screws Function
  • Silly enough, getting the nuts to mount in the asa was so freaking hard. took so many different tries. first had heat set inserts. eventually graduated to nuts but they could lock. Then started using a nut as a shim and it worked but made it too weak. Figured out I could use vertical steel pins and it works awesome.  
• Ergonomics 
  • gah so much work went into these. This was the real treat to designing this. Got them exactly how I wanted and a good understanding of what makes a comfy grip moving forward. This is comfy with or without grips. I think it is sort of better without grips. Need to put in some more work to the grips I guess. 
• Trigger and Grips
  • Alot of work went into making these functional and comfy. I think they could both be better yet and I look forward to see where it all progresses.
• Trigger Function
  • Honestly this was almost the easiest part. I had to put work in to make sure the sear was at the right height, but that wasn't too bad. Hinge trigger frames are not that complex. Big shout out to ZDSPB for the big help with their frame file for this. They probably get the credit here. Hopefully it works as well for you as it does for me. :D Let me know! 

Printing and materials

Added some screen shots to help with figuring out print orientation and the z seam! Get that bridging on the trigger frame straight! 

Designed for PETG printed at 250 degrees! I think it might work with lower temps, as well as PLA+, ABS, and/or ASA, among others, but I have not tried them. 

Key is how you orientate this. I like to set it up so the seam hides in the hex pattern on the far side from the asa nut holes. I also orientate it at an angle so that I can get good bridging for the trigger guard. that part is key. Usually the seam and trigger guard line up together for me. 

no supports! unless you suck! then use em i guess! 

My current preferred set up for printing them is with a .5 or .6 nozzle

.3 layer heights

3 walls

15% infill overlap

20% wall overlap

60% cubic infill 

4 bottom layers 5 top layers

If I was using a .4 nozzle I would do .24-.28 layer heights, 4-5 walls, and about 6-8 top and bottom layers. 

I found it helps if you print the frame plugs one at a time not all at once

I do not think this will work with Resin Printing. Sorry. :( But I cant stop you from trying, and tech changes all the time? If it comes around, I will design one with tolerances specifically for it! 
 

Set up

you will need this parts kit! https://muddybloody.com/product/hinge-frame-parts-kit/

Watch the video: 

You will need an exacto knife! You can get one here (amazon affiliate link)  https://amzn.to/33RjcLg

Power drill also helps for opening the hole in the trigger guard. 

Sources 

Based on:

ZDSPB.com Benchmark frame file. http://www.zdspb.com/tech/misc/cadfilepost/autococker.html

Scott Goforths Automag Frame file. 

Shout out to: 

BMC Fabrication and EmmLand Designs for help!