DEFCAD Newsletter - Hundreds of Printable Gun Accessories
August 29, 2022
In guncad much public attention is given to full firearms platforms, but the world of gun printing contains far more than just this. Firearm parts and accessories - grips, stocks, and more - can also be printed, and these prints can be used on printed and commercial firearms alike. These accessories can expand your firearm’s functionality, and can serve as a DIY version of commercial accessories at a fraction of the price.
There is no better designer of printed accessories than Laffs Dynamics. Over the last several years he has put out over 200 accessory designs, and in this newsletter we round them up for your review. We are also pleased to announce that high-quality prints of some of these featured designs are also available for purchase at Aves Rails! If you don’t have a printer, or simply want a more professional print than an Ender can manage, check out this webstore!
Grips for AR-15s, AKs, 1911s and More
If there is one thing that Laffs is known for more than anything else, it is his grips - at time of writing he has nearly 100 different grip designs released! These include grips for the AR-15, AK, Evo, 1911 grip panels, and for several 3DP gun designs like the ARK or FGC-9 / MOD-9 / KC9.
Laff’s diversity of grips is truly something to behold. Most are designed to offer different grip sizes and angles to accommodate a wide variety of preferences - examples include the AR-15 Ubertechnik, the AR-15 Balance Mini, the AKM Slipstream or the Evo Typhoon - while others are designed more for aesthetic purposes (the 96-15 or the various 1911 grip panels) or to introduce a new feature (the AR-15 folding grip, or the AR-15 Storage grip). Included in this section is also a handful of foregrip handstock designs by Laffs, which have their own section below.
At time of writing, the first of Laffs’ products offered at the Aves webstore are high-quality prints of Laff’s grips - an AR model and an AK model. Each comes in three different texture options. These grips are made using SLS printing technology, which allows for a higher resolution finish and better strength vs. consumer FDM printing technology. Home-printed Laffs grips should be more than usable, but if you really want a high quality grip, consider buying it from Aves!
AR-15 Grips
AK/AKM Grips
Grip Panels (1911, Ruger Mark)
Scorpion EVO
Grips for 3D Printed Firearms
Foregrips
Stocks and Braces
In addition to grips, Laffs has also created several printable stock designs for ARs, AKs and others! Many of these are fixed stocks (Asphalt Escort, American AKM), some are adjustable stocks (Urban Evader) or braces. As with grips, these printable stocks allow you to customize your firearm considerably.
As with his grips, many of Laffs’ stock designs are intended to accommodate certain use preferences. For example, the Mountain Scout is designed to withstand blunt impacts, while the AKM scout is designed with a higher side rail to assist with rail mounted optics. Of course, other designs like the Ammo Carbine buttstock add a more directly practical feature, in this case the ability to carry spare rounds in the stock.
In addition to the stocks themselves, Laffs has also created several stock adapters - for example, the AKM picatinny adapter, which mounts to the end of an AKM and provides a vertical pic rail for the attachment of pic-mounted stocks.
Knuckledusters and Push Daggers
Relatively unique in the world of guncad, Laffs has also dropped several designs for non-firearms weapons. These include several knuckleduster designs and several more small push daggers. As with all Laffs designs these generally have unique and amusing names, including the Snoot Boop knuckleduster and the Tyrannicide push dagger.
Is there any actual value in printed knuckledusters and push daggers? In truth polymer blades have sold commercially for a while, and these can be given an edge which will be sufficient for a few uses - their lightness and other features does serve valid use cases. As for the knuckledusters - of course light plastic knuckles won’t add much weight to a blow, but this might be made up for by the protrusions on Laffs’ knuckleduster designs, which will be uncomfortable to the recipient to say the least.
Alternatively, these models could be used as templates for later realization in metal, such as via lost PLA casting. In any case, there are places in the world where even these weapons are illegal, and Laffs’ designs provide an interesting option to anyone in that situation.
Magazines and Mag Accessories
Among everything else, Laffs has also worked on printed magazine designs! Mostly he has focused on AK magazines, and his designs for these are likely the best printed AK mags available today. He has also developed magazine accessories for other platforms, like a Glock magwell or a pull-assist plate for PMAGs.
In a previous newsletter rounding up printable magazines, we noted that following the 2013 release of the Feinstein Magazine, there was a surprising dearth of printable AK mags. Laffs has rectified this considerably with two different mag designs, the Waco Waffle and the Revo1ution, the former of which comes in both a 20 and a 30 round variant!
Laffs has touched on a few other magazine designs as well, including extensions for Glock magazines and follower / baseplate designs for Glock and AR magazines. The PMAG pull-assist plate is a fine example of a guncad accessory: these can cost between $10 and $20 per part with shipping if bought commercially, but if printed you can outfit a full chest carrier’s worth of magazines for no more than a few dollars worth of filament!
Muzzle Devices: Compensators, Brakes and Flash Suppressors
Yet another accessory from Laffs is the muzzle device: he has made several designs for compensators, flash hiders and brakes. These are not meant to be used in their printed form, but instead are meant to be made from metal using a technique such as lost PLA casting. Almost all these designs are made for 10/22 barrels.
Sights, Loaders, Cover Plates, Ammo Storage and Dummy Rounds
To wrap up, there are a few other designs we’d like to highlight. These include printable sights, ammo storage boxes, printable snap caps, cover plates, and loaders, all of which are designed to the usual Laffs quality. In truth Laffs has so many designs that we could keep going all day, but we have to wrap this newsletter up somewhere!
We have highlighted below a few designs from each of these final categories. For sights, these include printed sights for both Glocks and other platforms. For loaders, Laffs has designed both some printable revolver speedloaders, as well as a handy loading assist tool for Glock mags. For cover plates, we have both rear plates for Glock slides and M-Lok covers for AR handguards. Ammo storage boxes are self explanatory; finally, Laffs has even designed some handy dummy rounds in various calibers for use in training or testing.
Sights
Magloaders and Speedloaders
Cover Plates
Ammo Storage Boxes
Dummy Rounds
This is one of our largest newsletters to date, yet it represents only a small fraction of all of Laffs’ work. I have always been of the opinion that for brand-new gun printers, an accessory like a grip, dummy round or stock is a great way to get into gun printing - these parts are generally not very complicated to print and assemble, and if they fail in use the danger is quite low. In this way they make for a fine “gateway” print! Anyone looking to take their first step into gun printing can always start with Laffs - all of his work, and much more, can be found at DEFCAD.
