◙ UPDATE: 3D Printing a Sam Yang Recluse .357 Bipod Barrel Mount ◙

Hi folks,

So you might remember I 3D printed myself a Bipod Barrel Mount earlier for my Sam Yang Recluse .358 HPA Air rifle. And I have had some time to test it out now a bit.

Updated 3D Printed Bipod Mount

And like I said in my earlier post I might make a new bottom part for the barrel mount.

If you want to know the beginning of this 3D Printed HPA story.

Then you can check out my earlier post and find out all the details here of my 3D printed bipod barrel mount for the .358 Sam Yang Recluse HPA air rifle

Old 3D design of the Bipod Mount that broke

Old Barrel Mounted Bottom Part 3D design that broke the plastic "swivel stud"

The reason for the change was that the original design for the "swivel stud" attachment was a weak point. And I already broke it once when I attached the bipod and started to tighten the screw for the swivel stud and it broke the little hole on the bottom of the part. It was my fault and I over tightened the screw by mistake, but even so it's that plastic part that supposed to do the job of the swivel stud and hold the bipod in place that's the weak link.

Well I did design a new bottom part so I could 3D print it, however I have not had the time to 3D print the part. Print time for the new design is about 2 hours, and I usually don't print overnight. So I simply have not had the time lately to mess around with the printer.

However I had the old part sitting on the heating bed of my 3D printer and I figured now is the time to try and fix this. I can still reuse the old broken bottom part. My plan was to simply reshape the old part, cut away what was left of the broken plastic and then drill a hole and replace the "swivel stud" with a screw instead.

Cut away the "swivel stud" and drilled a hole in the center for the screw

The first thing to do was to cut away what was left of the broken plastic, I used the grinder to cut off what was left and smoothed out the plastic so I could center a hole in the middle of the part. I needed the hole drilled to be level and straight so I used the drill press to make a smaller 4mm hole first and then I used a 5mm drill to finish the drilling operation. 

I use the same 5mm screws that I already used to attach the upper and lower parts of the bipod mount. And of course I dropped the first screw on the floor I had with me when doing the drilling and it's now missing in action. But that's OK, I have a bunch of these 5mm screws.

Countersunk hole for the 5mm screw

I needed to countersink the 5mm screw into the plastic to make the bipod mount fit like it should. I found an old 10mm end mill cutter over at the old lathe that did the job. I used a 11mm drill to make the first cut, so I could get it to center the end mill. And then went ahead and made the countersunk hole. I also used the drill bit to take some of the edges off once done.

Finished Updated Bottom Part with the bipod attached

So here is the finished result, I had to use a few extra washers on the bottom of the bipod to get it right but other than that it turned out really good. It feels really solid now and I doubt it will break again. The one downside in doing it this way is that it's not much of a swivel bipod anymore. But there is a little bit movement in the bipod and it's legs to allow for small adjustments.

So yeah, I guess I need to test this out a bit more now and see how it works out. But first impressions are good for this rather quick fix.