I found a 3D print file for a MLOK 556 ammo quiver and thought, hey, that would look good on my Bersa BAR15. With just a few tweaks of the 3D printing slicer software, it turned out pretty good and so the wheels started to turn.
Now I wanted a MLOK 9mm quiver/saddle for my Anderson AM-9. The problem was, I could not find any existing 3D print files to download for that. So I fired up Blender, the 3D building software I use wih the Creality Ender 3 Printer, and began making my own.
I used some Igman 9mm 124gr Ammo for the measurements on this project. Each of these prototypes took between about 60 and 75 minutes to print. And while all 3 of the prototype versions were functional… they all left something on the table.
Version 1.0: The mounting/installation on this version was diffcult to say the least because there was more tweaking that needed to be done to the screw holes. The walls of the ammo section were way too thick and way too far apart leaving a ton of room to add more rounds. Also, the inside diamer of the ammo sections were just a little bit too wide so the rounds did not fit as tight as I had hoped for.
Version 2.0: I moved the mounting holes to the inside of the ammo sections which cut the space in between but the holes were still not right, making mounting difficult. The walls were again just a little too thick leaving room for improvement and extra rounds in the same space. But at least now everything fit tight.
Verson 3.0: This version was almost right. I added a countersink to the mounting holes but did not make that quite deep enough. After moving the ammo sections a tad closer and making the walls a tad thinner, I was indeed able to squeeze in an extra round.
Verson 4.0: After careful measuring I was able to squeeze in one more round, taking the count from 5 in Version 1.0 to now 8 in Verson 4.0. Making the countersink just a little wider, fixed the mounting/installation woes completely. it now installed like a dream.
I called this “mission complete” and proceeded to print 2 of these parts to install on each side of the MLOK rail on the Anderson AM-9. Total print time for both of these parts on the Creality Ender 3 Printer was about 3 hours.
SIDE NOTE
Originally when I set up this printer a few weeks back, I installed and used the Creality Slicer sofftware. Since then i have upgraded that software to the Creality Print software. That upgrade has proven to be a good one. The newer software allows me to tweak the print settings a lot more to help with the quality as well as the time on prints.