Anyone out there make an aftermarket vertical grip for J Allen?
Or has anyone built up a grip?
Thanks
Or has anyone built up a grip?
Thanks
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Is that even possible to change the grip?
With enough work you could build up the grips but isnt half the point of the JAE versus another chassis the grip being traditional?
I'm sure someone could 3d print it thenGrips are interchangeable. They are a overmolded type rubber.
I wouldn’t say it’s half the point. I don’t think anyone buys a j Allen specifically for the angled grip. Too many cheaper options that offer similar grips.
I'm sure someone could 3d print it then
That would be interesting. Gonna start looking around.
Any 3D printer experts around??
I run the biggest print shop in MO! Could someone send me a grip panel to check out?
The vertical grip was about the *only* non-positive thing I could say about about the JAE's.
If you guys end up making one, I would do away with the palm shelf as well. No need for it and it gets in the way of gripping the rifle properly if you drop your elbow to your knee on some barricades.
I am going to work on one. I've got the best 3d printer currently available for manufacturing plastics.
Hey Tyler, Hp multi jet fusion 4200. By the way, I really like your products, keep up the good work in this industry!
Thanks...read this with interest as I have the same issue with my J Allen. Smallish hands and I want to orient my trigger finger movement more to the horizontal. Right now, I just move the bottom of my firing hand away from the bottom of the grip in the front and lower palm side. Works but not optimum as I would like something I can feel is more consistent each and every time.No. Wasn’t much point with them going out of business.
Will see what mdt has once they are up and running with them.
Thanks...read this with interest as I have the same issue with my J Allen. Smallish hands and I want to orient my trigger finger movement more to the horizontal. Right now, I just move the bottom of my firing hand away from the bottom of the grip in the front and lower palm side. Works but not optimum as I would like something I can feel is more consistent each and every time.
Perhaps with MDT starting to release J Allen products, you may want to revisit this with @Tyler Kemp?
Alternatively, I have a grip I could send him if anybody thinks it would be productive. Tyler....anybody?
I did suggest to MDT that they consider making different grip "skins" with differing angle/distance from trigger.
I'm sure that they have their hands full at the moment but I personally would love to see something like this offered.
I have some mole skin and God-a-Grip material and I'm going to try to build one up a bit and see if it will be durable. Need to move my hand forward, move the angle of my hand to a bit more vertical, and expand out the bottom part of the palm area.
Seems like a decent winter/COVID lockdown project....but I'm not very handy and will probably hose it up! LOL
As an aside, I also found the LOP to be a bit long and frankly the J Allen recoil pad is far from my favorite. So, had a friend grind down a Kick-eeze 3/4" pad using an LOP spacer I had for a pattern. For one chassis, I have the bag rider on there so we needed to trim off that bit of a bottom tab on the Kick-eeze to get it to fit. With the more standard small PIC rail section, we found you could leave the tab on. Works way better for me than the original pad. Reduced LOP by 1/2" and grips my shoulder far better.
Cheers
Hello Mr. Thomas - I'm sorry....I'm a wee bit dense this morning. "MDT is well away"?? Well away from having time to do this soon? Well away as in on their way to producing one?I’m sure mdt is well away a close/vertical grip interface is pretty important/popular.
Thank you! Just took a look at your site and see that you do indeed make after market grips. 3D printed, I assume.If this is something people want I can certainly look at it. Shouldn't be too difficult to do, although I don't have a JAE on hand to reverse engineer the grip.
haha...very understandable.@Baron23
By all means reach out to Tyler and see what he can do. This thread is pretty old, so I'm not sure if there's real interest behind it or not. And I'm not jumping at the bit to spend a bunch of time on it to sell two of them only to have MDT come out with their version of it in a couple months.
The Nylon material used in Fusion printers is surprisingly tough, textured, and dimensionally accurate when compared directly to injection molding. If MDT is going to make 1000 grips then they'll likely pursue injection molding, but for prototypes or smaller runs it absolutely makes more sense to 3D print where you pay more per part but don't have the high tooling cost associated with injection molding.haha...very understandable.
As for MDT, I'm kind of assuming (out of complete and utter ignorance) that the OG J Allen grips were perhaps injection molded as there is some sort of easily bendable metal in the rubberized feeling skin that....I'm guessing...is intended at least in part provide a hard point for the attachment bolt heads.
I had, continuing my ignorance, assumed that MDT would not be rushing to make more molds for various grips (rather expensive) but I know nothing about the state of modern production 3D printing so my assumption well may make an "ass" out of me.
They do indeed screw into the chassis with, as far as I can tell, the metal in the grip, as you say, only providing a hard point for the bolt head.Looking at pics, it appears as though the JAE grip screws thread into the metal chassis frame.
They do indeed screw into the chassis with, as far as I can tell, the metal in the grip, as you say, only providing a hard point for the bolt head.
Thanks for the info...very interesting.
I sort of wish @MDT_OFFICIAL would be a bit more forthcoming about their future plans for the J Allen chassis and accessories but I understand and respect them a great deal. Better to keep your mouth shut and over perform than make promises and miss the mark.
But I would love to know how seriously they may be considering making different grip configurations.
Cheers and have a great day. I really do appreciate the insights you have provided me.
Outstanding!Thanks for the tag and the interest all. Can't tell you much, but I will say that new grip profiles are in the works and we should have multiple options available at release
Josh
HI Tyler - well, sorry to have bothered you with a tag but since MDT says that they are going to release different grip profiles with the launch of their version of the chassis, I think I may try to build up the grip on one gun and see how that works while waiting for MDT.I can definitely knock this out. Been looking into some nice scanners to reproduce shapes like this without the trial and error of doing it by hand.
The Nylon 11 we're printing on the 5200 has a bit softer feel than Nylon 12 the vast majority are using, and is significantly more durable.
If we're talking 1000 grips it's likely to be dang near as cheap to print after mold fees. 10000 though, definitely mold em, although I doubt they'd sell that many in any near future.
I just need someone to get me the grip! Or preferably, a whole chassis so it's easy to assess fit rather than sending parts back and forth. Makes the process vastly slower and more expensive.
@Tyler Kemp and @samb300 I will say that our new grips will not be backwards compatible with the OG JAE chassis as they had a COMPLETELY different manufacturing method than what we are doing, so there is still a lot of opportunity to support existing product? The original materials were very soft and pliable, which is not really feasible to be done on an HP multijet printer, but the vertical shape could be adapted fairly easily
Just a thought,
Josh
That's a bummer.
I'm curious what the new chassis is going to look like. @MDT_Josh - don't change it too much!
@MDT_Josh@Tyler Kemp and @samb300 I will say that our new grips will not be backwards compatible with the OG JAE chassis as they had a COMPLETELY different manufacturing method than what we are doing, so there is still a lot of opportunity to support existing product? The original materials were very soft and pliable, which is not really feasible to be done on an HP multijet printer, but the vertical shape could be adapted fairly easily
Just a thought,
Josh
You can print TPU with the 5200@Tyler Kemp and @samb300 I will say that our new grips will not be backwards compatible with the OG JAE chassis as they had a COMPLETELY different manufacturing method than what we are doing, so there is still a lot of opportunity to support existing product? The original materials were very soft and pliable, which is not really feasible to be done on an HP multijet printer, but the vertical shape could be adapted fairly easily
Just a thought,
Josh
Are you retaining the magazine well design (adjustability)?It's necessary to solve another issue, so a bittersweet win in the end. We're doing all that we can to retain the feel and quality of the original chassis, I promise and I think that it's going to be awesome!
Josh
HI Tyler - will PM you to see if you have any interest in pursuing this a bit further. I do have an empty J Allen chassis so I could send you the grip or....I guess I could send the whole chassis which would probably make things MUCH easier.You can print TPU with the 5200
I am using Nylon 11 which is also significantly more pliable and durable than the typical Nylon 12 which is what 95%+ of folks are MJFing. 11 has an elongation factor multiple times that of 12. It is however not nearly as soft as the original grip panel. I had a customer send one in, but we were simply too busy to make the part at that time. The flex fit would be 0 problem at all, but the tactile feel would require TPU.
Morning!@MDT_Josh
HI Josh - wow, bit disappointing after so recently been excited by your prior post!! haha But, better to know now than later.
So, I see in your reply that you too note that the OG grip skin was pliable but I'm a bit confused as to why you then say "but the vertical shape could be adapted fairly easily" with (assumption here) a printed grip cover. It doesn't seem like stiff nylon can be made to work with the original configuration as it won't bend (??) or won't bend easily (??) or ??
It seemed clear to me (in my total ignorance haha) that the original skin was indeed injection molded and why I wasn't expecting much in the way of new grip configs from MDT....just couldn't see you guys racing to spend the $$ for a number of new molds. I guess I was kind of right as, if I understand correctly, you have abandoned the molded rubberized approach in favor of....printed??.
Again, thank you for the added info....not the news I wanted to hear, but the news I needed to hear.
Cheers
So, @Tyler Kemp and @samb300 - with this info, do you think that a nylon printed grip can be made to work....not sure if you guys have handled/owned a J Allen chassis. Do you think there is any avenue to pursue here?
Cheers
Are you retaining the magazine well design (adjustability)?
Will any of your new stuff be backwards compatible with OG Chassis (grip aside)? NV Bridges, Spigot mounts, etc etc?Morning!
Happy to hear that @Tyler Kemp and yourself are working on this! To clarify, the OG JAE grips were done as an overmold of sorts but not injection molded. Their production time was slow and their process was costly, which is why we're changing our new grips to be injection moldable, whilst still trying to retain the feel and function.
What I meant by my original comment was that if Tyler has the original grip in hand and can see how it attaches to the chassis, he should be able to reverse engineer it and make it into a vertical profile so that he can print some, however, it will be time consuming and a bit of a pain to do (ask me how I know ). A 3d scanner makes these operations easier, but still a time consuming job. If he is able to MJF TPU material that will give the printed grip a much nicer feel, but my concern would be the screw attachment points to the chassis body. I feel like a solid Nylon 11 or 12 grip would be the best solution, but I'll leave that to you guys!
Yes, that was a feature of the original and something we intend to carry forward!
Josh