Evolution of 3D Printed Drone Munitions

[@bliblablubb9590]

Man, isn't he the fighter interviewed by Lindybeige?

[@maroness]

Yep!

[@rubenskiii]

The one and only!

[@TheArmourersBench]

It is indeed.

[@JZsBFF]

@channel_lurker And on that drone, he put a bomb. Heya heya ho.

[@JZsBFF]

@channel_lurker Here a boom, there a boom.

[@Anarcho-harambeism]

Fosscad community member here, we've made quite a few designs since the war started, 3d printed vogs or vog conversion chassis are most common, as well as out designs for rpg conversions or the ones seen in this video, we also have several anti armor designs, including mines, home made heat warheads, and even aa in the form of home made fleigerfausts

[@gkthegreat5124]

I have only seen them vog convertions on defcad do you know their real origin?

[@gkthegreat5124]

If you know any other source than defcad please hint 🙏🙏

[@Anarcho-harambeism]

@@gkthegreat5124 sail the sea my friend, the odysee

[@Anarcho-harambeism]

@@gkthegreat5124 odysee

[@gkthegreat5124]

@@Anarcho-harambeism believe me I am sailor with a lot of voyages in the sea, some close enough names is what I need to spot my treasure Island

[@rubenskiii]

Mac was interviewed in-depth by Lloyd of the channel Lindybeige and it's worth giving it a listen/watch. Great video by the Armourers Bench! Warm greetings from the Netherlands🇳🇱.

[@johnsmith-jq1uc]

yep

[@lornamorgan3575]

I can definitely recommend Macs channel. He doesn't wrap the war up in pretty words.

[@gilde915]

Those "Printer Farms" are hard to detect and target...small, mobile and can be powered by a generator, interesting idea to produce ammunition on, lets say a brigade level if you don´t need it for printing simple spare parts.

[@Maskedbrawler]

Not all farms are just in Ukraine (wink wink)

[@gilde915]

@@Maskedbrawler I know, but it is more interesting how to include them as an organic part of a units supply/maintance section. Especially when it comes to metal printing in the future like it is done on some warships today.

[@sjansen66]

@@gilde915 Yeah, most of the units are being supplied from all over Europe by decentralized hobbyist groups. Bigmac included.

[@Maskedbrawler]

@@gilde915 Somewhere in the back lines of defense sure, the closer you get the more difficult it is to preserve your equipment from constant artillery and drone attacks

[@gilde915]

@@Maskedbrawler Iam a former logistics guy, i watch those developments closely and they are fascinating. Iam thinking about small kits that can be delievered to the back of a line and the unit itself prints out the bulky part of the equipment, be it metal or plastic. Just think about how many different spare parts can be made on location and the relieve you put on a logistics train, with all the different sorts of equipment a military like UAF is using today. No need to ship it from lets say Poland just send them the file and they can do it themselves.

[@MrKronikDeception]

Glad to see Mac is still kicking. Im going to have to go subscribe to his channel.

[@sjansen66]

Nice one! I even recognize the one that came off my 3d printer. :)

[@BigMakBattleBlog]

Good man you are

[@sjansen66]

@BigMakBattleBlog thanks mate! That's easy though, sitting at home safe and sound. You do the real work. We only play a minor part.

[@gabeplays9441]

Can we still help out?

[@tylerbaldwin1633]

what a waste of filament lol

[@mibo747]

Smart shrapnel separation Easy to fill

[@Wayzor_]

Big Mac XL. 👍👍

[@BloxUndead]

Mac is a legend to me I love his humor and his videos.

[@Salamandra40k]

Man it is scary that we are in the age of 3d printed bombs used in warfare, on top of 3d printed parts in guns (both metal and plastics) and 3d printed vehicle parts too, probably. I cant even imagine what engineers back in the 30s or 40s wouldve thought about the state of things now.

[@donwyoming1936]

We were generally unhappy with 3D printed parts while I was in the military. Too fragile or brittle, even after heat treating. But, they did come in handy making replacement knobs and noncritical widgets.

[@asicdathens]

Have you seen the 3d printed guns the used by people in Myanmar fighting the junta?

[@Salamandra40k]

@@asicdathens I'm sure I could find it now lol

[@napalmholocaust9093]

They'd probably say it was too delicate (the plastic cases) to permit the average joe throwing crates full on and off a truck.

[@bodaciouschad]

3d printed casings. The explosives aren't printed, just the plastic shells.

[@cameron5802]

Oh wow, just yesterday I was commenting on the compilation that got posted on the 20th of recent summer drone engagements.. In it, it seemed the lethality and efficiency of these drone drop munitions has significantly improved, especially to the point that they no longer just drop old F-1 grenades from drones.

[@The_ZeroLine]

Never would have expected to see Joe pop up on this channel after seeing his first Lindy interview long ago. BTW, bless Joe. He’s doing god’s work.

[@CapnDan57]

Thanks, Matt. Very interesting evolution in weaponry going on right now.

[@ptonpc]

Thank you Joe and everyone helping to defend Ukraine.

[@clark7042]

Why not make slight "spiral" fins to give some spin while falling?

[@donwyoming1936]

Because it's a bomb, not a rocket. Different principles at work.

[@somelokyguy6466]

​@@donwyoming1936 It's the same principle; spin stabilization is a passive method to provide better accuracy for an object in flight. Key difference being that the flight here is straight downward. As for why these aren't spin stabilized, it's probably because their "flight" duration is too short for it to stray too far off course.

[@ChucksSEADnDEAD]

Because fin and spin stabilization achieve the same purpose, and HEAT warheads need to be spin-compensated. The copper cone for a regular HEAT can be made through rudimentary means but a spin compensated cone needs to be pressed with complex dies.

[@proskub5039]

@@ChucksSEADnDEAD Fins + a slight spin has the advantage that any flaw in the projectile shape (or center of mass) that would cause it to veer off course will instead cause it to move in a spiral, likely reducing the distance it travels off target. For low velocity projectiles such as these the spin wouldn't need to be significant - less than a hundred RPM maybe. It's certainly plausible that the utility is negligible for this particular use case however.

[@jpenna1976]

There are also such designs. That requires fins to be longer, which adds printing time for example. I'm sure there are other reasons also for more simple fin design.

[@marcusott2973]

Much awaited, much appreciated excellent insights as always from you.

[@artcamp7]

wanted to say it was interesting before this video is removed

[@MartyJWinkler]

Hell yeah Big Mak

[@zacharywolter]

The adoption of drone combat in Ukraine always made me think of the adaption of the airplane in The First World War

[@iainbaker6916]

Ah, the guy who did the interviews with lindybeige 😎

[@TheArmourersBench]

Yep

[@brealistic3542]

Good idea to customize print these specific for drones.

[@Leo_Sneedinsky]

Yeah, this is definitely the cool content I come to youtube to see and learn about!

[@thegodofhellfire]

Joe's the man! 💥 🇺🇦 🇬🇧

[@AlexNovakim]

Joe Mcdonald is a real hero, standing up for what he believes

[@jonbroadsword7572]

Next step is 3D printing a tool for packing the explosive material down into the tube of the munition and perhaps a funnel designed to help fill the outer sleeve -- to speed the process.

[@Maskedbrawler]

Happily provided by Wildbees

[@BigMakBattleBlog]

Happliy recived

[@chemistryofquestionablequa6252]

I'm really impressed by the dual purpose munitions showing up recently. Very elegant designs with anti armor and anti personnel capabilities.

[@tina.8629]

Lots of respect for Joe and all the work he does as a Solider in Ukraine.

[@paulblackman4833]

I'm gonna leave a comment just because I want to support the channel.

[@LordDustinDeWynd]

Greetings and Salutations from Temple, Texas, USA!

[@skyhawk551]

making these into shape charges for anti tank?

[@robertspickler1385]

Thank You 👍...incredibly Interesting

[@felixcat9318]

Thank you for this highly interesting and informative video. I had wondered about some of the compact Anti-Personnell munitions I saw being delivered by FPV, as I'd never seen anything like them before. Perhaps these devices may be sourced via injection moulding manufacturing, which can produce repeat amounts of high quality components economically and rapidly. Clearly, this would not be somethin that could be frequently moved from location to location.

[@lelele1408]

what do they use for shrapnel?

[@bastiaan7777777]

ballbearings?

[@Murrray_Duncan]

Anything metal they can get their hands on.

[@porosus2469]

might be ballbearings, small nails, nuts and bolts etc.

[@SuperFunkmachine]

Ideally metal shot or pellets, same as a shot gun uses. using junk means you don't get a good pattern that's both dense and fly's fair enough.

[@erkkilyly1480]

In Finland you find empty bottle of nitrous oxide everywhere thrown from car Windows during weekend. Could be recycled. They are metal and stand for pressitiedotteen.

[@OngoGablogian185]

Can it handle melt-cast TNT or would it burn through the plastic? I don't think TNT melts at too high a temperature so it should be fine, right?

[@alun7006]

PLA melts at about 180*C, deforms at about 75*C.

[@BigMakBattleBlog]

Nope. Even hot glue affects the casing.

[@dennisyoung4631]

Thought: use a fine powdered metal as a filler for the pellets?

[@NorthForkFisherman]

Thermite for a little extra kick?

[@dennisyoung4631]

@ maybe that too.

[@lelele1408]

in the plastic models you can see like a round double compartment. Is the „frag sleeve“ just whatever they can stick into the compartement like small metal balls, or is it one piece of metall like in hand grenades?

[@finnthunder6542]

Soldiers can just use empty casings

[@sjansen66]

@@finnthunder6542 too large.

[@lelele1408]

@@sjansen66 also too light no? too much air resistance for the volume

[@stadtbekanntertunichtgut]

Mister Big Mac! I hope he is fine and will live for decades to come!

[@jerryramos4267]

Make food contaners serve as a munitions container after first use.

[@Isgonesomewhere]

Honestly, these micro air wings are such a force multiplier for ground forces. Any force without them should be sweating. They may not be around in the future the way that they currently are, but even a small militia or 4 guys and a drone operator can operate much safer and aware in complex environments and terrain, make more informed tactical decisions faster, call in fpv for small but quick indirect support and much, much more. Scary buggers.

[@FrankJmClarke]

Useful video for a lot of folks outside the Ukraine.

[@napalmholocaust9093]

Is the base ring just for conformity in loading (i.e. won't get sideways in a tube, as one example) or for structural integrity?

[@sjansen66]

It's for keeping the shrapnel in place.

[@krinks11]

Do you have the file i can take

[@nicholasshaler7442]

I guess he’s not in Morocco anymore.

[@DrDabb47]

This would actually Make the blast less powerful you are taking away resistance plastic is easily vaporized and blown away taking a great deal of kinetic energy away from a smaller area and allowing the energy to spread over a larger area .

[@ekim000]

The tube with the shrapnel sleave looks like an excellent candidate for extrusion and the nose sections could be pretty easily molded from flat sheet. Would save a lot of time if they could do that and only have to print the tails.

[@alun7006]

True enough. But that requires industrial equipment and all the associated infrastructure. These can be made literally anywhere with a domestic power supply, on a machine that weighs a few kilos and fits in the footwell of a car.

[@addygreen8919]

@@alun7006 But most of it is made nowhere near the front line. A lot of it comes from all over Europe. To mold this things or CNC them out of wood could accelerate the production rapidly. On the other hand: A lot of people have a 3D-Printer and can let it run at home while they do something else. It also depends on, if you have a shortage of casings, drones or explosives. If you do not have enough explosives, it does not matter, that the casing production is so slow.

[@Cam.Klingon]

Are they just using primers to ignite them? for reliability?

[@TedFanat]

I saw both - mechanical impact fuses and electronic - simple with 2 contacts and complex with board with axelerometer that will explode on impact or could be detonated on command. Different variations exists - everything you can imagine - even proximity fuses that will detonate 1-2 meters above the ground

[@littlehills]

if u have access to plastic why arnt u making shaped cones of copper or linear v slicing / cutting charge on 4 sides

[@TheArmourersBench]

I think it's a case of different jobs different designs.

[@BigMakBattleBlog]

We could insert a copper cone into any desighn easy. And we do.

[@littlehills]

@@BigMakBattleBlog what about dropping some toe popper 1st on them then you have more time to come back with others? caltrop spikes ? rd flares think id have so many ideas over there . nerf screaming foot balls as duds to keep there nerves up

[@terrydavis8451]

Can he post the STL?

[@maroness]

No.

[@Maskedbrawler]

Nope not happening, sorry that's all opsec for obvious reasons

[@sjansen66]

If you want to help you can seek out Wildbees. You'll need to be vetted though.

[@terrydavis8451]

@@Maskedbrawler How are STLs opsec when you post videos of them? It's a retarded thought. I can and will make my own it would just save me time.

[@Asdf-wf6en]

I have a 3d printer and printing these would take way too much time to be practical. Stampings welded together would be a far far smarter way to manufacture them.

[@psyamok3735]

why use slow 3 D print? why not making mold for quick mass production?

[@oldarchillies163]

Availability and portability. Molding facilities have to be built, a print farm can be anywhere.

[@sjansen66]

Most of these parts are being manufactured all over Europe from outside of Ukraine. Injection molding is very expensive to set up and very rigid. The shells you see in this clip have all gone through at least 10 design iterations each.

[@alun7006]

Injection mould tooling costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, and requires huge industrial machines to use. These can be made anywhere with power, on a machine you can carry.

[@Maskedbrawler]

A lot of these parts have gone through multiple designs before being considered 'finished'. Usually a batch is sent, the soldiers use and test them and send feedback which is then used to adapt. If we had to make a mould every time we change an itty bitty part of it we'd be paying thousands out of pocket every time. All of this is done on a voluntary and free basis, the crowdfunding we occasionally do is to let the moulding run for a long batch and to help out soldiers with generators and other equipment they need aside from 3d printed parts

[@psyamok3735]

@@Maskedbrawler Thanks so much for the detailed explanation. Much appreciated. I saw videos of the drone team going to the front line hiding under bunkers to fly drones.... I know there are technologies that a person can fly drone even at 500km away. Not sure if it would help if this method can help. If anyone want to know more, pls reply here.

[@christines.5241]

Big Mac, real soldier, please support him funding his innovative, hard, dangerous work for Ukraine's win💙🇺🇦💛

[@globalgaucho]

why not use plastic molding technikes or plastic pipes??

[@jpenna1976]

Because 3d printers are pretty common and these can be made by anyone with 3d printer. Both in Ukraine and other countries. In material cost these are maybe around 1€/each.

[@d3nza482]

To annoy you. Personally. They do it to annoy YOU. And 50 million other guys asking the same question over and over. They want you to get annoyed and be annoyed when you cut your nails so you cut them too far and it hurts. That's the only reason they do it that way. No other reason. Only that.

[@Willy_Tepes]

You don't really have to 3d print the outer shell as it's dimensions are not so critical. It is cheaper and faster to use standard PVC tubing.

[@TheArmourersBench]

They have also been doing this

[@Enoch-wi2qz]

STL files?

[@stonefish1318]

💛🔱💙 Slava Ukraini! Heroyam Slava! ❤️☠️🖤

[@maroness]

❤

[@onshore1ft]

Great to see Lister in Ukraine

[@matthiwi6901]

this shlapnell shlaps!

[@snowdogthewolf]

Silly question, but wouldn't it be more efficient to produce a mold and use standard manufacturing processes to mass produce these? 24 hours to print a single shell seems like a need for dozens of 3D printers running 24/7. I'd imagine a single 8-hour shift using traditional plastic molds techniques could produce the equivalent of a week's-worth of 3D printed shells.

[@danielmartin7838]

Will national defense see a time arise when individual households print gear for their country’s war-time efforts? A lot harder to hit an industrial base that’s been widely distributed

[@dermonch7959]

If you want to support Ukraine, where would one get the files?

[@mryouben]

The rushist empire will crumble

[@miroslawkaras7710]

The should use just PVC pipes for main body, instead of 3D printing. 3D printing are good for prototyping not for mass production. You could probably ask some toy company to make mass production of the plastic parts in millions a month.

[@sjansen66]

Toy companies refuse to help, unless they are paid for manufacturing a mold and paid for the time and material to run their machines. For the PVC pipes, keep following Bigmac. ;)

[@Maskedbrawler]

@@sjansen66 No no it'll be wide Mac

[@Smartass-pl3nx]

I feel bad for the poor bastard sitting in a trench who got hit by a Big Mac xl

[@martinwinther6013]

I would love to see a more eco-friendly version of this. Used plasticbottles, bottom and neck cut off. Could possibly insert one inside another to create spacing for shrapnells, or use same feature as these; keep it in locked position with a printed neck-insert (to hold shrapnells n explosives in place) - Plastic bottles are standard-sized and readily available on a large scale - You can probs get 750gr, mebbi a full kilo if you get plastiqe, of boom squeezed into a 500cc bottle. Thats more than enough to send 1-1.5lter of metal shrapnells out to a distance. Idk. Its mebbi me "improvise" gene that talks here. But theres so much trash floating around allrdy. Give it a purpose?? IK this could be seen as a joke. its not. Thx for the vid

[@sjansen66]

It's been tried and rejected.

[@Maskedbrawler]

pla is less hazardous to the environment compared to plastic bottles made from petg

[@sjansen66]

@@Maskedbrawler To be honest, they have similar breakdown periods.

[@martinwinther6013]

@@sjansen66 Theres nothing to talk bout when it comes to "breakdown" of this. - You be lucky if you find the metal shrapnell. Everything else has been atomized.. My thing is; why make thing to blow up when we have a lot of stuff we need to get rid off. The purpsoe was to get a standardized shape that behave in a known and predictable manner. Its to get it cheap and readily available everywhere. You can easily get that from bottles..

[@sjansen66]

​@@martinwinther6013 You are severely underestimating the engineering behind those shells. There are that have quite advanced shrapnel patters, there are ones which have a HEAT charge and can punch through the top of a T72 and there are ones that are multipurpose. Try getting that into a cola bottle. By the way, Ukrainian drone operators started with cola bottles, even those 5L watercooler bottles for napalm-like charges and they are also dropping re-fused anti-tank mines. All have their own application.

[@williamkenedy961]

Damn, war these days only led me to 3d printing the whole armaments

[@Nubbe999]

Its great that a lot of things are 3D printed. but when a good design is established they should start molding it instead. Instead of one part every 30 minutes 2,3,4 parts can be made every 10 seconds.

[@Maskedbrawler]

Several of the parts being printed are injected molded but it costs money to run it and most of the printing is done on a voluntary basis and out of own pocket so fundraising takes a while

[@theotherohlourdespadua1131]

That presumes that 1) there is a factory in Ukraine that does that, 2) It was not yet bombed into oblivion by the Russians, and 3) they have the molds for those. With Russia bombing Ukraine's energy sector, those are more susceptible to power interruptions...

[@Nubbe999]

@@Maskedbrawler The Price per part would be cheaper and everyone that is 3d printing things would still be needed for a lot of things. But the parts that are tested and they need a big number of they should use injection molds instead.

[@Nubbe999]

@@theotherohlourdespadua1131 1. 2. You do not need a big factory, in principle you can put a machine into someone's garage and you do not need to mould the parts in Ukraine. 3. yes, you would need moulds of course. But it's simple to buy both machines and moulds on the open market. If you do not want to buy a machine, thousands of companies make injection moulded plastic parts just in Europe.

[@ChucksSEADnDEAD]

What's the point of a manufacturing method that outpaces drone construction? There's no advantage to stockpiling a million nade bodies while waiting for drone microchip shipments and for the build teams to solder them. 3d printing is perfect as each print farm has low investment cost and doesn't have the footprint of million dollar machinery which can be detected and targeted with cruise missile.

[@PawFromTheBroons]

Necessity is the mother of invention.

[@drxym]

Once they settle on a design they really should move to injection or form moulding whever possible. Much faster to make components in bulk and they could still 3d print the trickier bits like tail fins.

[@ssswww]

Ask Joe why he is wasting the time to print the tube body of the explosive. Seems like it would be better to just use PVC pipe or similar and print the fins and nose cone.

[@TheArmourersBench]

They have actually been doing that.

[@NorthForkFisherman]

Mass and the way the tube disintegrates are probably limiting factors in that. Additionally, he's got an extra cylinder on the inside that holds the frag pellets in place during deployment.

[@leeedsonetwo]

Perhaps the Ruskies are watching and making notes.

[@TheArmourersBench]

They also 3D print things.

[@Maskedbrawler]

They try, we've seen more of their stuff tbh

[@rarra4]

bIG mAC

[@maroness]

bATTLE bloG.

[@MrSlugny]

:27 uncompensated volunteer?.....in the Middle East they were called operators.....nack in the day they were called Mercedes......how times have changed......

[@TheArmourersBench]

Serving member of the Ukrainian armed forces and paid as such.

[@whatnowstinky]

And puts the vast majority of his pay back into gear/munitions for himself and his unit. Plus the thousands and thousands of £ of his own money he has spent to get there and stay there till he was taken in to the Ukranian army. He is there fighting for Ukraine as it is the right thing to do.

[@MrSlugny]

@@TheArmourersBench thank you for the clarification

[@MrSlugny]

@whatnowstinky Under the Hague Convention, particularly reflected in Article 47 of the Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions (1977), paid volunteers fighting for or funding a foreign army may be classified as mercenaries if they meet specific criteria. This classification strips them of lawful combatant status, meaning they do not have the right to be treated as prisoners of war if captured. The International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing, and Training of Mercenaries (1989) further criminalizes such activities, mandating that participating states prevent and punish the recruitment, financing, and use of mercenaries. Consequently, individuals engaging in these actions could face significant legal consequences under both international and domestic laws. And as you eloquently put it .....the money he is paid he puts back into the project.....that's the second part reply......

[@MrSlugny]

@TheArmourersBench Under the Hague Convention, particularly reflected in Article 47 of the Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions (1977), paid volunteers fighting for or funding a foreign army may be classified as mercenaries if they meet specific criteria. This classification strips them of lawful combatant status, meaning they do not have the right to be treated as prisoners of war if captured. The International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing, and Training of Mercenaries (1989) further criminalizes such activities, mandating that participating states prevent and punish the recruitment, financing, and use of mercenaries. Consequently, individuals engaging in these actions could face significant legal consequences under international Law Would this apply to this gentleman...because if captured......is all I'm saying

[@bigdevil73]

24 hours 3D printing lol better a few devices and a few people (1 for 1 step) and in 24 hours you can build thousands of such loads without any problems and without 3D printers and electricity 😂

[@Auloss]

Drones will be considered war crimes in no time

[@TheArmourersBench]

No drones won't be but I expect their uses will become further included into international treaties on the conduct of conflicts.

[@NorthForkFisherman]

Not if the rich start using them.

[@LizardGuy50]

first non bot comment?

[@ergosum5260]

A bot woukd say that.

[@LizardGuy50]

@@ergosum5260 at this point i wouldn't be suprised

[@Revivethefallen]

Wow that's impressive! Slava Ukraine 🤘

[@andrewemery4272]

You are sick

[@TheArmourersBench]

Thanks duuude, you're pretty sick too. 🤙

[@albertodeanesi]

Only now have I become aware of your mission, and I would like to be useful to the Ukrainian people, I have a lot of free time and I am very good with CAD drawings, I am creative with a lot of imagination, I would like to be useful to Ukraine. I adapt from the most banal and simple workers to the most complex. I have industrial and design patents. Please let me work, you will be happy, I don't ask for money or anything else.

[@4rumani]

Just say you're a Nazi