3D printed Native 5 Lightweight scales

[RyanY]

I have been carrying and testing a couple versions of 3D printed scales for the native 5 lightweight these past few weeks and I thought some of you might be interested in it, especially since it is still the only Spyderco in magnacut out there.

Brody went above and beyond to design these well he went through numerous prototypes and tests to ensure every detail was covered.

So one interesting point is that this is the only way to get washers added onto the lightweight version that I know of. That gives it a premium feeling action. This is also the only skinny mod currently available for the Native 5 that I know of. Without getting the Dremel out. I have both the skinny mod and the regular and they are both great. Skinny mod looks pretty clean, and feels good in hand. The only thing I prefer about the original shape is it keeps the edge of the handle a bit farther from the clip so that you don’t feel the clip in your hand as much.

Value for the money: the price is very reasonable. For carbon fiber filament and washers added and whichever clip/lanyard orientation you want it will only be about $40 shipped and you can get the PLA pro which is still plenty strong for just $24. It’s a good price.

One of the major things that often put a delica in my pocket instead of the native is the platform that the clip lands on is rougher or more raised than the seki lock backs making it harder to put in and out of the pocket. I wish they wouldn’t put the raised lip on the Spyderco logo on the Native 5 that always snags on thicker pockets.

These scales feel like smooth g10 going into the pocket but in hand the grip level is very close to peel ply g10, better grip than the tenacious but less grin than a pm2 for example. On a knife like the native 5 that has ergos that lock you in it is the perfect amount of traction (in my opinion) and allow it to go in and out of pocket with zero snags.

Aesthetically it looks better for me than the frcp. It is a nice checkered pattern that reflects the light well. The blue, green, and grey colors all look great in person. The black is quite nice too. Haven’t seen much of the red but in pictures it’s good.

Despite being lighter than OEM frcp from Spyderco it still feels more premium and less “Lego brick”

The contours on the inside edge of the scales are well radiuses and very comfortable.

The action is really smooth on both the washer version and the non washer. Surprisingly I kinda prefer the feeling of no washers but YMMV they are both fantastic and I can spydieflick them open and one hand flick them closed on both versions.

These are fairly new but there aren’t many other aftermarket options for the native 5 lightweight. What do you guys think? Have you done any mods or gotten aftermarket scales for your native 5 lightweight? If you have some, post pics in here or share your thoughts!

[Sharp Guy]

I'm all for 3D printing and make a lot of things for myself and others but not sure knife scales are something I really want. I'm pretty happy with the FRN that come on the N5LWs but I'm also open to trying something different. A different color and less texture might be a nice change. I also have some different build surfaces that be a nice middle ground between completely smooth and the bi-directional texturing. I can do different patterns for the first layer if I want too

Is there a STL file available for these?

[bobnikon]

Cool idea.

I really like my AWT scales for the durability and they also use washers.

[zhyla]

I'm all for 3D printing and make a lot of things for myself and others but not sure knife scales are something I really want.

Certainly not using an FDM printer. With a resin printer you can at least print with enough detail that it looks well finished. You can even print things that can’t be injection molded. Though the cheap resins aren’t ideal materials.

[RyanY]

Here is a couple of videos showing how smooth the action is with these. Even compression lock style flick closing is easy. I also like how the texture glimmers in sunlight. It’s subtle but nice.

https://imgur.com/a/oatQnIN

And a pic of my skinny mod version

[RyanY]

Is there a STL file available for these?

You could contact Brody. His Instagram is @hipolydesigns.

But he is trying to start selling these so I don’t know that he would want to hand out an STL files that took months to design.

[RyanY]

I'm all for 3D printing and make a lot of things for myself and others but not sure knife scales are something I really want.

Certainly not using an FDM printer. With a resin printer you can at least print with enough detail that it looks well finished. You can even print things that can’t be injection molded. Though the cheap resins aren’t ideal materials.

Definitely. Brody is making these out of PLA pro and PLA Carbon Fiber resins which have great mechanical and surface properties for scales.

[zhyla]

I'm all for 3D printing and make a lot of things for myself and others but not sure knife scales are something I really want.

Certainly not using an FDM printer. With a resin printer you can at least print with enough detail that it looks well finished. You can even print things that can’t be injection molded. Though the cheap resins aren’t ideal materials.

Definitely. Brody is making these out of PLA pro and PLA Carbon Fiber resins which have great mechanical and surface properties for scales.

I think you misunderstood. That style of printing is known as FDM. It’s the common 3d printing technology for thermoplastics. The surface quality is not good relative to injection molding, CNC machining, and resin (SLA) printers.

[RyanY]

I think you misunderstood. That style of printing is known as FDM. It’s the common 3d printing technology for thermoplastics. The surface quality is not good relative to injection molding, CNC machining, and resin (SLA) printers.

I see, yes I misunderstood. I don’t know that much about 3D printing. I agree that objectively the surface finish on these scales is not as smooth or consistent as injection molding or cnc but subjectively I think it works well at providing the right kind of texture. I was quite skeptical at first thinking that it would make it look cheap and homemade but I don’t feel that way at all holding them in person.

[Sharp Guy]

Is there a STL file available for these?

You could contact Brody. His Instagram is @hipolydesigns.

But he is trying to start selling these so I don’t know that he would want to hand out an STL files that took months to design.

Thanks I'd just model my own and print them

[Sharp Guy]

I'm all for 3D printing and make a lot of things for myself and others but not sure knife scales are something I really want.

Certainly not using an FDM printer. With a resin printer you can at least print with enough detail that it looks well finished. You can even print things that can’t be injection molded. Though the cheap resins aren’t ideal materials.

If I was going to try to produce quality scales with high detail texturing I'd buy a SLA and have at it.

But for slab-sided scales with minimal to no texturing I think I can get better quality than what RyanY's showing in his pictures. I have all my machines dialed in well and I use basically the same slicer profile for everything. I've received some great feedback on how clean my stuff is compared what some others are putting out there



I'll see if I can find the time to model some N5LW scales and see how they come out.

[zhyla]

Yeah, if you’re just doing slabs and use a fine nozzle you can do better. I’ve some newer FDM printer has an option to melt the final layer with the nozzle to smooth it out.

If I was going to try to sell scales I would print masters with SLA and make silicone molds from them. Then cast with a durable material of some kind. Or injection mold — TheCrafsman on YouTube had a good video on using SLA printer molds for injection molding.