Blackhawk Omnivore & Safariland Belt Attachment: Adapter/Solution/Guide

Brandon_T.

Regular Member
The Safariland t-nut sticks on my 1/8” Kydex too. It doesn’t matter because the QLS plate is thick enough that it doesn’t go through. if the little “teeth” stick out, you can just grind them shorter since it doesn’t affect anything.

My concern isn't so much the teeth themselves; it's really just that the current adapter design/model I'm working with is less thick than it could/should be for where the T-nuts mount, which in turn means that it is less strong (of course) but also going to stick farther out as compared to if it was mounted to the QLS (as shown in my pic, above).
 

Brandon_T.

Regular Member
I got back to this a few days late and just saw the comments, if you need me to measure anything or have any questions that haven't been addressed please let me know. I can measure the hardware if you still need when I get home tonight

Heya dcsp3x, you had a chance to measure the hardware yet? (Or anyone else?) It actually dawned on me that the following is the last measurements that I really need, for the mounting bolts that come with the Omnivore holster:
Nylon-Screws-Pan-Head-Phillips-Drive--Line-Drawing.jpg
(If I can get those in millimeters rather than inches, that would be preferable)

(EDIT: Also, are the T-nuts built into the Omnivore flush with the surface of the holster, or do they stick out a little bit like on Safariland 6XXX holsters? If so, how much do they stick out? (Looking at the various pics on this thread and/or directly sent to me, it appears that they are flush with the holster, but someone please confirm. Thanks!)
 
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dcsp3x

Member
@Brandon_T. sorry I just got in from out of town, see pictures below of the screw that mounts the adapter TO the omnivore
20190912_224204_HDR.jpg
20190912_224359_HDR.jpg

when installed the omnivore screws they sit flush with the adapter and the safariland screws stick out like on normal safariland holsters:

20190912_224808_HDR.jpg

let me know if you need any other measurements
 

Brandon_T.

Regular Member
Sweet, thanks for the dimensions!

I think I've got this worked out - or at least have a model ready to test-print - so going to give it a run (and hope that the stupid motherfsdgdfs thunderstorm that has decided to roll through the area tonight doesn't kill this printer as well) and see what I've got tomorrow (which will hopefully not be a "big blob of plastic"). I'll post results and, for the two of you that have PMed me asking for one, hopefully get them into the mail to you tomorrow (might now be until Saturday, but really hoping it's tomorrow).
 

Brandon_T.

Regular Member
A final thought for the evening:

oldvsnew.png
The left is what I've currently got printing and - barring print failure overnight and/or me having miss-measured something - is what the first gen adapter will look like. However, it dawned on me that, if anyone would actually use it, I could insert a gap on each side of the adapter (or perhaps separated into two half-sized gaps?) that could in theory be used as a mounting point to cinch down something between the Safariland rig and the Omnivore holster - lightweight and flattish things that you're going to put somewhere, and perhaps could be stowed here?

Would this be a useful "feature" to add, or an unused waste of design time? Thoughts?
 

Sigma05

Amateur
7197b7238f28e067ec35d58081fd9b78.jpg


You mean something like this?? ;)
 

dcsp3x

Member
@Brandon_T. you can put me down for a prototype if you have the material and yes having slots cut for whatever the end user wants to cinch down is a good thing. If it doesn't effect the rigidity and durability, there's no real reason I can see not to have it
 

Brandon_T.

Regular Member
You mean something like this?? ;)
That would be it! I'm going to add 'em on and see what it looks like. It might not work, but there's only one way to find out...

@Brandon_T. you can put me down for a prototype if you have the material and yes having slots cut for whatever the end user wants to cinch down is a good thing. If it doesn't effect the rigidity and durability, there's no real reason I can see not to have it
It shouldn't affect the adapter's strength any because of a couple different factors relating to how they're being printed, so I'm going to throw them on and we'll see if it actually works or not.

@dcsp3x please PM me your PayPal email address and your mailing address, and I'll send you a PP invoice. Note that I've got 2 people ahead of you, so I might hold off until at least one of them gets and confirms that these at least connect properly before I send one to you, as the more beta versions I have floating around equals more money wasted if something doesn't work right. (...but see below for a caveat ;))

For full transparency I am going to be sending each of my two testers both a non-rail and a railed version to test, but I am not charging them extra for the second as they paid before I thought of the rails and, TBH, the rails might turn out to be ineffective, wasted space. Point being, for anyone else who wants to get their hands on a beta plate sooner rather than later (i.e. before it has been vetted by the first two peeps), I'm going to offer two options for the time-being:

1) $7 for one plate (your choice of which - rail or no rails) plus $4 shipping, or
2) $12 total for both plates plus $4 shipping (they are luckily light enough that shipping is the same even with two)

...but IMO you guys have waited this long to get these, so waiting a few more days is probably the smarter way to go. ;P

(Once they are verified as working, and I've got some pictures of them in various states of attachment/use, I will be posting a thread to the sales forum anyway.)
 

Brandon_T.

Regular Member
Got what are - hopefully, finally - test prints ready to mail out to Sigma05 and Chriscanbreach; will get them in the mail Monday, should arrive before the weekend, so if you could hook them up and post various pics ASAP (hopefully because they work *knock on wood* ...but if not, showing why not) I would really appreciate it so I will know to start pumping out more. (I think DoubleHaul is also printing one in PLA to test - he got me involved in this, so I figure a personal copy of the 3D model file is the least I can do ;) - but IIRC he doesn't have the Safariland T-nuts that have the teeth on them, so just because the adapter works for him won't 100% for-sure mean it will work for everyone..? So unless that's not the case, should probably wait on at least one other confirmation.)

Here's what they look like (front and back):

20190914_152613.jpg

...and here's what the "cinch rail" version looks like against a QLS fork:
20190914_152450.jpg

...and here is why I designed the attachment points the way I did (size-wise); the QLS mounting plate is "tight" around the top, and I didn't want to cover up the forks too much and make it difficult to quickly remove the holster (just in case, because you never know, right?). So this might turn out to be an idea that would require too many R&D cycles to be feasible (and/or just won't in a worthwhile way, period). The red lines show the "problem areas" I'm talking about:
20190914_155952.jpg
20190914_160018.jpg

There you go, gents: the Omnviore-Safariland Adapter Plate v0.9. Hopefully also v1.0; keep yer fingers crossed and knock on each piece of wood you walk by, plsthx!

And with that I'm fucking going to crack open a beer, say "cheers" to myself and take a shot of rum , try and clear my mind of CAD and 3D printing, and go play video games the rest of the day...because my brain says it is fucking done and will walk right off the job site and never come back if I don't give it what's left of the day off. o_O
 

Brandon_T.

Regular Member
Thanks, Sigma05!

And okay, so I lied about being done...sort of:

I'm not going to do the research (at least not now, that's for damn sure), but it dawned on me that, just because someone has an Omnivore holster and a Safariland rig they want to mount it to, does not automatically mean they have the Safariland hardware to properly connect it - most specifically the T-nuts, which come with a QLS, but I'm pretty sure they don't come with any of the duty holsters that you might be getting your rig from (since the holsters have the T-nut built into them and all). :confused:

So: could someone that has the correct T-nuts (they are the larger-sized ones that come with the QLS; not sure what else they come with, but definitely that) be so kind as to measure them and go looking for a cheap equivalent on Ebay or Amazon or someplace? I did look real quick on Safariland's site, and it looks like the only way to get them is in a bulk hardware kit that is stupidly expensive for this use. So if someone can find correct T-nuts that work with Safariland bolts (or T-nuts that will work with the adapter, that also come with bolts that might be different than normal Safariland bolts, but that are big enough and shaped similarly enough to work), please post (the) link(s) here. If it's a matter of them still coming in bulk - which is likely, I'm sure - as long as they are cheap-ish I can always buy a bag and then just charge a buck or two for anyone that needs them along with the adapter plate (as I'm pretty sure - or at least really, really hope - that people outside of this thread are also going to want a plate...).

Thanks!
 

Chriscanbreach

Established
We’ve got the literal box of holsters to pilfer for parts and I’ll let you know how it looks when it shows up. Will be mounting if to Safariland QLS, s&s gear track with holster extender, and G-code.
 

Brandon_T.

Regular Member

Hey @Sigma5, what is the width of that strap you are using? I just sorta randomly chose a width in my model - pretty much "as long as possible for what I guessed was the maximal area I could use without interfering with either the rig or holster", but it is probably not wide enough for your strap.

DoubleHaul printed off a test on his printer, and threw an old thigh strap (relatively thin one) onto it, and here's what it looks like:
IMG_20190915_080835-small.jpg IMG_20190915_080824-small.jpg
...but that just barely fits.

I've got to tweak the positioning of one screw hole today, so if you can give me the measurement of your strap ASAP that would be great; I'll be re-printing these towards the evening, so if I can incorporate (if possible) a wider slot, I'd like to do so.
 

Brandon_T.

Regular Member
And on a related topic, I had added some holes intended to be used with zip ties or paracord...but I am now concerned that they might weaken the structure, and I dunno if anyone would even use them. So what do ya'll think? Get rid of these? Or keep them (but maybe move them down a little)?

2057377770.png
 

Brandon_T.

Regular Member
Okay, all: beta test parts were dropped in the mail today, so as soon as I have confirmation that the holes are all positioned correctly I'll start printing more and get to those others who have contacted me about getting one. I actually have a few ideas for these still - like skeletonize them a bit to reduce material while keeping structural strength, and the design with the "cinch rails" is currently too small (barely over 1" slots to run a strap through) to really be useful, and this week is really busy for me so I dunno when I'll get to finish that side of the project, but ultimately I want to make that as good as it could be before offering it up as an option (plus it is going to have to cost a few bucks more, as it definitely takes longer to print, and so far seems to have a greater chance of the print fucking up).

In any case, if you want an adapter plate and have not yet contacted me, please shoot me a PM and I'll get back to you as soon as I know they are good to go. And if you really want a plate that has the rails on it, make sure I know that as well; I don't want to put a ton of time into something that no one wants, but I'm half-way done with a decent design right now so I'm more than willing to push through and spend the time necessary to make something useful if there are people out there who would appreciate having that extra functionality over a simplistic mounting plate.

*insert big, stupid Facebook thumb here*
 
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