Is this an update on 3D gun printing to all of you?

[BaiHu]

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/03/download-this-gun-3d-printed-semi-automatic-fires-over-600-rounds/

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[SecondsCount]

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/03/download-this-gun-3d-printed-semi-automatic-fires-over-600-rounds/

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While I find 3D printing to be a ground breaking technology that is going to change the world, I don't see why everyone gets so excited about it when the subject of guns comes up.

Is it to prove the point that criminals will have easy access to guns, no matter what the law says? Last I checked this is already the case.

Are these criminals going to go through the trouble of finding the 100 other parts to assemble a complete AR-15? Probably not.

[hufnagel]

individual gang members won't be printing guns and assembling them.
now, a criminal organization MIGHT partake of that enterprise for the purposes of selling untraceable firearms on the black market. I mean Al Capone wasn't interested in the liquor business to make liquor... he wanted to make money.

i'll be honest though... the ability to print and build a complete firearm would be pretty damn cool... even it only lasted for a couple hundred rounds. then you come up with a way to reuse/recycle the printed bits yourself and things REALLY get fun! :)

[joshs]

Unless they switch to a Cav-15 style integrated stock, these are going suffer from the same failures as other polymer lowers.

I find the fear of criminals getting 3D printed guns quite silly. Why isn't BATFE currently reporting all of the unmarked lowers that they find made on gang operated milling machines?

[Slavex]

I find the tech very cool, but it's got a long way to go. once they are able to start doing this with metal printers, and then can start making barrels and other parts, it will get very intriguing.

[orionz06]

I find the tech very cool, but it's got a long way to go. once they are able to start doing this with metal printers, and then can start making barrels and other parts, it will get very intriguing.

I am not sure we will ever be able to print a usable barrel worth owning for legal purposes. The rest can be done now on a mill and lathe that you likely have in your town.

[G60]

While I find 3D printing to be a ground breaking technology that is going to change the world, I don't see why everyone gets so excited about it when the subject of guns comes up.



This is why: “I believe in evading and disintermediating the state,” he said. “It seemed to be something we could build an organization around. Just like Bitcoin can circumvent financial mechanisms. This means you can make something that is contentious and politically important—not just a multicolored cookie cutter—but something important. It’s more about disintermediating some of these control schemes entirely and there’s increasingly little that you can do about it."

[Slavex]

My friend Steve, part owner of Prairie Gun Works, has a good saying, "Go ahead take my guns, I'll make more".
There is, I'm told by other machinists, a good chance that printing a workable barrel is going to be possible, once they can lay down steel.

[littlejerry]

As a design engineer I use 3d printers often. There are many processes out there: SLS, SLA, OBJET, FDM, and sintered metal.

This is not new tech. Most of it has been around since the 80s. The real advances have been in cost. Now machines are cheap enough to let new people enter the market place and so the tech looks and feels new to anyone who wasn't exposed to the industry.

Why in the world he thought SLA would be suitable for an AR I don't know. The parts are extremely weak and brittle. They aren't stable( they warp over time) and get even weaker with age.

If you wanted a durable lower you'd need to make it from SLS or sintered metal. Those machines are more expensive though so I suspect it'll be another 10 years or so before another gunsmith "discovers" that the tech can produce an AR lower.

AR lowers is pretty much what its limited to as well. Low stress applications. You won't be seeing barrels or bolts any time soon.

[orionz06]

As a design engineer I use 3d printers often. There are many processes out there: SLS, SLA, OBJET, FDM, and sintered metal.

This is not new tech. Most of it has been around since the 80s. The real advances have been in cost. Now machines are cheap enough to let new people enter the market place and so the tech looks and feels new to anyone who wasn't exposed to the industry.

Why in the world he thought SLA would be suitable for an AR I don't know. The parts are extremely weak and brittle. They aren't stable( they warp over time) and get even weaker with age.

If you wanted a durable lower you'd need to make it from SLS or sintered metal. Those machines are more expensive though so I suspect it'll be another 10 years or so before another gunsmith "discovers" that the tech can produce an AR lower.

AR lowers is pretty much what its limited to as well. Low stress applications. You won't be seeing barrels or bolts any time soon.

Just from my discussions with a college professor who taught some RP classes the machines are cheap but the medium is not dropping as fast. Still high enough that machining aluminum has been a cheaper option for some of my needs, even at an alumni donation price.