printing 3-d guns

[AZRedhawk44]

Let freedom ring.

http://defensedistributed.com/



Can you imagine the problems this creates for tyrrany?

Let's say you're a tin-pot despot.  Pick a country, doesn't matter.

You're a tyrant and you prohibit ownership of any firearms.  And you tax at 90% or higher, and you have a caste system, and you have a maniacal state religion, and you have goon squads running around with machetes.

SOMEONE gets their hands on a RepRap.  They print out more RepRap printers, then they print out a bunch of single-shot firearms. 

You could probably build a 100% plastic rimfire firearm, including barrel.  It only needs to last long enough to kill one soldier or goon that is better armed, once.  But a plastic rimfire semiauto would probably last dozens of rounds reliably, maybe hundreds.

Heck, make the barrel thick enough, or make a plastic insert to put inside a 3/4 inch or 1 inch steel pipe... and you can shoot 9mm, .223, 7.62x39, whatever from it.  At least once.

This is freedom and liberation for the minority African tribes that routinely get savaged by thugs.

This is a means to revolution for Falun Gong in western China.

This is something that EVERY criminal with a gang behind him, needs to worry about, in places where potential victims are now currently guaranteed to be unarmed.

[Nick1911]

Meh.  Can't print primers and powder.  And, zip guns can (and are) already be built out of water pipe etc.  I don't see it changing the status quo.  If someone can make 3D printers, they are already well within the reach of making primitive arms.

[Blakenzy]

Will it work in NYC?

[Perd Hapley]

Comment section!

This one's just for fun:

I hope this never works. This is so dangerous! If guns become printable, drug wars, civil wars, and wars between countries will flare up. Guns are for killing, there should be as few as possible!

So with how few guns could we possibly get by?


This one I find interesting:

There are a multitude of reasons that non-registered, home-brew guns are not legal.

Such as? And in what jurisdiction?

[kgbsquirrel]

3D printer AR lower  Best of luck with that gun control. 

[longeyes]

Well, everyone wants to bring back American manufacturing, don't they?  What better motivation.

[Jamie B]

The technology is not good enough for complex, multi-dimensional 3D shapes....yet....

[French G.]

I'm not worshipping the miracle of 3D printing. Get a lathe, get a mill, make a real gun.

[birdman]

The technology is not good enough for complex, multi-dimensional 3D shapes....yet....

Direct laser sintering is (at least we considered it to be when we made freakin turbopump rotors on it)  Just a wee bit more expensive though.

[cordex]

I'm not worshipping the miracle of 3D printing. Get a lathe, get a mill, make a real gun.

At this point in the cost/technology curve, yes.  In the long run, the idea of being able to create a firearm with zero machining skills is very, very interesting.

[MrsSmith]

So the theory is that, what is essentially a photograph, can be generated that will have working parts? How does one go about animating a photo? Ink is still just ink.

So we're back to working on alchemy? Geesh.

[birdman]

So the theory is that, what is essentially a photograph, can be generated that will have working parts? How does one go about animating a photo? Ink is still just ink.

So we're back to working on alchemy? Geesh.

Not sure if serious.

3D printers deposit materials (plastics, metals, etc) in layers to build up a 3-D object.

[RevDisk]

Direct laser sintering is (at least we considered it to be when we made freakin turbopump rotors on it)  Just a wee bit more expensive though.

And it's been around for 20, 30 years, if I recall. I don't recall the accuracy it can produce off the top of my head. I do recall it's gotten cheap enough to be used for limited-run production, and not just R&D or rapid prototyping. From what I remember, you use a laser to melt power in layers. Not sure it'll be economic for the average home user.

3D printers. Meh. I'm waiting for a revolution in mini-CNC machines. Cheaper and more durable parts.

[mtnbkr]

3D printers. Meh. I'm waiting for a revolution in mini-CNC machines. Cheaper and more durable parts.

A friend of mine has a small computer controlled lathe/mill set-up, and a 3d-scanner/milling machine, all tied into a computer.  All this could sit on the average desktop.  He's used it to "scan" 3d items and mill them out of other materials.  He has taken a broken Barami hip-grip for a j-frame, glued it together to maintain the shape, scanned the "repaired" part, then had the machine carve out a new one in a tougher material.  The scan was a high enough resolution to pick up the trademark/patent markings on the original and carve them into the replacement.

Chris

[MicroBalrog]

And it's been around for 20, 30 years, if I recall. I don't recall the accuracy it can produce off the top of my head. I do recall it's gotten cheap enough to be used for limited-run production, and not just R&D or rapid prototyping. From what I remember, you use a laser to melt power in layers. Not sure it'll be economic for the average home user.

3D printers. Meh. I'm waiting for a revolution in mini-CNC machines. Cheaper and more durable parts.

CNC machines require you to be a CNC operator.

[AJ Dual]

So the theory is that, what is essentially a photograph, can be generated that will have working parts? How does one go about animating a photo? Ink is still just ink.

So we're back to working on alchemy? Geesh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QP73uTJApw High definition multi colored printer makes objects used as prototypes or for hands-on engineering study.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6Px6RSL9Ac&feature=related Earlier version using metal powder that had to be fired in a kiln.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88BPmL8cGAo 3D printing of direct laser sintering of metal.

And finally, the RepRap, an open-source community project to make 3D printers accessible to everyone who wants one. (biggest deal is that as much as possible of a RepRap can be printed on another RepRap, and is being refined all the time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMhG4fWQnlE

The technology is probably at a place where the personal computer was in the late 70's.

Eventually, home units that work in polymers, metals, and ceramics could make a decent firearm from start to finish might come about in the next few decades. Right now, something like a 21st century disposable single use version of the WWII Liberator pistol, that's meant as a last-ditch defense weapon, or to assassinate a soldier or other authority figure and steal their weapon is probably possible now.

I could see a throw-away polymer muzzle loading pepperbox type pistol that uses household chemicals as propellants, and common objects as projectiles being possible.

[longeyes]

The technology will advance AS NEEDED. 

[RevDisk]

CNC machines require you to be a CNC operator.

Ayep. And improvements in the interface and control could seriously drive down the degree of sophistication needed to use them efficiently.

[AJ Dual]

Ayep. And improvements in the interface and control could seriously drive down the degree of sophistication needed to use them efficiently.

Indeed. I can think of a few things, like the ability to automatically mount and position metal blanks. Integrated 3D laser scanner that could image a blank, and then figure out how to orient it. And the ability to flip/transfer parts so the other side can be milled out without operator intervention.

Oh, and getting back to 3D printers, one thing it really opens up is the ability to make high precision castings. Making stuff with scrap Aluminum and Zinc is well within the reach of the home hobbyist with access to some propane, or even charcoal and a blower, and common materials at a hardware store.

[brimic]

Oh, and getting back to 3D printers, one thing it really opens up is the ability to make high precision castings. Making stuff with scrap Aluminum and Zinc is well within the reach of the home hobbyist with access to some propane, or even charcoal and a blower, and common materials at a hardware store.

Zinc castings should be fairly easy to do at home- I've made lead moulds from scratch before as an expriment, they were good enough for 1 casting, which is all you'd need for a frame or a slide.

[Nick1911]

Aluminum is pretty easy too.  I have a propane fired aluminum foundry that was homemade - works great and was cheap.

I've always thought it would be fun to build some kind of common semiauto using only car parts as the source.  Melt down an aluminum cylinder head for receiver castings, use a moly steel axle shaft as the source for barrel material; at home EDM the bore and rifling.  It would be completly impractical, of course, but showing that it can be done by someone without a ton of specialized education and tooling would be cool.  Kind of a Dave Gingery approach to gun making.

Of course, there are easier options then clandestine manufacture for getting weapons into an area where they are not commercially avaliable; either illegal importation or theft from legitimate armories.

[cordex]

Of course, there are easier options then clandestine manufacture for getting weapons into an area where they are not commercially avaliable; either illegal importation or theft from legitimate armories.

Yeah, but smuggling and theft are pretty risky.  A home-built option is far less dangerous from that perspective (ignoring, for the moment, the increased risk of a catastrophic failure during firing).

[brimic]

I've always thought it would be fun to build some kind of common semiauto using only car parts as the source.  Melt down an aluminum cylinder head for receiver castings, use a moly steel axle shaft as the source for barrel material; at home EDM the bore and rifling.  It would be completly impractical, of course, but showing that it can be done by someone without a ton of specialized education and tooling would be cool.  Kind of a Dave Gingery approach to gun making.

I saw a TV show Documentary about tiger poachers in the east Indies who did just that. IIRC they used the steering shaft for a barrel, melted down toothpaste tubes to make a bullet from, and used match heads/coating from playing cards mixture for propellent. They would trap a tiger in a snare and shoot it in the head with their home made 'musket' at a range that was just outside the tiger's reach.

[birdman]

I have a makerbot replicator 3D printer at home and it's pretty nice, the precision is quite impressive :)

[MicroBalrog]

Ayep. And improvements in the interface and control could seriously drive down the degree of sophistication needed to use them efficiently.

The advantage of a 3D printer is supposed to be that once you feed in the proper file, it prints out the part needed without any intervention of the user, rather than requiring (like with a CNC machine) elaborate skill.