Posted on 08/06/2012 7:03:09 PM PDT by JohnPierce
I remember spending about that amount in today’s dollars just for a minimally useable used b/w laser printer.
I’d hate to think what the polymer refills cost!
I have drawn some parts with Solidworks that were made this way. It is a very cool process, but I could make something just as functional with an antique Bridgeport.
On one of the videos I watched, they stated that the polymer refill kits are about $150 which isn’t bad at all. :)
All it needs is the capability of molding hardened steel rather than plastic, and there ya go.
But it’s printing a polymer, right? So would you use the plastic piece as a pattern to cast a final steel lower?
The prices are on the Internet. For example:
The UP! personal 3D printer from China, is designed and marketed to be an affordable and portable 3D printer for home use. It costs around $1500 for the fully assembled printer, with refill plastic costing around $50 per kg. It has a resolution of 0.3mm.
It's not dirt cheap, but it's cheap enough even if you want to make a garden gnome, let alone a firearm.
You can buy polymer lowers for $99
There are companies that will print steel, ceramic, glass, rubber and other items if you email them a SolidWorks file and money. So the lower or revolver frame or whatever does not need to be polymer.
Power To The People through 3D printing
This was beat into the ground a few weeks ago. While 3D printing (aka stereolithograpy as we called it 25 years ago when I first used it) is very cool and now very affordable, it’s a bit step from printing a lower receiver on a professional grade SLA to millions of home 3D gunsmiths. Especially since a lower does not a rifle make. And let’s not forget that skilled tradesmen have always been able to make everything, including the lower, with conventional machine tools, and always will.
Next step is an open source 3D printer
I agree. But I see this as a turning point from a public policy perspective as much as from a technology perspective.
“...the price is expected to keep dropping as consumer damage increases...”
What does that mean, “consumer damage?” Is this a new phrase for an old idea. I Googled it and got a lot of stuff about insects that consume and damage plants....
You can print with metal as well.....
I’m not an expert, but doesn’t the lower contain the components necessary for an AR15 to be converted to full-auto? Seems to me that would make for a sizable black market for just lowers.
I’d imagine that one could just as easily create an AR15 ‘lower receiver’ using a CNC machine. There isn’t much to an AR receiver. I’d imagine someone with a CNC and the right type of metal could make the things all day long. As with the rest of the parts of the rifle(except for maybe the barrels).
I’d imagine an AK47 would be even easier to make, because their tolerances are so much more relaxed.
http://www.shapeways.com/themes/stainless_steel_3dprinting_gallery
http://www.ponoko.com/make-and-sell/show-material/239-3d-printed-stainless-steel
http://3dprinting.com/materials/metal/3d-printing-metal/
Still a bit pricey but that will come down as everybody makes 8-shot stainless .357 cylinders with aluminum frames.
I wondered that as well. I think it’s “damage” to the price caused by the ramp-up of production you get when a line of products move into the consumer market. Like computers and printers that were 10’s of thousands of dollars in the early 80’s.
But I suppose it could be some kind of typo....
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