mister... you must have one hell of a boat!!! 8^)
Posted on 08/06/2012 7:03:09 PM PDT by JohnPierce
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The lower receiver of the gun pictured at the top of this article was not purchased from a licensed dealer, nor was it purchased from an individual.
This lower was ‘printed’ using a 3D printer and it may spell the beginning of the end for the gun control movement.
3D ‘printing’ is an emerging technology that has been commercially available for some time but is only now achieving inroads into the consumer market. 3D ‘printers’ are in fact computer controlled material handling systems that lay down successive layers of polymer or other material based upon a computer model to make a 3D object; in this case, a lower for an AR.
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Once costing tens of thousands of dollars, advanced 3D printers such as the MakerBot Replicator are available today for under $2,000 and the price is expected to keep dropping as consumer damage increases.
And thanks to engineer Michael Guslick, who ‘printed’ the lower pictured above from a design of his own creation, 3D printing of functional firearms has moved beyond the realm of the possible into the actual; and things will never be the same again.
Michael first posted details of his creation on AR15.com but the story quickly spread across the internet where numerous commentators, myself included, have discussed the legal and public policy ramifications of this inevitable step forward.
One of the comments on the AR15.com thread summed up my feelings quite nicely; ‘‘If we can spread this core technology to every kitchen tabletop, there will no longer be a meaningful way to restrict and infringe on the private civilian ownership of modern firearms.’’
Even Mark Gibbs of Forbes magazine couldn’t help himself from noting that, from this day forward ‘‘if guns are outlawed, outlaws will have 3D printers.’’
My guess is he meant “demand” ...Author probably typed this on iPad/iphone and got autocorrected. The autocorrect wouldn’t show up in spellcheck and alas, there is no “auto proofread”
But it is uniquely the lower that is the serialized part and must be purchased from an FFL (face to face sales aside.)
Full uppers with bolt carriers and barrels, handguards, pistol grips, buffers and buffer tubes, buttstocks, lower parts kits, and magazines can all be purchased online and mailed directly to your home. But you need to purchase a lower through an FFL dealer.
Not the types you or I would purchase from the local gun shop. You are correct that the components for 'full auto' go into the lower receiver, but those parts aren't in civilian versions of the rifle. I've heard of a part known as the "drop in auto sear" which is supposed to be something that one can easily 'drop' into the lower to achieve that functionality. I believe one can even locate the plans for one out on the internet(Google can help there if one is so interested). I don't know if such a thing is for real or a myth.
‘‘If we can spread this core technology to every kitchen tabletop, there will no longer be a meaningful way to restrict and infringe on the private civilian ownership of modern firearms.’’
Don’t test them. They will simply force the transfer of ANY gun part through an FFL dealer.
That means that I did a poor job of proof-reading my writing. :) It should have said consumer demand.
So if I mail them a couple pounds of uranium, I can have a Fatman?
Cool!
Does anyone get Metallurgy, Forging, Heat Treating, Normalizing etc etc and Metal Certs? What are these magic printers gonna give me for a barrel or receiver and how am I gonna have any faith in it when it is esentially a printed casting in terms of porosity?
Freeper Engineering Geeks tell me where I am wrong here....Ditto That suspension arm on a race car or wing spar, I am not gonna trust it out of a printer..
Thanks for that! So cool!
price is expected to keep dropping as consumer damage increases.
***Interesting choice of words.
Does this mean that a person with a 3D printer can basically print out a zip gun?
According to Cronin, the 3D printer used for the work cost US$2,000, and the bathroom sealant is available at hardware stores. He and his colleagues designed the vessels and controlled the printer using free, open-source software. Cronin says that the system will allow scientists to test chemical processes in ways that might not have been economical before, such as producing just a few tablets of a particular drug.
Thin man would be easier with a printer, less need for crystal phase control.
Watch out, powdered U is pyrophoric!
> All it needs is the capability of molding hardened steel rather than plastic, and there ya go.
They already do sintered stainless steel. I’ve had parts made at work already.
True, and I don’t mean to sound like I disagree with the theme of this post, only that I think it’s a stretch to claim that it’s the end of gun-grabbing. Because all they’d have to do is make uppers illegal to close that loophole, and I wouldn’t put it past some to think of doing that.
But the bottom line is, this technology increase liberty and limits the ability of big brother to control what people do, and that’s all good.
You are right, my point was that making something on your own is nothing new and does not require ultra modern methods.
I also forgot to mention that I lost my Bridgeport in a tragic boating accident.
The coppers smashed my father's printer when I was eight. I remember the hot, cling-film-in-a-microwave smell of it, and Da's look of ferocious concentration as he filled it with fresh goop, and the warm, fresh-baked feel of the objects that came out of it. The coppers came through the door with truncheons swinging, one of them reciting the terms of the warrant through a bullhorn. One of Da's customers had shopped him.
The ipolice paid in high-grade pharmaceuticals -- performance enhancers, memory supplements, metabolic boosters. The kind of things that cost a fortune over the counter; the kind of things you could print at home, if you didn't mind the risk of having your kitchen filled with a sudden crush of big, beefy bodies, hard truncheons whistling through the air, smashing anyone and anything that got in the way.
................"Lanie, I'm going to print more printers. Lots more printers. One for everyone. That's worth going to jail for. That's worth anything."
I couldn’t have summed it up better myself. That was really the point I was trying to get across. :)
Right now, the existing tech can turn out something on a par with or a bit better tan the Liberator .45 pistol (think I have the name right) that was airdropped behind Nazi lines.
In a few years a tough receiver will be possible. Barrels, I think, will be heat-treated steel for the foreseeable future, possibly machines out of car parts. Metal-lined ceramic barrels are a possibility.
Sorry to hear about your Bridgeport. :) That seems to be a common hazard. Lol
Good enough. Wasn’t trying to be snotty, you just threw me for a loop :-)
mister... you must have one hell of a boat!!! 8^)
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