Posted on 03/01/2013 9:23:36 PM PST by lowbridge
In two months' time DEFCAD has garnered more than three thousand visits an hour and nearly a quarter-million downloads. What makes up the bulk of that traffic?
Guns, guns, guns. Parts for guns. Accessories like suppressors. Ammo casings for NATO and Warsaw Pact small arms and rifles. Even combat munitions like hand grenades.
And they all work too.
Provided you've a 3D printer, the right materials and a few other items that can be bought at most any hardware store, you or anybody else can spend a nice relaxing evening or weekend putting together a small arsenal in your home office.
Sorta brings whole new meaning to desktop publishing a magazine, huh?
I just downloaded a .22 single-shot pistol from DEFCAD, designed by a user named "caboose". The entire ZIPped-up file was over half a megabyte. I don't possess a 3D printing setup but in the future, that will probably be a standard appliance in many homes. I may take a stab at it then, if not sooner.
There's an intriguing article at Venture Beat about DEFCAD, including an interview with site founder Cody Wilson. Among other things he notes that DEFCAD is getting lots of visits from foreign countries. Might we speculate that at least some of that is from places with stringent gun control?
(Excerpt) Read more at theknightshift.blogspot.com ...
Now all we need is a network of people who rent 3D printers so we can build our own goodies. No need to buy. Just rent.
3-D Printer ping!
Wonder if Kinkoes is planning on getting into the business? Probably not; ATF’d be all over them like white-on-rice. Maybe some “Covert 3-D Cafes” will spring-up in some warehouses or underground bunkers. Lots of possibilities, though.
“One of our key industry advantages is that our machines are able to print products in materials that are desired by industrial customers,” says ExOne’s prospectus. It can make products consisting of silica sand, ceramics, stainless steel, bronze and glass, “and we are in various stages of qualifying additional industrial materials for printing, such as titanium, tungsten carbide, aluminum and magnesium.”
Read More At IBD: ExOne IPO Soars In 3D Printer Maker’s Stock Market Debut XONE - Investors.com http://news.investors.com/technology/020713-643591-exone-3d-printer-maker-ipo-soars.htm#ixzz2MMGnO18K
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Remember, plastic parts designed by computer can be the pattern to cut in steel with a plasma cutter. Those parts are more useful.
Pistol barrels can be made on a lathe.
Yes, it is possible to build a very nice weapon. Is it worth the effort? That depends on the circumstances.
Staples is already in the business, but not in my neck of the woods.
Wonder if the store’s “Print Dept Mgr” is an ATF plant so he can monitor what’s being produced?
Good luck finding ammo for it.
Someone needs to figure out how to 3d print ammunition.
Someone needs to figure out how to 3d print ammunition.
Actually, many large cities have "maker shops" where aficionados of high-tech "do-it-yourself" can rent machine time on various CNC (and other) equipment. These are clubs where members pay a small annual fee to support rent and equipment purchases.
Someone needs to figure out how to 3d print ammunition.
I’ve heard rumors about that before, it seems to me that it would be possible to build bullets that make use of some of the more esoteric fluid flow dynamics theories to achieve much longer ranges than the current generation of ammunition.
Wonder how their shotgun design would be. You can already build one out of pipe. You could probably easily create ergonomic designs to make them as capable and friendly as a cheap crack barrel.
The idea of renting them would be to relieve the owner of liability. You’d sign some release form and plug in the instructions and push the button yourself. In that way, they didn’t actually participate in the manufacture of whatever “evil” product that was made.
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