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Posted on 12/12/2012 6:32:09 AM PST by palmer
At-home 3D printing is on the rise, and what was once just a lofty promise is now a reality. More and more hobbyists are acquiring affordable printers, such as the Makerbot Replicator 2 and the RapMan Universal 3D (single/dual head) printer, to manufacture just about everything from toys to working clocks.
Some hobbyists have used these printers for fast-prototyping items that are controversial -- or even deadly. It comes as no surprise that some would attempt to replicate weapons systems (or at least parts of them) in an effort to create a fully functional gun. It's not exactly clear who was the first to fabricate a firearm using a 3D printer, but one example that has garnered global attention is "Have Blue" who designed an AR-15 lower receiver (converted to fire .22 ammunition), using a CAD file in the SolidWorks file format that is openly available from CNC Gunsmithing.
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(Excerpt) Read more at designnews.com ...
Wouldn’t it be easier and cheaper for criminals to just use a real gun?
...or a Victorias Secret catalog
the movie “Weird Science” comes to mind!
That’s what I was thinking.
Perhaps the Congress panty twisters are not worried about criminals. Heck, they hang with them all day.
For an AR-15, the lower receiver is the serialized firearm, according to the BATFE. The receiver contains the trigger, hammer, safety, magazine and bolt lock/release. The receiver extension (buffer tube) is attached to the back of the lower receiver. The upper receiver holds the bold, barrel, and chamber. These are the parts that are exposed to high chamber pressures when a round is fired. These could still be made by forging and machining since no paper work or serial numbers are involved on these parts.
The only parts on a printed lower receiver that might need reinforcment would be the pin holes where the lower and upper receiver are joined and the threads that hold the buffer tube.
3D-Printed weapons are the same thing. We just got the Second Amendment back. It may take government time to realize it, but guns are now beyond their control.
You don’t need 3D printing to build a lower receiver, just a metal working shop. The Afghans build AK-47s in very primitive conditions. And you don’t need printing to make a fully-automatic weapon, just a little work on the lower receiver of a semi-automatic weapon (NB the Afghan AK-47s again).
I do not understand this stuff at all. I shall keep what I have. I know they will not blow away in the wind, and they will still function in the rain.
Standard upper, 7 inch flat-top. Only the lower receiver was printed.
The furor sounds a great deal like that over the Glock a bunch of years ago. PLASTIC GUN!!!! undetectable through xrays!!!!!!
The horror!
Actually, until (as someone has already mentioned) nano hardening or some sort of metallic matrix is incorporated, there will only be support or structural parts available with this process.
Gotta love the home rapid prototyping possibilities though!!!!!!!
I'm not saying Trek replicators but think about what you could do...
The barrels and upper receivers can be purchased without any restrictions whatsoever — only the lower receiver is the ‘firearm’.
Every man a gunsmith. Registering guns? Tracking firearms? Ballistic testing at crime scenes? It all goes out the window.
For good or bad, the government will be TOTALLY incapable of infringing your right to keep and bear arms.
We used 3-D printers in our lab for years. Saved us a ton of money when we were developing prototypes. The material we had was a plastic or resin type. Our printer was rather small, the size of a coke machine. Big moving platform behind a window,,you could watch the item being constructed stand by strand. Our stuff would take 8-9 hours sometimes..and our parts were relatively small. That printer costs us about 45K and was considered small to medium in size. The material wasn’t too expensive but we used a lot of it up. Strange to program a machine to build a part and have the end result look like a toy. It was remarkable.
The last segment of “CSI” television show was about this subject. Killer made two of them and only fired once in a hit.
However, if our law-abiding citizens lose faith in the honesty of their government and/or feel their liberty seriously threatened, all bets are off. The only problem then will be that fully-automatic weapons are very wasteful of ammo.
Some things are surprisingly easy, if people have a good reason to do them. On the opposite end of that spectrum, your post reminds me of the scene in the first "Iron Man" movie in which the bad guy (Obadiah) has assembled a team of brilliant scientists in an effort to duplicate Tony Stark's iron man suit. The team finds the task difficult.
Brilliant scientist: We still haven't solved it yet.
Obadiah: Tony Stark did it! He did it by himself! In Afghanistan! In a cave!
Brilliant scientist: Well ... I'm not Tony Stark.
Coming soon to Kalifonia:
Anyone found guilty of possession, use or sale of 3D printers, without an approved LICENSE, shall be guilty of a CLASS A FELONY. (life in prison)
Wait and see ...............
You’re all dreamin if you think they’re going to allow this to evolve to its natural conclusion.
AND BTW, if you also think that possession of the presently unserialized parts won’t be criminalized, you’re also dreaming some more.
Y’all just don’t get it yet and I shudder to think how far it has to go before all the frogs wake up and ask “When did the $%^*$& water get so hot?”
Think about this a bit more: through nano construction, complex devices could be built. A virus or malware would become a program that causes your printer to create something that spies on you or attempts assassinations...hmmmm, this looks like something that would be a short story in Analog.
The question is: at what point do the frogs wake up and decide to jump? Manufacturing in the US will not be able to compete if 3D-printers are restricted. Gun owners will see what is happening -- and at some point they will stage armed protests. The Bastille will be stormed.
I don't know what the tipping point will be, but I am sure that there will be a tipping point. I look around today and I just see so many things that "ought to be" the tipping point.
I think CW is inevitable. Elections don't count. We have the means, and we will make the political change when we decide we have to.
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