3D-Printed Weapons & the Consequences

DesignNews ^ | 12/11/2012 | Cabe Atwell

[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.

...

[Gadsden1st]

Anyone come up with a way to print bullets?? A restriction on gun powder would make these useless.

[BerserkPatriot]

Blah! Like That’s only been around the like the past 6 months like hasn’t it?

You know like they only had bows and arrows like only like 100 years ago and like they aren’t deadly anyway ‘cause people don’t die in the Old Western movies I’ve seen on TV.

And like guns have only been like around like you know maybe 50 years or something like that you know, that why like we’ve only had these shooting like just recently like you know and now it’s a big problem ‘cause al l these guns are around that just shoot themselves like you know…

Like I know all this like ‘casue I study the wiki and like my teachers like talk about this stuff in school and like we all agree like guns is bad, like you know dude?

/low information Obama Voter

[KC_Lion]

Wow!

You sure captured their intelligence well.

Because I still can't comprehend what you wrote.

Like, like, like, like!

[servo1969]

I like it!
Hackers + Makers + Gun Rights Advocates = Gun Printing!
Can you imagine how good the reliability may become if nerds of all stripes put their talents to refining the designs?
Damn straight!

[servo1969]

#19

Right!

As of right now this is the part of an AR that is considered the firearm:


The serialized lower receiver. Everything else is off the record on your rifle as long as you use a barrel that's at least 16 inches long.

[servo1969]

#26

Somebody needs to invent a plastic-like material a person can print with that, when baked in an oven for a few hours, turns hard as steel.

[LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget]

http://www.optomec.com/Additive-Manufacturing-Technology/Laser-Additive-Manufacturing

Wait till this gets cheaper.

[FreedomPoster]

>>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.

Here’s a cool link to where a guy makes an AK receiver from a shovel blade. Not joking. Nice bit of metalwork.

http://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/threads/179192-DIY-Shovel-AK-photo-tsunami-warning

Bear with it, it takes a while to get going on the receiver fab. Scroll past the intro pics to the pic of the shovel blade with the handle removed, that’s where it starts getting good.

[expat1000]

Thanks, guys. Yes, I remember the flap over the Glock also. This is different though.

[expat2]

Thanks. Yes, I saw that the other day. Interesting - effective tho not too pretty.

[CurlyDave]

Somebody needs to invent a plastic-like material a person can print with that, when baked in an oven for a few hours, turns hard as steel.

Can't quite do that yet, but if we printed soft, low melting waxy resins, we could use them to produce cast metal parts by using the "lost wax process". Look it up. It is not some arcane, long-lost technique. The idea is to make a wax model of what you want to cast, coat it in ceramic, and the ceramic becomes a mold to cast the metal object.

[Nebr FAL owner]

Fully automatic weapons that are hand held are way over rated . What a clever fella would want is a S.A.R.T (Surgical A$$hole Removal Tool)such as the Welrod pistol or the Deslisle Commando Carbine. These are weapons that are integrally suppressed & fire from a closed/locked breach so they are extremely quiet.

They are also far easier to make as they are even simpler mechanisms/sub-assemblies.

[Elsie]

This technique will get only better ~ particularly as printers learn to ‘build up’ the hard parts with nano particle layering.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replicator_(Star_Trek)

[Candor7]

Agreed.

http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.ca/2011/09/praxis-delisle-carbine-almost-totally.html

http://www.militaryfactory.com/smallarms/detail.asp?smallarms_id=423

;-)

[Salgak]

You can make an AK lower out of Sheet Metal. Heck, one guy made one out of a shovel. . .

Proof:

http://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/threads/179192-DIY-Shovel-AK-photo-tsunami-warning!?p=2695046&viewfull=1#post2695046

[BerserkPatriot]

Because I still can’t comprehend what you wrote.

I can’t either – I was trying not to think writing that – much like they do all the time.

[expat2]

Yes, I saw that a couple of days ago. Not very pretty gun, but an impressive achievement even so.