Posted on 01/29/2013 5:01:19 PM PST by Brad from Tennessee
A man in Wisconsin viewed it as a technical challenge. Another, in New Hampshire, was looking to save some money. And in Texas, a third wanted to make a political point.
The three may have had different motivations but their results were the same: each built a working gun that included a part made in plastic with a 3-D printer.
What they did was legal and, except for the technology and material used, not much different from what do-it-yourself gunsmiths have been doing for decades. But in the wake of the shootings in Newtown, Conn., and the intensified debate over gun control, their efforts, which began last summer, have stoked concerns that the inexpensive and increasingly popular printers and other digital fabrication tools might make access to weapons even easier. . .
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
3-D printing is here to stay. 3-D printing in metal is a rapidly evolving industry. Whether or not 3-D printing of weapons parts is restricted by law the science will remain intact somewhere.
If the part that the ATF considers a gun can be easily made in the home - then the other collection of parts can be purchased without any paperwork.
The lower receiver is the “gun,” according to ATF.
There are machines that can print stainless, Inconel and Ti alloys with excellent material properties. Granted, these machines are waaay out of the individual’s price range, but still, the technology is there.
“Print me a sausage & pepperoni pizza with everything on it!!”
Yeah! And print me a beer while you are at it!
I can tell you that the old SLA parts were made up by adding very thin layers one upon another creating the solid part. That is why these parts all appeared to have a rough 125-250 RMS machined finish on them, unless they were polished by another process.
As far as lifespan, a fragile engine would be of no use to anyone.
A fragile firearm that could be shot some without breaking or blowing up could be useful as a “throwdown”.
“There are machines that can print stainless, Inconel and Ti alloys with excellent material properties.”
Wouldn’t the metal grain alignment of a hammer forged barrel still be superior to a printed one?
I guess they could make some printed 4140 or 4150 barrels and do some c.u.p. testing on them.
Thank you guys for the replies.
Seems I’m guilty of not keeping up with the 3D tech. Based my question on a remembered report published in Smithsonian or Nat’l Geo when liquid polymers were being used. The photo of lemon-lime tank lingered in my mind, hence the reference to the ‘soup’. Seems to be a dry process not that far removed from Xerox copier tech.
As far as being suitable for such high temp/high stress constructs they do have a ways to go. But imagine all the little light duty parts that can be re-manufactured at home rather than sending stuff to the dump. I can also see customizing new parts for performance, ease of use, or just to make it look better to my eye.
New vistas yet to be revealed.
Mike, as far as high strength steel parts you’re probably aware of the CAD/CNC controlled cutting tables that allow for a variety of cutting heads. I was looking into purchasing such several years ago in conjunction with CNC mills. Laminated plate components such as the adjustable wrenches are now within reach of the small shop, home or commercial. Assembling a revolver frame from such is not a complex operation. And finally after half a century of acquiring tools and time spent in arch metals I can say that no one machine will do every thing. Nice to think of such, but like the multi-mate tools one subordinates the needs of the project to the tools at hand, not always the best or optimum approach.
Anyway, thanks for the response and the goad to do my own homework.
I’m not a metallurgist (my area is automation), but I would imagine there would be differences in the grain structure and properties. I don’t know if those differences would preclude there use in high pressure applications like barrels, or if those differences could be mitigated by some type of post processing. Still - it is possible to print fully dense metal parts, and that’s a start.
What is a good way to invest in the 3-D printing developers?
http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20130124-908716.html?mod=crnews
http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20130116-906195.html?mod=crnews
Thank you.
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