Man Makes Guns with a 3D Printer

reply to post by Shadow Herder


Gun NUTS HELLO!!!! Couldn't criminals or Insane people, mentally unstable people use this tech w/o any background checks? You're so gleefully skipping around happy that this tech exists, that you don't stop to think SHOULD it?

Originally posted by thisguyrighthere

Originally posted by buster2010

Maybe you should learn the difference between epoxies and plastics before commenting. Many epoxies such as Kevlar are several times stronger than steel.

My choice to deride plastics as an option is based on cost not strength.

Maybe in a product like a canoe paying $2,000 for kevlar over $400 for aluminum is worthwhile because of the weight savings but in an AR lower it'd be pretty stupid unless you have cash to burn.

You mean like dumping 2 grand for a mill? Not to mention the parts that are needed for the mill when they wear out. Also you can build a canoe out of Kevlar for about half the price of a good commercial canoe.

The Nitty Gritty on Building Your Own Kevlar Canoe

In the long run a printbot and epoxies will be cheaper than a mill and aluminum.

Originally posted by sensible1
reply to post by Shadow Herder

 

Gun NUTS HELLO!!!! Couldn't criminals or Insane people, mentally unstable people use this tech w/o any background checks? You're so gleefully skipping around happy that this tech exists, that you don't stop to think SHOULD it?

Couldn't they just use the black market for that, like they have in the past.

Although this could make it somewhat easier, I don't think it really can be stopped, if we get 3D printers everywhere.

reply to post by buster2010


You said "militia" so I think a group of about 100-200 middle-aged blue collar types. Most likely they already have the tools among them and wouldnt need to invest in a mill anyway but pumping out that many receivers (with the mill they can also create other gun parts that would stand up to the heat and pressures).

Now, if by "militia" you meant about 50 IT guys who already have build kits and just needed a receiver to attache them to I on board with the desktop printer and the plastics.

If you really want to get into breaking down the short-term and long-term economics of the whole thing we can.

Originally posted by rickymouse
So now everyone will be out of work, replaced by technology. Soon they will be able to build computerized robots to make programers obsolete. How are they going to sell these things if there is noone to buy them? I suppose this is in preparation of reducing humans from seven billion down to 500 million people. Oh well, that's life.

No, that's just technology making physical labor irrelevant, service jobs and creative arts jobs are the way of the future. A machine can be programmed, so far, to perform tasks and compute formulas, but it cannot yet be programmed to think creatively.

Capitalism sure as hell will collapse in the near future, though, given that our current monetary system will fail when tested against this new tech. I'm sure the oligopolies will do whatever is in their power, however, to keep a stranglehold on their power and delay our inevitable progress into a credit based economy where not everyone will work because there won't be enough jobs available.

reply to post by rickymouse


Dont assume that civilization and money go hand in hand. We can have a society that has no use of money. Look at Star Trek ffs But seriously, this would free us not destroy us. Check out The Venus Project for some very flawed ideas on a society without money.

I for one look forward to 3D printers becoming the norm. Although I agree with previous posters, the hardest part will be not letting the big corporations from buying up the patents and burying this tech.

Once we have the 3d printers that can reproduce anything all we will need is the free energy tech released to the masses and we will have freedom from tyranny and no need at all for any kind of elite or ruler.
A true democracy based on anarchic principles IS in reach.

No no nooo this is not cool, I have been very interested in 3d printers lately. Anyway once people have these it could have a very negative on the economy, it is stupid things like printing guns that will allow government to enforce strict laws against it. I was actually thinking a few days ago I bet someone will print a gun eventually.

i do not think this will be the end of manufacturing as we've had this technology for a while.
i work in engineering and the design engineers use prototype model making machines and rapid prototyping which i'm thinking is pretty similar to the 3d printer.
i also imagine that the blue prints will be very similar to CAD drawings/files.

Originally posted by rickymouse
Soon we will be able to print ourselves a wife.

Don't hold your breath. A wife is a complicated piece of machinery. It takes the Lord many years of struggle to produce one that works, and even then....

Originally posted by Shadow Herder

This is actually pretty cool. The advancements with this technology will open a whole new world. It will destroy manufacturing jobs around the world. China will be hurt.

The fact that this man could make a pretty nice looking working gun is amazing. I cant help think that the military has mobile weapons printer live on the battle field printing out weapons of choice, replacement parts, on the fly,.Not to mention gun manufactures and gun control will go bust.

I guess the real concern and need of control will be over gunpowder.

www.slashgear.com


(visit the link for the full news article)

edit on 25-7-2012 by Shadow Herder because: (no reason given)

It could free up people to work on other things to advance our civilization though.

could be a good thing in the end.

Any one with a lathe can make a firearm, such as the British 'sten' the mag and ammo would be a problem though.
but if you can get the 9mm parabelum single shot might suffice.

My friend,

Originally posted by OwenGP185 it is stupid things like printing guns that will allow government to enforce strict laws against it. I was actually thinking a few days ago I bet someone will print a gun eventually.

This is absolutely true

Be safe be well

Spiro

Interesting video: making a functional bike solely using a 3d printer
www.youtube.com...

I imagine in the future 3d printing will evolve to multifunctional capabilities where different elements will be used like steel,aluminum,plastic etc..

I wouldn't be surprised if my grand kids will be looking for their first home to have a 3/2/1 (3 bedrooms 2 bath and 1 3d modeling room).

I've seen the basic Makerbot in action.



For 800 bucks on eBay you can buy one assembled.

At a recent convention I saw a guy with a MakerBot 3D Printer. With it he was able to fabricate a quad rotor copter. Plus a multitude of small parts for the RC cars he was making.

While this won't take away manufacturing jobs for items that require a high tolerance.
Certainly for prototyping or for making small parts in your home.
Like if you lose the battery cover on your tv remote.
A 3D printer will be a nice thing to have around the house.

I'm buying one, I want a real life Halo's battle riffle and a Gears Of War gun with the chainsaw lol...

I wonder if it can make precise stuff like RC plan gas motors... They cost an arm, imagine printing hundreds of them at low cost.. That'd be awesome!

reply to post by Shadow Herder


That's quite amazing considering most 3D printers utilize a plastic base material or a paper material composition. I would like to know what kind of material this 3D printer utilizes. Considering how many times he's fired the gun, I'm surprised it held up to the force being applied in the chamber.

I have a 3D printer where I teach, and the material we use surely wouldn't stand up to that much force. Than again, the printer is 5 years old and the base material probably has improved.

Originally posted by salainen

Originally posted by thisguyrighthere
Forum thread of somebody printing upper and lower receivers with pics.

Receiver schematic and magazine print

It's definitely being done.

Do you mean the two vague pictures on the 1st page you linked to? they are not of the printer, they are aparently parts of the printed gun, look like plastic parts.

2nd page has a picture of a possible schematic, but it doesn't look complex to me, and the rest looks like guns you would buy from the shops. Again, no picture of printer, no video of it in action. Need to read the thread before I make a judgement on whether or not there is any information in there, but pics or it didn't happen.

EDIT: read the thread (only 3 pages), no real info, only speculation. Maybe the guy who made it has talked on other threads and given photos or proper text there?

edit on 26-7-2012 by salainen because: read the article, again no proof

There are lots of videos on YouTube of these kinds of machines in working process.

3d Spanner

Originally posted by Shadow Herder

Man makes guns with a 3D printer

www.slashgear.com

We’ve seen no shortage of 3D-printed masterpieces over the last several months, but this is reportedly the first time that someone has used the technology to create a firearm. It comes from a users on the AR15 message boards, a community for gun fanatics. He used a Stratasys 3D printer to create a .22 pistol. And yes, it actually works; it can shoot bullets just like a normal gun.

(visit the link for the full news article)

edit on 25-7-2012 by Shadow Herder because: (no reason given)

That's a real game changer. Imagine all these plans for various guns floating around the internet in digital files. Someone picks a plan, downloads, prints out his favorite gun, and goes on a shooting spree. Better not piss off any geeks.

Originally posted by FlySolo
reply to post by Shadow Herder

 

Nor would we need the elite.

I think in a Utopian society, with all the machines we want to do our manufacturing, would leave people with more free time to cook up better lives. Joblessness is only a fear when bound to the old system. But there would be no more system like it is today. We as individuals could finally pursue our goals in true freedom from slavery.

There are people who don't want Utopia. They say it's impossible.

With these people, perhaps that's true.. no system would ever be good, if the people are going to be the same moronic, two-legged half-animals we have today. People will have to evolve, spiritually and mentally, before a real Utopia can take place.

But otherwise, I agree with you - it's rare to see someone express the "humans don't need jobs"-sentiment, and especially with so much common sense. Robots are fully capable of doing most of the hard or dangerous, monotonous, uncreative work. And most of the other work is not really needed (I mean, do we really need 'lawyers'? Do we really need corporations whose only task is to simply run numbers and twirl masses of papers around? Do we really need money? Sure, some means of exchange can be good, but does money always have to be the main goal of everything, instead of simply a marginal precondition?), and a lot of the rest of the work is just harmful to humanity. Think about it - do we really need cosmetics, alcohol, cigarettes, corporate drugs - all those synthetic chemicals and pollutants that only cause problems and make people ill? Do we really need latex pants and all the tinkertoys and trinkets that are constantly being manufactured - made from plastic, usually..?

Utopia is possible, but not within this system. This system (with it's "elite") has to end, before Utopia becomes possible.

Utopia is an almost perfect world, where there are no major systematic problems, and where people can actually live free and express their individuality fully. They might not always be happy, but there are no artificial, human-created problems that would become a burden to people. When machines do all the work, humans will be free to explore, invent, meditate, evolve, develop spiritually and socially, learn what and who they really are, create, ponder, and evolve the whole 'system' towards perfection.

Leisure is immensely important .. when you are busy having a 'job' all the time, you can't fully express your humanity - you need leisure, "having nothing to do", just existing.. to start perceiving life as it really is, and to start sensing the wonder about the Universe and it's creation..

A human can be truly human only when he is free.

And that's what Utopia is all about - freedom for ALL, not just select few. And true freedom - not just 'weekends and holidays' kind of manufactured stress-time.

When people are afraid they couldn't think of anything to do if they didn't have a job - I must ask, really? An immensely creative, potentially wonderous being like human - who has invented and done so many things during it's history - cannot think of ANYTHING to do? Why would there always have to even -be- something to do? Are we human beings or human doings?

I guarantee you that when you free yourself and your mind from the stress that 'job' forces upon you, you will free immense potential .. every human is capable of miraculous wonders, but they don't realize it, wrapped in their mundane busywork of schedules, meetings, arrangements and overdosages of coffee and cigarettes.

With this freed potential, you will definitely think of things to do - if need be - and you will learn to enjoy the times when there is nothing to do. It's not laziness, it's not a sickness to have nothing to do. It's the normal state of mind - just as normal as being inspired, creating and working. There's nothing wrong with working, of course - but a "job" is definitely something that shouldn't exist - and in Utopia, it wouldn't.

Work can be really fun - there used to be joy in work. When you work for the good of everyone, without getting individually paid - you can have such euphoric joy that a wage-slave in his/her "macjob" would never be able to comprehend. Working together with others - with no hurry, with no stress - can be one of the best joys of life.

But this system has killed the joy of work for the most part.. it has become -busywork- for unknown or selfish goals instead of timeless, peaceful, joyful work for the good of everyone.

Humans are capable of so much. Creation, play, work, rest, meditation, improving the physical, improving the intellectual, improving the spiritual - learning different things (like languages, for example - or telepathy, if you are so inclined) is always fun, when no one makes you do it. Learning is fun, 'education' isn't.

Utopia can be manifested.

A 3D printer is not a Star Trek replicator. It can't print complex machinery or circuitry out of thin air.

People here seem to overreact a bit. That gun wasn't fully 3D-printed, as already mentioned in the thread (many people don't read much of a thread before replying, it seems). Only the bottom half was printed - the top half was taken from an already existing gun.

Though because they claim that metals can be 'printed' also, perhaps it could be possible to print a whole gun.

Still, what must be taken into account is this:

1) The 3D printers cost money (they are not free)
2) You still need the 'ink' - which in this case is huge amounts of 'material' that will then be basically "molded" by the machine to the specifications (that's what 3D printing is) it's given

So it doesn't just print guns and computers out of thin air, it doesn't CREATE anything. It just "molds". So as an example, it forms a bag of 'powder/liquid' into an object of certain shape. If you want another object, you need another bag of 'powder/liquid'. Which costs..

I once read an article, a long time ago, about it beings possible to arrange and rearrange molecyles - basically creating molecyles by combining othe molecyles or separating them. According to the article, that would mean that you could basically create an apple out of air, sand, etc.. just by arranging the molecyles differently. And so on. Of course such an apple wouldn't have the lifeforce/ki that a real apple would have - but the principle is interesting.

After all these years, 3D printing doesn't seem to come even close to what was predicted in that article.. it's nothing that interesting or fascinating. It's just "molding stuff", and that has been done for ages. It doesn't create 'new stuff' out of nothingness. The only thing different is that the precision of the molding is now a bit higher than it used to be (though a skilled craftsman could still compete), and that you don't have to do it yourself (the machine does it for you).

But other than that, I don't see this changing anything.. the process is really slow, too. Might be faster to actually just mold the stuff yourself.