World's First 3D Printed Metal Gun

3D printer is a valuable tool for rednecks world-wide. I cannot wait to buy one and make all sorts of cool stuff. I bet that a lot of cool innovations/inventions will spur from 3D printers. I hope that I can be one of those inventors and make millions.

Isn't this and a cnc machine pretty much the same? And why the fuss? I seriously doubt the criminal gangbanger element could afford let alone figure out how to work it. Or even what one is.
Firepiston

No doubt that I love 3D printing tech, I don't know why but ever since it came out it was always about making a gun which I found kind of amusing. I will be a little more impressed when they are able to print new hearts and livers and that sort of thing.

FirePiston
Isn't this and a cnc machine pretty much the same? And why the fuss? I seriously doubt the criminal gangbanger element could afford let alone figure out how to work it. Or even what one is.
Firepiston

All the 3d gun thing is doing is causing a bunch of ignorant ostriches pull their heads up and freak out.

Complete laymen have been using hand tools to build machineguns in basements and garages for over a hundred years and now the blind fool just notices.

Imagine now this tech is in the public domain who knows what TPTB have been printing for the last 50 years!
Is it a new tech or has it just leaked out?

Imagine if the "ink/substance" cartridge contained the in the printer had the entire periodic table to choose from, I don't think it will be long before it will be possible to print organic matter maybe food.

Printing with the building blocks of life, who'd of thunk it

reply to post by solongandgoodnight


I am in the not happy they made a weapon crowd but great technology. The 1911 is my favourite hand gun though I live in a country were owning one is illegal, still if I did then I would want a classic model not a printed one, how durable is the technology is another question and how likely is the gun to undergo catastrophic failure with a explode in the had scenario, firearms are high tollerance engineering and the more expensive models are works of art but that can never take the fact they are designed to kill away, still though more seriously, Iran would have invested in 3d metal printers and made all the centrifuges it wanted so I think the cat is almost out of the bag here and that has me worried.

Oannes
reply to post by Vasa Croe

 

Funny how its not about that, yet its the only thing in the video? Sociopaths don't even have to visit gun stores anymore. They can just make a killing instrument in there own basements now. I don't know where this world is heading anymore... Anyone looking at this world from the outside in must think we have gone totally insane.

A good metal lathe and mill can also produce a nice product when one has the right skills. I have a small hobby machine shop that I use for making parts for my cars and robotics as well as some items I am researching. I do not make guns or parts for them but I do have an acquired library of gunsmith knowledge and feel that if I needed to, I could make something functional be it a replica or of my own design. I have CAD tools and a homemade CNC machine to help too so arguing that this is going to put a gun into everyone's hands is ludicrous since anyone who wanted to make one could have done it the old fashioned way in the privacy of their own home without the new 3d tech.

Yes, it probably takes more time & skill than hitting print but it can be done.

reply to post by evc1shop


You have a very valid point and the AK47 was designed to be made with basic farm workshop and metal working tools so it would be the easiest (if not the most accurate) to make, this is why it was mass produced by the poor nations whom took the original design, There is one made to high tollerance and reegineered in the states as you probably know which is made under licence from kalashnikov and is actually very accurate, before the end of the cold war there were about 5 prototypes of a recoilless next generation assault rifle made by kalashnikov that never went into production, now you can image at that point accuracy was then a major concern as the 47 and the 74 as well as the abukan were leaving a lot to be desired in comparison to several nato rifles such as the steyr aug, but with your tools an ak47 would be a doozy.

I honestly believe it was pointless to start this thread. Mind deleting it mods?

solongandgoodnight
I honestly believe it was pointless to start this thread. Mind deleting it mods?

Why do you feel that this thread was pointless to start? I thought it was a significant advancement in the technology world and was glad you brought it up.

There will be many uses for this technology and it is good to stay up to date on it.

Thanks.

evc

reply to post by Vasa Croe

Yep...my guess is EVERY psychopath in the world is on EBAY right now ordering a printer capable of printing metal pistols as well as all the materials...it is so inexpensive I bet they are ordering 3 at a time right now....

yes...so inexpensive that one could buy multiple ar-15's and lots of ammo for them with the same amount of money.

or you could buy a 3D metal printer and make a handgun that can shoot 50 rounds. by the way, springs aren't included.

the technology is promising, but it is no where near affordable nor perfected.

reply to post by Fylgje


I'll be impressed when they can 3D print ammunition. Until then, they're only building weird shaped clubs.

reply to post by PhoenixOD


Its perfect. Not just America. The whole world. Governments will have to accept guns and maybe they will start teaching safety to kids again.

Either 3d printers are banned, guns become legal, or they really start filling prisons. Think about it.. eventually these printers will be in every home. Like paper printers.

reply to post by solongandgoodnight


Sorry but you keep saying it is about the tech even though you have "Gun" in the title and the video is about a printed gun....

This is called the expedient homemade Sub machine gun or 'Luty SMG' after it's British designer. It can be assembled from standard tubing by anyone with a drill, hacksaw and a file.

lh3.ggpht.com...


In this video you can see Australian police test firing variations of this design that were being produced and confiscated from gang members.

www.youtube.com...


The above firearm is complex compared to some. The Loyalist UVF in Northern Ireland created perhaps the simplest of homemade submachine gun designs.

lh3.ggpht.com...

All a submachine gun is is essentially a tube, a spring and a block of metal that pushes a round of ammunition out of a magazine (a spring in a box) into a barrel (a tube) hitting the back of it and setting it off in the process (the explosion from the cartridge blowing back the block of metal and repeating the process). This is simple 19th century technology. Even simpler than a flintlock.

See improguns.blogspot.com... for more pictures of improvised firearms from across the globe.

Awesome!!

Yes, people will create whatever they want most and have the hardest time getting and/or feel the most sense of threat about. So, right now it's probably things like guns. But imagine the possibilities!! Holy cats, this really opens up the technology possibilities yeah?!

And if such things become common, it could become really cheap to do, and then there's a whole other world of stuff that could in many cases have profound, world-changing implications! I've seen some of the things they're doing already -- like supercheap prosthetics for children missing limbs, for example.

As for the guns, aw well. When you have the money to run a cartel you have no problems getting guns anyway. Right now, drugs are the avenue for money to buy them; and black-ops arms of government agencies are making money on guns to sell them, to finance crap that isn't "official" and the military won't fund directly. All we really do with making it printable is kill off streams of revenue supporting other lines of crime than gun crime anyway. As for street thugs, true that makes it easier for them to get one. But it makes it easier for everyone else, too. Threat works both ways.

Any truly awesome technology since fire has been able to be used in many ways, some destructive and some constructive. I think 3D printing is some of the most exciting, amazing open-horizon for development our world has seen in a long time!

there will be patents and control on certain technological advantages such as nuclear was inter-nationally and guns are nationally.

Vasa Croe

solongandgoodnight
reply to post by Vasa Croe

 

I'm not super thrilled they made a weapon, but the technology is amazing.

I am....I think this is exactly how we are going to be able to circumvent whatever laws are pushed on us to keep us from our rights.

Unfortunately, I think you really need to think about this rationally. This isn't some kind of ingenious move by freedom loving people to outmaneuver those who would deny them their rights.

TPTB undoubtedly anticipated the potential of this technology at least a decade before most people had any idea what a 3-D printer is. This isn't exactly a quantum leap in technology. All it really does is takes a small chunk of manufacturing technology and puts it in the hands of your average yahoo.

If you consider that the government was probably on top of this situation years ago, it must be assumed that this is a controlled release and that they probably have an ace up their sleeve.

And besides. Even if this caught them completely off guard, you have to realize all this is going to do is scare them and motivate them to take preventative actions. I don't like the idea of backing these people into that kind of a corner.

Ok, first reaction I had to the video, was that its very interesting that they have finally started making firearms with metal 3d printing, and that it is about time too. However, one thing that did make me sit up and take notice, was during the first three shots we see fired from the gun, held in the hand of the chappy in the god awful coat (honestly, either camo, or no camo, not part camo. Just makes you look a douche).

Now, I have never fired a weapon before, but I have studied very closely all manner of video on the subject, as well as being present for live fire demonstrations at a local military base (I was a kid, my father worked for the MoD).

It seems to me that after each shot was fired from the pistol, the slide seemed to catch a little just before returning to the ready position. Now, as I said, I have never fired a pistol myself, but that seems a little odd to me. Im sure someone with more experience with these things will up and tell me that I am a twit for even mentioning such a thing, but it struck me as odd.

I think this three dimensional metal printing technology however, is bloody amazing, and has some pretty far reaching consequences, which have nothing to do with firearms technology. I think the reason they chose to make this weapon in this manner, is because the firing of a bullet from a gun is one of the most high stress conditions you can put a bit of metal through, without constantly applying ever increasing pressure to it. The sudden expansion of gases inside the firing chamber, the carriage of the bullet down the barrel, the immediate changes in thermal conditions inside the weapon are a great crucible to prove the metals worth.

And therefore this proof of concept has great value for anyone who could see a use for the process used to create this metal construct. The process could be applied to any scenario where a metal object of reasonable durability will be required, and will make parts ordering for things like motor vehicles of all ages, washing machines, ovens, old fixtures and fittings, out of production mechanisms of all sorts, so much easier than they currently are.

For instance, say you own a classic car. Depending on the make and model of the vehicle, if a part goes awry, it can mean months on a waiting list, or worse, having to source a part yourself. Some of the customers at my store work for a company which restores such things, and are forever complaining to me in conversation, that this is one of the tougher parts of the job, because some parts just are not that readily available, and one would have to search from here to the edge of Russia to get some of them. But if their company invests in a system such as the one which produced the gun in the video, then they could merely take the broken pieces of the part which they require, run them through a bit of imaging software, add in any missing parts (teeth in a gear for example)in that software, and print the complete new part.

Now, obviously the stresses involved with gears are different to those involved with the operation of a pistol, and there is every chance that the more sustained pressures required of a gear mechanism would not be conducive to the use of printed metal in its current format. But the beauty of this as I understand it, is that the process can be refined for the purpose required, settings altered to focus on one or another characteristic of the metals strengths. So it is entirely possible that the three dimensional techniques applied in the video, could translate into other fields, and that bodes well for all manner of areas of craft, design and technology.

It also has fantastic implications for space technology, avionics in general, and an uncountable plethora of other fields. I for one am very impressed.

3D printing will no doubt change alot of things, The tech has been around for a while but the models and upcoming models for the public/hobbyist are still quite buggy and require a fair bit of knowledge in regard to the mechanics and operation of the controller software, not to mention scaling your cad models and the actual designing part.

I dont advocate the printing of weapons (and I realize the thread is supposedly about the tech and not guns) but I think its fair to say that this level of 3D printing sophistication is still well out of reach for the average individual. Most of the time when I see printing demos, folks cant even callibrate the axes to get a decent print of a cube without 3 to 5 hours work tinkering.

Albeit those demos are with material such as PLA and ABS on hobbyist type machines, I dont think joe down the street will be printing a complete and functional firearm anytime soon. But the tech is indeed amazing and will revolutionize manufacturing and prototyping.

It will only get better as the technology improves

Personally I think this Gun printing tarnishes the 3D printing community, It will probably bring strict regulations on ownership of printers, especially as they become more advanced, cheaper, and more materials are developed.