3d printed firearms

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Stan

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#116716 7-May-2013 19:18

I caught this on the news tonight, defence distributed in the US has successfully printed a full plastic 3d firearm. Been following their progress for a while now as I started to get interested in 3d printing a while ago.

Is this a bad thing? I was under the impression that home made firearms were relatively easy to make anyway (could be wrong about this not looked into it much).
To me it seems a tad blown out of proportion.
As an engineering exercise it would be interesting to see how they have managed to make it work with ABS.

The CAD files can be downloaded through their website.

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BDFL - Memuneh
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#813169 7-May-2013 19:23

Firearms have been made for years at home. Nothing new. Just the technology is new.

I didn't see the report on TV but a local technology website published the syndicated copy from their parent US publication, failing to mention that during the demonstration one of the guns misfired and the other one exploded.

Seeing it's a single bullet gun, and there's a risk of it either not working or exploding in one's hand... It's just a gimmick for now. And obviously something the crazy militias in the USA will try to replicate.

Stan

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#813175 7-May-2013 19:30

freitasm: Firearms have been made for years at home. Nothing new. Just the technology is new.

I didn't see the report on TV but a local technology website published the syndicated copy from their parent US publication, failing to mention that during the demonstration one of the guns misfired and the other one exploded.

Seeing it's a single bullet gun, and there's a risk of it either not working or exploding in one's hand... It's just a gimmick for now. And obviously something the crazy militias in the USA will try to replicate.

Yes I did read it did explode I was under the impression that they were earlier prototypes.

Defence distributed is aiming to make a semi auto 3d printed gun after they tweak a few things.

Bit ot but geekzone could do with a 3d printing subforum imho :)

knoydart

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#813182 7-May-2013 19:38

Stan: Bit ot but geekzone could do with a 3d printing subforum imho :)

There is already the home workshop forum which seems to cover geeks getting their hands dirty outside of software...

DravidDavid

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#813187 7-May-2013 19:41

3D printed firearms work, but it has yet to be mastered. 3D Mags however are here. It was a while ago, but I remember 1000 rounds had been put through a 3D printed AR-15 mag before breaking. I would post links, but mobile data is almost out :P

If it gets cheap enough, that is a lot more firepower available to the operator than what would have been possible otherwise.

Exciting :-D

Skolink

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#813506 8-May-2013 09:30

Sort of reminds me of when colour laser printers first came out, ownership was restricted due to copying of banknotes. I hope nobody brings out silly rules for 3D printing.

vexxxboy

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#813510 8-May-2013 09:37

the price of a 3d printer will stop most people, they were quoting $10,000 , still a lot cheaper to buy a real gun.

Common sense is not as common as you think.

Stan

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#813518 8-May-2013 09:54

You can buy a 3d printer for alot less than that. For a gun you need a heated bed with a 200x200 print bed approximately. You could pick one up for sub 700usd

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#813532 8-May-2013 09:59

vexxxboy: the price of a 3d printer will stop most people, they were quoting $10,000 , still a lot cheaper to buy a real gun.

ever heard of Moore's Law?

stuzzo

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#813550 8-May-2013 10:36

Any welding metal can be printed too I believe so that's the other way they might go about it.

Zeon

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#813561 8-May-2013 10:41

I think its going to be really helpful for some of the massively overpriced things such as magazines. I saw an AR15 30 round magazine for $300 the other day. LOL WTF?

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robjg63

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#813602 8-May-2013 11:52

Wasnt Maurice Williamson quoted as saying he was concerned about 3d printers and that he was worried people could use them to make drugs?
While I agree you could make your own guns (potentially) and other currently illegal to import items, I couldnt see how he thinks they could make their own drugs - dont you need to get the chemicals?

Unless the 3d printers have a drug lab workshop included I couldnt quite see how that could work?

EDIT: Ah - googled that - it seems there are 'theoretical' ways to achieve drug manufacturing with 3d printer technology - but you would still need the pre-cursors (which are illegal)

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vexxxboy

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#813647 8-May-2013 13:00

Stan: You can buy a 3d printer for alot less than that. For a gun you need a heated bed with a 200x200 print bed approximately. You could pick one up for sub 700usd

that $10,000 was what the designers and makers of the gun said it cost for the 3d printer to make the gun.

Common sense is not as common as you think.

Stan

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#813686 8-May-2013 14:04

That's what one news reported. If you read through the defcad forums that's definitely not the case I don't believe.

Linuxluver

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#813688 8-May-2013 14:08

Stan: I caught this on the news tonight, defence distributed in the US has successfully printed a full plastic 3d firearm. Been following their progress for a while now as I started to get interested in 3d printing a while ago.

Is this a bad thing? I was under the impression that home made firearms were relatively easy to make anyway (could be wrong about this not looked into it much).
To me it seems a tad blown out of proportion.
As an engineering exercise it would be interesting to see how they have managed to make it work with ABS.

The CAD files can be downloaded through their website.

I've seen it as a gun nut way to circumvent any restrictions on ownership of firearms.

If people can just print their own guns then there is no way to stop anyone from being armed to the teeth.

To me....it's a symptom of the sickness of the American mind that makes them think shooting problems is the best way to deal with them. Worse, it assumes every shooter is able to infallibly identify a target and is in full comprehension of the situation in front of them.

The way I see it, anyone who NEEDS/MUST be able to do this is probably mentally unfit for gun ownership.

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#813692 8-May-2013 14:11

freitasm: Seeing it's a single bullet gun, and there's a risk of it either not working or exploding in one's hand... It's just a gimmick for now. And obviously something the crazy militias in the USA will try to replicate.

Single bullet barrel but I read there's a version with a replaceable printed barrel for subsequent shots.

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