Topic: 3D Printable Guns And Magazines Thread

[trapeze]

I think the time is right to begin downloading these files before DHS or ATF decides to shut the whole thing down. I have been looking at this subject for several days now and it is...intriguing.

The cost of an entry level 3D printer is very reasonable, about $2000 to $3000 plus plastic to make stuff which runs around $50 per unit.

There is currently an 8 week lead time for a 3D printer from MakerBot. They have 3 different models available that have different build volumes (the cubic space available for printing) and use different types of plastic, etc. Some of them have very high resolutions available...essentially down to the thickness of an average piece of printer paper.

The nice thing about downloading the files for various gun parts is that a) you will always have them so that b) when the technology improves you can become your own firearms manufacturer.

These files are likely available in many different places across the internet but the one place that seems to be really dedicated to it is defcad.org At defcad you can find files on many different firearms "objects" some of which are potentially useful and others which are not. And by not useful I mean that no, you aren't going to be able to fire your printed .223 cartridge because, yes, they have it there available for download. I think in this and other cases the file is provided to assist with prototyping other firearms related items.

Another interesting page is the Defense Distributed tumbler page where you can read blog postings which are accompanied by photos and videos of these 3D projects as they evolve from design to testing.

From a historical point of view here is the original post by "haveblue" about how he came to print his first AR15 lower receiver and the liberal politics of the Thingiverse website (where you can download mostly non-lethal printing project files). haveblue got his design from Justin Halford's CNC Gunsmithing site where you can see lots and lots of pictures of how various gun parts are made the new old fashioned way with computer controlled milling machines and lathes.

BTW...Mr. Halford has been making and selling 80% lowers and 100% lowers for quite some time although he is, like everyone else, completely sold out at the moment. I think that I saw one of his 100% AR15 lower receivers sold on GunBroker a few days ago for a few hundred. You can download 3D files for free from his site and also purchase various tools and jigs that make manufacturing your own homemade firearms easier and less prone to mistakes. Supposedly it is possible to finish an 80% lower receiver on a more or less ordinary drill press.

Another 3D printer option is a European version called Ultimaker. They sell it for just under 1200 euros (currently just under $1600) in a kit form or you can buy it assembled for just under $2300. Oh, yeah...the Eurotrash will add a VAT tax to the order and I have no idea what that would run.

Point is though, that 3D printers while not cheap are not out of reach of most people. In a few years the prices will probably be half of what they are now.

The Wiki Weapon

The RepRap project.

DefDist Printed AR Mag - Part II

DefDist Printed AR Lower - Part II

I see absolutely no reason why 3D printed mags wouldn't work. I have plastic 10/22 mags and plastic AR15 mags so it seems perfectly reasonable.

[Glock32]

As for the Euro one, I believe it is exempt from VAT if you are an overseas customer. I've bought stuff from Germany and the UK before and they waived the VAT. Just a thought.

[Libertas]

Hmm...   

I see an opportunity to make a bundle in the underground economy for some enterprising souls...

[charlesoakwood]

As the technology progresses they will develop a scanner with which one will scan the object as step one then print it as step two.  Necessary files built in the scanner

[trapeze]

Actually, they already have that in the top end printers. The cost is way up there in the low tens of thousands.

What they need to do, though, is work on the plastics that the machines can use. Need higher strength and higher temp materials.

If these machines make "gun" control irrelevant then we can look forward to "bullet" control.

[benb61]

Actually, they already have that in the top end printers. The cost is way up there in the low tens of thousands.

What they need to do, though, is work on the plastics that the machines can use. Need higher strength and higher temp materials.

If these machines make "gun" control irrelevant then we can look forward to "bullet" control.

There are metal sintering machines that make metal parts (not sure of the strength capabilities) already.  As far as the bullet control goes, just reload.

[charlesoakwood]

Not to be out done by the gunners:

http://ace.mu.nu/archives/336871.php
Printable Organs from 3D Bio-Printers?

[LadyVirginia]

I have to admit I hadn't heard of this until last week when it figured into a storyline on CSI:NY.  I had the tv on in the kitchen and my kids heard it and from other parts of the house I hear shouts of "Mom, can we get one of those printers?"

[charlesoakwood]

http://idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/02/defense-distributed-unveils-new-3d-printed-gun-magazine-cuomo-video.php

Defense Distributed, the Austin, Texas-based project by 24-year-old law student Cody Wilson and several others to develop 3D printed firearms and firearm components, or “Wiki Weapons,” on Thursday posted a new video online showing a successful test firing of a new 3D printed high-capacity (30-round) automatic rifle (AR) magazine, named “Cuomo,” after New York State’s gun-control supporting governor Andrew Cuomo.

[Glock32]

They're going to have a hard time controlling human beings against their will as this sort of technology becomes more and more prevalent. As ben mentions above, there's metal sintering processes that can produce solid metal parts from fine metal powder. Sintering isn't particularly new - apply heat and pressure and the powder spontaneously reconfigures into a solid; the Germans were even using this to produce bullets and artillery shells in WWII - but the addition of computer control could be revolutionary.

[charlesoakwood]

Yes, this has the potential of being the next evolution from the industrial revolution. As the steam engine moved us from depending on natural energy such as water and wind for manufacturing power these printers will remove us for the need of giant factories to manufacture common goods.

Need an injector for your engine? Print it.
Need flatware for the kitchen, surgeon need a scalpel, a kidney?  The 3D printer concept will redefine manufacturing, medicine and more throughout the world and if were are smart (dumping socialism and go full capitalism) we will be king of the hill and lead the world into an even brighter day than the first industrial revolution did.

[Glock32]

It also has the potential to be a huge step forward to the dream of space colonization. Well, I would say it has that potential if we still had a government interested in American excellence. Think about it, instead of having to haul a bunch of specialized tools and equipment from Earth, space explorers could take machines like this and a supply of reusable material. They could possibly even produce their own material feedstock on alien worlds. Need a specialized valve for your greenhouse irrigation system? Transmit the schematics from Earth digitally and produce it right there. No need to carry everything including the kitchen sink.

It's sad, really. You go back and look at the optimism and futurism in the 50s and 60s, and you'd figure we would already have functioning lunar and martian colonies by now.

[warpmine]

It also has the potential to be a huge step forward to the dream of space colonization. Well, I would say it has that potential if we still had a government interested in American excellence. Think about it, instead of having to haul a bunch of specialized tools and equipment from Earth, space explorers could take machines like this and a supply of reusable material. They could possibly even produce their own material feedstock on alien worlds. Need a specialized valve for your greenhouse irrigation system? Transmit the schematics from Earth digitally and produce it right there. No need to carry everything including the kitchen sink.

It's sad, really. You go back and look at the optimism and futurism in the 50s and 60s, and you'd figure we would already have functioning lunar and martian colonies by now.

I agree, this is the next step and it will of course be more common in the near future.

[Libertas]

If we had such colonies I would volunteer to go, might be the last bastion of freedom left in the solar system, what with the rising fascism here on earth.

[AlanS]

If we had such colonies I would volunteer to go, might be the last bastion of freedom left in the solar system, what with the rising fascism here on earth.

Let me know how the fishing is at your location. That'll be the only way I head there.

[charlesoakwood]

3D-printed semi-automatic fires over 600 rounds

Maybe when they get this down pat they will develop technique to scan and print duplicate hip and knee
parts.  Can't happen too soon.

[charlesoakwood]

“The Feinstein AK.”

[charlesoakwood]

Technology News From NPR

Defense Distributed, an organization best known for advocating open-sourced 3-D printing of guns, says its founder, Cody Wilson, is now a federally licensed gun manufacturer and dealer.

[Libertas]

Now that the Fed's OK's him will he be beholden to their demands?

I'd apologize for being paranoid but experience has taught me paranoia is merely a precurser to a real threat.

[charlesoakwood]

That 3D-Printed Handgun You've Been Waiting For Is Here