Posted on 05/06/2013 6:14:22 AM PDT by Seizethecarp
The world's first gun made with 3D printer technology has been successfully fired in the US.
The controversial group which created the firearm, Defense Distributed, plans to make the blueprints available online.
The group has spent a year trying to create the firearm, which was successfully tested on Saturday at a firing range south of Austin, Texas.
The gun was made on a 3D printer that cost $8,000 (£5,140) from the online auction site eBay.
It was assembled from separate printed components made from ABS plastic - only the firing pin was made from metal.
Mr Wilson, who describes himself as a crypto-anarchist, said his plans to make the design available were "about liberty".
He told the BBC: "There is a demand of guns - there just is. There are states all over the world that say you can't own firearms - and that's not true anymore.
To make the gun, Mr Wilson received a manufacturing and seller's licence from the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
Donna Sellers, from the ATF, told BBC News that the 3D-printed gun, as long as it was not a National Firearms Act weapon (an automatic gun, for example), was legal in the US.
She said: "[In the US] a person can manufacture a firearm for their own use. However, if they engage in the business of manufacture to sell a gun, they need a licence."
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
Anybody could make a better zip gun from stuff in his garage and good epoxy. But it does prove a point, and it gets Schumer worked up to a boil, which is always good.
10 to 1 this guy gets a visit from ATF fellers wearing some color coordinated black clothing.
He is worked up
Schumer: U.S. needs to block 3D plastic guns like ‘The Liberator’ from Defense Distributed
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/schumer-stop-plastic-guns-article-1.1335599#ixzz2SWC8SFBb
Now they just need to figure out is how to create a functional cartridge.
This is just the beginning.
It's almost impossible to find the right size hollow car antenna anymore.
Here is a market place for the models to print different gadgets. Some free, some not.
3D Burrito is a new design marketplace where people can buy models for 3D printers
http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/04/30/3d-burrito-is-a-new-design-marketplace-where-people-can-buy-models-for-3d-printers/
A quick trip to the plumbing section of any hardware store could remedy that problem.
Oh, I’m for the 3D printers, my point is only that similarly effective single shot zipguns were always a breeze to fabricate from garage junk. Not to mention what a machinist can build.
It’s an ugly piece.
He should at least paint it or use black plastic. ewww.
You can perhaps ban importing and sales, but you cannot ban knowledge and commonly used equipment...
http://www.paladin-press.com/product/A_Do-It-Yourself_Submachine_Gun/Home_Workshop_Guns_and_Ammo
I suspect a lot of folks are thinking about that. Seems to me that one ought to be able to extrude nitrocellulose (not melt-extrude, but wet extrude into a case and allow to dry).
Old photographic films were "collodion" based (cellulose derivative). They were nice solids, but they caught fire and burned readily. Seems like a similar chemistry with a few more nitrate groups around should work.
Note....although I'm a chemist, I'm an analytical chemist/instrument designer. Polymer chemistry is WAY far away from my areas of expertise.
Machinist is a trade that takes years to learn and requires expensive equipment.
3D printers just do it.
You still have to get the components fabricated how ever you design it. The plastic does not spring forth from the printer.
You have to create a design file, or download one.
Defense Destributed is open-sourcing them.
How long before we hear politicians calling for regulation and political control of 3-D printers?
When 3-D printers that can print guns and ammo are outlawed, only outlaws will have 3-D printers.
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