I remember spending about that amount in today’s dollars just for a minimally useable used b/w laser printer.
I’d hate to think what the polymer refills cost!
I have drawn some parts with Solidworks that were made this way. It is a very cool process, but I could make something just as functional with an antique Bridgeport.
All it needs is the capability of molding hardened steel rather than plastic, and there ya go.
But it’s printing a polymer, right? So would you use the plastic piece as a pattern to cast a final steel lower?
You can buy polymer lowers for $99
There are companies that will print steel, ceramic, glass, rubber and other items if you email them a SolidWorks file and money. So the lower or revolver frame or whatever does not need to be polymer.
Power To The People through 3D printing
This was beat into the ground a few weeks ago. While 3D printing (aka stereolithograpy as we called it 25 years ago when I first used it) is very cool and now very affordable, it’s a bit step from printing a lower receiver on a professional grade SLA to millions of home 3D gunsmiths. Especially since a lower does not a rifle make. And let’s not forget that skilled tradesmen have always been able to make everything, including the lower, with conventional machine tools, and always will.
Next step is an open source 3D printer
“...the price is expected to keep dropping as consumer damage increases...”
What does that mean, “consumer damage?” Is this a new phrase for an old idea. I Googled it and got a lot of stuff about insects that consume and damage plants....
I’d imagine that one could just as easily create an AR15 ‘lower receiver’ using a CNC machine. There isn’t much to an AR receiver. I’d imagine someone with a CNC and the right type of metal could make the things all day long. As with the rest of the parts of the rifle(except for maybe the barrels).
I’d imagine an AK47 would be even easier to make, because their tolerances are so much more relaxed.
http://www.shapeways.com/themes/stainless_steel_3dprinting_gallery
http://www.ponoko.com/make-and-sell/show-material/239-3d-printed-stainless-steel
http://3dprinting.com/materials/metal/3d-printing-metal/
Still a bit pricey but that will come down as everybody makes 8-shot stainless .357 cylinders with aluminum frames.
‘‘If we can spread this core technology to every kitchen tabletop, there will no longer be a meaningful way to restrict and infringe on the private civilian ownership of modern firearms.’’
Don’t test them. They will simply force the transfer of ANY gun part through an FFL dealer.
Does anyone get Metallurgy, Forging, Heat Treating, Normalizing etc etc and Metal Certs? What are these magic printers gonna give me for a barrel or receiver and how am I gonna have any faith in it when it is esentially a printed casting in terms of porosity?
Freeper Engineering Geeks tell me where I am wrong here....Ditto That suspension arm on a race car or wing spar, I am not gonna trust it out of a printer..
price is expected to keep dropping as consumer damage increases.
***Interesting choice of words.
Does this mean that a person with a 3D printer can basically print out a zip gun?
According to Cronin, the 3D printer used for the work cost US$2,000, and the bathroom sealant is available at hardware stores. He and his colleagues designed the vessels and controlled the printer using free, open-source software. Cronin says that the system will allow scientists to test chemical processes in ways that might not have been economical before, such as producing just a few tablets of a particular drug.
Now you have a idea and the simple prototype will usually cost you between 5 and 10 thousand to make and you end up with a 1000 part run. And you have to have a prototype to pitch your idea.
With this you just rent time on one of these printers and pop out the one you need. If there is a oppsee just refine the design and reprint.
The important point to remember here is that while this may be a curiosity to those interested in guns, this shows that the Left’s dream of getting rid of all guns is but a mere fantasy.
Were they able to get rid of them, criminals would still be able to easily make them – unless they can get rid of all the metal and machine tools in the world.
Oh, and ping for reference.
bflr
Whoa! I have no idea what we are talking about but I want to put a BIG PING on this page to come back tonight and learn!