First metal 3-D printed gun (it works)

War is Boring ^ | 11/7/13

[citizen]

Bfl

[Dead Corpse]

I think you may be right. Just read up on some of the newer processes. Veddy inderdasting...

Ok... Now. Make me another 1911. Out of Ti6Alv4. Chambered in 10mm...

:-)

[Windcatcher]

We’re seeing the start of the Maker era where individuals can design and manufacture goods that are specifically tailored to their needs. I’ve started modeling plastic parts for my car that are getting *very* hard to find and I’ve already started designing circuit boards when I need them. Today it’s places like Shapeways for 3D printing and OSH Park for board fabbing, but who knows what the future can bring?

Right now, what I want most is the ability to get parts in smooth, clear acrylic. That would solve a lot of problems for me.

[right way right]

Ok, now you got me thinking about new internal combustion engine designs.

[Wonder Warthog]

"I think you may be right. Just read up on some of the newer processes. Veddy inderdasting..."

"Veddy inderasting" indeed. Imagine a part with the metal alloy composition varying smoothly from the "inside" to the "outside". AFAIK, that cannot be done AT ALL by available techniques.

[taildragger]

GE recently produced jet engine nozzles with 3D printers. The nozzles were printed as one piece, rather than in the 21 cast parts that previously required assembly. The nozzles are 33% lighter and twice as strong. Design time was reduced from 6 months to 6 weeks.

This caught my attention... STL in the Turbine manufacturing arena over 20 years ago was big big dollars and they ran the machines 24/7. Even back then it was a pipedream, 20 years from now we will print parts. However, I want to talk to a a metallurgist on this and more importantly the gun that was made out of Inconel. Inconel, is interesting stuff, a beeotch to machine.

This GE nozzle may portend to breakthroughs in materials or nuances to the process that you or I may not be privy to for years, given the duty cycle of said nozzle.

The how and why that gives them the durability needed for a man carrying application has my attention. Or is it non-man-carrying?....

So many questions...

[from occupied ga]

About the cost, you can get a lathe for about $6000 and a milling maching for about $7000. Figure about another $3000 for tooling, and you have the basics to make any reasonable sized firearm for about $16000. You have to develop the skill to use these things, but the capital is still a lot less than the $250k number other people were tossing around

[JerseyanExile]

A lot of old, or rare gun designs that don’t have a large enough market to pay for the expensive tooling required to mass produce them (or the extremely high cost of hand crafting) could start to see production. .45 Obregons, Evans rifles, the list goes on.