Posted on 03/13/2017 9:18:05 AM PDT by Strac6
Meet RAMBO, the Army's new 3D-printed grenade launcher
You know 3D-printing has hit the big leagues when the military starts using the technology to produce weapons. Researchers at the U.S. Army Armament Research, Development, and Engineering Center last week announced the successful development and firing of a 3D-printed grenade from a 3D-printed grenade launcher.
The RAMBO grenade launcher is comprised of 50 parts, and all of the components, except the springs and fasteners, were produced using 3D-printing. Different parts of the grenade launcher, however, were manufactured using different materials and additive manufacturing techniques -- the barrel and receiver were fabricated from aluminum using a direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) process, while the trigger and firing pin were printed using alloy steel.
Besides the grenade launcher, the Army is also moving to 3D-print the ammunition for the launcher.
MORE, Inc. picture at link.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I’m going to put up two extra large Christmas stockings - one for the launcher and the other for the ammo. I’ve been a very good boy...
FYI
I still do not understand how this works. Printing organs, printing weapons? I could barely print a PowerPoint presentation.
You can only get non-explosive rounds
Is it faster than stamping the pieces?
Highly doubtful, 3D printing is not a fast process, great at this point for prototyping. Stamping is going to be way quicker and cheaper.
Imagine a factory with hundreds of these printers making lots of different parts. It gives you the ultimate flexibility to ramp up/down on parts as needed plus there’s zero retooling when you want to print something new. You can’t do that with machines designed to make a specific part, retooling to make new parts is extremely expensive. This also enables acceleration of product development, there’s little to no resistance to improving an existing design because there’s no cost in doing so.
For runs of 250+, no, but for prototyping, you no longer need dies, presses etc. for your test runs, and modification are a keystroke away. There is virtually no “get-ready” costs to the prototyping.
Design it on a $300 desktop Cad Cam program. Print it for $300. Problem; it’s labor intensive and might take a week or two to print all the parts.
“Print” the first 25 for testing. If it works, contract 2500 out for conventional manufacturing.
FL’s reply #8 is also spot on.
RAMBO, after the crazed Vietnam vet. That guy was nuts.
Nuts, in a time when “nuts” were needed.
In a crazy world, the sane ones among us are the first to go.
Dang it, why does the Army always get the cool stuff?
IMHO, the guy lost it. And then that crybaby bit toward the end. Oh, brother....
Well where’s the fun in that???
I loved the M-79!
I want one!
The only problem with it was the sharp edged corner on the base of the safety. If you didn’t get your thumb back over the wood on the stock after you moved it from safe to fire, it would cut your thumb tip after a few rounds.
Had to shoot up about 60 rounds on the West Range at Sill rather than take them through the tap dance of returning live rounds to the main ammo dump after hours.
Still have a little bit of the scar on the thumb from it. No real problem through.
Be well.
Ping.
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