DEFCAD - 3D printing of gun parts is starting to happen

[ATCclears]

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[Redcap]

I have been seeding the torrents for quite some time now on a variety of machines.

 

[drew]

I'm very tempted to set up a RepRap. http://www.reprap.org/wiki/Main_Page

I'm also seeding their torrent. Unfortunately, the folks hosting my server don't like public torrent trackers. So no real fast seeding from me.

 

[Bob D]

I have been seeding the torrents for quite some time now on a variety of machines.

I'm a Mechanical Designer by trade, and spend a large portion of my time creating 3D models to various specifications. I've already done a couple of different firearm pieces and accessories of passable quality, and am working on getting a better quality 3D printer that can use a higher strength material at a better resolution. The advances this technology has made in the last three years alone are huge, and it's moving faster every day.

I've been having a lot of fun and building some skill getting these things to work. It's more of a process than just hitting print, It's turning out that precision pieces need to be designed slightly oversized on certain dimensions and then have material removed through heat treatment and sanding to fit the precise specifications. It's a fun process.

What all you got in your model library Redcap?

 

[ATCclears]

3D-printed gun maker now has federal firearms license to manufacture, deal guns | Ars Technica

 

[Jabba]

Manufacturing guns on a 3-d printer entirely defeats the purpose of the technology. Guns can be made cheaper and better with the proper equipment. A printed version will cost more and be of lower quality, but that is acceptable if you can make your very own from just a digital file. Mass-producing them this way makes no sense. They should have attempted instead to make new gun designs that complement the technology more, instead of just copying an ar15.

 

[Kevatc]

Seeding the torrents???? What does that mean? 3-D printing of parts??? I am lost. What are the parts made of?

 

[meener777]

>>Seeding the torrents????

This refers to "Bit Torrent" which is a computer program for sharing files. It means he is hosting the files so others can download them.

 

[pchewn]

3D printers create plastic parts from 3D CAD data. See here for example: Home

They are used in product design to rapidly produce a 3D model for design evaluation, demo, etc. In some cases they are also used to produce low-volume production.

For guns, I imagine that they would be less useful, because some parts need to be metal..... I'm guessing that the gun makers using 3D printers are doing it because they don't have access to milling machines, lathes, and other metal working tools. The important part is that making (anything) with a 3D printer is fun, fast, and low-cost compared to using other techniques.

 

[raftman]

This video was released a few days ago on the subject of 3D printing of gun parts. Shows some demos of 3D printed AR lowers being test-fired (in a couple of different calibers), as well as 3D printed mags.

3D Printed Guns (Documentary) - YouTube

It is very intriguing, even with the technology still in its infancy, the improvements made are impressive. They test out a lower that fails after around 30 rounds, but shortly thereafter they demonstrate one able to withstand something like 600 rounds without failing. Fascinating stuff.

 

[206thsense]

This video was released a few days ago on the subject of 3D printing of gun parts. Shows some demos of 3D printed AR lowers being test-fired (in a couple of different calibers), as well as 3D printed mags.

3D Printed Guns (Documentary) - YouTube

It is very intriguing, even with the technology still in its infancy, the improvements made are impressive. They test out a lower that fails after around 30 rounds, but shortly thereafter they demonstrate one able to withstand something like 600 rounds without failing. Fascinating stuff.

VICE has done some interesting stuff on guns before... if anything, they're the kind of "alternative" publication that isn't afraid to do something different.

Case in point: sending a Taiwanese American chef to hang out with a motorcycle club in Cali and shoot guns + butcher rabbit. Yep.

Fresh Off The Boat With Eddie Huang: Bay Area (Part 1/3) - YouTube

Hipsters with guns? Yeah, scary...

 

[Netspirit]

What this technology really means for us - citizens would be able to 3-D-print any kind of weapon in future for themselves. When weapons are not produced by a few big companies, they essentially cannot be regulated, banned, etc.

I assume 3D-printing of magazines will be available before 3D-printing of firearms, since magazines do not have to be as tough as receivers.

 

[Simonpie]

I'd like to see people be a bit more creative with the tool instead of just replicating existing parts.
I imagine a "sample" adjustable stock that you get all fitted to your body with length, comb height, grip location, etc. all movable. Then, read off the numbers, plug it into a model, and 3D print a 1 piece stock custom fit to you.

 

[Kevinkris]

Manufacturing guns on a 3-d printer entirely defeats the purpose of the technology. Guns can be made cheaper and better with the proper equipment. A printed version will cost more and be of lower quality, but that is acceptable if you can make your very own from just a digital file. Mass-producing them this way makes no sense. They should have attempted instead to make new gun designs that complement the technology more, instead of just copying an ar15.

if you look at why he is doing these types of designs you would understand his reasons. Cody Wilson has only gone through the steps to get the licensing to make sure he does not get raided for publishing his development process. the end goal is to produce files to be spread throughout the internet for free so that anyone with a 3-D printer can make their own guns at any time. the original plan was to produce a totally unique type of handgun that would be expected to fire one time but later moved to the AR-15 platform because of the readily available parts throughout the world. this way regardless of laws in any country, the people can arm themselves. at this point he has only openly said its all motivated by the desire to give people more freedom and not make any profit.

 

[PBinWA]

Hmmm . . . not sure if its an April 1st prank or not:

 

[Kevinkris]

i would say if it is real its a bunch of chicken bubblegum because he has made it clear what he intends to do throughout his entire application process what he plans to do to the ATF. if you have looked at all of his work in the past you will see that everything he has done is perfectly legal and only went for the license as and extra step for transparency.

 

[CatCow]

It's a prank. Wording and format doesn't work with previous seizures, in a firearm-related issue I imagine the ATF seal would be thrown in there as well, and the DNS info still leads back to the original owner of the web site(seized domains usually list ICE as a contact and have a special DNS server listing), and the image file itself is a JPEG edited with Photoshop 7(check the EXIF data), while all official seizures have used a GIF image file.

It's a rather sad form of prank. Some people on other forums have compared it to the SOPA/PIPA protests last year, but those cases(such as Wikipedia) did not shut down the entire site - they just had an initial splash screen you had to get past. This guy has shut down his entire web site to point to this fake image. Very poor form, and I would not be inclined to do business in any way with such a person.

It also highlights a very important issue - DO NOT trust online sources to be there when you need them! Save any files you will rely on locally, and keep backups of important files offline(as in not connected to your computer - external hard drive/NAS backups, burn to CD/DVD, put it on a flash drive, etc...). Many resources vanish in the blink of an eye on a regular basis - some cool photo on photobucket gets deleted or an account closed(how many old gun forum threads are completely worthless now because there are no images? Certainly has killed the usefulness of many gunsmithing discussions or the ability to identify older items), entire web sites go down because the owner can't afford or doesn't have the time to keep it running, or maybe the feds get froggy and actually do start seizing domains, and of course a much more common occurrence of power or internet outages affecting both you and the server.

 

[Kelzebubba]

This guy with the 3D print was interviewed by Alex Jones recently on Infowars... Not a bad interview.

 

[Redcap]

Hmmm . . . not sure if its an April 1st prank or not:

April Fools prank. Site is back up.

 

[letrain]

pm me the torrent?