please to explain 3D printed guns???????????????

can't quite grasp this...

http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/onepercent/2012/07/3d-printed-gun.html

but i'm a little slow. sounds scary though.

is it just a 3D image of a machine part? from a printer? that you can then use to mold your own parts? that's about where i am...

This scenario's been being played out for a few years now. 3D printers can technically produce intricate objects - car engine parts, groovy new-age toys and yes firearms, from a CAD model. The nightmare comes when 3D printers become commercially available and people start downloading the blueprints for handguns from illegal websites. I believe?

I think what Scott is asking -- and what I'm curious about too -- is what the hell a 3D printer is.

scary because you can make guns out of plastic and they will fire. meaning you don't have to find large amounts of metal. oof...

xpost There's a company in London that does 3D printing. It's exactly as you imagine. Create the design on a Mac, whack it into the printer with the correct raw materials (rubber, metal, plastic) and the printer does the rest - BAM.

Keep in mind when you say printing I think of, you know, flat sheets of paper. Are you talking about molds that can be changed?

of course right now these things are worth thousands if not millions of bucks, but imagine having one in your home. Order the kitchen appliance you need online, it sends you the blueprints and there's your spatula. I understand Pirate Bay have already started work on a 3D printing side to the site.

"printing" is a misnomer. "modelling" would be more correct, but that's all i know about it. it would work just like a computer printer though, except 3d.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aghzpO_UZE

Something similar featured prominently in Gibson's All Tomorrow's Parties, iirc.

We had a presentation from a company that does 3D printing of architectural models, basically, from what I remember, is that their specific models are made from a liquid that is poured into molds (printed layer by later), then the liquid hardens and the molds are removed.

We have one in my workplace. The prototypes it 'prints' are a kind of off white resin-y material; if you look closely at the curved surfaces they're all stair-steppy-- well, in three dimensions perhaps 'terraced' is a better word.

I cannot imagine that the material these things use is sturdy enough to function as a firearm. No way. We make kitchenwares/housewares and they can't even realistically bear those kind of usage stresses the way injection molded plastic can.

I can ask one of our senior engineers about it.

I think what Scott is asking -- and what I'm curious about too -- is what the hell a 3D printer is.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, July 30, 2012 3:39 PM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

thank god someone out there doesn't read boing boing.

So I guess the thing that is really meant by "printed guns" is that you can always buy some parts of guns, but other parts are more tightly regulated, so you can ALMOST assemble the whole thing but not quite...and the 3-D printer can make the unavailable part for you, thereby making it a working gun.

FDM is the correct name for these machines btw

Create the design on a Mac, whack it into the printer with the correct raw materials (rubber, metal, plastic) and the printer does the rest - BAM.

It can't output in metal at all. Only styrene plastics.

wow that youtube video wow...that's insane.

I have a friend that works with these ppl: http://www.makerbot.com/

I still have not seen one irl tho

articles like this one here, using a cover photo of a definitely made of wood acoustic guitar, not helping ppl like me grasp wtf this is and how it works

in school next year there's gonna be a big focus on designing guitars in CAD for CNC and i can't wait to be that guy who won't stop with the HEY WHAT ABT 3D PRINTING WHAT ABOUT THAT

Sounds like the machine outputs the gtr body in Nylon, leaving the front open, and they add the wooden face afterward.

That article does note that metal powders can be used, not just polymers, so I take back what I said about no metals. I still don't think there is any way in hell you could make parts capable of withstanding the stresses of ballistics though.

Tho I guess it is scary in a 'when the tech eventually gets there...' way.

not sure why everyone is so freaked out about this when this already exists

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQKkCMDaN54

You can also print with titanium powder.

In the aerospace industry metal parts are often machined from a solid billet of costly high-grade titanium. This can mean that 90% of the material is cut away, and the swarf is of no use for making aircraft. However, titanium powder can be used to print things like a bracket for an aircraft door or part of a satellite. These can be as strong as a machined part but use only 10% of the raw material, according to researchers at EADS, the European aerospace consortium which is the parent of Airbus.

huh!

Was just chatting with engineer pal; apparently the other stumbling block would be that the precision required for the barrel is not currently achievable via 'printing'. But that's a 'not there YET...' thing.

I think this kinda thing shows up in Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age, too.

I've seen the Makerbot working at local techhead meetings. Dude made cogs and gears and polygonal shapes a la D&D dice with it.

Have we linked to that scene from the Eastwood/Malkovich epic "In the Line of Fire" yet?

from about 1 minute onwards
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0h2Uf6XGLs

in school next year there's gonna be a big focus on designing guitars in CAD for CNC and i can't wait to be that guy who won't stop with the HEY WHAT ABT 3D PRINTING WHAT ABOUT THAT

― arby's, Monday, July 30, 2012 11:09 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zf5LfmP2tzY

you can definitely 3D print metal right now, i've seen some cool mathematical/geometric sculpture stuff using it. the artist who was displaying it said you can even 3D print ceramic. pretty neat.

Excellent. Everything is proceeding as planned.

So I guess the thing that is really meant by "printed guns" is that you can always buy some parts of guns, but other parts are more tightly regulated, so you can ALMOST assemble the whole thing but not quite...and the 3-D printer can make the unavailable part for you, thereby making it a working gun.

lol banaka

The nightmare comes when 3D printers become commercially available

Hell, you can buy cheap-arse ones that use a spool of plastic "wire", melting and reshaping it as they go, for a couple of hundred dollars. Like this one (http://www.pcworld.com/article/255867/cheap_3d_printer_pops_out_parts_with_blazingly_fast_speed.html) - if you know your electronics you can buy the parts for $200

And you can definitely print metal with some models. I've used Shapeways as a trial for printing something that didn't work, and they can print in stainless steel, glass, sandstone, plastic, sterling silver, ceramics, etc (http://www.shapeways.com/materials)

New favorite blog... 3D Printing Confidential - Tales from the Additive Manufacturing Underworld

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2013/05/liberator-printed-gun/

Basically what happens is you get a thing that looks just like a real gun, but when you pull the trigger it just prints "BANG!" on a flag

scottwalker.gif

"Plastic Pasta People
 Sing silent songs,
 they print too long
 their blah bla ahbl ah blah..."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23727229

Why shoot down your enemies with 3D-printed guns when you can invade their bedroom with hundreds of 3D-printed creepy-crawlies? These robo-spiders move according to preprogrammed directions or your real-time commands using 26 servo motors that move their legs and bodies with stunning realism:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfiHOpv6HtI

The only problem is that each one will set you back $1,350, but you know how it is when you're an early adopter....

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/08/metal-3d-printed-gun-50-shots

"We weren't trying to figure out a cheaper, easier, better way to make a gun. That wasn't the point at all. What we were trying to do is dispel the commonly held notion that DMLS parts are not strong enough or accurate enough for real-world applications," said Phillip Conner, DMLS project manager for Solid Concepts.

Then why not 3D print a two stroke engine? Because hardly anyone would give a shit about that, and Solid Concepts wouldn't get loads of free publicity from the media going "OH NOESS!!!! 3D PRINTED GUNZ!!".

I was given a short overview of the process on the AutoCAD course I wound up failing.
I think the story about NASA developing a food printer for long haul space flight had only been in the Guardian a couple of weeks earlier.
Now some Xian paper in backwoods USA has tried to spread fear about China making babies with a bio-printer. The device exists ok but I think solely to create external organs for cosmetic purpose so far, if that.

A friend was talking about another application of the process to print vinyl discs since there are so few pressing plants around.
There was also talk of Tescos setting up an almost while you wait printing booth. I say almost since at least at the moment the process is pretty time consuming. To the extent that I'd wonder if that approach would be practical. They'd probably need to veto designs brought in too.

this was the horror story about babies being printed in China
http://topekasnews.com/china-using-3d-bio-printers-create-human-babies/

based on this video newsreport
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GH9lAJxfU2o

couldn't include those in the first post since I was using my mobile phone's internet function.

food 3d printing from the NASA site
http://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/home/feature_3d_food_prt.htm

does anyone care about this

WASHINGTON — State officials, Democratic lawmakers and gun control groups waged a frantic legal fight on Tuesday to block the online distribution of blueprints for 3-D printed “ghost guns,” even as President Trump said he is “looking into” his administration’s decision last month to allow the posting of instructions for making the untraceable, plastic firearms.

Cody Wilson, a champion of gun-rights and anarchism from Texas who has waged a yearslong legal battle for the right to post the schematics for making homemade guns, has said he will begin making the plans available following a settlement with the State Department ending the government’s effort to stop him.

But with just hours before an August 1 deadline when Mr. Wilson has said he will upload many more schematics — including instructions for making AR-15-style rifles — alarmed public officials accelerated their efforts to get courts to prevent Mr. Wilson from moving forward with his plans.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/31/us/politics/3d-guns-trump.html

It's been blocked temporarily so far. I hope people get sued into oblivion for this.

I'd be surprised if the problem of firing ammunition without damaging the firing chamber or barrel of a plastic gun has been satisfactorily solved. If it hasn't then a "printed" gun is basically a disposable item that is rendered useless when it is used. However, that is not a problem for someone who only wants a gun for a specific task, like killing their spouse, or a judge in a courtroom. iow, it is nearly impossible to think of an innocent use for a plastic gun and very easy to think of criminal uses.

But, hey! It's a gun, so... what about all the law-abiding 'folks' who just want to play with their plastic guns? What about their 2nd amendment rights to have plastic guns to play with?

I hope people get sued into oblivion for this.

Congress passed a law specifically taking away this possibility for gun makers. It will be interesting to see how this would apply when the 'maker' is also the consumer.

I am sure they have a way to contain this to the US and only the nuts there.

No, I am hoping other countries sue.

temporary restraining order issued by federal judge

it occurs to me the existence of 3d guns is a pretty persuasive argument for totalitarian state control of the internet

Blocking this is a hopeless endeavor. The blueprint is just a data file, and just as the persistent can find whatever pornography (even illegal) that suits their fancy, they'll find files like this without much effort. Distributors could encrypt it and stick in in steganography of images of kittens. If 3D printing exists, then single use printed firearms will too. None of the materials for consumer 3D printers are particularly resilient, so any printed weapon would jam or otherwise fall apart after relatively few rounds.

On the other hand, 3D printing is just fine for making 30+ round magazines, in jurisdictions where legislators chose to focus on magazine size.

Personally, I think the solution is requiring a firearms purchasing licence (as say, in New Zealand), for purchases of ammunition as well. Noone can easily print the casings, bullets and powder of a round, yet.

Blocking this is a hopeless endeavor. The blueprint is just a data file, and just as the persistent can find whatever pornography (even illegal) that suits their fancy, they'll find files like this without much effort.

― Roomba with an attitude (Sanpaku)

so should we not try to stop child pornography?

Which also suggests, for nations where firearms possession is strictly licenced, have your intelligence agencies salt the ground with *bad* blueprints, which will fall apart and injure the user on first use. Yes, it will require a bit of deception in the darker corners of the web, but frankly, if someone who 3D-prints a pistol goes blind firing it in a forest, is there anyone to see it?

The guy who runs the org trying to publish blueprints for 3D printed guns has given thousands in federal campaign contributions *exclusively* to @TedCruzhttps://t.co/bNTkawJfxw pic.twitter.com/xvdKb5nVWq

— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) August 1, 2018

Why do I feel like it's about as easy and straightforward to 3D print a soundly-constructed firearm as it would be to knock one out with a crucible and a lathe? Like, I'd think it would take a relatively high level of craftsmanship to do this and know for certain you weren't likely to disintegrate half of your hand in the process of firing it.

rush: we've been trying to stop digital distribution of child porn since early BBS days, so some 35 years now. It still exists. Motivated individuals willing to jump through hoops for access still seem to find it, and the peer networks are already established for tech savvy gun enthusiasts.

Both are just data, both can be encrypted and compressed, such that only one person and those he tells know what is present. If you want to stop pedos or gun printers focusing on the data is not a wise investment of resources.

Old Lunch: testing can be done in safety.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3eDSGVsLQU

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/12/10/ghost-gun-unitedhealthcare-suspect-luigi-mangione/

Police say the black pistol they found in the backpack of Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old arrested in connection with the killing of a health-care executive, was a ghost gun: a weapon typically assembled by its owner at home.

New York prosecutors charged Mangione with murder, illegal gun possession and possessing a forged instrument after the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

“He was in possession of a ghost gun that had the capability of firing a 9mm round,” Joe Kenny, the New York Police Department’s chief of detectives, said at a news conference Monday. “[The gun] may have been made on a 3D printer.”

Whether the apparent ghost gun was the firearm used to kill Thompson, Kenny said, is a question that a ballistics test will help answer.