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US Government shuts down 3D gun manufacturer

Are you familiar with the printed AR-15 Receiver? The 1st one broke under stress but with the new pins its rather solid. The day of the reliably printed gun and magazine has come. I don't think it needs to be in every household to reach market penetration, knowing someone with one will be enough IMO. It doesn't need to appeal to the masses, early adopters are enough.

The thing with receivers is, if you make it for yourself then you don't need any paperwork of any kind (until they just straight-up ban that kind of firearm). If someone else makes it for you, then they have to have a type-7 FFL to manufacture firearms, the piece has to be cereal numbered and you have to use ATF form 4473 to have it transferred to you. An alternative may be to buy an incomplete part and finish it yourself, but that's untested legal ground.
 
Wow, what's with the rancor? Heck, just a couple years ago folks were paying $150-$200 for a Cricket (a device that prints scrapbook materials). And what dollar store will sell you a bust of you own children?
Yeah....people get on and sing the praises of printable tech, and when I ask for examples, I get a list of crap hoarder's buy to clutter up their homes. Wow, great, someone found a new way to make junk. Outstanding.

Hey, how about the printable abortion. Show me that one.

Can we print meds yet?

But if you want to talk useful, pretty much everything you listed is a possibility. Maybe not the framing hammer yet, but there's been good progress on printed chips and other computer components. Car parts are an interesting idea and worth exploring.
If I were to look at printing construction tools in earnest, I would begin with non-conductive electrician's hand tools.
 
That would of course depend upon the type and characteristics of the plastic. Any plastics that are able to molded by a 3d printer probably will never meet stress and heat requirements to be actually used as a firearm. However, they would work quite well for the purpose of creating molds for forming other materials.

There are already industrial 3D metal printers that can print alloys stronger than steel. There's a massive demand for 3D printing technology, both home and industrial use. The prices will be coming down on everything.

For instance, if you're a small company wanting to make a plastic case for your product, like the housing to a camera, you have to get a plastic injection mold which can cost $10,000+. With 3D printing you don't need that at all.

Yeah....people get on and sing the praises of printable tech, and when I ask for examples, I get a list of crap hoarder's buy to clutter up their homes.
No, we also gave you examples like the 3D printed car, whose frame is as strong as steel, or a special part for a rocket used by NASA. You just have no desire to listen.
 
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No, we also gave you examples like the 3D printed car, whose frame is as strong as steel, or a special part for a rocket used by NASA. You just have no desire to listen.
Right because every household needs to print a car and rocket parts. You said 3D tech was going to be a household item, yet you cannot name even one thing the average America household would want to make from a printer. Even dollar-store junk was a better example than anything you've offered up. Get a ****ing clue.
 
Right because every household needs to print a car and rocket parts. You said 3D tech was going to be a household item, yet you cannot name even one thing the average America household would want to make from a printer. Even dollar-store junk was a better example than anything you've offered up. Get a ****ing clue.

Everything in your house that exists from plastic or metal, can be printed. People have given you examples over and over but you whine and cry like a little ****ing child.

"Why would anybody want anything from plastic or metal?" What a GREAT question Jerry, you get a gold sticker and get to move to the back of the short bus!

Here's even a print of a working, durable adjustable wrench.

Now, continue crying about how nobody could ever want a wrench from hard plastic or metal.
 
Everything in your house that exists from plastic or metal, can be printed. People have given you examples over and over but you whine and cry like a little ****ing child.

"Why would anybody want anything from plastic or metal?" What a GREAT question Jerry, you get a gold sticker and get to move to the back of the short bus!
...and then RabidAlpaca stomped his foot and slammed the door.
 
...and then RabidAlpaca stomped his foot and slammed the door.

I guess I get annoyed when people bitch and moan and cry for ****ing pages. Then people try to explain things to them, give them examples of durable tools like adjustable wrenches that can be printed with today's technology, then they run off rambling about hoarders and nicknacks or some ****ing ****.
 
His pillow soaking in the tears, RabidAlpaca sobbed:
I guess I get annoyed when people bitch and moan and cry for ****ing pages. Then people try to explain things to them, give them examples of durable tools like adjustable wrenches that can be printed with today's technology, then they run off rambling about hoarders and nicknacks or some ****ing ****.
Then he plugged in is earphones and let Justin Bieber drown out the sound of the adults talking in the other room.
 
I guess I get annoyed when people bitch and moan and cry for ****ing pages. Then people try to explain things to them, give them examples of durable tools like adjustable wrenches that can be printed with today's technology, then they run off rambling about hoarders and nicknacks or some ****ing ****.
Seriously, you have no idea how to hold a conversation.

You get pissy when I mention that I, among many other Americans, don't have a 3D printer and so would have to buy one in order to print this gun.

That's just a fact. I don't have your little toy already. I would have to buy it. Have another geek-fit if you want, you're acting like a child.

It's also a fact that a gun that brakes when used one time isn't going to appeal to many people, certainly not the masses. So far the only people interested in this gun are people who 1. already own a 3D printer, and 2. like to tinker with new tech.

That's a nitch market. That's not going to change a single Gun Control law.

It will take a molti-leveled marketing campaign to first show everyone all the things they could have with a printer and then a low printer cost. You would need displays of printable items at the store for people to handle and oh look, with this free app download you can buy the plan for this item from your phone right now and have the item waiting for you on your printer by the time you get home.

That's what it takes to put a printer into every household, not "oh look at all the cars and NASA rocket parts we can make".
 
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His pillow soaking in the tears, RabidAlpaca sobbed:

Then he plugged in is earphones and let Justin Bieber drown out the sound of the adults talking in the other room.

Oh come off it. You made a point, when it wasn't responded to in the way you liked you went way overboard to hammer your point home. This tech is becoming more and more useful as days go by for both home and manufacturing use. Heck even the mid-sized roofing company my friend owns has one now.
 
Right because every household needs to print a car and rocket parts. You said 3D tech was going to be a household item, yet you cannot name even one thing the average America household would want to make from a printer. Even dollar-store junk was a better example than anything you've offered up. Get a ****ing clue.

It is said that "necessity is the mother of invention". While sometimes true, it is also true that in some cases invention is the mother of necessity. While you and others may not see a need for a tech item to become a household item in no ways proves that it should not or will not. Once it exists and is more widely available, far more uses for the technology will emerge. This has always held true for technological advances.

Such technology is of course a danger to corporatist as it would allow people to gain items that they value or need without having to pay something to existing corporations. It is also a danger to the socialist as people might actually learn to and be willing to do something for themselves instead of being a slave to society.

The only reason to denigrate and fear such a technology is if you are a staunch supporter of either the corporate slaver or the society slaver. For those of us who value freedom, such inventions and their availability are some of the greatest things mankind can create or offer. Empower the individual, not a corporation or some mythic definition of "society".
 
It is said that "necessity is the mother of invention". While sometimes true, it is also true that in some cases invention is the mother of necessity. While you and others may not see a need for a tech item to become a household item in no ways proves that it should not or will not. Once it exists and is more widely available, far more uses for the technology will emerge. This has always held true for technological advances.

Such technology is of course a danger to corporatist as it would allow people to gain items that they value or need without having to pay something to existing corporations. It is also a danger to the socialist as people might actually learn to and be willing to do something for themselves instead of being a slave to society.

The only reason to denigrate and fear such a technology is if you are a staunch supporter of either the corporate slaver or the society slaver. For those of us who value freedom, such inventions and their availability are some of the greatest things mankind can create or offer. Empower the individual, not a corporation or some mythic definition of "society".

That's very cute.
 
Right because every household needs to print a car and rocket parts. You said 3D tech was going to be a household item, yet you cannot name even one thing the average America household would want to make from a printer. Even dollar-store junk was a better example than anything you've offered up. Get a ****ing clue.

I don't know why you're so emotionally set against 3D printing.

Numerous people have given you even more numerous answers and you've just kind of thrown a temper tantrum about them all.

I imagine the biggest advance in 3D printing will involve food.
 
I don't know why you're so emotionally set against 3D printing.
I'm not against 3D printing at all.

I just don't see how it's going to be in every home anytime soon, and, the 3D printed gun is an absolute failure, unlike the 3D printed house, organs, and the above cited 'magic arms'.

I see no company trying to market the 3D printer to the average person.
 
You think I'm the only person who doesn't own a 3D printer?

Please point out where I said this?

You're making claims without evidence. You've been hanging around heymarket for to long.

Pot meet kettle.

I am actually talking from a position I have actually researched and know something about, you are not.

The 3D gun will not revolutionize Gun Control laws precisely because 3D tech in general hasn't caught on yet. The 3D gun will not revolutionize Gun Control laws precisely because 3D tech is still cost prohibitive to the average person today; just like every new tech is, from plasma TVs to DVD players and as someone mentioned earlier even cars. You may as well be selling iPhone apps in the 90s.

I agree with this.
 
Please point out where I said this?
Please point out where I said you said that.

I asked a question for clarity, and your response is to dodge the question and ask a question back. Very haymarket'ish.
 
Please point out where I said you said that.

I asked a question for clarity, and your response is to dodge the question and ask a question back. Very haymarket'ish.

Considering your actions in this thread I would say it's worse. It is very "jerryish."
 
I'm not against 3D printing at all.

I just don't see how it's going to be in every home anytime soon, and, the 3D printed gun is an absolute failure, unlike the 3D printed house, organs, and the above cited 'magic arms'.

I see no company trying to market the 3D printer to the average person.

No kidding.

It's brand new technology that is still being developed.
 
Maybe I should look up the cost of the printers and materials. While probably more expensive than high-density foam and fiberglass, the end product would be more consistent and probably much better.

Doesn't look like anyone noticed, but a few pages back I did actually link to an open source DIY 3D printer. As I previously noted, it can't currently print at high enough density for gun (though it is coming), but it can certainly perform the functions you described needing. You will need to print in small parts and put them together like a jigsaw, or create a giant RepRap by modifying the design and construction of the printer.

I built a v1 RepRap about a year and a half ago, and the total cost came in at about $400. The v2 is hopefully going to be released within the next year or two, and it's already been announced that it will be able to print other materials, not just hard plastic.
 
Doesn't look like anyone noticed, but a few pages back I did actually link to an open source DIY 3D printer. As I previously noted, it can't currently print at high enough density for gun (though it is coming), but it can certainly perform the functions you described needing. You will need to print in small parts and put them together like a jigsaw, or create a giant RepRap by modifying the design and construction of the printer.

I built a v1 RepRap about a year and a half ago, and the total cost came in at about $400. The v2 is hopefully going to be released within the next year or two, and it's already been announced that it will be able to print other materials, not just hard plastic.

Don't need hard plastics. For some parts, what you describe will do. For the molds needed for ceramics, need density more than hardness to reduce porosity and the need for machining/polishing. Just need to have enough strength to hold together under light to moderate pressures when filling the molds. Silicon Nitride, Silicon carbide, Titanium Carbide, etc, can only be machined with diamond, and even then it eats the hell out of diamond tools. Unfortunately, you cannot order some of the powders without a hazmat license, or at least most of the sites have a license level listed in subnotes. However, without a sintering furnace, pretty much left with mixing the powders with an heat cured epoxy is the closest available structure. Due to the bonding nature of expoxies, would have to create destructable molds and build new ones each time. Being able to "print" a mold from a soluble material would be real nice. Most available pre-mixes are around 25-30% ceramic with rest epoxy. None with Silicon Nitride or 28% Graphite mixed with Silicon Nitride are current available that I have found. I want to try a 60/40 mix or even less epoxy, just enough to bind it together. Wonder if the newer models can handle teflon?
 
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