4 ms·

I wonder how the mass adoption of 3D printers will increase the availability of guns. I mean, you can just download and print one (if the material used when pri

I wonder how the mass adoption of 3D printers will increase the availability of guns. I mean, you can just download and print one (if the material used when printing is strong enough, of course). And it doesn't stop there. A friend of mine is a transhumanist philosopher at Oxford. He ranks home made viruses as the number one threat to mankind this century. Anyway, cool video.

PostOnce 16y ago
So far as I know, no plastic guns exist, our plastics technology just isn't there yet. Even if it were, it wouldn't be the same sort of plastic you feed into a 3D printer, or at least any off-the-shelf one. I too have wondered about this. I also wonder about machinists moonlight as arms manufacturers :P relevant plastic guns article: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1202/is-it-possible-to-make-an-undetectable-nonmetal-gun http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1202/is-it-possible...
- Devilboy 16y ago
  Not all 3d printers use plastic, there are processes for most metals including titanium. They work by depositing layers of metal dust and fusing it with lasers. The resulting parts can be very strong depending on the process.
  - PostOnce 16y ago
    Sounds ridiculously expensive and incredibly entertaining. Thanks for alerting me to something I need to read about :)
    - jacquesm 16y ago
      The amount of extra material needed because of the structural weakness of sintered/deposited materials as opposed to machined materials would probably make such a gun fairly bulky, unless you are willing to take the risk of the breech portion exploding when firing the gun. You could offset that to some extent by using less powder in the charges or you could use the gun for what they're used most for anyway (threat, rather than use). Some companies are very far now in the production of single units or small series of parts for prototype or one-off purposes, every year the field moves ahead steadily and it is very impressive what can be done, but there is no substitute (yet) for a single properly treated chunk of steel machined to the right dimensions. Parts made like this are rapidly replacing machined parts in places where strength is not such a big issue, you'll find them in just about anything that has a mechanical component to it. But they are not yet able to compete with machined materials for the most demanding applications. Especially tensile strength is rather low, and pieces tend to be brittle.
    - sp332 16y ago
      Here's a pretty good article from an artist:http://www.bathsheba.com/sculpt/process/ http://www.bathsheba.com/sculpt/process/
    - Devilboy 16y ago
      I just found this and I thought you might find it interesting: http://cloudfab.com/fab_facts/ http://cloudfab.com/fab_facts/ Lots of different processes and materials detailed
- rdl 16y ago
  You could make everything on a gun out of plastic (commonly done), except for the parts subject to the detonation and bullet (chamber, barrel). Those COULD be made from ceramic. A plastic projectile would also be possible (it'd need to be pretty dense; not sure how best to do that -- it would still look like a bullet on an x-ray, unless inside something else, in which case you might as well do lead inside a form-fitting lead case, inside another object)
lutorm 16y ago
It's not like guns are hard to get, in the US at least. I'm sure you can buy a bunch for the price of that 3D printer...
JoeAltmaier 16y ago
It is neither illegal nor immoral to own a gun. Strange thing to wonder about - where I hail from you might as well wonder about the availablility of toasters.
- JoeAltmaier 16y ago
  http://www.gunsandcrime.org/faildxprmt.pdf http://www.gunsandcrime.org/faildxprmt.pdf
rdl 16y ago
Very few parts of guns require high-end machining and materials (barrels, specifically, are difficult/expensive). These are also not particularly highly controlled -- the barrel for a rifle can easily be repurposed as the barrel for a machine gun. (A badly made barrel could be totally usable for a combat weapon; it just wouldn't last for 100 years and put a bullet into a palm sized group at 500m) Receivers are historically the one part of a firearm which are considered to be "the firearm", and are not subject to particularly high stresses, especially on the AR-15 design. They can be machined by relatively incompetent people from aluminum, or made from plastic (Cav Arms sold these commercially for a while). Guns just aren't that hard to make. The hardest parts of firearms to produce clandestinely are powder and primers, since that's more a chemistry problem than anything else. I'm not sure what the state of the art is in homemade smokeless powder, but black powder would be possible to make on your own (if a bit dangerous).

PostOnce 16y ago

So far as I know, no plastic guns exist, our plastics technology just isn't there yet. Even if it were, it wouldn't be the same sort of plastic you feed into a 3D printer, or at least any off-the-shelf one. I too have wondered about this. I also wonder about machinists moonlight as arms manufacturers :P relevant plastic guns article: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1202/is-it-possible-to-make-an-undetectable-nonmetal-gun http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1202/is-it-possible...

Devilboy 16y ago
Not all 3d printers use plastic, there are processes for most metals including titanium. They work by depositing layers of metal dust and fusing it with lasers. The resulting parts can be very strong depending on the process.
- PostOnce 16y ago
  Sounds ridiculously expensive and incredibly entertaining. Thanks for alerting me to something I need to read about :)
  - jacquesm 16y ago
    The amount of extra material needed because of the structural weakness of sintered/deposited materials as opposed to machined materials would probably make such a gun fairly bulky, unless you are willing to take the risk of the breech portion exploding when firing the gun. You could offset that to some extent by using less powder in the charges or you could use the gun for what they're used most for anyway (threat, rather than use). Some companies are very far now in the production of single units or small series of parts for prototype or one-off purposes, every year the field moves ahead steadily and it is very impressive what can be done, but there is no substitute (yet) for a single properly treated chunk of steel machined to the right dimensions. Parts made like this are rapidly replacing machined parts in places where strength is not such a big issue, you'll find them in just about anything that has a mechanical component to it. But they are not yet able to compete with machined materials for the most demanding applications. Especially tensile strength is rather low, and pieces tend to be brittle.
  - sp332 16y ago
    Here's a pretty good article from an artist:http://www.bathsheba.com/sculpt/process/ http://www.bathsheba.com/sculpt/process/
  - Devilboy 16y ago
    I just found this and I thought you might find it interesting: http://cloudfab.com/fab_facts/ http://cloudfab.com/fab_facts/ Lots of different processes and materials detailed
rdl 16y ago
You could make everything on a gun out of plastic (commonly done), except for the parts subject to the detonation and bullet (chamber, barrel). Those COULD be made from ceramic. A plastic projectile would also be possible (it'd need to be pretty dense; not sure how best to do that -- it would still look like a bullet on an x-ray, unless inside something else, in which case you might as well do lead inside a form-fitting lead case, inside another object)

lutorm 16y ago

It's not like guns are hard to get, in the US at least. I'm sure you can buy a bunch for the price of that 3D printer...

JoeAltmaier 16y ago

It is neither illegal nor immoral to own a gun. Strange thing to wonder about - where I hail from you might as well wonder about the availablility of toasters.

JoeAltmaier 16y ago
http://www.gunsandcrime.org/faildxprmt.pdf http://www.gunsandcrime.org/faildxprmt.pdf

rdl 16y ago

Very few parts of guns require high-end machining and materials (barrels, specifically, are difficult/expensive). These are also not particularly highly controlled -- the barrel for a rifle can easily be repurposed as the barrel for a machine gun. (A badly made barrel could be totally usable for a combat weapon; it just wouldn't last for 100 years and put a bullet into a palm sized group at 500m) Receivers are historically the one part of a firearm which are considered to be "the firearm", and are not subject to particularly high stresses, especially on the AR-15 design. They can be machined by relatively incompetent people from aluminum, or made from plastic (Cav Arms sold these commercially for a while). Guns just aren't that hard to make. The hardest parts of firearms to produce clandestinely are powder and primers, since that's more a chemistry problem than anything else. I'm not sure what the state of the art is in homemade smokeless powder, but black powder would be possible to make on your own (if a bit dangerous).