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You still cannot, for any meaningful concept of a "gun". You can kinda print a (rather fragile and crude) lower, but that's it as far as I've seen.
by i80and 7y ago
You still cannot, for any meaningful concept of a "gun". You can kinda print a (rather fragile and crude) lower, but that's it as far as I've seen.
- taxidump 7y agoThe Liberator(?) Was entirely plastic I believe. Not just the lower. It may have had a metal firing pin.
- btilly 7y agoYes, that was its name. It had 2 metal parts. The first was a nail for a firing pin. And the second was a useless hunk of metal whose only purpose is to make metal detectors go off. (Thereby avoiding being illegal because it is concealable.)
- btilly 7y agoDefine "meaningful concept of a gun". You can print a plastic device, insert one nail (needed for a firing pin), and fire bullets that can kill a person. Is it accurate? No. Durable? No. A crappy gun? Definitely! But I think that this meets most people's idea of a meaningful concept of a gun. A weapon with a barrel and a trigger. Pull the trigger, there is a bang, and a high speed projectile goes where you pointed it at.
- Retric 7y agoIf it requires a nail, the final device was not 3D printed.
- Someone 7y agoYou can 3D print metal (possibly not well enough for a quality gun, but a crappy one should be doable) Also, I don’t think a gun needs a firing pin. You could have a gun where the trigger release a spring that brings two chemicals together that react violently, thus firing the bullet.
- Retric 7y agoIf they 3D printed it that would be a firing pin. It’s a nail because they just used a nail and hammer it into the device.
- btilly 7y agoThe nail can itself be 3D printed with the right printer. The design that I was talking about was 2013. Since then there have been legal issues back and forth. Entirely plastic designs probably exist, but are not legally available.
- Retric 7y agoIf it required a firing pin that’s arguable, but a nail significantly changes the shape/form of the device. I could use a 3D printer to create a solid block of plastic and then hand carve it into a doll. But, nobody would call the doll 3D printed even if one of the steps was 3D printed.
- TeMPOraL 7y agoYou probably could, but that depends on the meaning of "3D printing" and "plastic" too. 3D printing isn't just Makerbots, and if rocket engine nozzles can be 3D printed out of metal, I don't see why something better than the Liberator couldn't be produced by printing with some less common plastic.
- the_seraphim 7y agoYou 100% can if you use metal 3d printing or lost PLA casting