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Alright, so he... 1. Spent time, electricity, and filament printing lowers and other components. He's a beginner using a $200 printer so the failure rate was p

Alright, so he... 1. Spent time, electricity, and filament printing lowers and other components. He's a beginner using a $200 printer so the failure rate was probably pretty high. 2. He drove from NY to Utah 3. He haggled all day before getting paid out for only 42 of his 100 "guns" And he thinks he's making Utah's buyback program look foolish? This guy wasted a stupendous amount of time and money.

tengbretson 4y ago
He walked away with a payout nearly equal to the median individual yearly income in my area for a week or two of effort.
chroma 4y ago
The article is incorrect. He drove to Utica, NY, which took him six hours.[1] Both filament and electricity are incredibly cheap. His main costs were time, gas, and the risk of being pulled over on his way to the buyback.[2] Instead of printing full frames (which would take longer and use more filament), he printed a bunch of auto sears, which convert a semi-auto AR-15 to full auto. By the ATF's definition, auto sears are considered machine guns, so he got $350 per machine gun. Those auto sears are tiny. I doubt he spent more than a week of printer time on the whole endeavor. 1. https://twitter.com/kem_regik/status/1570173184640520195 https://twitter.com/kem_regik/status/1570173184640520195 2. https://twitter.com/kem_regik/status/1570175250989715456 https://twitter.com/kem_regik/status/1570175250989715456
kennywinker 4y ago
Let's napkin that - i've never 3d printed a gun, so I'm deliberately choosing super high estimates: $200 printer, $5 of filament each, 150 prints (high failure rate) 20 hours of printing each, 20*150 = 3000 hours of print time (125 days), 125 days of electricity for a 3d printer running at full capacity (idk but let's call it $500 to be safe), three day's drive to utah $100/night + gas (gasbuddy says ~$400) so total $1000 total: $2450 earnings: $21,000 profit less materials/energy costs: $18,550 hourly wage for working 8 hours a day on this for 125 days: $18.55 doesn't sound like he wasted any time or money, and I assume he worked much more like 2-4 hours a day on it which would mean it payed $37-75/hour.
- core-utility 4y ago
  3D printing is largely "set and forget" too, with occasional monitoring. A remote employee can easily spend less than 20 minutes per day babysitting the printer while going on with their regular life.
- mizzack 4y ago
  He printed auto sears. Those can't take more than 15 mins apiece. $21k of "machine guns" fit in a quart ziploc bag. Also 10 years in federal prison if you're caught in possession of one.
ianferrel 4y ago
You can't drive from upstate New York to Utah in 6 hours. Speculation above is that he drove to Utica, which is in New York, and which makes sense because the buyback program was run by a New York official. I don't know how much time or electricity it took, but $21k is a lot of money. I bet his profit after costs was well over $10k. Seems like pretty good money to me.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
cm42 4y ago
What kind of chump would waste an entire week and a couple hundred bucks to make $20k?? I do that in an hour. At least 38% of them are off the streets now, which is all that really matters. Based on the overwhelming and scientifically-proven (and 4/10 doctor-recommended!) success of this program, it should be implemented everywhere, but at $750-$1,000 per gun, because more == better.
- rolph 4y ago
  there are people who would believe that 20K would set them up for life. some people are incredibly indigant, eating handmedown food, feeling elated that the days work ends in exchange of 20$ worth of beer cans.
rolph 4y ago
it doesnt have to work, only potential to work when assembled, otherwise the whole federal definition of receiver, and firearm starts to crumble into something approaching reality. for example a 2x4 profiled to fit an AR upper, and having one [!] hole [!] drilled where the trigger group belongs, is considered a firearm; if you dont drill in to the FCG pocket you have a lower blank [not a firearm yet]
open-paren 4y ago
I know the article had it wrong, but Salt Lake County in Utah did have a foolish gun buy back program. They offered just $100 per "assault rifle" and $50 for other kinds _in gas gift cards_. If I remember correctly, they got maybe 30 guns total. https://www.deseret.com/utah/2022/6/3/23153532/salt-lake-city-gun-buyback-program-after-shootings-uvalde-texas-buffalo-new-york https://www.deseret.com/utah/2022/6/3/23153532/salt-lake-cit...

tengbretson 4y ago

He walked away with a payout nearly equal to the median individual yearly income in my area for a week or two of effort.

chroma 4y ago

The article is incorrect. He drove to Utica, NY, which took him six hours.[1] Both filament and electricity are incredibly cheap. His main costs were time, gas, and the risk of being pulled over on his way to the buyback.[2] Instead of printing full frames (which would take longer and use more filament), he printed a bunch of auto sears, which convert a semi-auto AR-15 to full auto. By the ATF's definition, auto sears are considered machine guns, so he got $350 per machine gun. Those auto sears are tiny. I doubt he spent more than a week of printer time on the whole endeavor. 1. https://twitter.com/kem_regik/status/1570173184640520195 https://twitter.com/kem_regik/status/1570173184640520195 2. https://twitter.com/kem_regik/status/1570175250989715456 https://twitter.com/kem_regik/status/1570175250989715456

kennywinker 4y ago

Let's napkin that - i've never 3d printed a gun, so I'm deliberately choosing super high estimates: $200 printer, $5 of filament each, 150 prints (high failure rate) 20 hours of printing each, 20*150 = 3000 hours of print time (125 days), 125 days of electricity for a 3d printer running at full capacity (idk but let's call it $500 to be safe), three day's drive to utah $100/night + gas (gasbuddy says ~$400) so total $1000 total: $2450 earnings: $21,000 profit less materials/energy costs: $18,550 hourly wage for working 8 hours a day on this for 125 days: $18.55 doesn't sound like he wasted any time or money, and I assume he worked much more like 2-4 hours a day on it which would mean it payed $37-75/hour.

core-utility 4y ago
3D printing is largely "set and forget" too, with occasional monitoring. A remote employee can easily spend less than 20 minutes per day babysitting the printer while going on with their regular life.
mizzack 4y ago
He printed auto sears. Those can't take more than 15 mins apiece. $21k of "machine guns" fit in a quart ziploc bag. Also 10 years in federal prison if you're caught in possession of one.

ianferrel 4y ago

You can't drive from upstate New York to Utah in 6 hours. Speculation above is that he drove to Utica, which is in New York, and which makes sense because the buyback program was run by a New York official. I don't know how much time or electricity it took, but $21k is a lot of money. I bet his profit after costs was well over $10k. Seems like pretty good money to me.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

cm42 4y ago

What kind of chump would waste an entire week and a couple hundred bucks to make $20k?? I do that in an hour. At least 38% of them are off the streets now, which is all that really matters. Based on the overwhelming and scientifically-proven (and 4/10 doctor-recommended!) success of this program, it should be implemented everywhere, but at $750-$1,000 per gun, because more == better.

rolph 4y ago
there are people who would believe that 20K would set them up for life. some people are incredibly indigant, eating handmedown food, feeling elated that the days work ends in exchange of 20$ worth of beer cans.

rolph 4y ago

it doesnt have to work, only potential to work when assembled, otherwise the whole federal definition of receiver, and firearm starts to crumble into something approaching reality. for example a 2x4 profiled to fit an AR upper, and having one [!] hole [!] drilled where the trigger group belongs, is considered a firearm; if you dont drill in to the FCG pocket you have a lower blank [not a firearm yet]

open-paren 4y ago

I know the article had it wrong, but Salt Lake County in Utah did have a foolish gun buy back program. They offered just $100 per "assault rifle" and $50 for other kinds _in gas gift cards_. If I remember correctly, they got maybe 30 guns total. https://www.deseret.com/utah/2022/6/3/23153532/salt-lake-city-gun-buyback-program-after-shootings-uvalde-texas-buffalo-new-york https://www.deseret.com/utah/2022/6/3/23153532/salt-lake-cit...