[Nuke]

http://hackaday.com/2013/05/06/the-first-3d-printed-gun-has-been-fired-and-i-dont-care/

let the mayhem begin...

[Phantom Hoover]

i really do find people who think 3d printing is going to revolutionise manufacturing to be very cute

[deathfun]

I'm impressed that whoever did this went through all of that effort just to fire measly .22 rimfire

[redsniper]

Well the barrel is plastic I'm assuming, so you'd want to start with something small to be sure it doesn't explode in your hand. You'd need a... rather large barrel and chamber to handle rifle cartridges. But do go on with "AHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUEHUE LOL 22"

[StarSlayer]

Call me when a syndicate controlled cottage industry of fabbers crop up to produce illegal sex paraphernalia, and the fuzz start widespread use of google goggles.

[Nuke]

i really do find people who think 3d printing is going to revolutionise manufacturing to be very cute

not the cheap plastic printers for home use. while they have revolutionized home manufacturing, wont be doing anything for mass production (too slow, too expensive, too low res). professional grade printers arent even up to that task. im curious if along with other processes, you could produce negative molds for injection molding or even metal castings for bigger production runs. this would probibly involve printing a positive mold, smooth it out with acetone, then use it to make a negative mold with either a sand-glue mix or silicone depending on what you are making.

im currently more interested in direct metal laser sintering machines. they can print internal voids that would be difficult to do with other manufacturing techniques. this kinda thing is very useful for things like rocket engine parts. its not going to displace existing techniques, but it will bring new capabilities that didnt exist before.

[Klaustrophobia]

i love how the anti-gun politicians have taken the bait HARD and are ****ting their pants over this in the worst way.

[666maslo666]

meh.. when they print a pressure cooker then its time to get worried

[MP-Ryan]

I would be a lot more concerned if this actually made practical sense.  As it is, firearms are generally so easy to come by (especially in the US) that the effort of making a single-shot plastic undetectable firearm is so ridiculous (and expensive) as to be completely pointless except as a hobby.

As far as crime goes, there are a few very limited applications (primarily for bypassing security) but that is about it.

[Al-Rik]

i really do find people who think 3d printing is going to revolutionise manufacturing to be very cute

Most of those people don't know anything about manufacturing because they never worked a single day at a workbench or in a mechanical shop.
On the pro side: you don't have to fear the college kid with some cheap home made 3D printer.

Just fear all those ordinary workers who went never to college because they were not able to pay it - some of them have access to CNC machines, and with the right blueprints and some time during night shift they are able to produce real guns. 

[Klaustrophobia]

this thing isn't 100% plastic.  it still has a metal firing pin (and obviously the bullet if it's loaded).  whether or not that's enough to be picked up by a metal detector, i don't know.  but being as how the article makes a point of saying the metal part was to comply with a law that bans undetectable all-plastic guns, it would seem the answer is yes.

[MP-Ryan]

this thing isn't 100% plastic.  it still has a metal firing pin (and obviously the bullet if it's loaded).  whether or not that's enough to be picked up by a metal detector, i don't know.  but being as how the article makes a point of saying the metal part was to comply with a law that bans undetectable all-plastic guns, it would seem the answer is yes.

Metal detectors pick up magnetic metal.  I think some of the modern ones may use density.  X-ray scanners display using density.

From what I've read, the only essential metallic components of this gun were the bullet and the firing pin - the other metal was added to make it legal.  However, bullets and firing pins don't actually have to be metal for the most part.  It is already possible to build single-shot ceramic firearms, and ceramic or composite materials could be used to make a firing pin and possibly even a bullet and shell casing as well.

All of which would make it very difficult for the low-paid security working at airports and other security checkpoints to recognize in an X-ray machine when screening luggage and handbags, particularly if it's easy to disassemble.

[Mars]

LOOK OUT! HE HAS A SINGLE SHOT MUSKET!

No really though, I think most US plane goers would probably maul anyone who got on with a single shot ceramic gun.

[FUBAR-BDHR]

I love how making a plastic gun is somehow news.  It's nothing any good machinist couldn't easily do.  Heck even easier with CNC machinery.  Your just starting with a hunk of plastic and taking away pieces to make the final product.  Now while it certainly takes less skill to print a gun it still takes the skill to make the plans.  The process is just the reverse taking plastic powder and adding to it to get the final product.  Either way you end up with a plastic gun.  Nothing that couldn't be done since the high strength polymer was invented. 

As for ammo I don't see why that couldn't be mostly plastic as well.  They came out with shotgun shells that were almost all plastic over 25 years ago.  They were cheaper to manufacture since they didn't contain the brass so were cheaper to buy.  The downside was you could only reload them a couple of times where the standard ones could be reloaded over and over until the plastic cracked.    Other then the primer I think the only part that wasn't plastic was a thin disk that held the primer.   

Now repeating fire shouldn't be an issue either. Most of the stress would be in the chamber and barrel.  All you need to do is make it a revolver which rotates the chamber.   Unlike a standard revolver you rotate the barrel with the chamber.  Now instead of having a gun that fails after 2-3 shots you multiply that but the number of cylinders/barrels.  7 barrels = 14-21 shots.   

Again all of this could have been done at least 25 years ago it just took a different skill set and equipment to do it. 

[Phantom Hoover]

my understanding of this is that there's a large techno-libtard contingent who think the government is quaking in its boots at the prospect of them breaking its authoritarian stranglehold of gun production and are getting really smug about it (you don't need to tell me how far divorced from reality these people are)

e: pronoun confusion

[Mars]

my understanding of this is that there's a large techno-libtard contingent who think the government is quaking in its boots at the prospect of them breaking their authoritarian stranglehold of gun production and are getting really smug about it (you don't need to tell me how far divorced from reality these people are)

There is a certain amount of subject confusion in this post. Liberals have a authoritarian stranglehold on gun production? The government does? Who's doing what?

[Klaustrophobia]

the idea behind this printable gun is more anti-government control than it is pro-guns.  the creators are under no illusions of the practicality of this thing as a weapon.  and yes, there ARE plenty of people calling for the complete and utter ban of all firearms.

[Phantom Hoover]

my understanding of this is that there's a large techno-libtard contingent who think the government is quaking in its boots at the prospect of them breaking their authoritarian stranglehold of gun production and are getting really smug about it (you don't need to tell me how far divorced from reality these people are)

There is a certain amount of subject confusion in this post. Liberals have a authoritarian stranglehold on gun production? The government does? Who's doing what?

wait does libtard refer to liberals now? i always thought it meant libertarians; also i meant the government's stranglehold

[Mars]

wait does libtard refer to liberals now? i always thought it meant libertarians; also i meant the government's stranglehold

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=libtard&defid=1454864

And that makes a lot more sense now.

[Phantom Hoover]

Yeah, I keep forgetting that in America the golden mean leads you to a completely whackjob right-wing perspective.