Thread: 3D printers, some thoughts...

Originally Posted by Tussock

Has anyone considered it is a lot harder to make a 3D printer than a gun?

Umm. They are off the shelf items already

Why not just restrict 3D printer ownership?
Are you running for parliament? CAuse you are sounding very much like a scumbag poli here.

Originally Posted by Wirehunt

Umm. They are off the shelf items already

Why not just restrict 3D printer ownership?
Are you running for parliament? CAuse you are sounding very much like a scumbag poli here.

haha if they start pumping out extream firebombing missiles the government will have to step in and do something.
applying for a free licence dosent seem too far fetched, if it keeps extream firebombing missles off the streets

Once this stuff gets more realistic in price I didn't hold much hope of any bubbernment holding it back here. That's wouldn't just affect a few like firearms do now. A poli would have to be insane (I know, I know) to try and stop it from coming here.

WH, I'm not quite sure that I've understood your point beyond keeping an open mind about what is coming in the future

In keeping with that general theme this is an article on the new computer-assisted long range aiming system
Bullseye from 1,000 yards: Shooting the $17,000 Linux-powered rifle | Ars Technica

As with many of these sort of things, what's keeping them out of the hands of idiots is the high price more than anything else

Let's face it, most crims are astoundingly thick.

As for the distributed defence crowd - they've put together a receiver that handled 600 rounds in fairly quick succession and it didn't look like it failed, more that they ran out of loaded mags for the video.

I think that the last line of defence will be ammunition - there's even a Chris Rock skit about making rounds cost $5k

Chris Rock: we need bullet control

Overall I think firearm safety in NZ is pretty sensibly done. We have a tendency to think that the world is going to the pack but really it's pretty damn sweet in this neck of the woods

I think it would be relatively easy to 3D print a crude one use hand gun. You could have it constructed entirely of a polymer that will stretch rather than fracture under the pressure. Fill it up with some homemade black powder and some buck shot cast from wheel weights and BOOM. Ignite it with a BBQ lighter or something. I guess you could even set up a production line of pre-loaded one use plastic zip guns for nefarious purposes. Totally feasible IMO. As long as you can make projectiles and some form of propellant, it would be pretty much uncontrollable.

Sounds like a spud gun. Can of flyspray and a bbq lighter....

Pretty much. Except concealable and a hell of a lot more lethal. The challenge would be making it strong enough to be able to generate sufficient pressure to get the shot going at at decent velocity, with out the gun failing catastrophically.

I was looking at the 3d printing cad file for a single shot 22lr pistol. You printed out trigger, hammer, receiver, barrel and add some springs from your local hardware store and your good to go.

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It is plastic after all but the idea is it is fire and forget, and dirt cheap and easy for anybody to make. While there pretty much is no way of doing the above without breaking some law, I do find the concept interesting, and I'm keen to see what Def Dist come up with.

It looks like def dist use a SLA type of material for 3d printing which is a lot stronger than the filiment types but you need special printers for those.

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On a legit note I am real keen to see a local printed firearms part industry start up

Would polymer barrels handel a .22lr with bird shot? Even a normal 40gr projectile?

I don't think the rifling would last long Toby for the 40's, but birdshot should be right.

Originally Posted by Beavis

On a legit note I am real keen to see a local printed firearms part industry start up

I'm not because anything they can make at the moment is shit

Make some Super light rifle stocks, anything under 20 oz