3-D gun downloads - somebody educate me

bisley

There is so much controversy about this, and I'm ignorant about it, technologically speaking.

The best I can figure out, there must be printers out there that can feed heavy plastic and print the outline of gun parts, although the 3-D part baffles me, and what about barrels, bolts, firing pins, ejectors, etc.????

Somebody educate me, please.

Old Ron

My limited understanding is the 3D printers use liquid plastic & cure it in layers to build a part. The plastics are getting better & stronger so anything out of formed or injected plastic can be made. They can print all the parts except springs but they don't hold up.
The lower for an AR can be printed with no Ser. # Then build the rest with steel. Then it is a Ghost gun. No paper work & that is what is ticking them off. The units cost up & into thousands of dollars  the plastic in different grades is spend y too. The process takes hours to do. A CNC mill will do the same thing even better. You can look on line & see all kinds of printers for sale & the things they can make.
Hope this helped

bisley

It helps - thanks.

earlyagain

They're expensive and require specific programming. Many manufactured firearms can be purchased for the cost of a 3D printer. The media hysteria is hyperbolic. Laws making so called ghost guns illegal are already on the books.

earlyagain

How much total investment to be up and running?

Including purchase of needed parts that can't be made of plastic?

terminator012

cpj said:

Here’s a quick and dirty overview, Bis. 

https://youtu.be/Vx0Z6LplaMU

That's cool.

earlyagain

I see one listed at Lowe's for $1200.00 and $30.00 for the filament. The ones for $300.00 I see are kits. The pictured guns are dubious. 

Teach

Building guns without serial numbers for personal use is not a problem, and never has been with the possible exception of a few libtard local laws prohibiting the practice.  Those laws are patently unconstitutional, and wouldn't survive a serious court challenge.  Just don't try to sell your home brewed gun- - - -that gets ATF's panties in a wad!  It doesn't matter if your new toy is made of wood, plastic, steel, or stiff peanut butter.  If it shoots and you use it for your own enjoyment or protection, no problem.  Just don't sell it, give it away, or otherwise transfer it to anyone else.  

tennmike

Bisley, you can buy most EVERY part for a firearm and have it delivered to your door EXCEPT the receiver. And you can buy 80% receivers for a whole lot of firearms, mostly pistols and rifles. With care and the right tools you can complete them and the government doesn't care because that's legal. It's the ignorant politicians ignorant of Federal law that get their panties in a wad over this practice. And now they've got their panties bunched in their buttcracks over the 3D printer firearms/receivers, even though it is legal to make your own firearms.

The 3D printers can print an AR 15 or AR 10 lower, and they can also print the 'plastic fantastic' pistol frames. There are also printer programs that print the plastic over some machined metal parts that are required for some other pistols. There are 3D Printer programs for the AK, 10-22, and a few other rifles and pistols. When they wear out you just print up a new one.

There are some 3D printer pistol designs out there that make a pistol entirely from plastic, with a metal firing pin. Those have been illegal to produce since 1988 by Federal law. Those designs are also prone to blowing up.

BAMAAK

Think dot matrix printer.  It melts the plastic and prints one dot at a time.  It then builds layer upon layer til finished.  Its the opposite of machining, called sinterizing or additive manufacturing.  Can also be done with metal but even more expensive.  Good for prototyping.

FFLshooter

Unless things have changed since I’ve last researched, those 3D printed AR lowers are fragile where the buffer screws in and aren’t worth but a few rounds fired until they crack in said location. The ignorant public and media outcry is not merited as usual.

Jermanator

If I understand the tech at the moment, I could make a safer and more durable gun-- and probably make it faster and cheaper with a trip to Home Depot. And yea-- CNC tables have been going down in price. You can make REAL guns with those quickly and cheaply if you know how to set it up.

RugerFan

I don't want to be within 500 ft of someone shooting a plastic printed gun.

bisley

OK, I get it, now. Very interesting.

I used to use HP plotters for mapping, and the precision was absolutely amazing, even 20 years ago. It always fascinated me, and still does. I'm not interested in printing guns, but if I could think up enough projects, I'd love to tinker with it. Not a good plan for me, though, considering the expense.

Thanks for all the input, everybody. Please continue.

Jermanator

Smaller ones can be had for pretty cheap...

https://www.amazon.com/EARME-A8-Desktop-Accuracy-Assembly/dp/B07B3RN6NG/ref=pd_day0_328_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B07B3RN6NG&pd_rd_r=EX300ES35KYQAFHF8VHZ&pd_rd_w=eJ9Je&pd_rd_wg=iFLZ9&psc=1&refRID=EX300ES35KYQAFHF8VHZ

sgtrock21

tennmike said:

Bisley, you can buy most EVERY part for a firearm and have it delivered to your door EXCEPT the receiver. And you can buy 80% receivers for a whole lot of firearms, mostly pistols and rifles. With care and the right tools you can complete them and the government doesn't care because that's legal. It's the ignorant politicians ignorant of Federal law that get their panties in a wad over this practice. And now they've got their panties bunched in their buttcracks over the 3D printer firearms/receivers, even though it is legal to make your own firearms.

The 3D printers can print an AR 15 or AR 10 lower, and they can also print the 'plastic fantastic' pistol frames. There are also printer programs that print the plastic over some machined metal parts that are required for some other pistols. There are 3D Printer programs for the AK, 10-22, and a few other rifles and pistols. When they wear out you just print up a new one.

There are some 3D printer pistol designs out there that make a pistol entirely from plastic, with a metal firing pin. Those have been illegal to produce since 1988 by Federal law. Those designs are also prone to blowing up.

I would only pull the plastic "Liberator's" trigger with a very long string. Here is some interesting history regarding the actual Liberator pistol.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FP-45_Liberator

zorba

The FP-45 is on my want list - although probably one of the reproductions.

BAMAAK

There is a guy who prints all kinds of parts and doodads for Dillon reloading machines.  Most are pretty cheap.

sgtrock21

zorba said:

The FP-45 is on my want list - although probably one of the reproductions.

A million produced. I have seen 3 originals and they were in museums! If I find one I will let you know. Can you return the favor if you come across a Pederson device for my 1903 Springfield MARK I? lol

tennmike

Not in .45 ACP but you could buy a Cobray single shot pistol that fired .45 Colt/ 2.5" .410 shotshells, or one in .357 Magnum. I have one left over from when I had a FFL license. They're built about as cheap as the FP-45, and I'd guess as scary to shoot. Also have the 'shotgun' that shoots 2.5" .410 shotshells; it's also a leftover from my FFL days. I sold a lot of their MAC 11/9 pistols back then, too. Still have two with consecutive serial numbers. I'm not afraid to shoot those.

zorba

sgtrock21 said:

zorba said:

The FP-45 is on my want list - although probably one of the reproductions.

A million produced. I have seen 3 originals and they were in museums! If I find one I will let you know. Can you return the favor if you come across a Pederson device for my 1903 Springfield MARK I? lol

There's usually one or two on Gunbroker at any particular time - one right now for $1,600. That's at the very top of my collecting budget, I can get a repro for $600 that is pretty much impossible to tell from the original save for a rifled bbl, and its safe to shoot! Not that you'd really want to anyway...

I want to say I once saw a Pedersen device for sale somewhere, but maybe it was a hallucination?

tennmike

The only Pedersen device I've ever seen was in the NRA Museum in D.C.

tennmike

The only  Pedersen device I've ever seen was in the NRA firearms museum in D.C. Neat compact design.

Anyway, the plastic 3D firearms receivers have ONE very important thing going for them, IF you can get the machine code for the 3D printer to make the receivers. The government, in its infinite 'wisdom', may outlaw the sale  of the 80% receivers at some time in the future. Democrats have stockpiles of hand cream and BENGAY stockpiled if that ever happens. But if the code for the 3D machines is out there, then the folks with the machines can just make them as they need them, and no 'Mother May I' permission slip required. The cat is out of the bag, anyway, and it's a known fact that letting the cat OUT of the bag is a lot easier than putting it back IN the bag.

And there are already many websites where firearms designs can be downloaded. And one of the BEST ones is OWNED BY THE GOVERNMENT! It's the U.S. Patent Office with searchable database!

tennmike

The judge closed the barn door after the horses had vacated their stalls. The plans have been online since July of this year and are already out there. The plans are already out there and on the net on a LOT of websites. Even though the judge has shut down the website, the plans will spread like Canadian thistle.

https://www.arcamax.com/currentnews/newsheadlines/s-2109522

tennmike

cpj said:

tennmike said:

The judge closed the barn door after the horses had vacated their stalls. The plans have been online since July of this year and are already out there. The plans are already out there and on the net on a LOT of websites. Even though the judge has shut down the website, the plans will spread like Canadian thistle.

https://www.arcamax.com/currentnews/newsheadlines/s-2109522

From the article:

”On Tuesday, President Donald Trump tweeted that he was looking into the issue of making "3D plastic guns" available to the public, adding that it "doesn't seem to make much sense!"



Well by gawd had Hillatard been elected it would be much worser!

Trump was FOR letting the website promulgate the plans before he was AGAINST it. 
Trump is NOT a gun person, and I can't think of anyone on his cabinet that IS a gun person. He's getting bad advice from people that don't know their bung hole from a shotgun barrel. And that ain't good.

The last President we had that was an active participant in shooting sports was Ronald Reagan, and he listened to Democrat lies and signed that gawdawful 1986 Firearms Owner's Protection Act that screwed us all royally in its implementation. Even Bush and Shrub screwed us over. And Billy Joe Ray Bob Clinton and his sidekick AlGoreIaintgot norhythm really hosed us. Obama was a poop stick that wouldn't flush, but he was ineffective at gun control measures. Thank the powers that be that Obama was a GREAT talker, and an abject failure at doing.