Why wouldn't EVERY gun person make his/her own guns? Personally designed. No middleman. How complicated is it and how expensive? Anyone know?
Folks that make guns out of printers will make guns out of anything handy, or bombs or anything that will cause mayhem. If they have to resort to this kind of idiocy and cannot just go BUY a freaking gun, they are more than likely killers of some type that will stop at nothing.
Or morons. Like there is a difference.
So, anyone who needs a gun and is reasonably normal will just go buy one. If you have to buy a printer to make one? You are desperate and in some kind of desperate straights where the "gun" cannot be traced nor tracked all that easily.
I'm pretty sure I read that a gun made by a 3D printer can only shoot one bullet one time. Therefore, unless someone is a crack shot, they will likely miss their target and will be unable to reload.
I think you can make a real metal gun with a CNC machine that reads specs from a page.
First of all, 3D "printers" are very expensive. One can buy a LOT of conventionally-made guns for the cost of one printing machine.
Also, 3D printing works much better in plastic materials than in metal. While 3D metal printing does exist, it works on basically the same principle as a sand castle. Metallic "sand" (i.e. powdered metal) is deposited in the shape of the item being constructed and held together by a binding agent (essentially a glue). It has very little mechanical strength unless a great deal of post-printing treatment is done.
Here is an informative link about the limitations of 3D printing (including a sublink about 3D printed guns).
http://gizmodo.com/why-3d-printing-is-overhyped-i-should-know-i-do-it-fo-508176750
The cheap 3D printers (available for well under $2,000 at a Micro Center near you) usually work in soft plastics (although some are actually capable of working in very soft metals) and are usually reserved for making models or prototypes of low-strength items, although some practical applications are to be found (some kid actually "printed" plastic braces for his teeth that worked as well as the commercially available Invisalign braces).
3D printers that can work in materials that will end up being strong enough to withstand the chamber pressures of the ammunition for a modern firearm are also available but at a MUCH higher cost. And their "output" parts (a gun won't be "printed" as one, complete unit) will require additional work to meet that requirement, just like conventionally manufactured firearms.
At this point you probably have more to fear along those lines from that trained machinist down the block than from someone with a 3D printer. But progress will change that soon enough.
thats bad, i hate guns
That is comforting to know Spunky. But progress being what it is there will certainly be someone who will find a way to solve that "problem"! Thank you for your reply and Happy Tuesday! :)
Thank you for your information-filled reply m2c. We both know I'm completely ignorant when it comes to guns. But just because something is illegal doesn't mean some folks won't make them anyway, right? People break laws all the time and probably most of them get away with it. That prospect is very scary . I wonder why they can't create scanners that could detect plastic or whatever the material is? Happy Tuesday to thee! :)
Oh geez. You can? Oh boy! I don't know what a CNC machine is bh but I guess all guns are made by machines aren't they? Thank you for your reply and Happy Tuesday! :)
Thank you for your thoughtful and informative reply OS and the link you provided. Happy Tuesday! :)
I'm not a gun person either pearl. The purpose of guns is to kill/murder and I'm not a fan of that either. Thank you for your reply and Happy Tuesday! :)
