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snayperskaya wrote: http://www.everydaynodaysoff.com/2015/0 ... ghost-gun/
Gaz wrote:
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It just so happens I have a 3d printer, the commercial kind are uber expensive - but mine was 500 quid - http://www.bq.com/gb/prusa - whilst it's a fairly well designed "kit" and it produces some pretty decent parts on it's highest resolution - there are actually a lot of issues that prevent you making a usuable AR15 lower.Charlie Muggins wrote:3D printing is a very interesting emerging technology but has very restrictive limits with regards to cost, accuracy, durability and accessibility. Interesting things will happen in time with them, and I'm looking at building one, but they are not like your £40 Epson inkjet you can get from Argos. The process for making an AR15 lower is not simply "buy, plug in, print, assemble, shoot". The main practical advantage they offer is that they require less skill to produce a design. That has lead to a lot of their popularity in the "maker" community IMO -- people who haven't learned hands-on skills and can't be bothered to learn them. I see it in electronics side of the "maker" community too; people buying Arduino boards for a task that would be better served with a cheaper, more reliable and physically smaller discrete circuit.
As I recall, don't 3D-printed AR15 lowers have a very limited longevity? Something in the region of 200 rounds. Not exactly earth-shattering when you look at some of the "0% lower" productions from the hobby gunsmiths.
As I'm sure we're all aware a basic SMG is available to anyone with basic metalworking skills, plumbing parts, the tools found in the average garden shed and a spare weekend. Crude .22RF pistols used to be made by crooks from telescoping radio antennae jubilee clipped onto a piece of wood. Mao Mao rebels built slam-fire shotguns from plumbing pipe. All of these are "ghost guns". They are less visible than the featured AR15 due to not having to buy the parts from Brownells, and arguably have a similar longevity.
Again though, all it comes down to is this:bradaz11 wrote:Would America just not make it an offence to have an unregistered gun? Rather than licence extra parts etc? atm criminals are still breaking the law either way as they are not allowed to possess guns.
It's not a mill, it's a domestic/hobby 3D printer, which is a completely different kettle of fish. 3D printers are not generally plug-and-play for complex objects. The type you or I can buy do not produce accurate enough 'prints' and do not use tough enough materials to produce anything but the world's shonkiest AR15 lower or any other type of gun. An AR15 lower sees hardly any pressure and the printed ones fail after a very short round count. Every single gun I have seen that has been produced on a 3D printer is at best a zip gun, better ones which can be made with household parts, no expensive tools, and a skillset which is, in fact, very common.Gaz wrote:[self-pluggery] I interviewed Wilson last time he was in the UK. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/04/22 ... s_bitcoin/
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The point of what he's doing with the pre-programmed CNC mill is to let even unskilled people turn a parts kit into a working gun. At the moment you need a particular skillset (not a rare one, but not one the average Joe has) to turn an AR lower receiver blank into a functional item. With DD's mill you chuck a billet into it, press "on", come back a few hours later, slot everything together and ta-daaa!
This was largely my point, the public at large (and probably many FBUKers) don't realise that hobby 3D printers aren't make-a-thing-o-matics. One day they may be, and that will be an interesting day -- but that day is not today.nickb834 wrote:It just so happens I have a 3d printer, the commercial kind are uber expensive - but mine was 500 quid - http://www.bq.com/gb/prusa - whilst it's a fairly well designed "kit" and it produces some pretty decent parts on it's highest resolution - there are actually a lot of issues that prevent you making a usuable AR15 lower.
The biggest is to do with the thermal properties of the plastic and the rates of contraction as it cools (glass barrier etc) - you end up with something that looks like an AR15 lower but is out by many tens of thousandths of an inch in just about every direction - so triggers and hammers don't line up, the magwell is as rough as a badgers arse and so on.
Now of course they can be printed - but there'll be a degree of fettling to get something that works...ish, and the life time of it will be limited AND the big one for me - if that lower lets go and the bolt comes whizzing back right into my eye socket (so in the UK we're talking 22 uppers on printed lowers, as the CF uppers are all straight pull S1).
With a commercial printer say using lazer and resin - they it'll be a lot smoother and I'd expect dimensionally more accurate - but, if you can drop 20 grand on a commercial printer, drop it on a CNC mill instead (2nd hand perhaps to get under that budget).
I use my 3d printer for what I think they're really intended - rapid prototyping of a product before you send it of to be injection moulded properly (as per the M&P 15/22 with a polymer lower)
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