[url]http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/futureoftech/3-d-printed-gun-fires-6-shots-then-falls-apart-1C7404226[/url] I'm surprised, I honestly did not expect printed guns to work. [quote]The idea of using a 3-D printer to create a gun is controversial and interesting, but it seems to still be a ways off from equaling the quality of machined parts. A gun with a major part printed that way failed after just six shots when some enthusiasts decided to give the tech a try. Creating a printable gun is the project of Defense Distributed, [url=http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/futureoftech/3-d-printed-gun-project-derailed-legal-woes-6213570]which is working on what it calls the WikiWeapon[/url]. But the effort isn't far enough along to create a working firearm, so Defense Distributed used a design created by another printed-gun creator who goes by the name HaveBlue. HaveBlue [url=http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/133514-the-worlds-first-3d-printed-gun]claimed in July[/url] to have fired his printed gun hundreds of times, which doesn't seem impossible given the quality of the printing. The part printed by the group is called the lower receiver, which is where a round is received from the magazine. Pictures show it to be very well made, and it appears to fit exactly to the other parts in the gun kit they used. But the pressure of the recoil appears to have been too much for the "buffer ring," which separates the stock from the upper receiver. After firing just six shots, the gun split in two. It's a serious setback, especially considering they were firing a lower-caliber cartridge than the gun would normally shoot. The legality of all this is unknown, not to say in dispute. It is legal to create your own firearms, but not to distribute them and in the case of printed guns there's a bit of both going on. The ATF is looking at the subject, but for now it's all something of a grey area. The technical aspects of the part, the failure, and the team's plans to improve it can be found [url=http://defdist.tumblr.com/post/37023487585/printed-reinforced-ar-lower-review]at Defense Distributed's blog[/url]. You can watch the video of the test below. [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wuDCW_Rn5JI[/url][/quote] [url]http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/futureoftech/3-d-printed-gun-project-derailed-legal-woes-6213570[/url] [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQ6Q3BfbVBU[/url] [quote]After raising thousands of dollars to develop a free, 3-D-printable handgun, a group calling itself Defense Distributed has had to put its plans on hold, after the company providing their printing hardware refused to do business with them. It's an early episode in what is likely to be a long controversy. Defense Distributed is a loosely organized group that intends to explore the possibility of creating weapons entirely using 3-D printed parts and providing the files to do so freely online. They are unrelated to another recent project that partially built an assault rifle that way, but the concept is similar. The group originally tried to raise money to develop the Wiki Weapon, as they call it, on the crowd-funding website IndieGoGo. The site pulled the plug, however, before the $20,000 the group was hoping to collect was pledged. Undeterred, Defense Distributed solicited donations in the Bitcoin virtual currency, and soon achieved their funding goal. With the money, they leased a powerful 3-D printer from a company called Stratasys. But before they even had a chance to take the device out of its box, Stratasys caught wind of what its hardware was going to be used for and canceled the contract, sending someone to pick up the printer immediately. Defense Distributed's Cody Wilson had expected some controversy, but the cancellation by Stratasys caught him by surprise. Speaking to Wired's Danger Room blog, he emphasized that what the group is doing is legal, since manufacture of weapons is not prohibited as long as they are not for sale or trade. This permits enthusiasts and artisans to create such things freely, but for anything more than personal use a license is required a license Wilson doesn't have. Stratasys may have erred on the side of caution (it commented to Wired that the company would not "knowingly allow its printers to be used for illegal purposes"), but it may also have been motivated by the equally understandable desire not to be associated with a potentially controversial project. But as Wilson points out, the cat is out of the bag: The design and testing of a 3-D printed gun is inevitable given that the cost of doing it has dropped, and there is almost certainly a market for such devices. Defense Distributed is doing it openly and, they believe, legitimately but others could easily do the same without bothering about the red tape. In the meantime, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is investigating, though they told Wilson they consider printed weapons a grey area at present. The question of creating weapons at home, especially sophisticated and deadly ones like an automatic handgun, is bound to be a controversial one. The ability to bypass firearms regulations, not to mention the social and civil implications of cheap, ubiquitous and anonymous guns, will be a serious issue in the coming years, and Defense Distributed intends to be at the center of it. More information about the Wiki Weapon and Defense Distributed's plans and rationale can be found at their website. Readers concerned with the legality and justification of producing printable weapons may find some answers in the FAQ.[/quote] [quote][b]Posted by:[/b] XoG Suppressor I reiterate: [quote][b]Posted by:[/b] XoG Suppressor I hate article titles like this, they're very misleading. The "gun" that's been 3D printed is not a gun, but a legal gun. The only thing printed was the plastic lower receiver, which is the legal definition of a "gun". For this to actually be used as a weapon would require a [b]metal[/b] barrel and [b]upper receiver[/b], which cannot be 3D printed. As far as the "gun control" side of things go, people have been able to manufacture their own weapons for a long time with CNC machines, which can make [b]metal[/b] parts. [/quote] There is no 3D printable gun. There is a 3D printable lower receiver. The lower receiver is useless without a metal barrel and metal upper receiver which cannot be 3d printed. CNC machines have existed for a long time, and are capable of making every part of a weapon (out of metals), and as you can see there isn't currently a problem with CNC machined guns flooding the streets. People are afraid of things they don't understand, and more so things they misunderstand. [/quote] [Edited on 12.04.2012 2:19 PM PST]