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NSW Police Commissioner warns of dangers of 3D guns
GreyGeek:
Did the NSW Police Commissioner deliberately overcharge the bullet that was fired so that it would explode, in order to scare his citizens away from downloading and making the weapon?
Comparing this video with the one made by Cody Wilson it "appears" to me that Cody's shot did not have the bang that the NSW shot has, but that could be due to the placement of the camera and being indoors. However, given the current state of development of the Liberator people would be foolish to attempt to fire this gun, IMO. We'll soon get an idea of the practicality of this weapon by the number of stories we read about its ACTUAL use by people. My prediction is that except for scare stories like this one, we won't read of an attempt to use the Liberator in a crime, or of someone being injured by playing with one, for a long time, if ever.
NE Bull:
We could also question the materials used to 'print' the gun. There would have to be a certain recipe that would hold up better. (can you run JB Weld thru a print head? :)) )
Kendahl:
3D printers are at the same level as home computers were in 1975. Back then, the only programming languages were assembly and BASIC with line numbers. You stored your programs on tape using a portable audio cassette drive. Your input/output device was a teletype that could only do text. No video monitors or disk drives. No internet.
Right now, the only materials available at the hobby level are forms of plastic. The challenge in building a 3D firearm is managing the forces with such a low strength material. Unstressed parts are no problem. In time, stronger materials will be available and the printers will be both better and cheaper. In 1981, an Epson dot matrix printer cost $800. The four color laser printer I bought in 2005 cost only $400 depreciated dollars.
GreyGeek:
--- Quote from: Kendahl on May 25, 2013, 11:49:45 AM ---Back then, the only programming languages were assembly and BASIC with line numbers.
--- End quote ---
I don't doubt your premise that in time technology will improve 3D printers and the printing of firearms to make them both more reliable and cheaper, but the programming language was not a good analogy. There were LOTS of languages available to what would become known as the "Personal Computer".
I quit teaching to sell PCs in 1980 after building an analog computer in 1974 and buying an Apple ][+ in the summer of 1978. There were MANY computers in competition around 1975 and many languages available to them. I played with several of them and was paid to use a few of them to write software. Here are some of the more well known languages:
LISP
Fortran
COBOL (yes, it came on a peripheral card! for the 8080 and 6502 buses)
RPG (which accompanied COBOL as a report generator and eventually a language)
C
SmallTalk (I really enjoyed this language but it was more difficult to program for business solutions than BASIC because the object model of programming wasn't yet well defined)
Prolog (similarly, as the first logic programming language it blazed new trails but didn't lead to practical applications in business. Looking back, it reminds me more of Neural Nets)
Pascal (I LOVED this language and used it to write commercial and for-hire software)
and my all-time favorite programming language:
FORTH
I could write reams about FORTH. It didn't catch on because too many "programmers" at the time depended on the line numbering system of BASIC to form their logic in a form of top-down programming. FORTH is a bottom-up, threaded, class actor type language. VERY powerful, fast and compact.
I learned FORTH from one of the best books on programming languages that I have ever read:
"Starting FORTH" by Leo Brodie. An online version is here:
http://www.forth.com/starting-forth/
and here is a downloadable PDF of the book:
http://www.wulfden.org/downloads/Forth_Resources/LB__StartingForth.pdf
gForth is available for free on most Linux distros.
unfy:
--- Quote from: NE Bull on May 25, 2013, 08:18:25 AM ---We could also question the materials used to 'print' the gun. There would have to be a certain recipe that would hold up better. (can you run JB Weld thru a print head? :)) )
--- End quote ---
For plastic extrusion, mostly it's ABS or PLA filament.
There are plunger based extruders that can put out clay and stuff too... so undoubtedly you could rig up a jb weld squirtums.
I'll have to rant again about the stupidity of the 3D gun media / reaction / etc.
The thing aint practical. A plastic gun built up of layers of melted plastic on cold plastic is also not exactly all that safe. It's also a single shot... which might be fine for squirrels in a rural neighborhood... if it has any accuracy at all that is.
The cost of a 3D printer is between $400 and $800, typically requiring a week of assembly and calibration. For those prices you can get a great, dependable, well known firearm.
A citizen is allowed to make... something like 10 or 25 guns a year for their own personal use. A 3D printer doesn't change those laws. The above numbers apply to long guns, I know for sure ... dunno about pistols. Can prolly look up the laws relating to AK47 builds from flats that you have to bend / form yourself.
Granted, if you already have a 3d printer, you could build these printed guns relatively inexpensively. Practicality is again limited ... and I highly doubt any criminal would give these things a second look... let alone someone looking to defend themselves with this thing.
Owners of existing printers who wish to print these guns for their novelty aspect do need to be aware of firearm manufacturing laws, though.
These things (printable guns) are a complete non-story.
For $50 or less you can probably go to home depot and buy all of the tools and materials needed to make something to fire 22 rounds. Hell, it sounds like a fun project. I'll pick it up in a month.
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