On today’s episode of Uncanny Valley, we discuss how WIRED was able to legally 3D-print the same gun allegedly used by Luigi Mangione, and where US law stands on the technology.
On today’s episode of Uncanny Valley, we discuss how WIRED was able to legally 3D-print the same gun allegedly used by Luigi Mangione, and where US law stands on the technology.
tl;dr printers got cheaper
And they wirk with more than plastic. I have had that conversation several times. People honestly think all 3d printers can do is cheap plastic.
What else do they work with?
Depends on the type of 3D printer.
Fused Deposition Modeling, the standard “filament” 3D printing everyone thinks about when hearing the word 3D printing prints with plastics - of some sort. All of them,to a certain degree.
There are incredibly sturdy options nowadays, which include carbon fibers, but in the end the adhesions between layers will always be an issue. There are also options to print a cast for a mold and some funny techniques where you print a model with a specialised filament that is half plastic,half metal powder and send it to a company which “burn off” the plastic part, replace it with metal and send you back an (almost as sturdy as a cast) part that is fully metal.
Resin based printing is also a thing but not nearly as sturdy as FDM.
Last but not least there is metal powder based SLS(Selective Laser Sintering), but that does not produce those sturdy parts everyone thinks of, is extremely sensitive/requires a lot of knowledge and lastly money - these printers start around 20k for the better models.
In terms of additive manufacturing people are able to print non load bearing gun parts. Maybe even sturdier than before. And easier. (A 400$ printer nowadays does what a 1300$ printer did a year ago and a 15000$ printer did 15 years ago. But for everything load/pressure/shock bearing, like a barrel, spring assembly,firing pin,etc. will still need to be from pure metal. So people would still need to improvise these,most important, parts.
BUT: There are also self-built CNC machines. MPCNC, etc. are a thing, and more advanced projects for around 2500-3000$ omwards can easily achieve a level of precision on steel that is more than sufficient for an all metal ghost gun and close to what industrial guns makers in WW1, maybe even WW2, achieved.
It’s currently really the golden age of home manufacturing.
Metals, catbon fiber but I heard thise nozzles wear out fast. One printer i saw used lasers to weld metal powder into shapes layer by layer.
biocompatible bone too
Some mad scientist in Scotland claims to have gotten his printing stem cells. He’s trying to figure out how to print replacement organs that have no chance of rejection
Oh yeah, I forget about sintered metal printers. Which is funny because that’s one of the first ones I saw.
Carbon fibre is a big one.
And better and people got better at making 3d printed guns.
Printers improved too.