this post was submitted on 17 Oct 2023
509 points (96.9% liked)

3DPrinting

15629 readers
254 users here now

3DPrinting is a place where makers of all skill levels and walks of life can learn about and discuss 3D printing and development of 3D printed parts and devices.

The r/functionalprint community is now located at: [email protected] or [email protected]

There are CAD communities available at: [email protected] or [email protected]

Rules

If you need an easy way to host pictures, https://catbox.moe may be an option. Be ethical about what you post and donate if you are able or use this a lot. It is just an individual hosting content, not a company. The image embedding syntax for Lemmy is ![](URL)

Moderation policy: Light, mostly invisible

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

I understand the intent, but feel that there are so many other loopholes that put much worse weapons on the street than a printer. Besides, my prints can barely sustain normal use, much less a bullet being fired from them. I would think that this is more of a risk to the person holding the gun than who it's pointing at.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (2 children)

You don't print the explody bits; you have to purchase things like the barrel and the trigger assembly.

However, I know an engineer at Sig Sauer who printed his own gun and he's never fired it while holding it...so, still prone to eventual catastrophic failure ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

At that point though, you may as well start regulating the purchase of lumber, since it sounds like you could just as easily make the printed components in a basic workshop as with a 3d printer

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I suppose technically you could but it would be a hell of a lot of work and you'd need detailed drawings.

The 3d model already has all of the geometry and hole locations required from the manufacturer.

If you know your printer well, all you do is download the model, slice it and press play.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

If you have the 3d model, you already have the drawings. Quite literally. Just need to print off some views with measurements, if you want it on paper, otherwise, use the CAD model and get measurements as needed.

At that point, it's just down to having the tools, skills, and material. Someone with good skills, tools, and material could make the equivalent parts faster and of better quality than a bed-slinger. Someone without the skills... well, they'll probably have time to build the skills in the process.

Now, when it comes to materials, I think that there's definite risk there. Wood often exhibits worse shear strength along its grain than well-tuned printers do along layers (a good example of this weakness can be seen in the rear totes of old Stanley-Bailey bench planes - it is a minority of them that have not sheared where the handle meets the mounting section). So, that has to be taken into account in laying out the part in the raw material.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

so, still prone to eventual catastrophic failure ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Everything will fail eventually, the question is how long it will take and more importantly if the failure can be predicted.