3D printed AR-15 magazines

[donny douchebag]

DDD. Nuff said.

[MichaelKent]

It's a game changer in that it reveals a fundamental failure in the limited magazine law.

As this technology becomes wide-spread and improved (will happen before we know it) and if there is a 10 round magazine limit, it will mean that any criminal or would-be school shooter with a 3d printer and an internet connection can print 30 round magazines at home, while the only people affected by the ban are those who buy mags legally.

I imagine preventing people from printing their own guns and mags will be like trying to prevent people downloading music and movies illegally - it can't happen.

The law will only result in American citizens being outgunned and disadvantaged by criminals...

[stix213]

The one AR-15 lower that I heard of that broke after a few shots was printed in plastic.

Well we do have plastic AR receivers sold commercially, so still not out of the question.

[phrogg111]

Someone made one recently, it broke after like 6 shots, but not in a way that couldn't be worked around with a stronger design at that weak point.

I made a plastic AR-15 pistol out of delrin, using less than $400 worth of tooling.

It's held up to a couple hundred .223 rounds so far, no issues.

Thread:

http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=630917

[jrock]

Glenn beck had micheal guslick on his show the other day.
Mr. Guslick had a few mags and lowers he made with him.
Not new news to most here of course.
Guslick has some interesting philosophies on patent law and overall capitalism in general.
Gb wasnt sure if he was friend or foe at this time.

Game changer for American manufacturing/patents.
A book called Fabricated 3d printing by hod lipson is a good read.

[itisagoodname]

My plan is to make a 3D wireframe, then fiberglass/kevlar/carbon fiber, or mill a fire control pocket "plug" and fill the frame with resin. Then finish the whole thing with my 80% jig. I am attempting to do this currently with an AR grip that i want to make 90% out of carbon fiber to shave a few ounces off my carbon 22lr rifle.

There is also one crowdsourced 3d printer that is a 3d printer as well as 3-axis CNC mill. Do want.

[Wherryj]

"gun clips" my brain begins to shut down

He HAD to use "clips". Politicians aren't smart enough to use words with more than four letters.

[Wherryj]

You cannot legally manufacture - and this is what it would be - a "high capacity magazine" in California:
http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/s...d.php?t=387409

Well, there's the real issue at stake here. Only law abiding citizens will follow this law if passed. The law is aimed at reducing the damage done by criminals. Criminals do NOT follow laws-that is what makes them criminals. Therefore, having already had the 3D printer SEEMS to have let this genie out of the bottle. There's NO way to keep CRIMINALS from printing up their own magazines.

[Brandsayer]

At CES in 'Vegas last week, there was a company offering 3D printing services, and they offered printing in metal. Someone should send them a CAD of an AR receiver and see what happens.

Shapeways will not let you make anything related to firearms.

I liked his comment at the end of the video

[dave_cg]

Well we do have plastic AR receivers sold commercially, so still not out of the question.

Yes, sure. It has more to do with the process and material choices. 3D printed plastics use the FDM (Fused Deposition Modelling) process. Feedstock is melted in an extruder and stuck down to already printed/frozen plastic. So you have a zillion plastic weld joints, which aren't as strong as injection molded material formed in one shot. FDM is what my el-cheapo printer uses, and the feedstock is ABS of some unknown pedigree. Which brings us to the material question....

ABS is a blend of three materials acrylic, which is strong but brittle, butadiene which is rubbery by itself (think model car tire) but adds resilience, and styrene, which is cheap, and if you don't add too much of it doesn't screw things up. Lego is made of high quality ABS, and many other things are made of ABS... but there is ABS and then there is ABS. Material properties vary widely with the blend.

I've done a very little bit of injection molding on a small machine. The guy that taught me everything I know about injection molding designs some *very* high strength plastic widgets for DOD RPQ's, and he goes through a lot of desert sand colored resin feed stock.... Anyway, he showed me some parts shot in fiberglass filled nylon. They are just as strong as aluminum, and just as machineable. The melted stock is somewhat abrasive, though, so the mold cost goes up because you can't get away with out doing a mold in hard tool steel, and even then the material erodes the mold after a while. But, yeah, I could easily see doing a lower in something like a glass-filled nylon using an injection molding process.

[Westerner]

They're gonna ban 3D printers next.

[MichaelM]

One day your neighbor or friend will be able to just print you out a 3d printer!

Technology will save us from the interventionists.

[Dothraki]

One day your neighbor or friend will be able to just print you out a 3d printer!

Hahaha! Good one.

[Cobrafreak]

DiFi will ban printers next :/

[Xanatos]

Same thing with software piracy right now. Sure, most people will be honest consumers and purchase digital media the way it should, but there will be a large enough percentage of the population who will begin the evolution of piracy to the next level. Remember those ads that asked, "You wouldn't download a car, would you?"

Yes I ****ing would download a car if I had access to a 3D printer and the ability to print each part one at a time (assuming quality was the same). Same thing for firearms parts. As soon as the technology becomes commercially feasible (within our lifetimes), I will download and print the **** out of anything I can find my hands on that I need.