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Solid Concepts Manufactures First 3D-Printed Metal Pistol
Zothecula writes "In a prime example of past meets future, a Texas-based company has used a century-old classic firearm as the blueprint for the world's first 3D-printed metal gun. Solid Concepts' use of a laser sintering method to create a fully functional Model 1911 automatic pistol is the latest demonstration of the potential of 3D printing techniques in industrial processing. The company's 'The gun proves laser sintering can meet tight tolerances. 3D Metal Printing has less porosity issues than an investment cast part and better complexities than a machined part. The barrel sees chamber pressure above 20,000 psi every time the gun is fired.'"
in the 1911 sense.
Not to put a fine point to it, and risking being branded a heretic spouting blashphemy, it wasn't that exceptionally precise back when, and that was the bloody point of the thing. So it certainly cannot be that tight by today's standards.
Still, it's a start.
An interesting capability of this type of additive manufacturing is the ability to change the metal alloy content in different parts of a single solid piece, adding another way to adjust the overall properties of the final product.
As for making guns, well, its a good way to get attention.
This is excellent news! I know I wouldn't use some questionable hunk of plastic. I'd much rather have metal arms and high capacity magazines for ensuring the cessation of threats to myself, my family, and my property.
This is why we can't have nice things....
Couldn't 3D printers make the news the first few years of going mainstream by producing hospital equipment or something?
I remember seeing about 10 years ago a demo of a laser sinter 3D printer used to build parts at remote or deployed locations. If they didn't have a design it is done by HQ or other engineering assists and emailed to the printer. Interestingly enough they said the sintered part was often more robust and better than the OEM. It required machining but it can be easily done.
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
better complexities than a machined part.
But weaker parts.
When making metal parts the the metallurgical properties are more important than the shape. The direction of the molecules in the metal make the difference between something that's hard and brittle vs. something that's soft and elastic.
GizMag is retarded.
The 1911 is semi-automatic.
Automatic pistols are idiotic.
Chuuch. Preach. Tabernacle.
Is that you, Tipper Gore?
3D Metal Printing has less porosity issues than an investment cast part
fewer
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
For the same reason that they refer to intermediate cartridges as "high power": journalists are morons.
Some geometries are impossible to make with CNC and machined parts always weigh more... if a part meets it's specification who cares how it was done?
love is just extroverted narcissism
Why is anyone surprised laser sintering is more than capable of this? This is nothing more than tech demo clickbait; anyone following the capabilities of SLS already knew this was well within the realm of possibility. Just nowhere close to the realm of practicality from a fiscal perspective.
Also, it's a waste of weight and money to do it this way. SLS should be used for key parts, but the rest should be normal 3D printed plastic (like a Glock).
And as we all know, 100% of Slashdot readers are well versed in laser sintering techniques and capabilities.
The article explains why - as a demonstration of some of the ways this process is superior to machining. I'm a nerd, it's news to me, and it matters in the context of the potential for 3d printing to change significant aspects of society, and yes, firearm availability is significant.
my, your, his/her/its, our, your, their
I'm, you're, he's/she's/it's, we're, you're, they're
This is nothing more than tech demo clickbait; anyone following the capabilities of SLS already knew this was well within the realm of possibility.
Believe it or not, even on Slashdot not everyone has been following the progress of SLS. As for clickbait, sure it's for PR. Nothing wrong with that to get some publicity for a company's capabilities.
Also, it's a waste of weight and money to do it this way. SLS should be used for key parts, but the rest should be normal 3D printed plastic (like a Glock).
FTA: "Solid Concept says that the point of the exercise wasn't to create a cheaper pistol". In real production the metal parts could probably be made less expensively by traditional metal fab techniques. Plastic can be injection molded.
You know, repeating a lie doesn't make it true.
FWIW, the NRA is mainly funded by member dues and donations, not gun manufacturers.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
And be forced to listen to the garbage that passes for 'pop' music these days? No thanks :)
No colour or religion ever stopped the bullet from a gun
Parts machined from steel stock are fairly well known characteristics, re: machined steel characteristics, tolerances, and variability of a foundries output, are very well known in manufacturing. but then steel manufacturing has been around a long time. i dont know as much about the proprties of sintereed metal, and therefore the parts made of it. so I'd want to see some extensive testng done of the sintered metal, or the results anyway, so that I could have the same confidence and knowledge of the material.
The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
Why are semi-automatic weapons so often referred to as automatic? It seems to be a common misnomer in the US but I'm curious why.
Sensationalism; the same reason putting a synthetic stock with a Weaver rail on it magically turns an ordinary deer rifle into a "military grade assault weapon."
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
What would you recommend someone use to protect their family from guns? Tell the attacker to stand still for 15 minutes while you call 911 and wait for the cops to arrive?
TFA isn't exactly clear, but they seem to be saying that parts made this way are stronger then castings.
I wonder if this would have applications in any of the new launch vehicle engines. For simple parts, SLS might be cost prohibitive, but for complex parts, it may provide superior strength and more complex, one piece parts.
If material strength isn't an issue, then he sky's the limit.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
"Guns don't kill people, physics kills people." -- Dick Solomon
Ban physics!
Oh, I'm sorry sir, I thought you were referring to me, Mr. Wensleydale.
In the video, they show a part being tapped after forming. If the barrel of the gun can be rifled internally during manufacture, why can't a part be cast with a tapped hole?
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
"journalists are morons."
And they have agendas.
... Cops kill people
"Here Lies Philip J. Fry, named for his uncle, to carry on his spirit"
But weaker parts.
When making metal parts the the metallurgical properties are more important than the shape. The direction of the molecules in the metal make the difference between something that's hard and brittle vs. something that's soft and elastic.
You can harden and temper the printed metal part just like any other.
They may get their funding from members and donations, but their policy and leadership is set by the minority that side with gun manufacturers. Example: most NRA members (75%) support sensible gun control whereas the lobbying arm will score against legislators that propose and vote for them (http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/01/28/strong-majority-of-americans-nra-members-back-gun-control)
Arrrrgh! We're all going to die!
Ban Metal!!!
Music snob!
Strat
Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
Percentage of people eventually dying:
With guns: 100%
Without guns: 100%
7% of all people who have ever lived are alive today, meaning human mortality is currently somewhere around 93%.
http://what-if.xkcd.com/27/
Example: most NRA members (75%) support sensible gun control
And how many people agree on a single definition of sensible?
"An unarmed man can only flee from evil, and evil is not overcome by fleeing from it." Col. Jeff Cooper
Oh. My. Fucking. God.
Do you have any IDEA how many people would just shit themselves at your suggestion that a Sacred and Precious, Immaculately Concieved 1911 (insert heavenly choir ahhh-ahhhhhh) contain <bleeech> plastic parts?????
I want you to go to your room and THINK about what you have done.
I've been trying to sort out the "guns" issue from a scientific point of view. After some extended searching, I believe the answer is "more guns is better".
This is made enormously difficult by the vast ocean of misinformation put forth by advocates on both sides of the issue. It's an interesting exercise in clear thinking just to sort through the claims to come up with an opinion unfettered by bad logic. I've included some examples below.
In summary, the best measurable statistic appears to be "chance of death from all causes" at the national level. This statistic avoids most of the bad math and bad thinking, and it's easy to measure and verify. The US does not have good health care, and this [national] attribute has a large effect on the mortality rate unrelated to gun-related deaths, so you can't use the US for comparison purposes at the national level. A better comparison is made between two countries with similar national health care and different gun policies. England and Switzerland, for example.
Comparing England and Switzerland indicates that "more guns" is associated with "less mortality". This echoes comparisons made within the US at the local level, where areas with public access to guns have less crime and mortality.
It's pointless to debate the issues in this forum due to the enormous and convoluted "poor statistics" cited by people on both sides of the issue, and virtually everyone is cognitively dissonant and emotionally invested in the answer.
A good analysis of the issues can be found here.
Below are just a few examples of popular claims, and how they mislead the reader into one side or the other. There are misleading claims on both sides, so don't read too much into the choice of examples.
Example 1: "Guns do not make a nation safer, say US doctors who have compared the rate of firearms-related deaths in countries where many people own guns with the death rate in countries where gun ownership is rare." (source) (False comparison: when gun ownership goes down, deaths due to other causes rises.)
Example 2: England has fewer gun-related murders, but a much higher rate of beating murders. (Undecidable: In the US, a non-suicide gunshot victim is automatically a murder, in England it's not a murder unless there's a trial and conviction.)
Example 3: If you have a gun in the house, you're more likely to accidentally shoot a family member than a burglar. (Wrong statistic: Having a gun depresses the chance of crime for your neighbors, the overall gain in safety for the community may be more than the loss of safety for the individual. See Polio vaccine.)
Yes, Anonymous Coward, you are hereby banned from flying.
Hell, I don't know much about guns, either, but I've seen enough movies to know that.
In semi-automatic pistols, the slide (that upper part you talk about) does not return when the magazine is empty. That is, the reason it's stuck open is because it out of bullets. For a three-shot test they, very sensibly, only loaded three cartridges into the magazine.
So they made a copy of an old gun? Can they make a copy of auto parts that are not manufactured any more? What kind of industry economics are there for the selling of replacement parts for old cars?
Your "statistics" have been debunked; read a few comments up. Thanks for playing.
Define "sensible."
Where I come from, you see a lot of posters and bumper stickers that say something to the effect of, "gun control is using both hands/knowing your target." Something tells me our idea of 'sensible' is going to be a bit different than, say, someone living in NYC.
Side note: I see from your link that they're basing this claim on a poll, but do not actually have a link anywhere on the page for readers to review the poll for themselves (at least, not that I found).
This being Slashdot, with a crowd more perceptive than most, I don't think I need to explain the problem with bias in opinion polls. For example, see this article in which the NRA claims that the one in your article is bunk, and did their own survey achieving a completely different result.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
The direction of the molecules in the metal make the difference between something that's hard and brittle vs. something that's soft and elastic.
Great. Now I have a Salvador Dali vision of a nice, gooey 45 caliber pistol kind of dripping and drooping...
You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
Sintered metal often has a lot of microscopic voids in the resulting grain structure so I'm kind of surprised it withstood 50 rounds. The slamming of the action exacerbates the fracture tendency as well. It's basically proof-of-concept, but I'm curious how many rounds this thing would take before failing. I like their clever choice of Inconel even if used only for the barrel (not sure where they used it though).
Join the Slashcott! Feb 10 thru Feb 17!
So cryo treat the metal before it is printed..just like you cryo treat tool steel (REAL tool steel..for punch/dies) before it's put into a mill..
Or how you cryo treat spot welder tips before they are put into a lathe...
Ditto with the heat treat oven..
That's just it. When the politicians are forbidden from having armed guards, then their law proposals can be debated. Until then, they deserve to be shot by their own guard every time they try to make guns illegal.
-- ssoorrrryy,, dduupplleexx sswwiittcchh oonn.. -Quote found on actual fortune cookie.
How are gun barrels typically made? Machined forgings?
How would a conventionally-made gun barrel compare with one made from laser-sintered metal powder?
Will 3D printing ever work for (say) car engine blocks and con-rods?
Your view is somewhat skewed because you don't take in account how much the parents being alive influences the number of children who reach the procreative age and procreate themselves.
The thing is, people make their own guns all the time in gun fans' equivalent to makers meets. They use a combination of tecniques. You really want the barrel and receiver to be forged, not cast. But you can take roughed-out forged parts and them CnC mill them to perfection, and get the strength easily enough.
There's little point in trying to CnC mill the entire gun, but a combination of forged blanks, a rolled tube for a barrel, some milling, and simply buying all the other pieces mail order (they sell kits for this), and you have a perfectly serviceable AR15 with no serial number. In most places that's perfectly legal, as long as you've avoided any legal landmines along the way and especially that you never sell it.
That's the thing, legally. In most places in the US you can legally make your own gun, but making a gun for someone else makes you a firearms dealer. People are arguing over where selling the code to allow someone to make a gun automatically lands, legally (if you follow kit cars at all, you'll find this all familiar).
Outside the US, in places where you can't legally make your own gun, this is a much bugger deal.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
Wow the first truly "unexpected" comment I've read on slashdot in a long time.
Nice.
You can harden and temper the printed metal part just like any other.
That won't be as strong as something cold forged. Not to mention that you can cold forge millions of parts in the same time it takes to print one part.
And magnets. How do they work?
Considerably fewer than self-righteous liberals who are murdered because they refuse to defend themselves effectively, and refuse to do so out of deliberate ignorance.
"But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it,..." - Nancy Pelosi
Exactly the same thing that would happen when a person gets a roll of duct tape , a spool of bailing twine, a box of thumbtacks and a donkey through the same checkpoint. They build a data scrambler that doubles as a remote control syncronized with the flight control tower, you realize that you're watching a stupid episode of 24 with McGuiver cameo, and you turn off the fucking television.
"But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it,..." - Nancy Pelosi
On the other hand, you can print thousands of unique parts before you prepare one new forging die.
Spoken like a textbook publisher wanting a contract with the Texas school board.
I would wager significantly less than the number of people who blow their hands off fucking around with fireworks.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
I'm happy (indeed - eager!) to examine a better analysis. If I can't find flaws, it'll inform my opinions and I'll include it in future postings on the issue.
Please include references of statistics so that I can fully analyze the arguments of both sides. There is just so much disinformation out there that the first step can only be tossing out all anecdotes and un-cited facts.
Here's an example (posted above) of what doesn't serve to inform the debate (it's ad-hominem, anecdotal, and un-falsifiable):
The American Thinker article is worthless. It just gives more of the false comparisons that you're complaining about. (Yeah, if you remove a whole bunch of poor people from the crime stats for any nation, their murder rate will look way better.) The author also attempts to profit from the audience's ignorance by comparing with nations like Jamaica and Brazil and hoping the reader doesn't know that those are some of the most crime-ridden, gang-infested countries on earth, where gangs rule neighborhoods and police fight pitched battles with criminals.
How did you pack so much ignorance into so few words?
"But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it,..." - Nancy Pelosi
wins. Cool!
Dang, I lose.
The ironic thing is that the "loophole" can be easily closed by cryptographic means.
1: User goes to the government's website, gets cleared for a purchase, and gets a QR code they can download or print.
2: User takes QR code to show.
3: Seller scans QR code with offline app (no need for Internet access since the app just decodes the QR code and runs a gpg check on the signature, then prints out the owner's name), it checks it against the g'vt's public key, and if it verifies, the buyer is able to purchase a firearm. If not, no sale.
Result: No laws changed, no new laws need to be added, the "gun show loophole" is closed, nobody has to know how many or what type of firearms the buyer has, and nobody who is not expressly cleared to purchase one can get their hands on one.
Win all the way around.
Quick followup: The QR code has a fairly short expiration time (1 day to a week.)
Well the official designation is Pistol, Caliber .45, Automatic, M1911A1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1911_pistol
If an experiment works, something has gone wrong.
They may get their funding from members and donations, but their policy and leadership is set by the minority that side with gun manufacturers.
The purpose of the NRA precludes them being at odds with gun manufacturers you moron. The NRA is entirely about gun education, safety and freedom, and people that value those things pay dues to ensure that the NRA can do those things. There's no way to pursue that agenda without it directly benefiting gun manufacturers.
"But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it,..." - Nancy Pelosi
because liberals by defintion oppose the 2nd amendment, and/or gun owners by defintion cannot be liberal?
The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
Pardon me, but I believe you are misunderstanding the cryotreating process. It is based on repeatedly cooling and heating a *finished* part to allow the atoms in the structure to heal themselves of defects (simple explanation). http://www.metalscience.com/index.php is a link to some of the basics and how cryotreating achieves what it does.
eh, what could be plastic in M1911 other than grips, sights, and perhaps trigger? the main and hammer springs put a lot of pressure on frame, not seeing a lot of opportunity for plastic
Not to mention that you can cold forge millions of parts in the same time it takes to print one part.
A drop forge can make a part a second. A 3D printer can sinter a part per hour. That is not "millions" of times faster. Furthermore, you are ignoring the time it takes to create the mold for your multi-ton drop forge. The lead time for that can be weeks.
Pardon me, but I believe you are misunderstanding the cryotreating process. It is based on repeatedly cooling and heating a *finished* part
I think you misunderstood the GPP (I did a double take myself). He is not saying you cryo-treat the part. He is saying that you cryo-treat the cutting tool.
By definition every liberal is required to oppose the 2nd amendment to exactly the same degree as being a libertarian requires that they both own and expirement with firearms.
Next time I mean to point out the ignorance of stereotypical generalizations with a sarcastic stereotypical generalization of my own, I will include a disclaimer for the sarcastically challenged.
"But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it,..." - Nancy Pelosi
Speaking of rocket engines. The real fun will begin when someone will 3D-print an RPG (well, the grenade for it - the launcher is mostly just a tube).
I'm pretty sure that the official NRA policy is that they do support restrictions on the right of felons to own guns.
Your QR code is a novel approach, but all the private seller has to do is say, "Hey, lets go out in the parking lot and do this."
The point in making it illegal is not to make sure that all sellers do it, but that most do - which they will, if doing otherwise would be a crime, even if you don't actually enforce it. Yes, of course, there will still be a black market for no-background-check gun sales. It will still be smaller, and such guns would be harder and more expensive to get, so fewer people would have them.
I really doubt it. Metal printing isn't new, and i guarantee you that someone has made a firearm before using "additive machining". You just haven't heard about it as most people who do things like that don't run off and post on youtube.
Now, when the printer isn't $500k+ and instead is affordable by the average guy, THEN you have a cool story. And to be honest, if you have the $ to spend on a printer like that, you could get a CNC machine and do it the traditional way just as easily ( and have a far more durable product ).
---- Booth was a patriot ----
And there are no crazy people or murderers. Only GUNMEN.
Who the hell do you think I am?
I was thinking that 3d printed titanium bones (or ends of bones) for people who lose them to disease. They could print smooth exterior and interior surfaces with a strong lightweight foam in between, which would be hard to create by any other means. Doctors could sculpt the shape they need and 3d scan it or perhaps take a cat scan of a symmetrically opposite bone that's in better shape.
"Bugger deal"? Is that an attempt at simulating a Kiwi accent?
I'm sure the techs love printing guns. And it's a nice demonstration of the process. But I'd bet that a gun made by laser sintering is a lot more expensive than one made with conventional techniques, or by CNC machining. Until laser sintering machines ares as common as a drill press, I don't think there's any need to worry about criminals using it. Guns, even machine guns, are old tech, and can be made with old tech.
Like with anything BATFE related, there is no hard and fast rule.
No, you cannot make one for the express purpose of selling it (without appropriate licenses aquired and taxes paid, both for operation and for the actual firearm - see the Pittman-Robertson Act).
However, you can sell them at some point. How long later, how many, etc. is all up in the air and up to definition by the BATFE. And even if you get a decision letter from them, it may not apply to other people in similar situations.
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
Very true. A seller isn't forced to do it. However, it is CYA, and almost all reasonable firearm sellers really don't want to sell stuff to someone who might be a felon. Getting known for putting crime guns on the street is bad for business as a dealer. Very bad.
No, it isn't 100%, but it requires collusion between a buyer and seller. However, it narrows a gap without a single new law, and does so in a fairly easily implementable manner that guards privacy.
Outside the US this is hardly a big deal: it's illegal to own, or make, weapons.
Now a machine shop could do it, and someone talented with home tools could do it, but what's the point? At the end of the day you have exactly 1 gun, which is going to look pretty obviously home-made, which when recovered by law enforcement will lead to either the guy they got it from rolling over on you, or the police will simply take a look at the map, do a bit of neighborhood scouting and door knocking, and then keep an eye on the shifty guy with a surprisingly large garage full of machine tools.
This would be a big deal if laser sintering printers were common, but they're not and won't be for a long time.
If you're a 3D-printing company, and you need to get your name in the press, making Yet Another Plastic Head of Cory Doctorow just isn't going to do the job, even if you 3D-print the googles and red cape all in one pass. The first 3D-printed gun was mostly done to make a political point (certainly not to be a useful gun.) This one's probably a lot better manufacturing, and that's going to generate some technical hype and possible demand for printing other metal things that previously had to be made using more traditional technologies (like low-cost CNC milling machines :-) but it's the fact that guns get lots of people to freak out that gets their name in the press. (And even if you don't remember their name, if you're looking to get something made of metal that's a similar complexity, you'll probably remember that it can be 3D-printed now and Google will find them for you.)
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Outside the US this is hardly a big deal: it's illegal to own, or make, weapons.
You need to get out more.
Watch this Heartland Institute video
Selling a working firearm with no serial number just sounds so likely to be illegal for one reason or another at some level (local, state, federal) that I can't imaging trying it. Heck, I'd be worried about inheriting one.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
Well, if the brown shirts come for your family, exactly 1 gun is worlds better than exactly 0 guns. But, hey, maybe that sort of thing could never happen where you are, and that's really the only scenario where I see an illegal firearm being a good idea.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
a grenade in an RPG is not much more complicated than a the tube either you know. The hard part is the chemistry.
I would like to see you print that!
The Grey Goo disaster happened 3 billion years ago. This rock is covered in self replicating machines!
Maybe in some state or municipality, but you have to remember that pistols were not legally required to have one until 1934 and rifles and shotguns weren't required to have one until 1968.
Of course, if a firearm *had* one (military, manufacturer put one on anyway for warranty work, etc) then removing it is a Big No No.
Making a firearm under federal law, if you are a individual and do not have a FFL and SOT for manufacture (SOT - special occupation tax) then you do not have to pay the 11% excise tax (Pittmanâ"Robertson Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act of '37) or apply a serial number, although the serial number is strongly recommended for identification purposes.
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
Except the process of metal printing will melt your cryo-treated powder, destroying the microstructure created by cryo-treatment.
The slide remaining open is actually a design feature, called a "slide lock" or "slide stop", that's usually put into gun designs to make them faster and easier to reload, but it's not universal - Kel-Tec's tiny pocket .380 didn't have room for the levers without adding at least a mm to the thickness - we may all think of Apple as being obsessed with "thin and light", but they're not the first company to sacrifice functionality for pocketability.
I was thinking along those lines. I'm no fan of plastic, to be perfectly honest. I am a fan of the 1911, so I'd much prefer to have a nice solid mass of metal in my hands, than bits of plastic here and there.
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br