3D printer guns engraved?

[Red Green]

Wow, you hear about the 3D printer guns, you think they'll be engraved?

 

[mitch]

we'll just design the deep relief sculpting right into the CAD program. they'll pop out already decorated. ;-)

 

[Brian Marshall]

You can bet the designer of the "engraving" who pushes the button will need the FFL...


Brian

 

[scott99]

The law

Hi,

I have built a few long range pistols and rifles from scratch.(target guns)

The "LAW" says you can make any gun you can LEGALLY own.

You can make them but you CANNOT sell them.If you want to sell you must then get an FFL (and tons of insurance)

So if you make one of the plastic hunks of C**P you are legal, if you sell it its a trip to prison.If you give it away then you will also face the Feds who don't seem to accept the I gave it away alibi.

scott99

 

[kguns]

Specifically about the question of engraving. Technology has made me a better engraver, as it has for most of us, some of us would not be where we are without it. The Europeans are already using computers and 4 to 6 axis mills, laser scanners and 3d printers to facilitate engravings as well as acid etched and roll stamped. They have been doing it for quite a while now. Were well behind them in this technology. Were just struggling to stay in the game. Baron Technology in CT was keeping up on the production type work, but I haven’t seen any really great progress for hand engraving here. Back in the early 90’s Baron and I used acid etching to remove the background and pattern layout on the Custom engraved 1894-1995 Model 94 centennial guns, there were 110 receivers to be engraved in 14 months and that one process cut the hand engraving time from 135 hours a piece to 25 hours mol. It’s expensive to do and you need an artist that can accomplish our style of work that can write the program for the software as well. The biggest obstacle is time. Most good engravers can do one or two piece faster than it takes for the programming alone, but if you’re doing a large number of pieces then it becomes economical to use technology. If you want to see a really cool 3d program that can be used in a CAD/CAM program, look at ZBrush from pixologic or ART cam. The jewelry guys are using it with lots of success. The future looks bright for these technologies, the money will be here. Hand work will never be replaced unless we insert chips into our heads that control our hands, Hummm their likely doing that now, scary stuff. Don’t laugh, when I was a kid the cartoon character Dick Tracy was the only guy with an iphone. Welcome to The Technology Zone. Cinch up your belts boys and girls it going to be an amazing wild ride

 

[yxrancher]

"Listen boy
Learn to hoist a jack and learn to lay a track learn to pick and shovel too
And take that hammer, It'll do anything you tell it to."

source: http://www.lyricsondemand.com/

 

[jcarpenter]

Print fixtures not guns

A more productive alternative to printing the guns is to print fixtures to help the engraving process. Here are a couple that I have printed to help me along. BTW if there are others printing fixtures I would be happy to share STL files or just see what others are doing.

John C

 

[JJ Roberts]

JohnC, I like your pistol cylinder holder, are you going to sell these? J.J.

 

[Sam]

I dig the new 3D printing technology and applaud your use of it, but that cylinder holder looks like it'd bounce like crazy. I think cylinders should be mounted as low and as close to the vise's mass as possible.

 

[jcarpenter]

JJ, I don't plan to sell anything as I am just playing around. But I sent you a PM. Sam, it rings a little but I normally go slow at low pressure. No reason the cylinder can't be lowered down into the vise so the clamping action is more direct. What looks like solid plastic is actually a honeycomb inside so it may not be possible to apply enough force to tighten up all compliance. I'll do another version and see if that addresses your comment. That's the beauty of rapid prototyping.

John C

 

[Sam]

Which printer do you have? Man, I'd like to add one of those to my geek man-cave.

 

[jcarpenter]

I have a MendleMax 1.5. My son and I bought it as an unfinished kit from someone who lost interest. We paid around $700 for it. We probably put $500 in missing parts and major upgrades as we got it running. It now sits at his house since he is the true geek. But I just email him the STL file and he brings it over in a day or two. The long term problem with these machines is the CAD artwork. Someone has to model what you want or you are limited to freebie models on the net. I've been a CAD jockey for 30 years so I have that part covered. The pic below is the CAD model of try #2 on the pistol barrel holder and a pic of the 3D printer we are using.

John C

 

[Tim Wells]

Will the service tech for the printer company need an FFL?

I like your quote.