Limited Edition 3D Printed Metal Handgun

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

http://www.3ders.org/articles/201312...s-on-sale.html

A 3D printed gun for sale, that isn't made out of plastic. Is this the next step past MIM parts? I wonder if the barrel is 3D printed also. A little pricey at $11,900 !!!!

I'm not sure if the 100 test rounds in the gun just means that they have used up 100 of the limited number of shots.

How about bringing back out of production guns instead of something currently being made? Or something new that takes advantage of the production method....

[1_click_off]

http://www.3ders.org/articles/201312...s-on-sale.html

A 3D printed gun for sale, that isn't made out of plastic. Is this the next step past MIM parts? I wonder if the barrel is 3D printed also. A little pricey at $11,900 !!!!

I'm not sure if the 100 test rounds in the gun just means that they have used up 100 of the limited number of shots.

How about bringing back out of production guns instead of something currently being made? Or something new that takes advantage of the production method....

They are making 100 guns, the test gun is at or above 2,000 rounds in the article. (Nevermind, I re-read your post and see what you are saying. )

[QuickStrike]

No thanks. I prefer my 1911's forged at around $1k (colt series 70) anyway.

[Swag]

I think we've just had a peek into the future of mass production gents.

[c3006]

I think I would rather watch the process than have the gun.

[superstratjunky]

I think we've just had a peek into the future of mass production gents.

What he said. +1

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

When people say 3D printing will change the world, it's like saying the wheel or sliced bread changed the world. They are enabling technologies. A wheel is useless with out a road. Slice bread gets stale with out the airtight plastic bag and the means to deliver it quickly. 3D printing is the vector for allowing new and novel materials, goods and applications to come forward. I think the real key is the design step that takes advantage of the additive manufacturing process. I was at a local 3d printing meeting a few months ago and it really hit me. The printers are the easy part, they do what they are told. The key is in the design. Which leads to all kinds of intellectual property issues that makes the song/napster issue seem simple.

Maybe not the 40W fazer, but an interesting step forward with a gun design from the past...

[Heavy Metal]

This isn't mass production, it's speciality production.

Imagine being able to print out obselete parts at the press of a button. No need to warehouse inventories.

[superstratjunky]

When people say 3D printing will change the world, it's like saying the wheel or sliced bread changed the world. They are enabling technologies. A wheel is useless with out a road. Slice bread gets stale with out the airtight plastic bag and the means to deliver it quickly. 3D printing is the vector for allowing new and novel materials, goods and applications to come forward. I think the real key is the design step that takes advantage of the additive manufacturing process. I was at a local 3d printing meeting a few months ago and it really hit me. The printers are the easy part, they do what they are told. The key is in the design. Which leads to all kinds of intellectual property issues that makes the song/Napster issue seem simple.

Maybe not the 40W fazer, but an interesting step forward with a gun design from the past...

We need to figure out the patent problem, because it is slowing our technological progress. Not to say the inventor gets shafted, but some type of common sense expediting laws.

This isn't mass production, it's specialty production.

Imagine being able to print out obsolete parts at the press of a button. No need to warehouse inventories.

Vary good point. I hope before I'm 65 to build a 55/56 Chevy.

[FromMyColdDeadHand]

I'm all for people being rewarded for coming up with new ideas. The issue is that something has gone screwy in the past decade on patents. They seem to have lost any kind of sense of something being obvious to a practitioner of the art, or what I call the 'duh' test. It seems that if it isn't covered in prior art, and specifically in prior patent art, the examiners have no clue. Cynically, I'd say that is because they want people to file more because it then is a self perpetuating system. More likely technology specialization has out paced examiners ability to properly vet something for how unique or important it is.

The PC industry seemed to have a pretty good system of licensing and cross-licensing for technology that rewarded people while allowing people access to bits of technology. Hopefully something like that will happen in additive manufacturing and we don't end up with people in islands of IP and the whole market suffers, or the US market suffers at the expense of other regions.

It seems the firearm industry accepts the low production of milling machines, I hope that the industry leverage the advantages of additive manufacturing.