3D Printing for Air Gunners ?

[humperdingle]

Love a bit of 3d printing, me!

You go through a period of printing useless rubbish.

Then you go through a period of printing useful rubbish 😂

But designing and printing your own stuff can be rewarding! Must admit, I mostly use mine for printing embossing stamps for leather these days but I do go weeks without printing anything and then get back into it.

Haven’t printed any airgun related stuff as yet but did print a few Star Wars blasters which came out very nice.

[angrybear]

As it’s all over the Beeb tv news today, Let’s just hope the wording of the proposed bill to make ownership of plans/blueprints (so not just the actual weapon bits, as was previously the case) for 3D-printed guns only encompasses illegal weapons, and they don’t f-up the wording and make legitimate bits for legal airguns an imprisonable offence.

I suspect the multitude of Labour MPs will be instructed to jump on the ban bandwagon, so it better not include legit applications.

https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3877

Have you previously read the firearms act ?
What you can/cannot make is already quite strict if you're not a RFD.

[ashf9999]

Have you previously read the firearms act ?
What you can/cannot make is already quite strict if you're not a RFD.

I am fully aware. I am also talking airguns that aren’t on ticket. I also severely doubt that the likes who print licensable parts for a sec 5 firearm like aren’t concerned if they produce it ‘commercially’ or privately, so sell it or not.

They were waving a hand grip around on the bbc report, suggesting such things are a problem. I can make one out of wood perfectly legally. I want to still be able to do so, but as I don’t have a 3D printer, I don’t make anything on one anyway.

[EricP]

I have thought about a 3D printer quite a few times but find it hard to justify. A few work colleagues bought them with high ideals about what they were going to make but after a couple of practical items it turned into silly little toys and figurines. The occasional practical use doesn’t justify the investment. In the comedy series Big Bang Theory one of the characters really upset his wife by buying a share in a machine so he could make an action figure of himself!
I am surprised that nobody seems to have opened a business with high quality 3D printers where you just go along with your file on a USB stick and print it off, but the more complex the model the more work has to go into making it so I don’t know if it would work

[Shed tuner]

I have thought about a 3D printer quite a few times but find it hard to justify. A few work colleagues bought them with high ideals about what they were going to make but after a couple of practical items it turned into silly little toys and figurines. The occasional practical use doesn’t justify the investment. In the comedy series Big Bang Theory one of the characters really upset his wife by buying a share in a machine so he could make an action figure of himself!
I am surprised that nobody seems to have opened a business with high quality 3D printers where you just go along with your file on a USB stick and print it off, but the more complex the model the more work has to go into making it so I don’t know if it would work

the investment can be quite low - £150 gets you something usable.

Ref your lsst point, they already have such businesses in abundance. Many advertise on e6ay.

[EricP]

the investment can be quite low - £150 gets you something usable.

Ref your lsst point, they already have such businesses in abundance. Many advertise on e6ay.

But how good is “usable”?
£150 gets you a functional air rifle but not a Weihrauch.
With the 3D printer if you want to make small items with a passable resolution, then £150 is ok. If you think you want it enclosed so you are protected from the fumes from the hot plastic, want high resolution, want more than 20cm cube, want easy operability, want to make multicoloured objects and soluble supports then it is a lot more.
The service I was talking about was a bit different than what is advertised. The advertised services you send a CAD model and they convert it to the appropriate printer format then print it so the cost is high due the processing they have to do, there is a lot of manual work in making a complex CAD object into a printable one.
Eric

[Shed tuner]

nah, it does get you a weihrauch. Hw30 / 99 territory. It's also clear you don't understand the slicing process.. that's why your envisaged business model can't work.
Happy to give you some advice if you need it, but I don't think that's what you are after.

[DesG]

I've had my 3d printers for a few years and use them all the time. I make bits for guns along with bits for the house and my other hobbies. I also have a machine workshop where I also make bits for my guns and other hobbies.

Basically, I think in this day and age where a penknife is a lethal weapon and God help you if you're caught with a length of copper water pipe in public, if they want to get you they have plenty of available laws at their disposal to lock even the most law abiding away for ever.

[humperdingle]

I paid £150 new for my Ender 3 Pro. It prints everything I’ve needed.

I had some hide poles but the top plastic parts were all damaged (really brittle material), so a quick 10 minute design on Tinkercad and a couple of hours later and I had some very sturdy, custom-fitted parts that cost pennies to make.

[Segata]

Its been proven theres stuff out there that can be printed strong enough to be used under stress so in theory you could make anything, larger pieces you can always make sectional and join them with an appropiate adhesive,the real limit being the legal side.
I had planned to get a Printer this month but with all the issues going on currently including deliveries I had to put a pause on it but hopefully I will get one at somepoint soon.

[Shed tuner]

I paid £150 new for my Ender 3 Pro. It prints everything I’ve needed.

I had some hide poles but the top plastic parts were all damaged (really brittle material), so a quick 10 minute design on Tinkercad and a couple of hours later and I had some very sturdy, custom-fitted parts that cost pennies to make.

indeed, that was the printer (or other variants in the Ender 3 range) that I was thinking of in my example.