The Gun Counter

or at least the lower receiver. AR15-based pistol with 3D printed lower.

Article here

Slashdot is going wonky about it here

And now a group with a site raising money to make this real

Site here

Slashdot article Here (warning comments probably mostly inane)

Was wondering how long till this happened with 3d printing technology.

Another slashdot discussion (yeah I know, but the links on the main story page may be useful or interesting).

I still don't get the fascination with them. The really good rapidprototypers are still priced in the stratosphere, and the tech involved isn't actually usable now, both financially and technologically at the hobbiest level(e.g. laser polymerization).

Oh, btw for those who are interested, Haas Automation is having a demo day on Sept. 14th, and the NYC maker faire is Sept 29-30th.

HTRN wrote:I still don't get the fascination with them. The really good rapidprototypers are still priced in the stratosphere, and the tech involved isn't actually usable now, both financially and technologically at the hobbiest level(e.g. laser polymerization).

Oh, btw for those who are interested, Haas Automation is having a demo day on Sept. 14th, and the NYC maker faire is Sept 29-30th.

Early adoption leads to innovation, production, and finally marketability. People said the same thing (verbatim) about DVD-s and blue ray.

"early adoption"?

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA.. These things may be new to hobbiests and tinkerers but they've been around since the 80s.. you don't see any of the really good version used by hobbiests, they're using glorified glue guns to do it. The laser sinterers, and polymerizers aren't in the hands of hobbiests, and probably never will be - the materials are expensive, and you really don't want to know what an industrial laser costs(although the low output ones are coming down in price, mostly due to demand for cheap laser engravers).. Like I said, the big "revolution" of these things isn't the tech, it's the cheap motion control. The same thing that made cheap CNC machines of any kind available to hobbiests.

Frankly, a fair bit of the demand for them at the commercial level evaporated when the price of high speed machining came down in the late 90s. It became a question of "do we spend 250 grand on something that can only produce models in an hour, or do we spend half as much for high speed 5 axis machine that can produced a machined part in maybe twice as long, and oh, can do regular production when it's not making one offs to show to potential clients".

HTRN wrote:"early adoption"?
(although the low output ones are coming down in price, mostly due to demand for cheap laser engravers)..

That's my point.

"Coming down in price =/= "cheap". It's more like "Holy $%$# that's expensive" instead "That costs more than my car". A CO2 laser tube is still a coupla grand with the power supply, from Chinese suppliers. A decent made in china 40w laser engraver is still something like 8 grand.. And that leaves all the other bits and bobs. I still haven't seen anyone doing a SLA machine at the hobbiest level, except for some really advanced "hobbiests"(read: somebody familiar with the technology, and probably got their hands on used gear cheap)

And oh, and most of this is overflow with the Chinese exploiting a niche. Industrial hobbies are quite frankly, a drop in the bucket compared to amount of dollars generated in manufacturing - where the ability to make something faster and cheaper, will translate into sales of machines, no matter how expensive, hasn't made the "replicator" a reality, how do you think that the demand of a niche hobby will?

Don't get me wrong, it is interesting technology, but the idea of "10 years from now, every house will have one" is just ludicrous.

HTRN wrote:"Coming down in price =/= "cheap". It's more like "Holy $%$# that's expensive" instead "That costs more than my car". A CO2 laser tube is still a coupla grand with the power supply, from Chinese suppliers. A decent made in china 40w laser engraver is still something like 8 grand.. And that leaves all the other bits and bobs. I still haven't seen anyone doing a SLA machine at the hobbiest level, except for some really advanced "hobbiests"(read: somebody familiar with the technology, and probably got their hands on used gear cheap)

And oh, and most of this is overflow with the Chinese exploiting a niche. Industrial hobbies are quite frankly, a drop in the bucket compared to amount of dollars generated in manufacturing - where the ability to make something faster and cheaper, will translate into sales of machines, no matter how expensive, hasn't made the "replicator" a reality, how do you think that the demand of a niche hobby will?

Don't get me wrong, it is interesting technology, but the idea of "10 years from now, every house will have one" is just ludicrous.

I concur with that statement, but there is also a LOT of room to grow, especially on the technology side of the house.