Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

The world’s first 3D printed metal gun is a beautiful .45 caliber M1911 pistol

The 1911 has successfully fired over 50 rounds, and the shooter managed to hit a few bullseyes located over 30 yards away. The gun is made of over 30 separate 3D printed parts, composed of 17-4 stainless steel and Inconel 625, a nickel-chromium superalloy. Solid Concepts didn’t just print the gun in order to prove a working, metal gun can be 3D printed, but to prove that laser sintering is a viable method for 3D printing working, complex objects.

Well over 30 years ago my brother, who is a PHD in Mechanical Engineering and an expert in precision engineering, told me he envisioned a day when an engineer could sit at his workstation and design a part or device, send a command down to the manufacturing floor and a half hour or an hour later go down to the floor and pick up the part or device he had just designed.

It looks like his prediction has come true.

I smell the end of practical gun control. Time to offer free state training for all, and open some ranges for people to practice!

Ha!

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This is downright cool.

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A couple of observations:
The article doesn't mention all the springs that weren't made.
It also omits the post-printing machining that needed to be done.

I have no doubt that the parts do not come out of the printer capable of being assembled into a working gun.

The first clue is the polished sides of the slide of the gun pictured.

On the plus side, it is extremely possible (and probably advisable) to print an non-removable/un-disguisable serial number in/on the receiver being printed.

I've used SolidConcepts a bunch of times for prototyping projects in my job. They are top notch.

AlanM is right, direct metal laser sintering produces a rather rough part that has heavy 'supports' on it to keep it from deforming during the build. These supports must then be ground or machined off, not to mention the machining you would need to do to achieve a given bore size or fine detail feature. Still, there is no question the rapid prototyping industry is getting closer and closer to being able to produce turn-key stuff.

I think what ultimately will need to happen is for engineers to design parts specifically with a rapid-prototyping process in mind. Simple example: you wouldn't design a high-stressed plastic part as an exact duplicate of the metal part it replaces, you would thicken and strengthen it where needed. Similarly, you wouldn't print a Colt 1911 as-designed and expect it to work. But you could design something similar to a 1911 with the limitations of the RP process in mind.

I don't trust sintering for this much pressure yet, even if lasers do it.

Now, for my green Hal Jordan ring, no problem!

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