Staples introduces 3D printer kiosk

I'm sure that someone will try to print one there, and that Staples will quickly establish a policy banning the practice.

It's a legal gray area, and it's not very nice to place them in the middle. Sort of like using Kinko's equipment to facilitate mass copyright infringement.
 
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Wouldn't be illegal under federal law. The feds allow one to build firearms from scratch for one's personal use and don't specify the methods to be used in the building of the firearm. I imagine that some states would frown on the printing process much as they frown on the use of a mill and lathe to build a firearm.
 
Forgive me for my ignorance. But why is this an issue?

What type of materials would it be made out of?
Is it just a paper printing?
Would you be able to build off of it?

Sorry I'm really confused. I thought it was just paper and ink...
 
I believe the material is a polymer, I need to look it up though. My info comes from this weeks NCIS Las Vegas, so it could be wrong.:) Seems the hit man in this weeks episodes used 3d printed handguns, they were supposedly only good for one shot with their polymer barrels, but they worked for that one shot. It must be true, would Ted Danson lie to us?:p
 
You can 3D print with almost any material now.
I'm sure Staples will be using basic polymers. But, there are many other methods and materials being used now:

Sand (building molds for castings, and/or sculptures*, etc)
Metals ("selective laser sintering" as well as standard polymer deposition)
Plaster
Wood fiber
Silica (glass)
Ceramics*
Gypsum*
And more...

If you can imagine it, it's probably being done. Some of the methods and materials just aren't exactly cheap....


*Edited to add.
 
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I believe staples is using polymers. Most of the other printers would not be suitable or are much more expensive to purchase and operate. I guess the energy consumption of the metal printers is pretty extreme.

Frankenmauser,

Not only not cheap, but another important difference is all those methods require some sort of minimal skill/research and some tools at least.

I never thought about making a ceramic lower before. I could probably manufacture a pretty strong one without too much problem. But it just so happens I studied ceramics for a year under the tutelage of one of the PHds who designed the ceramic heat shields on the space shuttle and I already have a kiln.
There are 3D printing blue prints available online to download. You could take them to a Staples on a thumb drive and hit print and out pops a lower receiver.

Some people have looked at printing full guns and my understanding is CSI was spot on about the barrels. Tensile strength is not high enough to stop deformation no matter how large the diameter. Of course, you could make a quick change barrel design or simply go smooth barrel route. You could probably print a form and try to cast a barrel.

Was thinking about things outside legal and realized you could likely also print it with any design you wanted whatsoever. Each mm/x thick layer could be a different color.
 
Wouldn't be illegal under federal law.
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It's not, until a guy decides to run off a bunch of AR lowers and start selling them. Where the line is between a few personal sales and running a business is pretty much up to the BATFE to decide.

I can guarantee Staples will quickly adopt a policy banning the practice as soon as they find someone doing it.
 
I am not sure, but I think the exception in federal law would be for if the individual is the sole manufacture. My question here is does staples become a manufacturer in this case if it is being done in their store on their machine for a fee. I have an AERO manufacturer that has offered me access to their shop to make personal firearms/accessories at no charge. I have wondered about the legality of that and this seems to be far closer to involving the equipment owner as a manufacturer.
 
Tom Servo said:
I can guarantee Staples will quickly adopt a policy banning the practice as soon as they find someone doing it.
Click to expand...

I would question whether the average Staples employee would recognize (or care to) a stripped, AR lower.

Start printing Glocks and it might be a little more obvious.:D
 
While I have been away from it since 1999,I have worked extensively with this technology.Search "Rapid Prototyping
In my time,we used 3D Systems stereolithography,which is about a liquid polymer that hardens with exposure to UV laser.It looks like plexiglas,but not strong.It would not make a working firearm.
We had a 3D Systems Actua machine,It worked like an ink jet printer,with a 90 jet print head.It shot an engineering wax.

The idea,in the 3d Solid Modeling software(I used Pro-Engineer),is sent to a processing software that slices the virtual model into 2d cross sections.Like a contour topo map slices mountains and valleys.Suppose you slice it every .003 for a contour interval.

I our Actua machine,a 2d print of one contour would be deposited.Then the workpiece platen would lower .003.A planer head would pass over and mill the deposited material to a flat,true,.003 thick layer,Then a new layer would be deposited.
The wax part has limitations.We figured out to actually print a mold pattern,so a silicone mold could be poured off the wax master.Then 2 part resins were cast in the silicone mold.We usually used urethane.

These same wax parts are usefull for lost wax castings.A ceramic shell can be formed around them,and the wax burned out.

There is a DTM process where a laser fuses a 2d layer of about anything fusable,including powdered steel.Then the platen lowers,another layer is fused.These fused powdered metal parts have little strength,but they may be filled with copper alloy,similar to molded powdered metal,sintered parts.We tried this with plastic injection mold core and cavity parts.We had problems with warp and shrink ...not real successful.

Early 90's a rapid prototype story,boyfriend shoots girfriend in face with shotgun.
Between MRI and Catscan technology,a database of her orthopaedic injury was created.So,now there is a digital model of bone frags and trauma.

3D systems stereolithography creates a 3D plastic model surgeons can look at and discuss,evaluate,and create a strategy.With Cad designer,database for a titanium armeture for the surgeons to implant and reconstruct the woman's face around is made.Using rapid prototype technology,this titanium piece was created and delivered to the surgeons.

In one surgery,they were able to open her up,debride,implant,reconstruct her face,and close.

Contrast this with initial exploratory surgeries just to see what goes on.

While rapid prototype tech has great potential,it is expensive.

A cnc machine is cheaper.You nan be just as good at making lowers with a 3 axis mill and Solid Works.Really.
You can but an AR lower for $125.A good one.
 
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"A cnc machine is cheaper.You nan be just as good at making lowers with a 3 axis mill and Solid Works.Really.
You can but an AR lower for $125.A good one. "

We are just talking about something like a lower receiver here. We are probably a decade from printing a fully functional firearm. I don't think it would be any weaker than the injection molded lowers on the market.

You can rent a 3d printer capable of printing a lower from an outfit in the UK for something like $500 a month. A great many sources indicate the parts are about that if you know how to put one together. The plastic inputs are dirt cheap. Electric and such is probably significant, but I haven't found any numbers on it. No idea what sort of cleaning is necessary.

I am unaware of any place I can take a downloaded blue print on a USB drive, plug it into a computer and for a nominal fee get a machined lower in 15 minutes. This really will be a game changer.
 
OK,I only spent 3 or 4 years creating and working with these parts and the machines that make them.I defer.
 
While I have been away from it since 1999
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Well, maybe a lot has changed in the last 14 years.

If you are doubting the possibility of someone being able to print a lower, too late. It has already been done. There are several documented instances.

If you are doubting you can rent one for $500, well look at this:http://www.uprintsource.com/rentauprint.asp $275 a month, although not sure if that has a large enough printable area or necessary resolution. There are a couple others in the business. I found one that printed at the resolution a machinst told me was necessary and correct dimensions for $500 a month not long ago. I have an acquaintance who built one for about that(he also has a 3d mill). Prices will only go down.

DO you know of a place that has a fully automated machining process I can just download a blue print to? If so I would be very interested.
 
John, I'm not taking sides here - just providing a partial answer to your query.

eMachineShop has been around for a while. They accept standard file formats for 2D drawings and 3D models. However, they also offer their own software, which quotes the cost before you even submit the part for production.
There are several other companies with similar business models, but that one came to mind first.
It's not a 100% automated process. It's a brick-and-mortar machine shop that accepts orders through an automated program. But, as far as the customer is concerned... they submit the order, and the finished part shows up at their door.



Affordable 3D printers have about the same amount of automation and finish quality as a CAM router, water jet, plasma cutter, or 5 axis CNC mill. In the case of a well equipped 5 axis mill, the 3D printed product will need substantially more finish work before it can be used. (You don't get a perfect part. It generally has to be smoothed and sanded, due to the voxel {volumetric pixel} resolution of the printer and material being used.)
 
I cannot even fathom how recently a discussion of such a "futuristic" technology would have been closed and the OP warned that fantasy land fiction wasn't allowed even if gun related...;):D

Brent
 
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