I wouldn't worry about it.

The ATF has a new program to track the manufacture of 3D printed guns, and their sales through plastic-straw-men before final supply to mexican drug cartels for use in their ongoing war against common sense.

It's called Slow and Laborious.

The parent should be moderated "insightful" not "funny"...

If Michael Moore hasn't made a documentary about the dangers of 3D printers, but politicians are screaming like it's a TEOTWAWKI level event, it kind of puts things in perspective.

But you know, I can't really blame politicians for being unusually stupid in this situation. I've seen more uninformed posts on Slashdot, that anywhere else on this topic. Building and shooting a gun with a 3D printer is on about the same level as sticking a bullet in a short piece of metal pipe and hitting it with a hammer. Sure, it's possible, but it's not particularly smart and isn't going to be very effective either.

Much of the below discussion has little to do with rational fears. 3D printed gun control has become the latest straw man for the greater agenda of anyone who has a firearm phobia.

As someone who does actually build controlled munitions-list items using 3D printers ( legitimately, with appropriate permits and documentation on export ) I know that there aren't really any threats posed to society caused by 3D printing. Yet, the international restrictions that already exist around what I do with 3D printing on a weekly basis adversely affect amateur participation in scientific fields such as astronomy. These is an area in which 3D printing could significantly benefit society that is significantly affected by ITAR, as low-light equipment is controlled. The same laws that affect me caused DEFCAD's files to be taken offline - not that that wasn't easy to see coming. I'm sure they'll find a way to get most of their stuff back online though if they choose to.

So why is there so little debate on why people should be able to print anything they like? Why aren't people arguing that defence related materials that are 3D printed have little and limited military use? Why are so few people defending DEFCAD's work, when most of what they are doing breaks no laws? At least not what's contained within the US?

In many ways, their video makes a lot of sense. And it should have particular relevance to those who hold high the ideals of open source.

Slashdot used to be a place where the more informed minds came to discuss worthy topics of contemporary news. Lately I'm starting to realize though just how much this is no longer the case.

GrpA

The ATF is correct in their approach to this. There's a lot of pointless idiots running around in fear here over 3D printing. Or maybe they just want 3D printers banned because they don't have one... Just like those same idiots ran around over a decade ago saying color inkjet printers would lead to counterfeiting of currency. But that never really happened and by the time laser printers could do it, they started encoding tracking information in the printouts.

Here's how guns are really made... On the floor of a workshop in Pakistan... It's really quite an impressive video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-m8YP26AQE

Nothing complicated there was there?

3D printers can make stuff that is militarily controlled. I do know that, because I do that. Probably about half my inventions are determined by the Department of Defence to be controlled-items under ITAR USML/DSGL and I have to get the appropriate permits and licenses for what I do, but the stories around Slashdot sure promote a lot of FUD in the Slashdot community, which is probably a lot more to do with irrational fear of firearms that many people have than having any real basis in reality.

All that is likely to happen is that when real breakthroughs come in 3D printing over the next few years, the US government will end up intervening in the technology and retarding it based on the ridiculous fears that I see in the comments to this article. Meanwhile the Chinese already lead the world in 3D printer technology and the US will fall behind.

And that would be a shame if it came about. Because 3D printed guns really aren't likely to be an issue.

GrpA

Draftsight is ARES Commander with the 3D stuff stripped out. The only function remaining is extrude, but all the important boolean stuff is gone, as are the 3D editing commands. From that perspective, it's not suitable at all, since the OP wants to create 3D products.

Draftsight is a great 2D application, but isn't suited for 3D at all, though it does let others view, export and print 3D objects, especially if you create them on Ares Commander or CorelCAD. It also works with Autocad files.

GrpA

I am in roughly the same situation, having bought a sub-$1000 3D printer just before Christmas. I then had to learn CAD and found there were few solutions in my price range. In the end, price drove my selection almost exclusively.

The cheapest I found was Cubify Invent, which is for the Cube 3D printer. It was very cheap, and probably the easiest to use, but it's very limited. Good enough to create basic stuff though.

The next up was CorelCAD - you can get this cheap on Amazon, especially older versions ( though a warning - the original version has a few bugs related to drawing spirals ) which is an autocad clone based on ARES Commander. It's difficult to get over the steep learning curve, in that you need to spend about a day playing with it and watching youtube video tutorials online to learn to use it. After that, it's pretty easy and I figured it out enough to create a complicated shape for a housing the next day, with specific tolerances and sizes, including recesses for knobs and switches ( and the knobs themselves ) - I found it felt more precise to me than the Cubify Invent. Typically you can find a copy for a few hundred dollars online.

Both are available as fully-featured trial-ware that lasts about a month.

Solidworks seems to be the standard, as was mentioned earlier, but is incredibly expensive and isn't affordable to someone like me. I'm not an engineering shop so I just had to walk away from it and never ever tried it since I knew I couldn't afford it.

GrpA

I guess the chances of anything coming from Titan, are a million to one...

I've been using a touchscreen with my laptop for 8 years. I use a combination of mouse, trackpad and screen touch.

I also find myself tapping my desktop monitor frequently, expecting it to work... So yeah, I'd love a touchscreen to augment my access.

It's very convenient that way.

GrpA

They already have 3D scanners. Basically a Kinetic I think.... And you can make models of people with it.

But IIRC, the Japanese even have a photobooth that does that. Instant 3D memoir of your date.

GrpA

I know the chinese mills exist, because I also have a small Chinese CNC Milling machine though the printer is a lot more convenient for some parts - I guess it depends on what I'm making. Printing in plastic can be handy because it highlights issues early and has very low cost. Also, it's lighter than aluminium and if the strength isn't an issue, it's fine.

Under a thousand? Yes, about that. The 6040 and 6020 CNC machines are more designed for smaller parts though... They are not really intended for chewing through thick pieces of aluminium. They will do it, but I expect it would take a while and might need a little cooling.

Just do a search on google for 6040 CNC machine

GrpA

The Mini doesn't really smell bad at all. I had it running in a small space, without much ventilation, sitting next to me for 3 hours and didn't notice the smell at all. My sense of smell isn't very good, but it is particularly acute when dealing with burning plastic smells ( honed from a lifetime working with electronics )

I think the smell may be more to do with the plastic you're using and the temperature it's melting at.

As for big overhangs? How about a sintering 3D printer? They seem to handle it just fine. I'd probably use such services after I've checked my models on the desktop though.

GrpA

Actually, APTs are incredibly easy to defend against, but specifically, they are always undefended, in almost every instance, because;

a) Decisions about dealing with threats are not made by security specialists but by managers
b) APTs are relatively unimportant to most managers, because the board or otherwise senior managers have no visibility of them.
c) There is no budget for dealing with them,
d) There is no budget in any projects that introduce vulnerabilities as would be exploited by APTs to address them.
e) Most corporate and government decisions are driven by the logic that "if it hasn't happened to us, then it won't happen"

GrpA

What about the contraction of angular distance around the axis of the direction of motion? As you approach the speed of light, shouldn't the field of view contract so significantly that as you're moving forwards, it appears you're moving backwards?

I didn't see that effect in the video, or did I miss it?

(eg, as you move forward at the speed of light, objects at 90 degrees to your direction will appear to be at 45 degrees to your direction )

GrpA

Next up, Kim Dotcoms create the New Zealand based MEGAparty, waiting for the day that people vote him Prime Minister of New Zealand - with his election platform based on Free MEGAbroadband for all, for FREE!

But it's ten-times better for those who register their vote for him with the MEGApartyManager...

GrpA

I didn't say it was a bad thing - but it's a stretch to imagine that this technology would be used regularly in situations that weren't life threatening.

Especially when you consider that for other applications, much cheaper technology would suffice.

GrpA