A Word On 3D Printed Gun Safety

By on May 10th, 2013 in Ideas

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If you happened to download the 3D printed handgun models before the US government confiscated them, it may be time to remind you of safety concerns should you attempt to 3D print this item. 
 
The ease of 3D printing and the sudden availability of a working gun model meant that some people will attempt to print the handgun merely out of curiosity. We say: Be Careful. 
 
Aside from various legal concerns that may vary considerably and severely from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, there are technical concerns. A firing gun is a controlled explosion. There’s significant heat and mechanical stress applied against the gun, meaning several bad things could happen. 
 
The stress and heat can obviously cause a catastrophic failure – an explosion – which could fling sharp and hot bits at the operator. 
 
Another issue is the material used to print the handgun. While Defense Distributed has been experimenting with relatively strong ABS plastic, some 3D printer owners may choose to print in whatever happens to be loaded into their printer – which might be totally inappropriate for this purpose. Some materials are actually explosive and/or flammable themselves. 
 
Needless to say, this is a rather dangerous activity. Don’t let your curiosity get you in trouble. 

By Kerry Stevenson

Kerry Stevenson, aka "General Fabb" has written over 8,000 stories on 3D printing at Fabbaloo since he launched the venture in 2007, with an intention to promote and grow the incredible technology of 3D printing across the world. So far, it seems to be working!