Defense Distributed Had Their Stratasys 3D Printer Taken Away

Defense Distributed, headed by Cody Wilson, is championing the Wiki Weapon project, the aim of which is to produce files for a 3D printable gun.

Unfortunately for them, when Stratasys found out what they were doing the 3D printer they had leased got repossessed.  Stratasys said that a plastic gun runs afoul of the 1988 Undetectable Firearms Act which bans guns that can pass through a metal detector without setting it off (according to Wired Danger Room). WikiWep posted the letter from Stratasys on their blog…along with a weak attempt to spin the situation. This is also following the attempt to raise money on indiegogo, which was ended by indiegogo after they found out what Wilson was doing.

According to Wired…

Wilson visited the ATF field office in Austin…he added that the ATF believes he’s not broken any laws, and that the agency believes 3-D printed guns fall into a regulatory gray area…

Wilson says he’s consulted with a lawyer, and is considering acquiring a federal firearms manufacturing license, a process that could take at least two months at the earliest. He’s also thought it may be necessary to incorporate Defense Distributed, turning it into a company instead of a decentralized internet collective.

Wilson says. “It’s just disgusting. I hate that that’s the way it is, but that’s apparently the regulatory landscape.”

Wilson says his group is looking at building an electricity-fired 3D-printed test chamber that can be used to test pressure and the interaction between heat given off by bullets with thermoplastic, which could cause the gun to melt. The chamber wouldn’t have a trigger, Wilson says, who also plans to send the schematics to the ATF for approval while waiting for a manufacturing license.

Wired Danger Room also produced an interesting follow up to this story in which they dive into Stratasys’ relationship with existing weapons manufacturers. It turns out the company’s 3D printers are very popular with companies like Remington because, surprise surprise, they use them to rapidly prototype new guns. There is an exception in the Undetectable Firearms Act for plastic guns as long as they are prototypes made by licensed manufacturers.

I’ll wrap this up with the words of 3D Systems Corporations, CEO, Abe Reichental…

Keeping 3D printing positive, allowing it to continue to make good requires decisive action – industry wide action.

With that in mind, I call on our capable and responsible industry leaders to join me in making 3D printing good and the community safe. Without taking a position on gun control laws, our responsibility is to be lawful.

We should join together so parents don’t have to worry their child might print something illegally and communities don’t have to worry that someone irresponsible will open fire with a printed weapon and companies don’t have to worry about counterfeiting and piracy.

References and additional links

• Robert Beckhusen. 1OCT2012. 3D printer company seizes machine from desktop gunsmith. Wired Danger Room
• Robert Beckhusen. 3OCT2012. 3D printer company sells to gun companies, but not desktop weaponeers. Wire Danger Room
• Stephen Holmes. 3OCT2012. Wiki weapons shot down by Stratasys – but that’s not the end of the battle. Develop 3D
• Will Oremus. 2OCT2012. Designer of 3D printable gun has his 3D printer seized. Slate
• BBC. 3OCT2012. Plans to print a gun halted as 3D printer is seized. BBC News, Technology

3D Printing Doesn’t Produce Toxic Fumes

It’s reasonable to wonder if heating up plastic until it melts releases fumes that aren’t safe to be around.

Taulman designed the 2BEIGH3, a 3D printer that converts into a 2D CNC machine. Part of his work involved printing in nylon, rather than ABS or PLA. One potential source of nylon filament are the cables that weed wackers use to chop down plants. When questioned about whether or not the process was safe to be around in an enclosed space, he designed a test procedure to find out how much, if any, hydrogen cyanide (HCN) was released by the 3D printing process.

The entire process is documented on Instructables. The short of it is that he tested several different types of ABS, and several different types of nylon, and found that the only plastic that produced any HCN was weed whacker line, and even that was only 0.1ppm (parts per million) which is significantly lower than the OSHA/NIOSH/ACGIH standard of 4.7ppm.

So, if you accept his results, there’s nothing to worry about. Taulman also has instructions for cold-rolling an oiler needle down to 0.32mm for high resolution extrusions, printable ball bearings races, and a permanent nylon coffee filter.

Gary Hodgson DLP Resin Printer Lessons Learned

In the never ending quest for higher 3D printing resolution, the hobby community has naturally turned to DLP (digital light processing) in which a liquid polymer is selectively hardened by a projected image. ScribbleJ’s Thingiverse entry is a good first step. Gary Hodgson has written up an excellent analysis of his DLP printer here.

Exceprts after the jump:

Crowd Funding Dump

So, apparently the JOBS Act officially sanctioned “crowdfunding” (yes it’s a real word now).

The catch is that “investors” can only work with “issuers” through the services of a “portal” which has to be registered with the SEC. What this means is that Indiegogo and Kickstarter will have some competition and we’re about to see a lot more innovative ideas pitched (more or less) directly to the public.

Anywho…that’s fascinating and all…but what will it do for open source hardware? I dunno; lets find out. Assuming there’s enough activity (seems like a safe assumption) the Crowd Funding Dump (CFD) will become a regular feature on Openalia.