I wonder how it would work with a pistol?

YouTube - ‪3D Printer‬‏

I don't get utube, but if that is the machine I read about, it is really slick.

One version makes an exact replica of the 3-d image in a polymer.
Another machine makes it in chocolate...yum...

I want one Now!

thats almost useful

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it just needs more voltage

The next step beyond MIM parts. I wonder if this process could be adapted to work in heat treated steels and replicate the OLD style S&W's at an acceptable production cost? Minus the (bleeping) safety and the ugly recontouring of some frames to accomodate it.

It might even let Puma and other cutlers make knives like they used to, with a minimum of skilled handwork.

I was impressed that the scan was evidently in X-ray or similar means, enabling the machine to make the internal parts of the wrench. That was pretty eerie!

The rub is that startup costs might offset the savings in labor.

Neat! I am constanty amazed at what these inventors can come up with. Thanks for the link.

Jay Leno's been using one for a number of years to make parts for all of his rare cars that have been out of production for quite some time, along with another piece of equipment to protoype the part to make sure it fits and works using a plastic mold of it before having the printer make the thing out of metal.

Jay Leno?s 3D Printer Replaces Rusty Old Parts - Articles - Jay Leno's Garage

Faro 3D Laser Scanner - Tools - Jay Leno's Garage

NextEngine's 3D Scanner - Extras - Jay Leno's Garage

and Barret has been using one for there R and D department for their gigantic rifles (saw it on tv a few nights ago) I just wish someone would start up a company using that technology to make parts for out of production firearms like the Bren Ten or the J. C. Higgins out there.

Wow! There are inventions, and then there are the rare, society changing inventions that have a profound impact on our world. Like the first automobile, or the first flight/plane, etc. It occurs to me that this copying technology, here seen as a newborn infant, is unquestionably going to have an incredible impact in the future.

That would be a great company to get in on an initial public offering.

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Geoff. Since 1960.

Big Deal!
You can buy the same wrench at Sears - But made of steel and WAY cheaper.

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In dog years I'm dead.

The idea has tremendous implications for reproducing things that are out of production and things that are new for labor/time saving for maufacturers.
Think about toy makers.
If they can do this with the polymers they have why not metal parts .
Blessings

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TEXAS, by GOD

One 3.5 inch barreled registered magnum copy, please... No, I can wait right here, that's fine, thank you...

My son attended the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, MI several years ago. It's a small college that specializes in graduates geared (no pun intended) for the automotive industry. Probably 3 outta 4 buildings are named after the Ford family. One class required the students to design a car and write a program to "build" a 3-D 1:4 model to be whittled out on one of these wonder machines. It was pretty amazing.

Do a google search on "sintered powdered metal parts". My company has a sintered metal machine that can produce parts out of 15-5 stainless steel (150ksi ultimate strength) accurate to about +/- 0.010" over a 10 or 12 inch cube. We also produce FDM (fused deposition machining) parts out of polycarbonate. Our biggest machine has a 30" x 36" x 36" working volume.

So that's how they make Glocks.

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CSM, U S Army(Ret) 1963-1990

Fake. Never happened.

If it does exist, it's alien technology.

GF