A Texas-based company has printed the first 3D-printed metal pistol, a 45 caliber Model 1911.
A Texas-based company has printed the first 3D-printed metal pistol, a 45 caliber Model 1911.
Video below the fold. The gun clearly functions, though I noticed that in the video they never loaded more three rounds in a magazine, and that the gun seems to cycle weakly. I suspect that they had some feeding problems when they tried to fire a full loaded five round magazine.
Nonetheless, this achievement further illustrates that 3D printing is about to become a major method of manufacture.
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A Texas-based company has printed the first 3D-printed metal pistol, a 45 caliber Model 1911.
Video below the fold. The gun clearly functions, though I noticed that in the video they never loaded more three rounds in a magazine, and that the gun seems to cycle weakly. I suspect that they had some feeding problems when they tried to fire a full loaded five round magazine.
Nonetheless, this achievement further illustrates that 3D printing is about to become a major method of manufacture.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
It looks like it was sticking in the full back position. That is indicative of a weak main spring or bad fitting parts. Both easily fixed.
They did say that the beaver tail safety, the springs, the magazine and the barrel are all purchased parts and not made by them with their laser system.
Basically they made all the parts that could have been made out of polymer like on a Glock or M&P out of metal instead.
Nice proof of concept though. The gun even looked pretty good to.
Dr. John Lewis has been advocating for some time that space-based industry use 3-d Laser Chemical Vapor Deposition (LCVD) printing, with metal carbonyls as the stock material. They could use native Nickel/Iron bits as their starting point, and the Mond Process should make those into Iron Pentacarbonyl and Nickel Tetracarbonyl easily. Most larger carbonyl-sourced CVD pieces here on Earth are done with molds. The process can give nice dense strong solid pieces.It would be interesting to see an LCVD-produced gun, and compare them with the Laser-sintered from metal powder gun. LCVD *might* produce a good barrel, even. I understand that the problems with metal carbonyl toxicity restricts such applications here in an atmosphere, where the carbonyls can build up around the equipment using them as stock. I wonder if LCVD would have as many toxicity problems down here.
In the vacuum of Space that toxicity isn’t a problem, since escaping carbonyls will quickly crack into carbon monoxide and metal dust. LCVD in those situations could provide much of what is needed for many applications. I believe that it may provide an interesting composite as well. The Carbonaceous Chondrite asteroids can not only provide all the element combos needed for the Mond Process, but their Carbon can be used to make graphene. In simple graphene nano-platlets, graphene is being already experimented with for stiffening and strengthening both plastic and metal composites. Now that large graphene sheets can be produced, according to Columbia University’s team, with 90 percent of the strength of the platelets, that could make LCVD deposited metal matrix material for space structures with far better characteristics than we can make them here.
Hello, I’m quite interested in Laser Chemical Vapor Deposition (LCVD) 3D printer of metal carbonyls. I was just googling on this topic, and only meaningful page what I found was your post. Can you please give me some references (web page, paper DOI or something) on this topic?
Thank you