So here is the next video we are all going to have to explain

3D Printing
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So here is the next video we are all going to have to explain to our layman friends:

However I really think this guy has a vision, and may garner support. A push for a censor-free, github-backed, torrent-powered, bitcoin-funded, open-source platform is certainly something that interests me, even if it was borne out of a desire to distribute controversial firearms models.

If only as a thingiverse++ consideration.

Thoughts?

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I’m amazed the amount of media hype this guy has created. To print a lower receiver or any part might be possible, but if you really wanted to get ahold of a gun by making something, printing it is the stupidest way to go about it. I compare it to sharpening a pencil on a 4 axis CNC- but making the whole pencil out of fragile material.

By buying a partially machined lower receiver (which does not require a background check or any regulation) - and performing a couple simple machining steps (like drilling some holes) - you accomplish the same part. And it’s made of metal- so the chintzy factor evaporates.

If someone like Glenn Beck is getting interviews with the guy, I smell someone after funding with no real goal - it’s all hype. He is against the “collectivism of manufacturing” - in other words he doesn’t like how much large machine tools cost? How can one be a “functional” anarchist (oxymoron)?

Bad interview:
http://defdist.tumblr.com/post/40844137078/real-politics

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@Anthony_White , as I understand it, his newest revision of the AR-15 lower actually went through something like 1200 rounds of ammo.

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and a metal one lasts how long?

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@Anthony_White I don’t think that’s the correct question. It went from only handling 5 rounds, to 1200. You not think that subsequent revisions will not last just as long as the metal ones?

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Sounds like they are trying to build thepiratebay for 3d models?

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@Funbie_Studios TPB already has a section for 3D models. It’s titled “Physibles”, and is free from censorship already.

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@ThantiK - I don’t know much about the lower receiver as a part itself (not into guns) - but I would assume that the much higher wear resistance of metal over printed ABS makes the prospect of printing a long lasting unit silly. Minimum $500 for a printer, and around $20 of plastic vs. <$100 metal part, and the tools to prepare it are at least <$200?
I acknowledge that they have refined there design, but I doubt they’ll ever have a printed unit last indefinitely.
@Brandon_Sterne - does the Pirate Bay censor the physibles section? Somehow I doubt they would…they don’t censor anything else that I’m aware of

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To paraphrase, I don’t agree with what they do (print gun parts) but I’ll defend their right to do it.

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/v/voltaire109645.html

I’d be willing to bet everyone here with a working printer has used it to print something that some country or company would like to stop them from printing, so as much as I hate the boringness of their application and the hype and potential side-effects their work may have on our work, I would be opposed to any law that would attempt to stop them, because it could be used against all of us.