This is 'murica. we use Webster’s here.

(sorry. couldn’t resist. you are correct. this isn’t a solution.)

not really. Well let me put it this way. The firearms that are entirely 3d printed are basically one-shot weapons.

the firearms that are single-printed components (or maybe more,) aren’t printing components that are part of the firing mechanism. for example, the DefCad team, they’re printing lower receiver for an AR. All the lower receiver does is holds the magazine in place for feeding into the chamber. For some technically obscure reason, it’s the part that is defined as “the” firearm for the purposes of registration.

the reason most ghost guns aren’t actually being printed is because there’s easier ways to get better firearms. Like driving to a state that allows the gunshow loophole and buying them cheap and flipping them in NY or whatever. printed ghost guns are… relatively uncommon, overall.

an Ender 3’s print quality is too low to reliably handle any of the critical components, even for one or two uses. something like the defcad AR lower receiver (which is for some odd reason designated as “the firearm” under ATF regulations…) can absolutely be printed, but not reliably by an ender 3- at least not a stock ender 3. (the defcad team was using resin printers for the dimensional accuracy.)

in any case, you can go to any big box hardware store, drop around 30 bucks in plumbing parts and some quality time with a dremel will produce a fully automatic firearm. should we now regulate plumbing hardware?

“Three-dimensionally printed firearms, a type of untraceable ghost gun, can be built by anyone using a $150 three-dimensional printer,” Rajkumar wrote in a memorandum explaining the bill. “This bill will require a background check so that three-dimensional printed firearms do not get in the wrong hands.”

… No way an ender 3 is going to produce something that doesn’t blow up in your hand.

so. i suggest people get that 150 dollar lol-printer. Should take care of itself.

think that’s the problem. it’s like carrying in the heavy bags of salt or stuff. gotta have two. to stay balanced.

you know. one printer with the .1mm nozzle (and the gear train on the extruder to make that work… bleh) and another printer with the 1mm nozzle and 3mm filament, and another with the direct drive for the TPU and stuff… and maybe a paste extrusion… and maybe… uh…

…okay maybe I have a problem…

That’s nice print!

it’s better to hobby with the kids, than not. When I first got into 3d printing…. My dad had one of those freebie inkjet printers; you know the ones… “free with computer,” but then the inkjet cartridges cost more than the PC did?

It ran out of ink, he was grumbly about it. So I asked if imcould have it. A few months later on was talking about printing stuff on it… I think he wanted to print out taxes. Yeah. “It doesn’t print those kinds of things any more…”

This was late 90’s? I read an article in … maybe it was popular mechanics or something like that… and got obsessed) that was a hideous printer.

It’s not a “reputable” thing … it’s a process thing. Scales don’t get zeroed every time a fresh spool is loaded. Doing so adds complexity.

It’s pretty common for consumer goods to include the mass of packaging when the product is sold by mass across most industries.

the spool is frequently included in the weight of the roll, so you’re getting 1kg either way. you get more plastic for printing, though.