Surf n Turf
12-03-2013, 21:04
Solid Concepts Prints Exotic-metal .45
Something that I have been interested in for a long time has finally shown the results that may start a second American Manufacturing revolution.
SnT
Solid Concepts Prints Exotic-metal .45
Additive manufacturing or 3D printing is a process of making a three-dimensional solid object of virtually any shape from a digital model. 3D printing is achieved using an additive process, where successive layers of material are laid down in different shapes.
Sure, they printed a gun before, but this time they did something pretty amazing: they printed all 34 non-spring parts in a single go (see the photo of the parts below, fresh from the laser-sintering machine with only the unused powder removed yet). And they printed it of Inconel 625, which you’ve probably never used in a gun before (but if you’ve ever flown in a jet airplane, it was probably the turbofan engine’s hot-section shaft and several other critical parts.
With our first prototype, we had to hand sand to perfect a few tolerances, but our tweaks to the design should remove the need for such sanding.
Our first gun is now up to 1,000 + rounds.
http://weaponsman.com/?p=12141
Something that I have been interested in for a long time has finally shown the results that may start a second American Manufacturing revolution.
SnT
Solid Concepts Prints Exotic-metal .45
Additive manufacturing or 3D printing is a process of making a three-dimensional solid object of virtually any shape from a digital model. 3D printing is achieved using an additive process, where successive layers of material are laid down in different shapes.
Sure, they printed a gun before, but this time they did something pretty amazing: they printed all 34 non-spring parts in a single go (see the photo of the parts below, fresh from the laser-sintering machine with only the unused powder removed yet). And they printed it of Inconel 625, which you’ve probably never used in a gun before (but if you’ve ever flown in a jet airplane, it was probably the turbofan engine’s hot-section shaft and several other critical parts.
With our first prototype, we had to hand sand to perfect a few tolerances, but our tweaks to the design should remove the need for such sanding.
Our first gun is now up to 1,000 + rounds.
http://weaponsman.com/?p=12141