14 DAY TRIAL // 3D printed guns have been causing a pretty audible din across the world, with reactions ranging from cautious apathy to jail time. In the middle of it all are the ones that actually develop the plans for them, like Solid Concepts.
Guns became the subject of 3D printing technology almost as soon as 3D printing became accessible to the common man not that long ago.
The first such weapon, the Liberator, was made of plastic, although the plans posted online did leave out the trigger pin, which would need to be made of metal so that metal detectors may still pick them up at airports.
It was obvious that such a token effort wouldn't be enough to stem the predictable tide of illegal gun trade. Although technically speaking laws regarding 3D printed guns didn't yet exist at the time, exactly.
Of course, officials from some regions disagree. Case in point, while the Australians are still arguing the matter, Japan is already throwing people in prison for making 3D printed guns.
Solid Concepts isn't based on Japan, though. In fact, it's owned by Stratasys now, a corporation headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, United States. Said company has just unveiled the second 3D printed gun in its collection.
It's real and it's not plastic
Called the Reason (we suppose there's a contest about the strangest names going on), the weapon is the second 3D printable gun created by Solid Concepts. The other one is 1911.
Like the first, the gun isn't made of plastic but of metal. Solid Concepts was more enamored with SLS metal printing, you see, instead of FDM plastic technology.
SLS, or selective laser sintering, uses a laser to fuse powder into a homogeneous mass according to whatever virtual model you're sending to the printer. FDM uses a heated extruder to melt filament and build objects from the ground up.
Because of its nature, though, FDM only works with polymers and material of similar thermal and mechanical properties.
SLS, however, works on much more troublesome materials and provides a much, much higher detail level than FDM, or even SLA (stereolithography, which grows things from resin by means of ultraviolet light).
Availability and Pricing
The Reason is a proof-of-concept for now and will probably sell for around $11,900 / €9,400, as that was the 1911's price tag. Then again, the price may have been chosen because of the product name, so we'll take the lack of an actual price tag for the new gun as a hint that the real cost is much more “reasonable.” Assuming the firearm ever makes it past prototype stage, which we can't really swear by.