Ok, serious question. Can people make their own guns by 3D printing wax models of the parts to use in Investment Casting (lost-wax casting)?
Investment casting is a method of producing a metal design by encasing a disposable wax pattern in Investment powder. The wax (Made in a Master-mold) or casting resin (For a 3D printer) is melted or evaporated after the mold around it has hardened in a kiln. Molten metal can then me poured in from the top vent. The standard tolerance I think, is 1"/ 5,000 or 5µm in metric. A good Top-down resin-based DLP printer has a max resolution of 25µm. To give you some perspective on that, a piece of A4 paper is about 80 µm thick. Once the metal has cooled back into a solid, the mold is destroyed to retrieve the casting. But what molten metals are appropriate to make guns with and how do we mix the additives (Carbon, Chromium, ect)?
The Iron and other raw materials will be harder to melt after they've cooled {Made into Steel} so we can assume it'd be easier to melt the materials and pour them into the mold before they become an alloy. More importantly, what would we need to make our own ammo?
Metal casting Software
Flow3D flow3d.com
Finite Solutions (SOLIDCast, FLOWCast, and OPTICast) finite.solutions
Magmasoft magmasoft.com
Ceramic Molds
• BANDUST™ ransom-randolph.com
• Omega+ goldstarpowders.com
• Tethon3d Castalite® tethon3d.com
For obtaining the CAD models of the gun parts: en.shining3d.com
About the metals used in guns: rifleshootermag.com
Here in Australia, we are not allowed to use firearm to defend ourselves. You must either be part of a gun-club or own farm-animals such as horses which may need to be put down. But If one were to use a 3D printer to make wax molds of all the parts needed to make a gun, it could be legally sold and packaged. The recipient could then make an investment casting with the mold in private. Guns could thus be produced on the Black Market.
Note: Before selling these wax patterns or other materials, we must ensure that our customers are White. This can be done by asking them to post a photo doing a certain gesture on a social media website, along with a comment we ask them to type.
What else needs to be considered?