Markforged, maker of the world’s first carbon fiber 3D printer and champion of industrial-strength desktop 3D printing, has just unveiled its newest 3D printing material, a high-strength high-temperature (HSHT) fiberglass that is twice as strong as Markforged’s standard fiberglass material and designed specifically for high-heat environments such as aerospace and automotive manufacturing.
The Mark One and recently unveiled, 40% faster Mark Two 3D printer are the only 3D printing systems in the world capable of automatically reinforcing engineering plastics to aluminum levels of performance and beyond, right on your desktop. According to the company, Markforged empowers engineers by combining “the dependability of CNC parts with the flexibility of 3D printing.”
Obviously you won’t be making a Glock clone just yet out of aluminum, but in a pinch you could turn out something which would reliably get you through a hairy spot in the Apocalypse with decent performance. Deep thinkers will realize there is a bonus I won’t mention, so please no putting it in the comments if you see it. No reason to help the hoplophobes.
Of course it will also mean spares for things like magazines, as well as carburetors and other low stress machinery.
Once the price comes down, computer production of intricate parts with metal-levels of strength will make self reliance into the new black.
I wonder if this would make good surfboard material?
I imagine, too, that items made of this material would also be disposable and untraceable.
Surfing the Apocalypse!
The early models of AR-15s could easily be converted to fully automatic. You could even buy the parts in from advertisements in magazines such as Soldier of Fortune and the like. I think it is prevented now. Then it was just illegal to put all the parts together. I suspect that today, for many models of firearms you would not need to make the whole gun just certain parts. Conceivably, that is still the case although I would not know.
Hey, AC, here’s a pic you may want to do a story on:
“I am afraid. not of islam, not of terror – but of the right populist agitation that will follow.”
It’s from the co-president of the Swiss young green. Rabbitism personified.
[…] found this (H/T to Anonymous Conservative) […]
lol @ you deleted my comment
I’m not clear? If your comment appeared and was deleted, I’d be very interested.
No, it’s very slow.
It might be interesting to see how this interplays with ray guns in the near future. As much of a technological feat as they might be, they could prove more trouble than they’re worth compared to dirt cheap 3D-printed conventional firearms.
One wrinkle would be that being electronic, unsavory forces might insist on Wi-Fi capability in order to ensure that your fancy laser gun can be remotely disabled at will. In fact, once the totalitarians see the the big picture, they may endorse these weapons wholeheartedly for that very reason.