In today’s podcast we interviewed Jeff Reinke, Editorial Director of Industrial Equipment News (IEN). He gave his take on several of the fastest emerging trends in the machining business, including electric cars and 3-D printing.
Reinke said that right now Elon Musk is suffering the consequences of overpromising and underdelivering on his products. He said that Musk is a unique car company CEO because when certain projects suffer setbacks he stubbornly charges forward instead of shelving them as other car companies would.
This boldness enables Tesla to develop innovative technology that sets the company apart from the established but conservative automotive makers.
Reinke said that when the big car companies start producing all-electric vehicles on a large scale Tesla will have to develop a niche to survive the market. Not having a niche could lead to being acquired by an established car company seeking to obtain Tesla’s technology.
The big question is whether the majority of consumers will follow the electric technology or if they will stubbornly hold onto their current gas vehicles.
Reinke also said the advancement in 3-D printing is one of the current trends in machining he is most excited about. He said it is fueling the demand for customization and he is impressed by the cost-effective materials available for the process such as carbon fiber and metal. However, Reinke believes that for the near future large volumes will still be made with conventional metal cutting equipment rather than using additive manufacturing.
Question: Does producing guns with 3-D printers scare you?
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6 Comments
Yes, Yes, YES! The fact that these weapons can be made out of plastic thus making metal detectors ineffective is scary. The other glaring fact is that anyone can make them, I know of no responsible gun owner who wants a plastic disposable gun, so most of the people who would be using this technology would be doing it for all the wrong reasons. These guns would never be registered so our streets would be flooded with ultra cheap non-traceable firearms. This should be alarming for any reasonable person, gun owners and non gun owner alike. For some background on me before people pounce I am indeed a gun owner and fully support peoples rights to bear arms.
People touting ANY type of gun control fall into one of three categories.
1. Evil, tyrants trying to disarm their citizens to establish a tyrannical rule.
2. Deceived, people deceived by category 1.
3. Ignorant, people with no knowledge of the topic.
Guns are so easy and inexpensive to buy why bother to invest a large sum of money into a 3D printer and learn how to use it? A statistically small potential problem looking for a headline.
Not at all. It has been done for 100 years. Its our second most important right in this county. Without it the first amendment cannot exist.
We are far too intelligent to waste our time on this subject, as the real-issue is neglect, and / or legal prevention, by those in a position to identify and take action against individuals who are a danger to society, by admission of intent, history of behavior or advanced third-party reporting by multiple, reliable sources.
Until we remove the failed-laws that inhibit -or- outright prevent the above actions to preemptively isolate and treat threats to a peaceful society, the suicide and assault on “soft-targets” will persist.
As world reporting of suicide and social assaults has confirmed, a firearm is but one of many means available to a disturbed individual to exact revenge upon themselves and others. It is unlikely we will outlaw manufacture and personal access to steak knives & box cutters, hammers & hatchets, automobiles, ropes, fertilizers, etc… to prevent their misapplication with intent to cause harm.
Please spread the word with family & acquaintances, misguided legislators, liberal academics and anyone else in your circle of influence to re-focus on the only effective solution to senseless killing of innocent members of our society.
I believe that anyone who is personally aware, or made aware, of an individual who demonstrates or professes harm to themselves, or others, and has not reported it to authorities, should be held equally accountable for the consequence.
Time and energy invested in preventing access to lethal weapons by the mentally disturbed “minority” among us is socially worthwhile; but, only to the extent the measures imposed do not infringe on the rights of the vast-“majority” of healthy, law abiding citizens.
Let us commit ourselves to advancing help to known at-risk members of our community before they become, or create, a needless lethal statistic.
Hot topic! The second amendment is obsolete and needs to be updated to cover our current technological advancements. It was written before we had automatic and semi-automatic weapons. Guns need to be controlled, drugs, alcohol and tobacco are, why not guns?
To answer your questions, yes, providing an ability to print guns that are undetectable scares the hell out of me. It was the one advantage that we had in weapon detection and now it is gone.