The samples were largely PLA, with some PETG and ABS. All the printed samples were either Bambu filament swatches or 19mm discs printed by volunteers.
The researchers scraped the swatches and raw filament strands with a scalpel for the study. These shavings were analyzed with an ATR-FTIR spectrometer. The results revealed that the scientific equipment could not distinguish between brands, colors, or whether the filament was raw or printed.
They also scientifically discovered a fact well known in the 3D printing community: that filament is often a blend of unlisted, and rather surprising, materials. A sample of PLA-Flex from the now-defunct Australian company, 3D Fillies, was shown to consist of PLA and PETG. The researchers also studied Rainbow and Tri-Color PLA, which are the least durable materials for practical prints, let alone weapons.
Researchers were flummoxed by the presence of ABS in the PLA sample, concluding that the nozzle may have been contaminated with one material before printing the other. This caused them to conclude that the first layer of a print is unreliable for scientific study.
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Denise Bertacchi is a Contributing Writer for Tom\u2019s Hardware US, covering 3D printing. Denise has been crafting with PCs since she discovered Print Shop had clip art on her Apple IIe. She loves reviewing 3D printers because she can mix all her passions: printing, photography, and writing. ","collapsible":{"enabled":true,"maxHeight":250,"readMoreText":"Read more","readLessText":"Read less"}}), "https://slice.vanilla.futurecdn.net/13-4-18/js/authorBio.js"); } else { console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); } Denise Bertacchi Social Links Navigation Freelance Reviewer Denise Bertacchi is a Contributing Writer for Tom’s Hardware US, covering 3D printing. Denise has been crafting with PCs since she discovered Print Shop had clip art on her Apple IIe. She loves reviewing 3D printers because she can mix all her passions: printing, photography, and writing.
thisisaname Even if they could figure out which brand of filament printed a gun, what is the point of doing it given how many spools are made. It is a bit like try to trace a real gun by trying to trace where the ore was dug up from. Reply
kameljoe23 I find these articles very funny. The fact that they are trying to pinpoint the exact brand and company who makes millions of rolls of filament is funny. Let's just assume that they can pinpoint every role to every company, then what. It is not like they keep track of every customer who purchase them. Even if a company only produces 100,000 rolls and sells to a thousand customers of those thousand customers there are potentially thousands more customers within that line. Someone can can buy rules via marketplace or locally sourced. They pay cash or they trade something. They buy out someone. They're just no way you're going to trace something that is not a problem or a reality. The ghost guns are not a real problem. Until people are being murdered by the hundreds of the thousands with ghost guns this is a non-issue. Reply
rluker5 kameljoe23 said: I find these articles very funny. The fact that they are trying to pinpoint the exact brand and company who makes millions of rolls of filament is funny. Let's just assume that they can pinpoint every role to every company, then what. It is not like they keep track of every customer who purchase them. Even if a company only produces 100,000 rolls and sells to a thousand customers of those thousand customers there are potentially thousands more customers within that line. Someone can can buy rules via marketplace or locally sourced. They pay cash or they trade something. They buy out someone. They're just no way you're going to trace something that is not a problem or a reality. The ghost guns are not a real problem. Until people are being murdered by the hundreds of the thousands with ghost guns this is a non-issue. I think this is more about protecting their rules than people. And being lazy about it. Stolen guns are used a lot more to shoot people, are easier to acquire, and are less likely to blow up in your hand and have more useful features, like semi auto and looking scary. Stolen guns are also not registered to the current owner. One could think that the people making ghost gun laws are trying to avoid cracking down on the real problem, but I think they are just trying to patch the easiest loopholes in how they think things should be. It isn't as easy to increase sentences on those who commit crimes with stolen guns as it is to crack down on civil people. Reply
ezst036 I can't help but feel like all these scientists and politicians are desperately searching for a solution where the solution is in search of a problem. That recent shooting in the BC/Canada school, was it a ghost gun? Are they ever ghost guns? Oh but that one time. Ok, so let's spend millions of hours and millions of dollars on that one place that one time with that one guy, but spend 10 minutes and fifteen cents on the regular occurrences. Oh, what am I kidding about, this has nothing to do actually with the problem it claims to be about. School shootings are just human shields for these politicians, what the politicians are actually, really seeking for is control . Now it makes sense. Now it makes sense to spend fifteen cents on the real regularly occurring problem and milions of dollars on that one guy that one place that happened that one time. Control. That's all it is, that's all they seek. Control. Just like those age verification bills. They don't really fix much of anything but they do give the politicians huge amounts of control . These millions of dollars are going to return-on-investment for the politicians in the form of control. Bow down and obey. Peasant. Reply
DeviantDevil This is the dumbest thing ever! No one is 3d printing guns to use in crimes! Anyone who can afford a 3d printer can afford a real gun. 😂 Reply
DeviantDevil ezst036 said: I can't help but feel like all these scientists and politicians are desperately searching for a solution where the solution is in search of a problem. That recent shooting in the BC/Canada school, was it a ghost gun? Are they ever ghost guns? Oh but that one time. Ok, so let's spend millions of hours and millions of dollars on that one place that one time with that one guy, but spend 10 minutes and fifteen cents on the regular occurrences. Oh, what am I kidding about, this has nothing to do actually with the problem it claims to be about. School shootings are just human shields for these politicians, what the politicians are actually, really seeking for is control . Now it makes sense. Now it makes sense to spend fifteen cents on the real regularly occurring problem and milions of dollars on that one guy that one place that happened that one time. Control. That's all it is, that's all they seek. Control. Just like those age verification bills. They don't really fix much of anything but they do give the politicians huge amounts of control . These millions of dollars are going to return-on-investment for the politicians in the form of control. Bow down and obey. Peasant. 1000000% accurate! Reply
Problematicmarmot rluker5 said: I think this is more about protecting their rules than people. And being lazy about it. Stolen guns are used a lot more to shoot people, are easier to acquire, and are less likely to blow up in your hand and have more useful features, like semi auto and looking scary. Stolen guns are also not registered to the current owner. One could think that the people making ghost gun laws are trying to avoid cracking down on the real problem, but I think they are just trying to patch the easiest loopholes in how they think things should be. It isn't as easy to increase sentences on those who commit crimes with stolen guns as it is to crack down on civil people. It's more likely they want to use 'ghost gun', like 'assault rifle'. Just have a scary name for it, and scream "why won't anyone think about the children" while they try to cripple the 3d industry, or at least try to control it. Because I've heard a lot of people making comments about this isn't about the guns this is about controlling the printers. If they can control so-called ghost gun files then controlling access to any copyrighted images are right behind it don't you think that Disney would love to not have anyone making Deadpool or Iron Man masks? Reply
Co BIY The idea that people using the guns for criminal purposes will leave them behind for analysis is silly. Most of the time when you have the gun you will have the offender. In the age of ubiquitous video and cell phones firearms forensics is rarely used by police even with normal guns. And as others have noted there appears to be a real lack of crimes committed with these things. Reply
Chokkymalk This is absolutely a "we tried nothing and we're all out of options" situation. The idea that 3d printed guns are more of a problem than the ones Walmart sells is so utterly asinine. CNC machines have existed this whole time too. Americans want to do anything other than have common sense gun laws, ACROSS THE BOARD. instead let's attack 3d printers! That'll save so many kids lives! /S Reply
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Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/3d-printing/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/3d-printing/scientists-attempt-to-link-3d-printed-ghost-guns-to-specific-filament-brands-with-chemical-fingerprinting-major-filament-makers-often-white-label-products-complicating-efforts#main
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