3D printers let you make a gun at home

AUT University has one of the first 3D printers in New Zealand. It's being used for wholesome purposes, such as helping a Glendene plastic maker produce prototype wall brackets much more cheaply.

Now, The New York Times is warning a 3D printer - which produces a solid object by setting down layer after paper-thin layer of plastic - has been successfully used to created a gun.

And 3D printers, led by the popular MakerBot Replicator2, are now selling for as little as $US500 or less in the US (I'm not sure where the Times shops. On MakerBot's website its basic models sells for $US2199. And I see you can pick one up for $A2095 across the Tasman). Refill spools of plastic filament costs around $US50 a kg per colour, making them cheaper than inkjet cartridges (admittedly, almost everything on the planet is cheaper than injet refills).

The Times ponders how DIY plastic guns could be regulated. Or how they could be picked up by airport scanners (easily, one would think, unless they have pastic bullets).

MakerBot CEO Bre Pettis with a September 19 demo of his company's latest Replicator.

In fact, it seems the from the gunsmithing blog quoted by The Times that the end is not nigh.

Its author catalogues a range of technical problems that mean a 3D printed gun is more likely to explode in your hands than harm anyone else.

And whatever you're making, a 3D printer can't print onto thin air, meaning faffing around with scaffolding is required for any sticky-out bits.

Still if you can find the software plans online, a 3D printer can be used to create, say, your own iPhone case or Lego.

An intriguing area to keep an eye on over the next couple of years.

Technical wonks are already refining the ultimate project: creating a 3D printer that can easily print other 3D printers.

Then, the end really will be nigh.

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3D printers let you make a gun at home