>>10757817by the time that happens AI will have advanced to the point where it can recognize that you are printing a gun. Not only will it prevent you from doing so, but it will also call up the police and tell them you tried. As 3d printing gets more advanced it's going to be more locked down. HP's new 3d printers which are capable of printing strong parts fast in color integrate tracking information inside every part so the gov can track you down if you try to print a gun or infringe copyright. There are some pretty big problems with doing metal printing at home. Metal powder is messy and explosive (thermite!). Lasers require lots of power, electron beams don't need as much but they need vacuum and make X-rays. Thermal control is harder because of higher temperatures so you basically need a thermal camera dedicated to monitoring temperature. So yeah, lasers, ebeams, thermal cameras, powder spreaders, inert gas flow control, vacuum pumps, theres a lot of hardware we need and that will take time to become cheaper. Sure there might be some cheats out there. Like we might be able to run absolutely shitty alloys with a melting point and structural properties similar to solder with hobbyist SLS machines capable of doing plastic. But I don't think you care about that. There's also FDM with metal powder in plastic or metal clay, but this requires a fucking kiln and FDM is and will always be shit.
