More importantly: What is the cheapest 3D printer that will reproduce all of the parts to assemble a working AK-47?

http://www.quora.com/3D-Printing/How-much-does-it-cost-today...

You don't need to assemble all the parts, just the receiver since that is what is legally considered the firearm. Parts kits (minus receivers) are plentiful, cheap, and unregulated. Your local and state laws may vary, but it is generally legal to make your own receiver without any sort of license or taxation, provided it is for personal use. I would consider another make of firearm though; AR-15 type rifles have been successfully constructed with carbon fiber, polymer, and composite receivers. I've never heard of anyone doing that with AK series weapons, and considering the stress the AK receiver is under during recoil (find a slow motion video, it's jiggling everywhere!) I wouldn't really want to.

Mandatory I Am Not A Lawyer Statement

Manufacturing a firearm with a 3D printer would be a federal crime in the USA. That's not why I asked.

I'm more interested in actual costs of the democratization of force for places that don't already have weapons (unlike the USA).

Stop assuming that this.country == "US" when you talk to people on the internet, please.

Not a federal crime for some values of "manufacturing":

http://www.atf.gov/firearms/faq/firearms-technology.html#com...

"Individuals manufacturing sporting-type firearms for their own use need not hold Federal Firearms Licenses (FFLs)." So you could manufacture an AK receiver but you would have to outfit with a Saiga parts set to avoid falling afoul of 922(r) restrictions on "assault weapons".

I was only speaking to the U.S. as that is the only system I begin to understand the legalities of (and that would remotely allow this). The reality of an insurgency using 3D-printing to manufacture whole firearms isn't possible yet due to the stresses involved. I've had multiple mechanical failures due to MIM parts (metal injection molding) shattering in handguns. I can't imagine the current or near future 3D printing materials being able to surpass MIM in strength.

It would be more likely to be used to make difficult to manufacture components for weapons, such as molds for shaped charges.

Would aluminium do? Could you use the 3D printer to make a mould and cast some alu from drinks cans?

If you redesigned some parts to be all metal, you could probably (maybe) be able to construct it completely out of titanium.

Since Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) titanium has nearly the same properties of cast titanium, you could buy a printer in the sub 50k range.

You can legally own an AK, it just can't be fully automatic.

If you go with your assumption (US jurisdiction), it can indeed be fully automatic with the correct tax stamp.

Manufacturing a firearm with a 3D printer would be a federal crime in the USA. That's not why I asked.

I'm more interested in actual costs of the democratization of force for places that don't already have weapons (unlike the USA).

Interesting - as a private citizen, I was under the impression that I could not own a fully-auto assault rifle. I'd be interested in hearing sources that point to the contrary.

Great point about the democratization of force. I wonder if it's any easier than obtaining them on the black market in those countries.

With a 3d printer, it becomes not "those countries" but "every country, simultaneously".

PS: "fully-auto assault rifle" is redundant.

Actually, it only has to be semi-automatic to be considered an assault rifle.

I have a reprap huxley, bought from reprappro. You have to assemble it yourself, but the instructions are very detailed. It's really high quality and makes beautiful prints. I can only recommend it.

The downside is that it's located in Europe. You can buy them here: http://reprappro.com/

They also sell a bigger model (the mendel) now.

If you'd rather buy an american one, I've made no first hand experience with them, but heard good things from several people about maxbots. They sell the mendelmax, which is bigger than both of reprappros models, and more sturdy because it uses an aluminium frame.

Again, for under 1500, you will have to assemble it yourself:

http://store.mendelmax.com/

Disclaimer: I have not done any research on anything that isn't a reprap. I prefer RepRaps because they're open source and made from standard components, which means easy to fix yourself, and even if whoever sold you the machine goes out of business, you will still be able to replace/fix any part of it. Apparently makerbot support is good, but only if you have the latest model (or so I've read, but again, I have not done proper research, so take it with a grain of salt)

If you're looking for non-diy you basically have www.makerbot.com and www.cubify.com that are making the most noise lately. They both have poor resolution in my opinion but it's moving in the right direction.

There are a couple of kickstarter projects that I can't name off the top of my head trying to do the same for under $1000.

You will hear several diy ones.

I think the worst cost issue is the money for the crappy plastic.

Also everyone is using pirated copies of 3d software instead of freecad

If you look around Thingiverse, you'll find that most of the popular and non-decorative stuff is designed in OpenSCAD.

To the original question, MakerGear makes some high quality kits.

Actually most of what I've seen is from sketchup (free), OpenSCAD (Free), or Autodesk 123D (free). There's some solidworks stuff but I have no idea if it's pirated or not, nobody does from the perspective of the person getting the files to print.