3D printed suppressors ??? Will the price go down?

[D4570]

3D Printed Suppressors: All The Cans That’s Fit To Print

Are 3D printed suppressors as good as their hype suggests? What are their pros and cons? What does their future hold?

gundigest.com

3D Printed Suppressors: Next-Gen Silencer Technology | Silencer Shop

Discover how 3D printed suppressors redefine silencer design with cutting-edge DMLS technology. Lighter, quieter, stronger—see why shooters are switching to 3D printed silencers.

www.silencershop.com

What an idea. I think if they're close to what they have now or better.
I can't help but think it is going to make a BIG change.

 

[Jbotto]

Saw this posted the other day and thought similar things. Interesting idea.

 

[Carl]

Quite a lot of difference between a titanium 3-d printed can, and a polymer DIY one. The idea that regular 3-d printers are going to sell out as a result of this rule change is laughable, but I can see people trying it out for low pressure applications. On the titanium side, they've been around for a while and seem to be producing very good results. Also, the rate of change is significant. My observation is more has changed in the last three years than the previous ten. They WILL get cheaper, but it isn't pennies to print a TI one so I wouldn't hold my breath expecting a bunch of $200-$300 options that will perform similarly to Thunderbeast's and all the other high quality options we can currently get.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

Say a ti printed can nets $400 after input costs and a good ti printer is a million dollars. That’s 2500 cans sold before one breaks even.

I bought a US OG 65 recently, a while after they were released. My can serial number is still in double digits. Thousands of suppressors is a bunch.

I think once there gets to be more printers out there in service for the application you’ll probably have a handful of OEMs willing to manufacture for smaller companies who don’t want to put the capital down on equipment.

I wouldn’t be surprised if there are more aluminum cans not meant to be as durable at a lower price point like exists abroad if we keep the $0 tax stamp going forward.

 

[PoleX]

The metal printing makes a ton of sense. You can print much more complex geometries to optimize suppression vs what your limited to with traditional machining. When I was working in injection molding we were just starting to use metal printers to run cooling channels through molds and cores to allow for better cooling resulting in faster cycle times. Geometries you couldn’t machining into cavities or mold halves you could add easily with metal printing. It was expensive at the time but the cycle time reductions still made for a quick payback if the volume was there.

There are companies that do contract printing. If a company comes up with a design I’m sure the more cost effective route would be to source the printing vs invest in a printer. I just don’t know how the transfers work if you’re manufacturing them vs just doing the design/sales/distribution.

 

[Chingon]

Say a ti printed can nets $400 after input costs and a good ti printer is a million dollars. That’s 2500 cans sold before one breaks even.

I bought a US OG 65 recently, a while after they weee released. My can serial number is still in double digits. Thousands of suppressors is a bunch.

I think once there gets to be more printers out there in service for the application you’ll probably have a handful of OEMs willing to manufacture for smaller companies who don’t want to put the capital down on equipment.

I wouldn’t be surprised if there are more aluminum cans not meant to be as durable at a lower price point like exists abroad if we keep the $0 tax stamp going forward.

I think more vanilla fabricators will jump into the mix to keep their machines buzzing during downtime. In my world our contractors will charge $100k for a component and many shops have these things sitting idle. Machines are paid for by government contracts and these cans could just be icing on the cake.