Arsenals of History is an annual symposium of firearms museum, and met this year at the newly renovated Cody Firearms Museum. The theme of this year’s symposium was social media and museums. This presentation was given by Scott Gausen, an Education Specialist for the Springfield Armory National Historic Site. He has been experimenting with the use of 3D scanning and 3D printing technology for museum and educational purposes.
You can find more information about Springfield Armory National Historic Site at their web site, including current special events, visiting hours, and more.
3-D printing is of course in its infancy and will only become more capable and available. Scott Gausen is doing wonderful work exploring this technology. Bravo!
Need Ian to scan some of the rare pistols he gets to play with and either make replica models or sell us the files so we could print them ourselves. I would love to have full scale models that I could raccoon finger as I will never be able to afford them: a Mars, Bergman, M93 Borchardt, etc. Broomhandles and Lugers are common as dirt, but the other ones….I think there might be enough information available to come close to Ehbets’ Colt prototype Automatic Pistol.
Jay Leno’s Garage used their 3 D printer to scan an unobtainable and corroded part from a Stanley Steamer. Using a CAD program they were able to thicken up the corroded area then enlarge the pattern to account for casting shrinkage. From this they were able to cast a replacement part and get their old Stanley Steamer running again.
3-D scanning and “rapid prototyping” (3-D printing” make restoration of old goodies practical.
This is especially so if you use the “plastic” print-out, suitably scaled to allow for shrinkage, as the core in an investment-casting operation.
Cheers,
Bruce