Press release [via AmmoLand.com]
Defense Distributed announced the official launch of the second generation of its Ghost Gunner CNC mill, the GG2. Over the last two years, and with volumes of input from our customers, we’ve slowly revised and revised our specifications, electronics and tools to create a more ideal version of our machine– purpose-built for finishing AR and other firearm receivers. We’d like to tell you a bit about the GG2, especially in the wake of recent events threatening our AR.
Full GG2 specs and the manual can be found at ghostgunner.net. Since the release of GG1 we’ve focused on improving our continuous cutting power and finding the perfect end mill, depth of cut, cutting profiles and design tolerances to efficiently and repeatably complete the pocket milling required by AR receivers.
The GG2 is two inches wider than its predecessor, comes with completely re-engineered motion control electronics (we’ve discontinued use of the g-shield motion controller), has 60 more watts of continuous cutting power, a new custom rougher-finisher end mill with geometry suited for our speed and power requirements, in addition to new operating software.
Ghost Gunner and .DD files are now cross-platform with the release of DDcut for Mac OSX, available on our site. And our plan is to support both Windows and Mac GG development from here on out.
Finally, the last significant update to the GG is a new uni-body spindle with ceramic bearings:
After months of testing and soft launch review, and with our last two years of experience, we believe we are building the single most capable and robust CNC package under $2000 ever. Bar none.
Orlando and The People’s Rifle
The GG2 continues to be the same price as its previous iteration, at $1500 total. We are still chasing demand, especially after the events in Orlando, so we still ask interested parties to claim a spot on our wait list if they would like to receive a GG in 2016. Our shipments remain at 150-160 a month, and we are committed to making at least 500-600 more Ghost Gunners in the wake of the upcoming election and the vicious calls for elimination and confiscation of the People’s Rifle.
DD has since the end of 2015 sold 80% receivers for our GG’s, and we will now offer 80% .308 receivers as well. Both GG1 and GG2 are LR .308 capable, and we will have our .308 fixtures up for sale on our website by the first week of July.
There will be more third party reviews of the GG2 out in coming days, and perhaps one or two more updates this summer. We are shipping quickly and thank you for your interest and orders.
Your support has allowed us to continue to fight the federal government at the appellate level in Defense Distributed vs. U.S. Dep’t of State. And a recording of our most recent argument before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals is available here. We continue to push for a means to disclose our research and software directly to the public.
There are many more things to say, but I suppose the most important is this:
We are not blind to the impending threat HRC, coming California legislation, and the prohibitionists in the media pose to our modern rifles and to the Second Amendment.
And we are not relaxing. Though we are proud of what we’ve been able to offer the people in the last two years with GG, we know we must commit ourselves anew to the defense of our liberties and to offering you a machine that can last through prohibition and even the eventual breakup of this country.
That’s a tall order, but we have it in mind and pledge to make the best machine possible for you and a coming generation of American riflemen.
——
About Defense Distributed:
The specific purposes for which this corporation is organized are: To defend the civil liberty of popular access to arms as guaranteed by the United States Constitution and affirmed by the United States Supreme Court, through facilitating global access to, and the collaborative production of, information and knowledge related to the 3D printing of arms; and to publish and distribute, at no cost to the public, such information and knowledge in promotion of the public interest.
For more information visit: www.DefenseDistributed.com.
You can’t stop the signal, Mal.
You beat me to it!
I am a leaf on the wind watch how I soar.
What does that even mean?
“He killed me Mal. Killed me with a sword. How weird is that?”
Thank directly to a poorly-parented self-centered attention whore, we are once again seeing the specter of 3D printing regulation. Thousands of hobbyists keep their head down, mouth shut, and build their own guns. Meanwhile, darling Cody runs his mouth, pisses off the world of anti-gun weenies, and then dares them to do something. Well you millenial cretin, they can. And eventually will. Without this idiot running off at the mouth and waving his junk in their face, they’d never have known we exist until it was too late to stop – like Air BnB and Uber. Thanks directly to you Cody. Meanwhile, you’ve helped exactly how many people actually build one?
You are fun at parties, I’m sure.
By your logic, why not criticize every gun manufacturer or innovator of something new in the market as an “attention whore.”
Good grief. POTG eating their own just never ends…
People generally love me at parties, I’m the one who often makes jokes about the idiocy of stupid people, doing stupid things, and wondering why the outcome is bad.
I don’t think you read the post carefully, perhaps re-read it. This is a guy who is poking a bear, with no backup. He’s an idiot of the most base order. He’s doing nothing that isn’t already done by dedicated hobbyists, except draw (unwanted and unneeded) attention to the hobby.
Since they are aware of the perils of HRC and the possibility of “Ghost Gun Blanks’ being declared ‘verbotten’ will ‘Ghost Gunner 3’ be able to machine a lower out of a raw rectangle of aluminum?
And when can we expect the ultimate, ‘Ghost Gunner 4 (3D Selective Laser Sintering)?
(A Geek can dream, can’t I?)
Hey, if we’re going to dream then let’s dream big. Figure out how to make your own medium for those 3D printers while you’re at it. 😛
The medium is indeed the ‘crux of the biscuit’, as the late great FZ once wrote.
As I understand it, (and please correct me if I’m wrong), the final resolution of the finished part is directly related to particle size and uniformity.
And to get *that*, you need some sophisticated technology to do it, like spraying the molten metal at the top of a cooling tower then power-screening out the fines and oversize at the bottom to be melted and re-sprayed again.
16V, got any links on hobbyists doing SLS? Once that’s viable, the only way they can even *hope* to control it will be like they did with color copiers when they were the new tech preventing them from printing currency…
Geoff, here’s a few folks doing the do. It’s a community,dive right in…
https://3dprint.com/60563/you-sls-printer-for-2000/
http://reprap.org/wiki/OpenSLS
http://makezine.com/2014/08/25/sintratec-affordable-home-sls-printer-coming-soon/
http://www.instructables.com/id/You-SLS-DIY-Laser-sintering/
Mental ammo if you’re interested in pursuing it, even as a knowledge point, nothing more.
Geoff, the home-SLS hobby has been picking up steam for the last coupla years and many have made great progress in bringing costs down to slightly above thermoplastic. Speed is still an issue (at least that I know, maybe someone solved it).
When the powdered metal settles, I will bet everything I own that a hobbyist will be 2 years ahead of the self-serving publicity machine of Cody Wilson. They always have been.
a- forkin- men to that. If we can machine what we need out of a raw block then we lucky few here in CA will have a last lifeline as things ramp up against us. Granted the extra scrutiny that Cody brought to this aspect of gun culture is negative, it is still worth it to me, that he headed off the state in it’s scrutiny on his own terms. He didn’t back down and fold, he didn’t cower in the face of Kevin DeLeon and the other anti-gun meatbags out there, and that is as worthy of my money as his products.
Um, that press release doesn’t describe a 3D printer as in the headline. It’s describing a purpose built milling machine for ARs.
Seconded. This is a very specialized 3 axis mill.
By definition, a CC Milling machine that uses computer instructions to remove material from an original blank in order to create a finished product is as much of a printer as is the plastic injection machine that uses computer instructions to add material to create a finished product. The difference is in the medium, not the result.
If what you have created at the end of the process is a representation of the author’s intention, you have a printer.
Sorry for the typo, should read CNC Milling machine.
Actually, subtractive processes is a wholly different animal than additive processes. Sorry to burst your bubble, but your assessment is completely wrong and your analogy doesn’t apply.
But in the grand scheme of things, who really cares? Lol.
I spent years in heavy manufacturing, and some light manufacturing. Even went to classes on CNC. At no time prior to the advent of the GG, have I seen a CNC machine referred to as a printer. Milling and printing are absolutely distinct. Indeed, there are actual 3-d printers used for making AR-15 parts:
https://search.yahoo.com/search?p=3d+lower+receiver+printer&ei=UTF-8&fr=chr-greentree_ff&ilc=12&type=715483
The results might be the same, but a CNC machine and a 3-D printer are not even “essentially” the same.
That’s awesome! I may have to sign up for one since I missed the 1.0 version when it was offered at ~&999. This will make a new AR-10 project *much* easier than using my drill press. Q: Will FEDEX refuse to ship this one too?
Q,: Will Facebook pull posts/cancel accounts that offer these for sale?
You know these are nothing more than specialized CNC mills. As cool as they are.
There’s a part of me that want’s to take this further… Like in starting a YouTube channel where you see someone use off the shell tools and parts to build the CNC mills and lathes needed to produce 100% compete and commercial or near commercial grade firearms complete from scratch. Just as a giant F.U. to near idea of gun control.
If you ever get a chance to listen to Wilson, that’s his general mission for Defense Distributed. He wants to make it where anyone can home manufacture (even without one of his machines) a firearm as a “way to move the gun control conversation forward” and away from government regulation. It’s obviously an uphill battle, but I think he’s on the right track.
Wilson’s ‘general mission’ is to get himself as much publicity as possible, make money, and piss off regulators to the point that they actually do something to the majority of us who actually do make guns themselves.
Long before the grandstander showed up, tens of thousands made their own guns, and it was all fine. We were on no one’s radar. Then 3D printing arrived, and many started working with that. Difference being that we know better than to poke the bear, then take a dump on his head. Tesla breaks state law in all 50 by not having dealers – one establishes facts on the ground, one doesn’t go taunting one’s opponents from a position of weakness.
He is no hero. He is the biggest hindrance to the burgeoning additive manufacturing gun hobby, and will, sooner than later, get restrictive legislation passed directly because of his actions. I have no idea what highschool he went to, but if they taught Art of War he was sleeping through those weeks.
Well, I don’t really agree with you. His “antics” have shown tons of previously unaware people that these technologies do exist, and that banning or regulating these things are not very plausible nor effective.
You have to be old enough to remember when fax modems in PCs were declared unfair by the Post Office. An attempt was made to pass a federal tax on every fax modem (and fax machine), and the revenue would go to the post office.
Similarly, one can imagine an indirect banning of 3-D printer and materials via taxing authority of the states. Also, the states can amend their firearms laws to make the use of plastic (ghost) guns, no matter the circumstances, illegal. So, if used in self-defense, one would still face jail time for having such a weapon. And the case could be made that every traffic stop permits search of your vehicle and person because 3-D plastic firearms must be considered available to everyone, thus likely that everyone could pose a potentially severe public safety risk due to the likelihood that nearly anyone or everyone could be in possession of a 3-D printed gun.
Clarencex, Exposure means sweet FA. Are you gonna actually build one? Of the tiny number (relatively) that he has provided a tool for, how many are actually, you know, built?
The only profile he has raised is that of one of my hobbies with legislators who very much can shut us down at will.
If you actually wanted to print your own gun (or reductive machine it as in this example), you would go searching for the state of the hobbyist shelf, and find much to choose from. You would look at this and laugh as old news, from about 3 years ago.
Those who actually want to do, find a means to get done, not wait for some Ronco Gun-o-Matic to arrive on the late night infomercial. Replete with a 20-something Vince selling his slap-chop.
‘lasttoknow[‘ you should change your handle to ‘oneofthefirstwhogetsit’.
Thank you. Will take that as a compliment. But if it is not, I’ll just be “lasttoknow”.
lasttoknow, Certainly a compliment, not everyone understands the elements of successful strategy.
Right, wrong, or indifferent Uber and Lyft didn’t go ask cities if they could run their regulated cabs out of business, they didn’t go on a world tour telling all about what they were going to do, they just did it. Paypal breaks so many Federal Banking laws I can’t count that high – but they are tolerated because they established market share first.
The key to 3D printing is allowing it to grow unmolested till it reaches critical mass and they cannot ‘stop the signal’.
When you’re still mustering forces, you don’t send the village idiot to jump up and down screaming and taunt the enemy.
For someone who certainly seems to THINK they have all the answers to everything… you keep conflating “3D-Printing” and material-removal/machining processes as if they are the same thing. When in reality, they’re… ya know… kind of the direct opposites of each other and have very little in common from a science/materials/methodology/technology/capabilities point of view. Some would say this makes you look like a laughable clueless blow-hard old man railing against the new generation of young whipper-snappers ruining it for all the old guys who did things the “right way” (by God!) who doesn’t really know what he’s talking about at all. I certainly would never say that, but some would.
Glad to hear the are doing so well! Was interested in getting one, but I have about 12 spare lowers already.
A group of friends and I ordered one a bit back. We’re in for a bit of a wait, but looking forward to having it in hand.
When you get it, write something up for TTAG on how it went (with lots of pics)…
I think there is proposed legislation (California?) to require serial numbers on the raw material from which the 80% lower blank is fabricated. That would seem to mean that raw plate or extrusion stock would need to have a serial number on each, prior to making the raw into a lower. If I remember correctly, both serial numbers (raw stock and the 80% lower) either have to have the original serial number of the raw stock, and the lower indelibly imprinted. Or maybe the proposed legislation requires serial numbering for every lot of ore that is converted to metal (sort of like prescription medication lot numbers), with now at least three serial numbers required (lot, raw, fabricated lower). This is all probably designed to discourage people from making their own firearms, but would apply to commercial manufacturers, also.
Sounds like legit California legislation. Completely ignores wussy happens when you cut the serial number off the raw stock during machining.
Remember the guy that built an AK from a shovel? Will shovels need to be regulated and numbered too?
Given the lunacy of requiring raw materials that will be turned into a gun to be serialized, it would seem logical that a shovel could be considered raw material.
Everybody in CA needs a good shovel. Helps keep the shit from getting too deep.
Remember to thank darling little Cody for that. It’s completely because of his big mouth and attention whoring that they even know about it at all.
Stop acting like a pu$$y. It is time to fight back or we lose it all.
Air BnB, Uber, Lyft. All are blatantly illegal. None of them went to regulators and asked permission. None of them went on a tour telling about how they were going to put licensed taxis out of business, or compete with permitted hotels.
One has to establish facts on the ground before one does something like that. The hobby was taking care of that quite nicely, and then this guy came along.
Pu$$y? No, I just understand business, tactics, and the Art of War. All battles are won or lost, before they are even fought…
There are already calls to regulate Uber and Lyft by the statists.
Accur81, There’s been calls to shut down the
gypsy cabUber/Lyft for as long as they have been in the public eye. They violate several, to dozens, of laws wherever they set up. Did they go and change the law first, or did they just get enough people to join the, so they can’t be prosecuted?The meat of my post is this – if you want to do something that the ‘regulators’ see as “offensive” (regardless if it’s right or wrong) you have to have millions of people actually using it, before you go and draw attention to yourself.
If one is using a 3-D printer suitable for making metal components, it will be interesting to see how the wire on a spool will be serialized. The wire from the spool (or multiple spools) is melted to a liquid or paste, then forces through injection ports to layer sequential thicknesses of material, one upon another, until the part is formed. Maybe the requirement will be that the molten state of the raw material must be serialized.
Oh, that ‘law’ is far far far worse. The moron uses “ANY” thing that can be used IN a firearm must have a serial number. Irregardless of it’s original form. Lowes, Home Depot, Garden Shops will ALL have to obtain serial numbers for their shovels and for every pin, machine screw, block of metal that can possibly be used in a firearm. My suggestion is to buy boxes of pins and get serial numbers for all 10,000 of them if Moronbeam signs this stupid law.
This guy is my hero
Don’t forget to thank your hero when his big mouth gets additive manufacturing seriously regulated.
Yeah, we get it. He had sex with your sister in high school or something.
You sound like a whiney butt-hurt 15 year old in this thread. But, I know you won’t see it and will have some snarky, 15-year-old-esque “come-back” for me to put me in my place.
C’mon JR, you’re just projecting… (I don’t have a sister. Or brother.) Nothing but some weak ad hominems left in the arsenal, eh old chap?
You claim to be a scientist and yet can’t refute any of my points with any logic, or facts?
I expect better from you.
No brother. No sister. An only child. Splains a lot.
jwm, So having a sibling makes you tolerant of insanely stupid actions that are in direct conflict with your cause.
That’s a good thing, huh? Wow, I have so much to learn…
I know a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy who has a GG and swears by it.
Or, if the NSA is reading this, I don’t know a guy who doesn’t know a guy who doesn’t know a guy who never even heard of a GG.
This thing is legitimately cool from a technology standpoint.
There is literally no other cnc mill with this much automation in this size and price range. Not that I know of. I’d love to hear of one. 🙂
I need to pick up a taig microlathe and small mill at some point. This stuff is so SO cool.
Get as any of these in the hands of as many people as possible as soon as possible.
Hey RF! Any chance of a TTAG contest with one of these as the Grand Prize? That would be a show-stopper.
Does it make economical sense? One can buy three AR-15s (and similar) for under $2000, equipped nicely. I did not see mentioned capability to stamp serial numbers, so anyone wanting to spend $1500 to finish 80% lowers just for themselves takes a bit of unusual interest in the hobby of converting only the lower receiver for one type rifle. If one wishes to make dozens or hundreds for other than never to be loaned, gifted, sold, then serialization is required. Of course, it may not make economical sense to finish 80% lowers using traditional tools, or building a significant personal machine shop.
Serialization and firearm manufacturer license. With all the red tape included.
You can make as many guns for yourself, but make one with intention to sell without a license and you may find yourself in deep…trouble.
Yes, and there’s that.
Hey, Dyspeptic – Any thought – observations on this new model?
Well… it’s a purpose-built CNC mill, it’s not a “printer” in any shape, means or form.
Other than that… I can’t really say much. It’s a purpose-built CNC mill to turn a chunk of bar stock into an AR lower. I can do the same thing on a Bridgeport-style mill with a couple of fixtures, a few different end mills, and screwing some handles this way and that.
G G G Ghosts! Maybe the name is scary…I wish you great success!
Anyone mind explaining to me what this is/does exactly ?? o.0
What the machine does is takes a chunk of aluminum shaped roughly like an AR-15 lower receiver (the lower receiver is the part of a firearm that the BATF considers to legally be the gun) and then takes that lump of metal and, when connected to a computer, carves the metal into the final shape of a lower receiver.
All the other parts of the gun are available over-the-counter without any paperwork, allowing you to own a firearm without the government knowing you have it.
The way God (or any other deity you choose to recognize or not recognize) intended it to be…
1. Put 80% lower in.
2. Press button.
3. Wait.
4. Take complete lower out.
5. …
6. ASSAULT WEAPON!!!
Evil black death machine of war. There, FIFY.
It is an affordable, compact milling and drilling machine that simplifies and speeds the process of finishing raw metals into a functioning gun. No need for hand tools, except maybe final de-burring and polishing.
As cool as this is, a mini mill is only 800.00.
And has a shorter learning curve. I still want one anyway, and may just get one.
The ChiCom mini-mills are more like a “mill project in a box.” Before you can use them for serious work, you need to do a bunch of tweeking, adjusting, adding improvements, etc to them.
People who want to machine stuff at home should instead look around for a used Bridgeport mill. They needn’t cost $10K. You should look around for an older machine with a “J” head with stepped pulleys on it – this is the type of Bridgeport where you need to change belts on two pulleys in the head to change speeds. They’re unloved in the used market because there’s a total of only eight speeds, compared to the two variable ranges in the Series 1 heads. For a hobby user, you could get the J head with a 3 phase motor on it, put on a VFD and wa-la! You have a variable speed mill for thousands less (and actually less hassle) than a Series 1 vari-speed head.
Here’s a manual on how to rebuild them:
http://www.neme-s.org/Shaper%20Books/bridgeport_j1_head_2_0_01%20Rebuild.pdf
Pud-easy. Cost of the mill might even be less than $1K for one in rougher shape. Add some sweat and you’d have a really nice machine when you’re done.
Someone like myself who might be motivated to consider a project like that has a *huge* disadvantage, not knowing if I’m looking at a machine that’s shot or worthwhile to rebuild – I would have zero idea what to look for beyond general sloppiness in the rotating parts.
Any pointers on what to avoid?
In the MW, J-heads go for about $500-600 in serviceable shape. Not perfect, but I was a bit too slow to buy a 5-head pantograph which sold at $600 – and about that I’m sad…
Geoff, just make sure you have somewhere to put it (it takes up some room) and you can do almost anything with it.
Can anyone verify that claim?
I thought the *point* of the GG CNC was to not need to set up a small ‘mill… ?
Wish I could get me one. But, I suffer living in the FASCIST state of Kalifornia. If I were to get on their owner list, I’m damn sure the Kalli overseers will come after me. Freedom and Liberty is dead in this cesspool.
Its NOT A PRINTER!!! A printer uses and addative manufacturing process. This is a CNC Mill, it uses a subtractive manufacturing process. Its a world of difference.
PoTG usually care about the terms being used…until they don’t, apperantly.
(Most) everybody just kind of let that slide, despite the fact that you are very, very right.
We’ve visited reductive/additive machining here many times over the years, and I guess everyone just saw it as a typo and moved on. I shoulda mentioned it, but didn’t. The target of my vitriol is far more critical to the success or failure of what is happening in the field.
Let’s sum all of this up and redirect our efforts at stopping a 2nd Clinton Regime. As a former Marine who was damaged by the 1st regime, I believe that is where we need to be truly focused! Besides, with all of the Patriot Act violations HRC has already committed, any of us would have been executed as traitors….but she still gets to be free AND run for Office! Think about it….think…..think…. I predict (almost guarantee) a 2nd Civil War in our very near future, and with that in mind, this GG machine will end up having a huge value. As for the machine: Dedicated CNC = stock removal….NOT A PRINTER! END OF DEBATE. As for its creator: 1) kudos for him to do “SOMETHING” in line withe the “American Dream”….he created it for it’s intended purpose, and if it creates a decent enough quality…..well…..we will need more if I’m right about that B**** is elected. As for him “poking the proverbial stick”…..it has become way to apparent to me that being intelligent enough to create does not mean smart enough when to STFU (and he needs to STFU). Sell, improve, redesign, sell some more…but “dont rattle a hornets nest!Also keep in mind the Supreme Court ruled that LEO’s are NOT Constitutionally required “to protect”. Thats our own responsibility.
All of this said, as both my wife and I are now medically disabled, if this machine cuts my costs in the long run, then I want/need one. It would be nice if it could do shotgun parts……and suppressor parts…as well.
Let the man make his money, and we all should actually be supportive of that (IF it actually works well enough to be viable), BUT, if he keeps runing his mouth then we should put him in a dark inner-city alley with a neon sign that claims he is carrying large quantities of money.
Now, instead of quibbling over additive vs removal / old school vs new school / or whatever, let’s all fight to keep that B**** out of my White House. We (this Nation) will not survive a 2nd Clinton. And as far as the rest of the anti_gun politicians….either we push them out, or do all we can to change their minds. Unfortunately, the only way to change their mind is if they were being attacked and someone with a CCW Permit saves their worthless life.
Some truly fantastic blog posts on this site, appreciate it for contribution. “A religious awakening which does not awaken the sleeper to love has roused him in vain.” by Jessamyn West.