3D Printers Have "Fingerprints," a Discovery That Could Help Trace 3D-Printed Guns

Megalith

Megalith

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Researchers from the University at Buffalo say that 3D-printed guns, counterfeit products, and other goods can be traced with a development called “PrinTracker,” which leverages the fact that 3D-printed objects contain tiny, differentiating wrinkles that can be used for fingerprinting purposes. Slight imperfections in the patterns result in “an object that does not match its design plan.”

For example, the printer is ordered to create an object with half-millimeter in-fill patterns. But the actual object has patterns that vary 5 to 10 percent from the design plan. Like a fingerprint to a person, these patterns are unique and repeatable. As a result, they can be traced back to the 3D printer.
 
Couldn't one just trash the printer to hide the evidence? Or will manufacturers now test and record the patterns made by every single 3d printer before selling them?
 
^^ bingo, but that also means now stores to track sales and transactions and credit card info which now your getting into privacy issues.
 
Nozzles are cheap, they could swap it out and throw away the old one. Changing acceleration and other settings would also make things just a little bit different. Tightening the belts might make slight changes. There's enough stuff one could do to make it different enough that I have a hard time seeing how this could be trusted.
 
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This is crap. Print speed, filament variation, jerk, nozzle wear, ambient temperature, extruder wear, heater block cartridge degradation, day of month, menstration patterns, blue balls all affect the print and if you are modding the thing like most of us do, no chance of this.
 
Randall Stephens said:
This is crap. Print speed, filament variation, jerk, nozzle wear, ambient temperature, extruder wear, heater block cartridge degradation, day of month, menstration patterns, blue balls all affect the print and if you are modding the thing like most of us do, no chance of this.
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Very True, far too many variables to account for in the print... Heck the table you sit the printer on can cause a print failure if it allows too much sway...
 
Heres an idea, instead of making a crap gun with a $2000 3d printer, just buy an Easy Jig for $120, an 80% lower for $80, and make a reliable firearm that lasts forever using a common battery drill.

Guns are not complicated. The technology to make them in your own home has existed for decades, and yet we don't have this epidemic of "untraceable" firearms being used in crimes. Because if you're going to use a firearm in a crime, you don't want an untraceable gun. You want one that can be traced to someone else (stolen). This is another solution in search of a problem.
 
MatthewK said:
Nozzles are cheap, they could swap it out and throw away the old one. Changing acceleration and other settings would also make things just a little bit different. Tightening the belts might make slight changes. There's enough stuff one could do to make it different enough that I have a hard time seeing how this could be trusted.
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Exactly, changing any one of those parameters will alter the print characteristics. No way a sleuth is going to print a sample with every setting to see if its that printer, too many possibilities.
 
Very likely that changing the nozzle, using a different filament, updating the firmware, or even wear will change things enough to introduce reasonable doubt about the origin of the print.
 
Go to the junkyard or hardware store get two pipes, a cap, some screws, bolts, a nail and you have a shotgun (any size you want and you can reuse it), 3d printer LOL.
 
This operates under the false supposition that all 3d printer parts are tracked when purchased to their delivery point, and completely serialised.

How do you get around such a system, even if it were in place? (which it isn't)

Ship to a PO Box.

WOOOOOW LOOK HOW MUCH THAT FINGERPRINTING HELPS YOU...

Oh, and nobody will be okay with 3d printing registry like gun registry works. That won't ever fly.
 
Mode13 said:
Couldn't one just trash the printer to hide the evidence? Or will manufacturers now test and record the patterns made by every single 3d printer before selling them?
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Why even bother? They are not fingerprinted like guns are prior to their sale. If that was the case then yes, this could be useful for law enforcement. What will be next?
 
zkostik said:
Why even bother? They are not fingerprinted like guns are prior to their sale. If that was the case then yes, this could be useful for law enforcement. What will be next?
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And even with that, there is not one documented case of "fingerprinted" guns solving a crime, TV shows notwithstanding.
 
jardows said:
And even with that, there is not one documented case of "fingerprinted" guns solving a crime, TV shows notwithstanding.
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Well, maybe but policy do have fired bullets or data from that for each gun being sold. Whether it helps them or not, it's a different story but they do have it and will likely find a match for guns that haven't been tampered with or modified in some way to no longer match their fingerprint.
 
jardows said:
And even with that, there is not one documented case of "fingerprinted" guns solving a crime, TV shows notwithstanding.
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I was actually wondering that. I always was told that the bullets can be matched against the barrel. But often wonder how much is left after impact? Never have seen any case where they did such a thing like you said other than tv. Wonder if it is just something spread around like asking undercover cops if they are a cop.
 
Mode13 said:
Couldn't one just trash the printer to hide the evidence? Or will manufacturers now test and record the patterns made by every single 3d printer before selling them?
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BloodyIron said:
This operates under the false supposition that all 3d printer parts are tracked when purchased to their delivery point, and completely serialised.
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They won't have to.

Law enforcement has been doing this for decades. Years ago they figured out that typewriters have a "fingerprint" as well. They could use that info in the general sense of what make/model typewriter was used, and if a search found a typewriter it could be identified as the specific one.
 
Darunion said:
I was actually wondering that. I always was told that the bullets can be matched against the barrel. But often wonder how much is left after impact? Never have seen any case where they did such a thing like you said other than tv. Wonder if it is just something spread around like asking undercover cops if they are a cop.
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The "fingerprinting" done on each new firearm is not of the bullet, but of the spent casing. That has proven 100% ineffective in solving crime, even though every new handgun sold has the spent casing with it. To do the bullet (which could establish a link), law enforcement would have to have the actual firearm used in the crime in their hands. If they have that, it's not a matter of finding the bad guy, it's a matter of establishing evidence for court. While it would be trivial to modify the barrel after shooting to render the micro grooves different enough (simply run a few cleaning patches with an abrasive through the barrel), no normal criminal is going to think of that or go to the trouble - again, law enforcement would have to have the gun in-hand for that and if they do, the bad guy is already on short time for an arrest and conviction.
 
And what if that typewriter was sold to some poor unsuspecting sod? But the person who owns it at the time of observation is not the person who produced the "document" of evidence? Is that conclusive? I'd argue no.

I own a 3d printer today, I do something illegal with it, then sell it. Later in time, the new owner(s) have a search for another reason, they are "fingerprinted" to have the 3d printer, but were they actually the people who did the criminal act? Not necessarily.

It's a form of evidence, but it's also circumstantial. If there's no strict tracing of ownership, like gun ownership can be in parts of the world, how do you know _that_ person owned _that_ 3d printer _when the crime was committed_? You can't.

PantherBlitz said:
They won't have to.

Law enforcement has been doing this for decades. Years ago they figured out that typewriters have a "fingerprint" as well. They could use that info in the general sense of what make/model typewriter was used, and if a search found a typewriter it could be identified as the specific one.
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3D printed parts are not just taken off the print bed and put to use. They are scraped off a print bed and sanded to make fit. That pattern, if it even exists, will do a whole lot of use here.
 
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commissioneranthony said:
3D printed parts are not just taken off the print bed and put to use. They are scraped off a print bed and sanded to make fit. That pattern, if it even exists, will do a whole lot of use here.
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Agreed. We use a sandblaster on many of our parts we print at work and some depending get an acetone steam bath.
 
Darunion said:
Agreed. We use a sandblaster on many of our parts we print at work and some depending get an acetone steam bath.
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If you took a cross-section the pattern would be visible even after sanding, etc.. Not that it'd be very useful.
 
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