WarFairy Charon AR-15 Lower: 3D printed gun presents design issues during shooting

November 10, 2014 by Bridget O'Neal 3D Design 3D Printing

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Shots have been fired! And with great interest, hobbyists who are not only 3D printing enthusiasts but 3D printing gun enthusiasts, are taking note of the latest news on the WarFairy 3D printable AR-15 lower, with video and explanation of the process provided by Reddit user schlauncha.

Talk began when WarFairy released a 3D printable gun design on Reddit, which still required some refinement, as well as a conversion kit. Known as the Hanuman AR-15 Bullpup, it does not have a safety, and requires the user to operate at his own risk. The specs state that it should work without issue, but that was not the case for schlauncha.

3D printed Lower (red) with the Upper, lined up with a purchased AR15 (black) which has a bumpfire stock mounted on it, also 3D printed by schlauncha. Note banana for idea of scale.

In using the open source design for the WarFairy Charon, schlauncha added some of his own modifications, to include:

Different and larger buttpad for his desired length of pull.
Beefed up front takedown pin area and bolt release pin area.
3D printing with ABS using his Da Vinci XYZPrinter 1.0, consuming approximately 1 spool of 600g.

Due to the amount of backlash in recent press over 3D printing of guns, it is important to note that schlauncha lives in an area where it is legal for him to 3D print the gun, as well as to possess it.

“This firearm conforms to all ATF rules like any other AR15 lower,” points out schlauncha.

Schlauncha encounters some challenges, but optimism reigns with his project as he employs the ‘try, try again’ mission statement and keeps refining and fixing the 3D printed gun with each issue that crops up. His first challenge was in trying to open the binder tube which he speculated must have been pushed wrong or perhaps he ‘thumped it’ as he ‘split it in half through the trigger pin.’ In need of actetone to make a fix, schlauncha had to hold off on firing the gun until the next day.

All in all, the 3D printed gun held out better than schlauncha had expected; however, once the gun was glued back together, he noted some continuing problems: “The gun still has some issues with failure to feed due to drag in the buffer tube, and after six shots it split vertically through the rear takedown pin. But, being 3D printed ABS, I believe I can just get some acetone down into that split and have it re-bond successfully.”

His final conclusion was that it was probably time to retire this initial model and move on to a new 3D printed revision. Discuss the process–and the issues Schlauncha encountered with his 3D printed gun in the Modified Warfairy Charon forum at 3DPB.com.