Drama at Flash forge! EULA includes spying on what you print.

[Ed Street]

Ok, so maybe some drastic subject, but it's messed up in everyone's book.  Does not matter if you are on either side of the subject.

TLDR version.  Flashforge posted and ran an ad showing they support 'responsible printing,' then told you what you can not print with your printer.  Also, when you actually READ the TOS, they list it quite plainly that yes, they do snoop, yes, they do share info, and yes, it is cross-border, cross-national agencies. 

As a result, they had a ton of issues.  There were the standard pro/anti 2A arguments, and then the deeper issues of IP rights and ownership rights.  

So, pulling up and actually READING the TOS yields very interesting indeed.. 

So yes, they can spy on your printer and find out details on what you are printing, the object itself, and share it with anyone they wish.  So, from this, I can see that printing a toy of Marvin the Martian would be illegal on a FlashForge printer.

Today, after much kickback, Flashforge walked back their statements. There is a growing number of people who are walking away from Flashforge. Just today alone, I have seen a dramatic increase in Flashforge printers on the marketplace.

Also, I encourage everyone to READ and UNDERSTAND the EULA (End User License Agreement) and know what is going on.

https://cloud.sz3dp.com/registerProtocal_en.html

[Kurt The 3D Printer GUY!!]

WOW ED - this is indeed DEEP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have not read down thru All of your post - not yet - but, I will! 

Will admit - I am indeed ANTI-Guns. Honestly - I think the USA and what - I think it's 2nd Amendment rights - it's WAY OUT Dated - and that was Drawn up in a time when we NEEDED To have Guns to protect ourselves!!! But, the world is WAY Different now - and things should change. That being said (and I WILL NOT Bring up the Crazy political times in the USA right now - but, alas - I just DID) - it's now - Right now - a bit of a tough call. 

Will also admit - I think FF is just trying to Cover Their Arse!!!  Not a Bad concept - considering all that is happening and the past # of years of Bad Press for 3D Printing and Guns stuff. Like the Killing of the Health Ins co. CEO in the US. It's Nuts - it really is...

And just think - Thanksgiving is FAST Approaching...

-K

[Bill Rockhold]

Good to know. Not a company that I will ever do business with.

Bill

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[Dean Greene]

Glad I sent mine back today screw them!! 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/3d-printing-tips--tricks/CAGBpD3M7J79u-Xf0KQbAQtjvicFx-joDvM61t2F74jHiOmgVVw%40mail.gmail.com.

[Ed Street]

Kurt,  technically, this is not about 'guns'; it is more about your civil liberties as a whole.    They also listed other things besides firearms, like pornography.  

Do you, as an individual, have the right to print something on your printer for use by you, and you alone, in the privacy of your own home, at your discretion?  Or are you subjected to something someone feels strongly about on the other side of the globe? 

The concept is called "immunity from liability" or "statutory immunity."  This gives manufacturers immunity from prosecution when their products are used for illegal gain or in improper ways.  i.e., using a crowbar to break into a building illegally, and the manufacturer is sued for making burglary equipment.  Another case would be a suit by the automaker for a suicide bomber's use of the car.

It is very easy to pass it off as 'guns,' but the truth is the subject is much deeper.

[Kurt The 3D Printer GUY!!]

Yeah Ed - I hear ya. I just now read all the rest of your initial posting. I'm quite shocked that their comments in the blue border image completely contradicts item #10 of their EULA. It's Scary to see them claim they have full right to scan all your GCode data - and then potentially report you to the authorities. That really is Nuts. Yeah - even printing Marvin, as you stated - could get you in trouble. But, that's also a sticky subject. 

Years and years ago, at the beginning of the internet - there were folks that loved to try and replicate Star Wars designs - and then post them online. Then I heard that Lucas went after some of the folks and told them to remove those copies of SW spaceships from the web. So - folks doing IP infringement is not new. 

Anyway - thanks for posting this Ed - and for your last reply - much appreciated!

-K

[Joseph Larson]

Yeah, I have opinions.

I mean, first of all, I'm not anti-Gun, but I understand why people are. However I am anti-surveillance. And I also like Flashforge and want to give them the benefit of the doubt.

I don't think that Flashforge is actually checking to see if you're 3D printing a firearm, for a couple of reasons. First of all, as far as I can tell they're only streaming the G-Code and a picture of the STL through their service, but not the actual STL. Getting any useful data about what you're printing from the GCode is not trivial. 

Now, what if they change their system so they are streaming the STL to their service? While there are tons of published gun designs out there, a new one or a remeshing of an old one would render that useless. What about AI? Sure, they're gonna trust a process like this to a system notorious for false positives and just plain having a stroke. And even if they spent the time and money to develop detection systems, all of that could be undone by simply taking your printer offline and using the included USB which every Flashforge printer has. 

In other words, regardless of what they say, they have engineered a system that is unmoderatable.

So why are they hinting that they could moderate and making a policy about what to do if that moderation is violated?

I think that this is pointing at a bigger problem, and if we get distracted with personal offences we may miss it or make the problem worse.

Flashforge is an international company and outside of the US the right to own firearms is not protected in most places. And even in the US we have concerned parents and lawmakers who are reading reports about an increasing number of people 3D printing ghost guns. And from those reports they draw the conclusion that that owning a 3D printer is as good as owning a gun. So to cover their butts Flashforge is having to say "No, we don't support that. And we'll stop anyone we catch doing it" even if they won't and can't actually do that. Flashforge's message to gun enthusiasts in the US that Flashforge isn't for them. It's a message to lawmakers that Flashforge will be compliant.

But you probably already caught the big flaw there, and it's not Flashforge's fault. You probably know that owning a 3D printer does not make someone a button push away from owning a firearm. Yes, there are people using 3D printers to assist in making ghost guns, and probably an increasing number of them. But in every case those weapons require external components that have to be added. If someone were isolated from the world with a 3D printer and an unlimited supply of filament, they could not make a gun. You could get close, but you can't 3D print gunpowder or blast caps. Plus plastic 3D printed casings are a bad idea, and plastic 3D printed bullets would explode before leaving the 3D printed barrel. A fully 3D printed gun is not feasible, never mind the time it takes to print and assemble one.

No kid is going to walk into a school in the morning and perpetuate a tragedy before lunch with a gun they printed on the school 3D printer. No anti-government group is going to turn militia because they bought an Adventurer 5M Pro. They're going to need parts and bullets, and those things should be the thing raising the red flags, not the plastic squirting machine. I've said it before, but If lawmakers were worried about ghost guns, then regulate ammunition and gunpowder.

Don't think too badly about Flashforge. I think they're simply caught under the thumb of uneducated law makers who need to understand this situation better. They're trying to cover their butts in an international market where there is a growing problem with people using new technology and reporters not giving the full story and just focusing on the parts that get the attention. The solution isn't wagging a finger at flashforge. It's better education for lawmakers and concerned parents.

[Ed Street]

Joseph Larson, I have one thing I would like to point out in what you said.  Converting from GCODE to STL is super, super simple and easy.  In fact you can automate it and use AI, overall it takes SECONDS to convert.

Here is an example that I just did.  Screenshot of the original print job.

Here is the sliced gcode viewer of the same file. I then exported the gcode.

I went to https://fabconvert.com/convert/gcode/to/stl#convert  and fed it my gcode file and downloaded the STL file.  Here is what it gave me.

So yes, it can easily and automatically convert from gcode to STL or other formats like STEP, Mesh, OBJ, etc. 

The second part, Yes, yes, you can 3d print 100% functional firearms, including barrels, and yes, even primers and ammo.  I will not get into details on that on this forum but I will say yes it is possible .

[Bryan Eckert]

As a firearm(s) owner, flashforge is full of shit.

1 - it is not illegal in any way to manufacture your own firearm in the United States - or for that matter ANY state in the U.S. as far as I know. What would be illegal would be to manufacture and sell them if you don’t have the proper FFL (like a type 7). 

2 - I can go on Amazon and buy say, magazine extenders, and Amazon doesn’t give a damn. I. A buy any number of gun modification parts there. I have personally printed pinky extenders for one of my CCW guns, because I didn’t feel like giving Amazon $25 for 20 cents worth of nylon. Flashforge feels they should report me to the authorities for something that is not in any way illegal? How about speed loaders? Gun safe magazine racks?

3 - One of my firearms is a Springfield, where the frame is not serialized, the fire control group (trigger mechanism) is. This is becoming more and more common, where you can freely switch out grips, and easily and freely print your own custom grips. Don’t like the grip texture? Print a new one.  Flashforge is telling you they will report you for doing something the manufacturer actively encourages you to do. 

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/3d-printing-tips--tricks/51e14550-853c-49db-b774-ae8835fb9fd6n%40googlegroups.com.

[Kurt The 3D Printer GUY!!]

Yo Joe - That's a GREAT Reply. 

In fact - your one comment - "...If lawmakers were worried about ghost guns, then regulate ammunition and gunpowder." - it's very similar to what Andy has stated in the podcasts in several segments. 

-K

On Saturday, November 15, 2025 at 6:02:09 PM UTC-5 Joseph Larson wrote:

[Kurt The 3D Printer GUY!!]

Hey Ed - that's REALLY Interesting info about conversion of GCode files back into STL's. I was looking into that a WHILE Ago - and could NOT Find the answer on how to do it. Maybe your solution, that webpage, didn't exist back then. 

But, I will admit - the downside - the STL kinda looks like Crap - considering it has all the layer lines showing in it. Still, you did prove a point with the conversion - which I totally get. 

-K

[Ed Street]

Kurt,  it is possible, yes.  However, I did find an archive on Wayback Machine dated Sep 16, 2024.  FabConvert itself was first indexed by Google 4 years ago.  Also worth noting, there is no published date on that site, so we really can't say when it was first made public or how long it was before Sept 16, 2024.  I did find in their notes https://fabconvert.com/news/gcode-to-point-cloud-conversions-added  . This was dated Date: June 14, 2024

The entire point is they really don't need to create the object, STL, STEP, or whatnot, just a visual of the print to show if it is in or out of their EULA.

[Kurt The 3D Printer GUY!!]

Will admit - my search for a tool like this - I think I was looking back in like 2017 or 2018. But, yeah - a basic visual representation is indeed all they care about - so, layer lines in the design won't matter. I totally get it!

-K

[Joseph Larson]

The second part, Yes, yes, you can 3d print 100% functional firearms, including barrels, and yes, even primers and ammo.  I will not get into details on that on this forum but I will say yes it is possible .

Including ammo and primer you say? I'd very much like to know more about this. 

I know about the liberator, which was an impressive design. The 3D printed spring was cool. However, it's barrel was a joke. It was too short and had no riffling, so the .22 that it fired tumbled more than spun out of it. Plus, it was single shot, so not the sort of thing that would start a revolution or perpetuate a tragedy. And even as much as they managed to make 3D printable, it still required a nail be added as a firing pin, so not 100% 3D printable. And every design that I saw thereafter had you adding barrels, if nothing else. So if there is, as you say, a fully 100% 3D printed firearm, I'd love to know about it.