I was a child of the 1980’ s, growing up in the waning days of the first Cold War. I remember seeing the Berlin Wall fall and having a child’s understanding that it was something great in history. I was relieved that SALT and START treaties were signed and that Russia & USA had stepped back from nuclear Armageddon.
I was relieved because I knew that in the event of a nuclear war, I would be reduced to a shadow in ground zero. I lived within the blast radius of Buckley Air Force Base which is a major military communications and surveillance facility. In a major war, the base would be a prime military target for a nuclear attack. We did not do any nuclear attack drills (Duck and Cover!) in school, because the administration knew our chances of survival would be nil.
I have not thought about the threat of a nuclear attack sense my childhood. Now that president elect (I cringe when I write that) Donald Trump has risen inexplicably to the presidency, I have new reasons to resurrect the nuclear fear that I thought would be gone in my lifetime.
In the short time that Trump has been in office, he has shown an incredible lack of tact and diplomacy in the verbal diarrhea that spews from his Twitter account.
On Dec.22d he posted a tweet calling for nuclear proliferation. To add fuel to the fire, he called in to the MSNBC show Morning Joe and told the hosts:
“Let it be an arms race, we will outlast them at every pass.”
Because of this absolute lunatic from Trump BEFORE he even gets into the White House, I am seriously thinking about my personal survival in the event that Trump pushes the button.
3D Printing for Survival
I’ll admit that I have thought that doomsday preppers and survivalist were paranoid individuals. However now I am starting to see my personal paradigm shift to their way of thinking. It has been fine to look at my 3D printer as a tool to make toys and practical things, but now I am looking at it as a tool to prepare for survival.
Shelter
When the event of a catastrophic disaster occurs, taking shelter is essential. To prepare beforehand, you could 3D print a cement bomb shelter and bury it in your back yard. This way you can 3D print a comfortable and durable shelter that is reminiscent of the fallout shelters of the Cold War. While this may require a more specialized industrial 3D cement printer, it is something that is worth considering in the future as the technology becomes available.
Water
Access to potable municipal drinking water may be nonexistent if the government collapses under Trump. You will have to turn to stored sources of water, including rain barrels and cisterns. But without an electric pump, you may need a manual water pump that is portable like http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:896952
If you have a portable camping filter, you know how important it is to have a silt screen on the intake hose, so a screen like http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1395090 will come in handy.
Fire
While matches and lighters are handy and a must have in any survival kit, they may run out in a long-term survival situation. Starting a fire is good for moral and for cooking, so having an alternative fire starting tool is a survival must. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:270321 is a bearing block for a bow drill, which would be a great tool to prepare while things are good.
Knife
3D printing is a goldmine for custom tools, so I will not go into depth on them. However one of the best tools to strap onto your belt is still a knife. While the idea of a plastic knife sounds a bit off in a survival situation, simple knives that are 3D printed can be utilitarian and function as trade items. They can also be customized quickly for any special task.
Bullet molds
Guns will be a fact of life in a survival situation. Amo hungry guns and trigger happy shooters will make amo a valuable trading commodity in the apocalypse. Casting the bullets in scrap lead will become a valuable skill, so using 3D printed bullets like http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:55798 can produce the molds
needed to form bullets.
In a future article I’ll expand more upon other 3D printable survival tools. If you would like to add to this, please contact 3D-PT in chat or stan@3dpt.club.
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little fatalistic
Perhaps, but it is hard to not see the worst in our country with Trump being president.
Well, if you have not taken the time or do not intend on checking out the reference material that I had shared in my comment below, then please do yourself a favor and take a moment to read the following webpage to learn a few facts the system neglected to share with us in school. Falling into fear is what they want.
http://home.iae.nl/users/lightnet/world/essays.htm
Peace!
To get a better grasp of the situation you need to read Carrol Quigley’s book Tragedy & Hope which is available online as a free PDF. The book is a historical documentation of the global monolithic conspiracy and as such is a rather dry read. However, there is a book called Tragedy & Hope 101 by Joe Plumer that has captured the essence of what Quigley referred to as “the Network” and made this important information accessible to the average person who simply doesn’t have time to read a 1,300-page history book. You can read the book for free online at: http://www.joeplummer.com/tragedy-and-hope-101 Enjoy the read!
Peace!
Comment: I don’t know what to say, I’m not in USA, but I feel the fear of everybody about Trump being president, I only hope the people stand up everytime he decides to do something questionable, even if more people are in favor never let them do everything or he will be “all powerful”
back in the tools to print, I was thinking in plates for a bulletproof vest, like the Dragon skin vest or something like that.
I like the body armor… with something like laybrick, it may be possible to print functional armor plates.
I just hope that most people take this article with a grain of salt. Although this is a possibility, I am putting my faith in democracy that if The President Elect were to make an Idiotic decision, he would either be overturned, or impeached.
I like to think that Trump has somebody smart enough on his cabinet/support staff that this would never occur.
I think back to the cabnets of Nixon and W Bush… If you surround yourself with those that think like you, your going to get your results. Trump is not draining the swamp, he is making it more of a cess pool
Trump doesn’t have any political experience and speaks his mind but i don’t think he will get us into a war. At least I hope not. I grew up during the cold war period but I never let it get to me.
ummm… never in history has such an unqualified person demonstrate Peter’s Principal of Hierarchy.
I will leave my political views out of this. I find some of the prints very interesting, and it never hurts to prepare. I wonder how well the bearing block for a fire starting will hold up? Maybe printing with Nylon would help reduce wear on the printed part.
your always welcome to design and print a survival set.