I tried that kind of suppressor. You have to be real careful not to cut yourself, you end up with some very sharp edges.
I think the 80% suppressor model will be “how the situation evolves”.
I used to work with vacuum tubes that worked at radar frequencies, and my co-workers handed me a situation, “this thing dissipates 10 kilowatts and what you have to cool it off is air (not liquid cooled) going through a little tube 4 inches in diameter. Deal with it”.
The design that we used a lot of in that job, was the pin fin design. Basically a forest of aluminum pins dip brazed to another piece of aluminum. Forced Convection, the fan that did the forcing was only 4 inches in diameter but cost $5000.
Heat transfer is a lot like acoustic absorption. Just a different frequency.
With 80% lowers, the part that is difficult to manufacture is the aluminum billet, and the molds that are used to make it, and to cut the large diameter thread.
Drilling some holes and milling a little material is easier, but still takes some metal working know how.
Personally, I’m surprised that the ATF allows the drill hole fixtures to be sold. They make the task easier.
I know 2 guys who did the 80% lower route. One had good results, the other ended up with a rifle that was more like a bolt action. Would not cycle.
Anyway, I think the suppressor version of the 80% lower … I think it already existed before the Texas law, in some gunsmith’s shops and also the R&D labs of some firearm manufacturers.
One observation about marketing it, is that it’s sort of like marketing Vitamin D and Quercetin as a food supplement. If you say that it is useful in preventing Covid19, the FDA will become upset, because they’re a$$holes who don’t actually care about public health.
But if you market something like Fancy Expensive Marmalade - with extra orange peel - well you can say that it contains Quercetin, and you can include a bag of nuts with every package, and say that they contain Zinc. Because nuts contain Zinc.
But if you say that your Marmalade + Nuts package is useful in preventing Covid19, the FDA will again get upset.
So I think the marketing of the 80% lower will be a little Zen. Just a picture of a metal part and a price. It’s purpose can’t be stated, but people will know what it is.
I wonder if you could call the primary metal part of an 80% suppressor, a “Metal Sculpture”.
Just claim that it’s art. Let people engrave their baby’s names, like how they do with tattoos.
re 3D printing - I think of it as the digital world’s gift to pattern-makers. But it also does result in useful parts, and some of those parts have decent material strength.
Somebody could make a 3D printed metal Dragon’s Head, attach the correct thread to it, and it might actually function as a suppressor.
That would be funny, if some Art Museum in Texas put something like that on exhibit. It would have to be artsy-craftsy. A completely functional suppressor, that people can only look at and not touch. The ATF might walk around fuming, but I think it is legal to display a metal sculpture that functions as a suppressor in Public.
As long as the art gallery doesn’t hand out the 3D CAD files, I think they could have an educational suppressor exhibit without getting shut down by the ATFE.
We’ll know the country has gone in an interesting direction if the Smithsonian starts having live Tannerite demonstrations. 
