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The controversial inventor behind the 3D printed gun has revealed his latest project - a $1200 milling machine to make untraceable rifles.

Called the Ghost Gunner, the CNC mill can produce metal parts to built a rifle.

The rifle does not have a serial number, and is therefore known as a 'ghost' gun.

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The CNC machine can automatically convert a prebought aluminium   block that can be bought legally for $80 into the main component of an assault rifle.

The finished rifle: The parts are combined to make a fully functioning assault rifle

Defense Distributed's previous creations have included 3-D printable plastic magazines and the Defender gun wrong brought it worldwide attention earlier this year.

Cody Wilson, the man behind the firm, says the new product is the 'gold standard'.

'3-D printing [guns] was about signaling the future,' he told Wired. 

'This is about the present.

'You can use this machine today to create something to the standards you're used to…The gold standard of the gun community is metal.'

The machine works in a unique way. 

Rather than creating a gun from scratch, it adapt a part known as an '80% lower'.

This is the body of the gun that connects its stock, barrel, magazine and other parts. 

The '80% lower'. This is the body of the gun that connects its stock, barrel, magazine and other parts.

If you purchase a pre milled '80% lower', a piece that is 80% complete and totally legal, you can clamp it into the machine, hit a button and it will do the rest.

It is also the part of a gun that is most licensed. 

By milling the part at home, and buying the rest of the parts online, which are not controlled, it is possible to build a  semi-automatic weapon with no serial number, a weapon some gun control advocates call a 'ghost gun'. 

Selling that untraceable gun body is illegal, no law prevents you from making one. 

The firm boasts anyone can use the machine.

'Just follow a few simple instructions to mount your 80% lower receiver, tighten a couple screws (with simple tools we provide), and on day one, Ghost Gunner can help you legally manufacture unserialized firearms in the comfort of your own home.'

The release of the kit, which has sold out its first run, follows a debate in California over a state law that would ban the manufacture of all guns without serial numbers. 

The bill, widely known as the 'ghost gun ban' and introduced by Los Angeles state senator Kevin de Leόn earlier this year was designed to criminalize either 3-D printing or finishing an 80 percent lower without a government-assigned serial number in California. 

The legislation passed California's senate and assembly, but was vetoed by the state's governor Jerry Brown, who wrote that he 'can't see how adding a serial number to a homemade gun would significantly advance public safety.'

'You can have an unserialized toothbrush, and you can have an unserialized rifle,' Wilson told Wired.

'This is important to me. 

'The untraceable firearm is my stand.'

the machine is small enough to be used at home - and costs just $1299.

The machine is available to preorder online

Defense Distributed said it decided to build its machine from the ground up.

'We found existing CNC machines too expensive, too DIY, or too inaccurate to manufacture firearms for the casual user. 

'By miniaturizing the build envelope to just large enough to mill common firearm receivers, we were able to improve rigidity, reduce material cost and simultaneously relax some design limits, allowing us to sell an inexpensive machine with more than enough accuracy to manufacture firearms.

'All GhostGunner schematics and design files will be published into the public domain,' the firm said.