All posts filed under: Open-Source

Rep Rap Organization Project

Published by 3D-Master-Add

The RepRap Printer, also called the Replicating Rapid Prototyper, was created as a starting point for the British to develop a 3D printer. This 3D printer would be able to make a copy of its own items, at a low cost. With the RepRap able to make copies of its own items, the makers envisioned the possibility of the RepRap units being cheap, allowing the manufacture of more complex products without having to use complex industrial infrastructure to make them. An initial study done on the RepRap supported the claim that by using RepRap to print common products, there were major economic savings. These saving were also more cost efficient since the RepRap printers was able to clone themselves. Making the savings even greater. RepRap, started by Dr. Adrian Bowyer in 2005, a mechanical engineering lecturer at the University of Bath, UK, was first prototyped in September 2006. Adrian Bowyer, a British engineer and mathematician, after spending twenty-two years as a lecturer, then retired from academic life. The first model of the RepRap successfully printed …

Fab@Home Organization

Published by 3D-Master-Add

Fab@Home, the first multi-material 3D printer made available to the public, was also one of the first two open-source do-it-yourself 3D printers. The other printer was the RepRap. The goal of the Fab@Home project was to change the high cost and closed nature of the 3D printing industry by creating a low-cost, versatile, open printer. Since the Fab@Home release in 2006, there had been hundreds of Fab@Home 3D printers built across the world. The design elements of Fab@Home could be found in many do-it-yourself printers, more often in the MakerBot Replicator. The Fab@Home project was closed in 2012 once the project’s goal was achieved and distribution of do-it-yourself printers were outpaced by the sales of industrial printers for the first time. Creating a Fabrication System with Low Costs Fab@Home was started in 2006 by Professor Hod Lipson and Evan Malone of the Cornell Computational Synthesis Lab. While attempting to design a robot that could reprogram itself and produce its own hardware, Lipson discovered the need for a rapid-prototyping fabrication machine. The technology for the rapid-prototyping, …

Comparing Open-Source and Low-Cost 3D Printers with Commercial Products

Published by 3D-Master-Add

The most recent comparison of the 3D printers was the uPrint machine manufactured by Stratasys and the thermoplastic extrusion machines that are made by companies such as MakerBot and Bits from Bytes. The uPrint machine recorded a high number of sales compared to the sales of the assembled devices. Stratasys has built a new professional machine, called Mojo. The new entry-level machine has superior features, such as a soluble support system together with starter packs. Stratasys is also offering the device on leasing programs starting at 185 US Dollars.