Open source 3-D printing of OSAT: Difference between revisions

This page was developed by the Queen's University Applied Sustainability Research Group.

The technological evolution of the personal 3-D printer has made a new means of open design capable of accelerating self-directed sustainable development. This project explores how an open source 3-D printer, such as the RepRap, enable users to build the device and use designs in the public domain to fabricate technologies useful in their context. When coupled with the open source appropriate technology (OSAT) community the user's own experience with designs, innovations, and inventions can be similarly made available for the public usually through an open internet protocol such as an appropriate technology wiki like Appropedia. These open source technological advances thus have the potential to spur a virtuous cycle founded on a traditional hacker gift culture. Those with the best designs, which are provided free for the world community, are rewarded with prestige and develop their reputations in the global innovation community in the same way academics carefully nurture their h-indexes. This project outlines a research trajectory to improve local feed stock availability, size, and material properties to extend the existing technology to provide a complete village-level fabrication independence. Finally open source 3-D printing will be evaluated as a disruptive technology to challenge the conventional closed, top-down, corporate and colonial forms of development with an open, peer to peer, local self-reliant federation for providing abundance from existing resources.

Rapman Sub-Project

• Build and test Rapman from Bits from Bytes
• Print Mendel parts from Reprap
• Write step by step guide on how to build Mendel

Links that have to do with our Project

• Reprap wiki
  
• Rapman protocol
  
• RapMan
  
• Open source 3D printer literature review
  
• 3D Model to G-Code File for Rapman
  

Members

• user:C Blair- see user page for more links
  
• user:k.laciak