Open source 3-D printers

Open Source 3-D Printer

There are now several open source 3-D printers on the market for example:

1. MakerBot Industries -- Although they have CupCake CNC kits for sale -- all the plans are available - it says "I am an open, hackable robot for making nearly anything". See a video from CES 2010 on the CupCake here
2. RepRap[1]. See this article about the basic idea. Again you can buy a setup for 795 pounds here but also build it yourself. The really interesting thing about this model is the machines can produce themselves - at least to some degree. For some examples of what it can do see this. Makeshift RepRaps, or Repstraps, capable of printing the parts for a proper rep-rap can be made from salvaged materials.
3. The original Fab@Home
4. See the 3-D printing article at the P2P Foundation

There are a lot of interesting possibilities for the use of such 3-D printers to create appropriate technologies for sustainable development. This is the beginning.

For more on 3-D printers and open sourced sustainable development see this Journal of Sustainable Development article

Potential Applications of 3-D Printing to Sustainable Development

1. hand held corn sheller
2. customized prosthetics
3. solar water pasteurization manifolds, absorbers
4. valves
5. water wheels

Design competition

• Open source sustainability 3-D printing design competition

See Also

• Open source rapid prototyping of OSAT
• OMG Challenge to use waste plastic in open source 3-D printers