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Lucky for me, I have at my disposal several 3D printing machines at Georgia Tech. There is a Dimension fusion deposition molding (FDM) machine as well as several stereolithography (SLA) machines. They are very handy, particularly for rapid prototyping.  However, there is a cadre of hardware hackers seeking to build an open-source FDM machine, dubbed the RepRap project.

The basic idea is simple: Design your device in a 3D CAD software (Autocad, Solidworks, SolidEdge, RhinoCAD, or even Google Sketchup), and export it to an STL file. Use the 3D printer's software to add supports (if necessary), then hit "print." Wait a few hours, and your device will materialize in the form of a physical device. Of course, the technologies available to achieve this result are quite varied (maybe the subject of future posts). The materials are just as diverse (depending on the technology being used), ranging from plastics, polymers, ceramics, and metals to more exotic materials such as muscles and bones. The picture shows a solenoid holder that I designed in Solidworks, and then later "printed" in ABS plastic on the Dimension 3D printer.

Anyway, the point of this post is "Open Source Fusion Deposition Molding." This is the goal of the RepRap project. They are trying to build a self-replicating FDM rapid prototyper that is open-source. Each 3D printer should be able to print copies of itself (minus the electronics and motors, which would be bought off the shelf). The idea is that individuals can "print" a 3D printer for their friends, who can "print" them for their friends, and so on. Enthusiasts (by the nature of open source) can modify and enhance subsequent designs, which will be propagated through the community. The project is well underway, and is currently building a version for bootstraping the process. Pictured is the RepRap FDM extrusion head (the part that heats and "extrudes" plastic). Of course, the current resolution and capability of the system isn't nearly as good as commercial variants (see picture below). However, this shouldn't be discouraging, as the same trend was observed for open-source software.

Ultimately, it may be possible for everyone to have a 3D printer in the home, sitting alongside their normal paper printer (maybe they'll be one-and-the-same)! If technology progresses to the point that we can manipulate matter at the nano-scale, we may even see "Matter Compilers." These are 3D printers that build any item you please, including food, from the comfort of your own home. On a larger scale, they could make whole cars or auto-assembling homes... This was all described in Neal Stephenson's visionary book The Diamond Age (my favorite book, by the way -- very forward-thinking)!

NOTE:  This post originally appeared on Hizook.com, which has been transformed into a robotics-centric website.  To preserve all of my original posts, I've transferred the content to my new homepage TravisDeyle.com.  I also encourage you to scope out the new Hizook!