We've come a long way since Herbert Hoover promised "a chicken in every pot." Today we're on the verge of a factory in every home thanks to the RepRap, an open hardware 3D printer that is designed to replicate itself. You can make a RepRap for yourself, then use it to make one for your neighbor.
RepRap from Adrian Bowyer on Vimeo.
You could also just share your RepRap, though open source self-replication is how the RepRap community intends to get this technology into as many hands as possible. The design files and software needed to build and operate the RepRap are free. You can make one for about $500 in parts. And with each new version of the machine, an increasing percentage of the parts can be produced by the RepRap itself.
You can make all kinds of stuff with the RepRap including door handles, wine glasses, children's shoes, tweezers, and much more. In fact, you can download thousands of free designs from Thingiverse including the cathedral playset below. And you can use the RepRap for prototyping new products to be manufactured elsewhere.
Want to contribute to the community? Then form or join a team in the competition to build a better RepRap. The Kartik M. Gada Humanitarian Innovation Prize is offering $80,000 for a better RepRap.
Credit: Skimbal
Comments
Rabah Rahil wrote on 08.18.10, 3:23pm:
Nothing short of incredible! I know what my next $500 are going too...after I buy a parrot drone :)
Jeremy Adam Smith wrote on 08.18.10, 3:53pm:
Naturally, I like the open source, DIY promise of the RepRap--though I also question its sustainability and shareability. Do we really want a factory in every home? Is that really what we're shooting for? I've often thought that there's an interesting, unresolved tension between the DIY ethic and the sharing ethic--"doing it for yourself" as opposed to "doing it with others," or "for others" or just relying on others for "it."
Jeremy Adam Smith
www.jeremyadamsmith.com
Sasha wrote on 08.18.10, 4:25pm:
The maker movement is about working together, not crazy survivalist self sufficiency game. There is no point in having a rep rap in every home. It would be much more useful if there is one in every neighborhood, together, with a lathe, mill, drill etc.
Duann wrote on 08.18.10, 4:36pm:
Of course there are also online 3D printing services to have your part delivered to your door in a wider range of materials.
Neal Gorenflo wrote on 08.18.10, 5:31pm:
Good questions Jeremy. I have similar reservations, so thanks for calling this out.
To answer your first question, we definitely don't need a factory in every home, but I think political and economic freedom depends on communities having control over the means to produce necessities. The RepRap is symbolic of self-determination but not everyone needs one. Maybe no one needs one. Any open hardware folks want to chime in on this?
On the tension between DIY and sharing, I don't feel the same about it because sharing knowledge and labor is part of how things get made, at least in some parts of DIY culture.
And for me there's a distinction between DIY and maker culture. DIY seems more directed at basic needs. I feel like there's an element of "conspicuous creativity" (as opposed to conspicuous consumption) at work in maker culture, and that it's stoked by Maker Faire and the top mags in the space. I mean this is an industry. It's in tool and component providers' interest to encourage making.
There's the danger that maker culture could become just as destructive socially and environmentally as consumer culture with everyone competing to be the most prolific and creative maker (a premise for a Shareable Futures dystopian tale?). Burning Man is a gift culture but there's also competition around display, around who has made the coolest thing. This makes sense in context of a festival, but as a 24/7 way of life? That would be very resource intensive!
More thought required...
Jim wrote on 08.19.10, 2:28am:
I think the idea of a small "factory" to make things you need at home is a nice idea. The oilbased plastics is less nice. It is a huge environmental problem and producing more of it does not ring true to me. We need to produce less of the stuff that goes into the wastebasket
If the machine would make use of... i don't know, corn starch or some sort of organic waste material I'd be happier.
Neal Gorenflo wrote on 08.19.10, 8:54am:
The title of the article was more about the potential for spreading the technology rather than an actual goal.
What might be a more sustainable goal is more open access workshops and making 3D printers accessible in those workshops.
Techshop is an open access workshop down the street from me:
http://techshop.ws/
It's like coworking but for makers where everyone shares tools and where tools normally impractical for individuals to own make sense in a pool use situation.
Lydia wrote on 08.19.10, 9:42am:
I wonder what the limits are for the size of the items that the RepRap could make? Could it, say, build furniture? Make all of the components for a house?
Neal Gorenflo wrote on 08.19.10, 11:55am:
Lydia, right now the size of things that can be made by the RepRap seems fairly limited, but there are innovations like the open source compressed earth block (CEB) maker that enable you to make components for houses:
http://openfarmtech.org/index.php?title=CEB_Press#Step_3._Product_Defini...
If you combine these technologies, your dependence on the marketplace is reduced even further. For example, you could make hardware (handles, nobs, etc.) for the house using the RepRap.
Note that when you make stuff on site, there are environmental gains in transportation and packaging of goods, amongst other benefits.
Alex Shalman wrote on 08.21.10, 1:27am:
This is a pretty cool idea. Not that I'm looking at the downside, but one possible drawback of this tool would be malicious software, such as that for making plastic guns as seen in the movie In The Line of Fire. This would put a weapon into everyone's hands, but then again, anyone who is desperate enough to use one can find where to get it.
Could this technology force some third-world countries to forgo their industrial revolutions by decreasing demand from our end?
Allan C Ecker wrote on 08.27.10, 8:46pm:
Some notes from someone more inside the RepRap community on these excellent questions!
1: Sustainability of the plastics
Recycling is a high priority for the community, and while most solutions we have developed so far are clanky and limited, improvements are continuing and perhaps more to the point, ABS is quite amenable to more traditional recycling.
Second, the RepRap user base has also embraced PLA (polylactic acid), which is made from corn. Oil-based plastics are fine as long as recycling is in the mix, and as long as alternatives are being worked on. I think it's right to be more concerned about burning oil than about spinning it into materials. (Although in the long term, neither can go on forever.)
2: Weaponized Fabrication
Like with most technologies, this one is probably inevitable, although I find it interesting and heartening that the RepRap guys are actively opposed to it and have at least mentioned actively subverting attempts to weaponize.
3: Are Factories Everywhere a Good Thing?
They can be, I think. Building a factory does concentrate the environmental impact of construction into a single point, which can be watched and protected against spills, etc. However having the factories out at the nodes of consumption does eliminate a lot of transportation cost. And as recycling improves, the factory nodes will tend to be less polluting...
Anonymous wrote on 09.15.10, 5:47am:
"It is a huge environmental problem and producing more of it does not ring true to me. We need to produce less of the stuff that goes into the wastebasket"
Melt it down and spin it back into line?
Introducing: ReRepRap
Alex Cavity wrote on 07.27.11, 11:29pm:
Wow, the RepRap looks really simple and functional to have in the home. I am so excited to try building it and head a manufacturing project of my own! I will post photos if it is successful, thank you for sharing this!
Alex Cavity wrote on 10.26.11, 9:52pm:
Thanks for this amazing article. I feel that the ideas given in this article are wonderful. Those who love DIY stuff would enjoy checking out this article. It motivates one to think far. One can also start a business using this article as a useful guide. If we can have a factory in a home, it will be something big. I think one must check the house to see if the house can handle a factory. It is also good to know if you need wall cavity closers for your house.
Simply awesome. You guys are making all my childhood sci-fi fantasies come true! Absolutely brilliant use of open source on physical products and labour. The potential for wealth creation, innovation and the reduction of poverty are breathtaking.
You've started an amazing journey - I find this truly inspirational. Thank you!