With 2400 LEGO bricks and a lot of patience, [Will Gorman] built a LEGO 3D printer. It’s similar to a RepRap or a Makerbot, but instead of extruding plastic, it uses pre-extruded building blocks (aka LEGO bricks). The grey wall extending far above the unit itself is a feed magazine which holds the raw material. A Java application takes an MLCad file and translates it into building instructions for the printer. Those instructions are then sent to the device via USB. See it happen after the break.
Now this just needs to be combined with the LEGO sorting machine for an inexhaustible supply of bricks.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YZeX8ti7Io]
I would like to point out that it’s an LDraw file. MLCad merely uses it, like a half-dozen other programs.
This thing is made of win. If you disagree, you are a terrorist.
Lol, at such a speed, the servos really sound like a real printer :)
Damn you Gorman!!!
see: http://flic.kr/p/8DXBpL
*actually reads post*
Ah..
*withdraws above statement*
Lego bricks are moulded, not extruded. This is more of a Lego pick-and-place.
This thing is sooo cool. Almost unbelievable!
so roughly 2.5 minutes at 16x speed means it took almost 40 minutes to make this house? not bad for legos.
simpli the coolest and more awsome ting never seen made from lego, COOL
yo dawg…
@spiderwebby – holy smokes! is that a viable reprap?
Given Lego pricing it would probably be cheaper to build a reprap and extrude lego bricks with it.
Lego freaks are just to weird to comprehend.
lol legos ftw
speed ftl
What if it could extrude plastic? then i would make it
Kinda takes the fun out of playing with lego doesnt it
If it could make a copy of itself, I’d be really impressed.
Cool design. :)
During Lego World in The Netherlands(starts the day after tomorrow), a similar device will be on display, building a design with 59 parts in about 40 minutes.
One of the users at Eurobricks designed and built it.
@dombeef
The Reprap people would probably call it a LegoStrap or something but only after it has proven to print at least one part of a reprap by showing a youtube video..
So have we now reached the lego singularity? Lego building more lego?
I’d almost call this more of a Pick and Place machine rather than a 3D printer. Or maybe it’s some type of cross-breed…
So then it’s ok to say “I just lego’d” instead of “I just s^!T a brick”?
I just love the subtle flexing of the gantry when that mother lays a brick!
An absolutely amazing piece of work. Would be cool to have a multi color and multi variety of lego bricks.
@Winston
Yep, its the begining of the legopalypse!
Lets just hope this device never becomes self- aware
Can we have a cost list, parts list, and building instructions please? Because I would build this.