3D Printer Uses Office Paper

November 6, 2008 by Eliot 41 Comments

3dhouse
Mcor Technologies recently launched a brand new rapid prototyping machine. The Mcor Matrix forgoes the standard of expensive and rare build materials by using A4 office paper. The machine selectively deposits glue on the sheet of paper: more glue on the cross-section, less on the waste. It then uses a blade to cut out the part profile. The vertical resolution is determined by the paper thickness. You can use either 20lb paper, which has a thickness of .1mm, or 40lb, which is twice as thick, so it will build twice as fast. The final part can be sanded and painted like wood. The idea is similar to LOM, but those machines require specialized paper. It’s nice to see a company intentionally target a low cost of ownership. If they had used a laser though, you’d only have to worry about sourcing the glue. Machine and material prices have yet to be announced.

[via Fabbaloo]

Lasercut RepRap Kit

October 19, 2008 by Eliot 19 Comments

The RepRap is a self-copying 3D printer. The project has published plans for creating a lasercut acrylic version of the device. They call it a RepStrap since once assembled it could produce printed plastic versions of the machine components, bootstrapping true RepRaps. The plans are available for Ponoko an on-demand product service, and it would cost ~$380 if you used their service. The plans are free, so you could get them manufactured by other means. [vik] is still putting together the assembly instructions. He hopes to have an all inclusive electronics kit at some point too. This is another great step towards putting desktop manufacturing within reach of everyone.

Sanguino ATmega644P Board

October 5, 2008 by Jason Rollette 23 Comments

The RepRap project, which is a printer that can make components using rapid prototyping technology, and it is designed so that it can eventually self replicate. Has released a new breakout board for the Sanguino that provides access to all the pins as screw terminals. The Sanguino is an Arduino compatible board based on the ATmega644P chip. You can populate the full board with all the components and have a fully functional single board. You could populate only the screw terminals and plug your Sanguino, and use it as a breakout board as well. The board design is released on Google Code.

Fab@home

December 8, 2006 by Will O'Brien 15 Comments

I’ve received a few tips on this, and somehow it keeps slipping by. The fab@home project immediately reminds me of reprap. This is a completely open source hardware project for rapid prototyping/3d modeling. In the past, manufacturing something like a turkey baster bulb required injection molding. The project wiki has full details on building your own, including manufacturing houses to get all the acrylic laser cut. It looks like you could get your hands on one of these pretty easily if you don’t mind making a dent in your wallet. Thanks to [nickjohnson] and [peter B]. [peter B] also noted that the cornell boys have an even nicer one that they use to make zinc-air batteries and artificial muscles.