- The front page of The Guardian, November 25, 2006

 

"3D printing is a unique form of printing that is related to traditional rapid prototyping technology. A three dimensional object is created by layering and connecting successive cross sections of material" (Wikipedia). Recent developments within the open source community, made possible by many volunteer researchers around the world, have contributed to making this technology affordable as well as increasingly easier to assemble and use. Research projects like RepRap are rapidly contributing to turning 3D printers into household staples and, at this very moment, several artists and hobbyists are building, experimenting with, and improving these open source machines. We believe that what has become know as desktop fabrication will play an important role on the ways in which we design and create objects.

The purpose of this workshop is to build and use a 3D printer. Participants will construct the printer essentially from scratch: we will assemble all of the electronics, build and assemble the extruder, and then we'll put it all together into a fully functioning 3D printer. Participantes will acquire and hone skills such as: electronics fabrication, mechanical construction, 3D modeling, digital fabrication, and general troubleshooting of 3D printers. There will be opportunities to learn about all sorts of interesting topics including electronics theory, firmware design, mechanical engineering, serial protocols, digital fabrication, and 3D modeling.

The 3D printer design that we will be building is a CupCake CNC from MakerBot Industries. This is a fully open source design made from lasercut wood and commonly available parts. The design is a derivative of the RepRap project which aims to build an open source, self-replicating 3D printer. The MakerBot design uses the open source electronics developed by the RepRap Research Foundation (RRRF) to control and monitor the various aspects of the machine.

Once the printer has been completed the workshop will transition its focus to using the newly constructed machine. Participants will be encouraged to design 3D models in programs such as Blender, Art of Illustion, Google Sketchup, and TopMod3D. They will be trained on the software used to print a 3D model and control the machine. All participants will have multiple opportunities to use the machine, and will be encouraged to operate it themselves.

The 3D printer built during the workshop will be later used by the AltLab collective. Participants who wish to build their own 3D printer during the workshop may previously acquire this open source kit at the MakerBot site.

MakerBot: Adam Mayer's talk @ google (video)

MakerBot: Take Away (video)

MakerBot: Rocketboom (video) 

MakerBot: Flaming Bunny (video)

MakerBot: Singularity Hub (article)

RepRap: Press Clippings