Machine copies itself

A Bath University academic, who is overseeing a global effort to develop an open-source machine that ‘prints’ three-dimensional objects, is celebrating after the prototype machine succeeded in making a set of most of its own parts.

The so-called RepRap machine is a replicating rapid-prototyper that uses an ‘additive fabrication’ technique to print parts. The machine works like a printer, but, rather than squirting ink onto paper, it puts down thin layers of molten plastic which solidify. These layers are then built up to make useful 3D objects.

RepRap has, so far, been capable of making everyday plastic goods such as door handles, sandals and coat hooks. Now, the machine has also succeeded in copying most of its own 3D-printed parts.

The parts have been printed and assembled by RepRap team member, Vik Olliver, in Auckland, New Zealand, into a new RepRap machine that can replicate the same set of parts for yet another RepRap machine. While 3D printers have been available commercially for about 25 years, RepRap is the first that can essentially print itself.