[tt] NS: First self-replicating machine makes an appearance

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First self-replicating machine makes an appearance
http://technology.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg19826596.200&print=true
8.6.9
Jeff Hecht

DEVICES capable of reproducing themselves came one step closer to
reality this week as a 3D printer - assembled from parts made by an
identical 3D printer - went on display at the Cheltenham Science
Festival in the UK. The replica can in turn print the parts needed
to build another copy, and so on.

Technophobes needn't run for the hills just yet. The replicating
rapid-prototyper, or "RepRap", can only reproduce its plastic parts,
not its metal or electronic components. And assembling it is an
afternoon's work for a human being, says Adrian Bowyer, the
University of Bath mechanical engineer who launched the RepRap
project in 2004.

Despite these limitations, the demonstration represents a watershed
for the fast-growing field of desktop fabrication. While 3D printers
have become increasingly common, RepRap is the first to be able to
reproduce its own components - and the $600 cost of its
off-the-shelf electronics and mechanical parts make it far cheaper
than other fabricators.

The machine is the product of about 100 people around the world who
have been working to improve an initial design posted by Bowyer on
Reprap.org. The aim of the open-source project is to create a
machine that can be used by small communities in the developing
world, or hobbyists elsewhere, to manufacture plastic objects of
almost any shape. People already "run their own CD burners, printing
presses and photographic laboratories", Bowyer points out. "There's
no reason they shouldn't run their own factories as well."

RepRap builds up objects by laying down layers of a plastic that
costs about $20 per kilogram. Its products to date range from coat
hooks to water-filter inserts and children's sandals - as well as
parts for more RepRaps. All the parts for the Cheltenham replica
were made by a RepRap owned by Vik Olliver, a systems analyst for
Catalyst IT in New Zealand.

RepRap's versatility led Chris DiBona, manager of Google's
open-source team, to call the machine "a China on your desktop".

Work will start later this year on a second-generation machine that
can replicate the equivalent of printed-circuit boards to hold
electronic chips. The plan is to fill channels in replicated plastic
parts with an alloy that melts at low temperatures - inspired by a
New Scientist article describing how engineer John Sargrove cast
zinc in Bakelite to make vacuum tube sockets after the second world
war. (New Scientist, 19 October 2002, p 60)

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Weblinks

Adrian Bowyer
http://people.bath.ac.uk/ensab/
RepRap
http://www.reprap.org
RepRap Research Foundation
http://www.rrrf.org/
Cheltenham Science Festival
http://cheltenhamfestivals.com/whats_on/science_festival.html