In fact,
Fab@Home is more than
printing flashlights. The project is designed to help you create a fabber: a 3D printer or rapid prototyping machine. This is a dream for DIY folks who need some plastic part, because a fabber can "print" nearly anything by carving it out of material placed into the machine. in a sense, it is desktop manufacturing.
These machines exist already, but cost thousands of dollars. The Fab@Home project aims to liberate this arcane process, and encourages experimentation with materials. The site offers instructions for building your own fabber, but
the kit looks like a best bet, costing less than a decent PC. One day the creators hope to build a machine capable of creating anything by feeding all materials needed into one Jetsons-esque contraption. In one end you feed it wood, glue and instructions, out the other end pops a coffee table. That's the theory, anyway. For now the software isn't even Mac or Linux-compatible.
Get a taste of what you
can do right now with the already quite sophisticated (and fun) fabbers on Fab@Home's
Getting Started page.
Source
The One Thing That'll Make Sunny Weather Even Better
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