Fab@Home PrinterFor the do-it-yourselfer, the make-anything-yourself machine –

Fab@Home is a website dedicated to making and using fabbers - machines that can make almost anything, right on your desktop. This website provides an open source kit that lets you make your own simple fabber, and use it to print three dimensional objects. You can download and print various items, try out new materials, or upload and share your own projects. Advanced users can modify and improve the fabber itself.

Fabbers (a.k.a 3D Printers or rapid prototyping machines) are a relatively new form of manufacturing that builds 3D objects by carefuly depositing materials drop by drop, layer by layer. Slowly but surely, with the right set of materials and a geometric blueprint, you can fabricate complex objects that would normally take special resources, tools and skills if produced using conventional manufacturing techniques.

[Fab@Home]

Via Boing Boing: Build a fabricator at home.

More @ New Scientist –

The machine connects to a desktop computer running software that controls its operation. It then creates objects layer-by-layer by squeezing material from a mechanically-controlled syringe. A video shows a completed machine constructing a silicone bulb (16MB, wmv format).

Unlike commercial equipment, the Fab@Home machine is also designed to be used with more than one material. So far it has been tested with silicone, plaster, play-doh and even chocolate and icing. Different materials can also be used to make a single object – the control software prompts the user when to load new material into the machine.

[New Scientist]

I’m reminded of “Pay For the Printer” a short story by Philip K Dick. The Printer is an alien creature, a large blob, capable of replicating objects. Human colonists have grown dependent on the Printer to make copies of tools and other objects. The Printer gets old and tired, makes poorer copies, dies. I forget the details but I remember that it’s a sad story.

Speaking of PKD, here’s something interesting — Which PKD Story Are We In Today?
Frolix-8 matches up PKD titles with news items. An amusing example of phildickian thinking.