3d Printing And Self Replicating Machines In Your Living Room - Seriously! The RepRap machine

[PSYCHONAUT 0]

Imagine having a machine for $500 in your living room that can take your computer based specification for a 3D object and print out a plastic replica of the object in a matter of minutes. Imagine furthermore that all of the specifications for the machine are completely open source, completely shareable and modifiable by anyone in the world, and that there is a worldwide community of volunteers working feverishly to support you and anyone else to troubleshoot and improve the machine. Imagine no longer…this machine, called a Reprap, is reality! Best of all, these machines are ultimately designed to self replicate themselves, bringing us within tantalizing reach of a long envisioned era of self replicating machines.

http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/
This is my first post and I hope you guys like it! How crazy is this? As it says in the article...this really is the nerds dream...I just wonder what the limitations will be? I mean...it couldn't make anything I design could it? It does say your imagination is the limit. What will you make?
Edited April 25, 2009 by PSYCHONAUT (see edit history)

[serverph 0]

Interesting... in the back of my mind, i've always envisioned myself owning one such neat piece of gadgetry. never mind how i never had anything really to make out of it. i just like the idea...it's good to know such technology can be made at a low cost. commercial ones are too steep to be afforded easily by an individual. i'll send the link to my cousin, whose making a hand-held eco-friendly universal phone charger. maybe he can build one of those repraps to conjure a design for the casing for his prototype. at the moment, he's got a casing from odds and ends of junk. and the patent office would deny the prototype because of that. B)and since i'm on a mobile now typing this reply, maybe i'll have a new housing for my nokia phone fashioned from this. hehe? just an idea (though it'll be cheaper to simply purchase a new housing for my unit).

[PSYCHONAUT 0]

Interesting... in the back of my mind, i've always envisioned myself owning one such neat piece of gadgetry. never mind how i never had anything really to make out of it. i just like the idea...

lol...that's true...I wouldn't know what to make...but I always find myself in need of particular things that I never have around...I know there are so many things that I could make...since I'm an inventive type of person, always building and designing contraptions...I once tried to build my own RC car...this would've been so useful...I might get one and try that again...if only it could mould metal...it's a very exciting thing...I can see how in the near future these will be a part of every inventors and nerds inventory of tools and gadgets.