Fab@Home is a multi-material 3D printer, launched in 2006. [1] It was one of the first two open-source DIY 3D printers in the world, at a time when all other additive manufacturing machines were still proprietary. The Fab@Home and the RepRap are credited with sparking the consumer 3D printing revolution.
Up until 2005, all 3D printers were industrial scale, expensive and proprietary. The high cost and closed nature of the 3D printing industry at the time limited the accessibility of the technology to the masses, the range of materials that could be used and the level of exploration that could be done by end-users. The goal of the Fab@Home project was to change this situation by creating a versatile, low-cost, open and "hackable" printer to accelerate technology innovation and its migration into the consumer and Maker space.
Since its open-source release in 2006, [1] hundreds of Fab@Home 3D printers were built across the world, [2] and its design elements could be found in many later DIY printers, most notably in the first MakerBot Replicator (2009). The printer's multiple syringe-based deposition method allowed for some of the first multi-material prints including direct fabrication of active batteries, actuators, and sensors, as well as esoteric materials for bioprinting and food printing. [3] The project was closed in 2012 when it was clear that the project's goal was achieved and distribution of DIY and consumer printers outpaced the sales of industrial printers for the first time. [3]
The project was led by students at Cornell University's department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering. The effort was inspired by the history of the Altair 8800, one of the first DIY home computer kits released in 1975. The Altair 8800 is largely credited with triggering the home computing revolution and the transition from the industrial mainframe to the consumer desktop, by making a low-cost, open and "hackable" computer accessible to home enthusiasts for the first time. The goal of the Fab@Home project was to accomplish a similar effect in the 3D printing space. The project was one of the first larger scale cases that applied the open-source development model to physical devices, a process that later became known as Open Source Hardware.
Early versions of the device were produced and refined in the lab. The first official release of the Fab@Home model 1 coincided with a presentation at the Solid Freeform Fabrication conference in 2006. [1] After its first release, undergraduate and graduate students at Cornell and other locations joined the team and developed an improved version, later released as the Fab@Home Model 2. [4] The main improvements included easier assembly, no soldering, and fewer parts. The team then expanded and developed the model 3. One important variation of Fab@Home was the Fab@School project, which explored the use of 3D printers suitable for classroom use in elementary grades. Fab@School printers could print with benign materials such as Play-Doh and included a safety enclosure.
The project received wide media attention in its initial years, bringing 3D printing from a relatively obscure technology to broader attention. Notable recognition was the Popular Mechanics Breakthrough award [5] and the Rapid Prototyping Journal best paper of the year award.
The Fab@Home is a syringe-based deposition system. An X-Y-Z gantry system moves a syringe pump across a 20×20×20 cm (7.87x7.87x7.87 inch) build volume at a maximum speed of 10 mm/s and resolution of 25 μm. Multiple syringes can be controlled independently to deposit material through syringe tips. The syringe displacement could be controlled with microliter precision.
The first version of Fab@Home print head had two syringes; later version had more syringes, up to one print head that had eight syringes that could be used simultaneously.
One of the key advantages of using a syringe based deposition method was that a broad range of materials could be deposited, essentially any liquid, paste, gel or slurry that could be squeezed through a syringe tip. That versatility allowed going beyond printing just in thermoplastics, as did the RepRap and most consumer-scale 3D printers that followed. The range of materials that could be printed with a Fab@Home included hard materials such as epoxy, elastomers such as silicone, biological materials such as cell-seeded hydrogels, food materials such as chocolate, cookie dough and cheese, engineering materials such as stainless steel (later sintered in an oven), and active materials such as conductive wires and magnets. The stated technical goal of the project was to print a complete active system, going beyond printing just passive parts. The project succeeded in printing active devices such as batteries, actuators, sensors, and even a working telegraph machine.
Selective laser sintering (SLS) is an additive manufacturing (AM) technique that uses a laser as the power and heat source to sinter powdered material, aiming the laser automatically at points in space defined by a 3D model, binding the material together to create a solid structure. It is similar to selective laser melting; the two are instantiations of the same concept but differ in technical details. SLS is a relatively new technology that so far has mainly been used for rapid prototyping and for low-volume production of component parts. Production roles are expanding as the commercialization of AM technology improves.
A fab lab is a small-scale workshop offering (personal) digital fabrication.
3D printing or additive manufacturing is the construction of a three-dimensional object from a CAD model or a digital 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is deposited, joined or solidified under computer control, with the material being added together, typically layer by layer.
RepRap is a project to develop low-cost 3D printers that can print most of their own components. As open designs, all of the designs produced by the project are released under a free software license, the GNU General Public License.
3D Systems Corporation headquartered in Rock Hill, South Carolina, is a company that engineers, manufactures, and sells 3D printers, 3D printing materials, 3D scanners, and offers a 3D printing service. The company creates product concept models, precision and functional prototypes, master patterns for tooling, as well as production parts for direct digital manufacturing. It uses proprietary processes to fabricate physical objects using input from computer-aided design and manufacturing software, or 3D scanning and 3D sculpting devices.
Rapid prototyping is a group of techniques used to quickly fabricate a scale model of a physical part or assembly using three-dimensional computer aided design (CAD) data. Construction of the part or assembly is usually done using 3D printing or "additive layer manufacturing" technology.
The CandyFab is a method of producing physical objects out of a computer representation of the structure. It differs from some other 3D printing methods in the following aspects:
MakerBot Industries, LLC was an American desktop 3D printer manufacturer company headquartered in New York City. It was founded in January 2009 by Bre Pettis, Adam Mayer, and Zach "Hoeken" Smith to build on the early progress of the RepRap Project. It was acquired by Stratasys in June 2013. As of April 2016, MakerBot had sold over 100,000 desktop 3D printers worldwide. Between 2009 and 2019, the company released 7 generations of 3D printers, ending with the METHOD and METHOD X. It was at one point the leader of the desktop market with an important presence in the media, but its market share declined over the late 2010s. MakerBot also founded and operated Thingiverse, the largest online 3D printing community and file repository. In August 2022, the company completed a merger with its long-time competitor Ultimaker. The combined company is known as UltiMaker, but retains the MakerBot name for its Sketch line of education-focused 3D printers.
Construction 3D Printing (c3Dp) or 3D construction Printing (3DCP) refers to various technologies that use 3D printing as a core method to fabricate buildings or construction components. Alternative terms for this process include "additive construction." "3D Concrete" refers to concrete extrusion technologies whereas Autonomous Robotic Construction System (ARCS), large-scale additive manufacturing (LSAM), and freeform construction (FC) refer to other sub-groups.
Distributed manufacturing also known as distributed production, cloud producing, distributed digital manufacturing, and local manufacturing is a form of decentralized manufacturing practiced by enterprises using a network of geographically dispersed manufacturing facilities that are coordinated using information technology. It can also refer to local manufacture via the historic cottage industry model, or manufacturing that takes place in the homes of consumers.
A recyclebot is an open-source hardware device for converting waste plastic into filament for open-source 3D printers like the RepRap. Making DIY 3D printer filament at home is both less costly and better for the environment than purchasing conventional 3D printer filament. In following the RepRap tradition there are recyclebot designs that use mostly 3-D printable parts.
Formlabs is a 3D printing technology developer and manufacturer. The Somerville, Massachusetts-based company was founded in September 2011 by three MIT Media Lab students. The company develops and manufactures 3D printers and related software and consumables. It is most known for raising nearly $3 million in a Kickstarter campaign and creating the Form 1, Form 1+, Form 2, Form Cell, Form 3, Form 3L, Fuse 1, Fuse 1+ and Form Auto stereolithography and selective laser sintering 3D printers and accessories.
Zortrax is a Polish manufacturer of 3D printers and filaments for SMB market and rapid prototyping for industries, including robotics and automation, architecture, industrial design, engineering, aviation, industrial automation. Zortrax machines work with dedicated software, firmware and filaments.
Fused filament fabrication (FFF), also known as fused deposition modeling, or filament freeform fabrication, is a 3D printing process that uses a continuous filament of a thermoplastic material. Filament is fed from a large spool through a moving, heated printer extruder head, and is deposited on the growing work. The print head is moved under computer control to define the printed shape. Usually the head moves in two dimensions to deposit one horizontal plane, or layer, at a time; the work or the print head is then moved vertically by a small amount to begin a new layer. The speed of the extruder head may also be controlled to stop and start deposition and form an interrupted plane without stringing or dribbling between sections. "Fused filament fabrication" was coined by the members of the RepRap project to give an acronym (FFF) that would be legally unconstrained in its use.
In recent years, 3D printing has developed significantly and can now perform crucial roles in many applications, with the most common applications being manufacturing, medicine, architecture, custom art and design, and can vary from fully functional to purely aesthetic applications.
A variety of processes, equipment, and materials are used in the production of a three-dimensional object via additive manufacturing. 3D printing is also known as additive manufacturing, because the numerous available 3D printing process tend to be additive in nature, with a few key differences in the technologies and the materials used in this process.
NextFab Studio, LLC is a network of membership-based makerspaces with locations in Philadelphia and Wilmington. Founded in 2009 by Evan Malone, the for-profit company opened its first location in West Philadelphia’s University City Science Center.
Multi-material 3D printing is the additive manufacturing procedure of using multiple materials at the same time to fabricate an object. Similar to single material additive manufacturing it can be realised through methods such as FFF, SLA and Inkjet 3D printing. By expanding the design space to different materials, it establishes the possibilities of creating 3D printed objects of different color or with different material properties like elasticity or solubility. The first multi-material 3D printer Fab@Home became publicly available in 2006. The concept was quickly adopted by the industry followed by many consumer ready multi-material 3D printers.
3D food printing is the process of manufacturing food products using a variety of additive manufacturing techniques. Most commonly, food grade syringes hold the printing material, which is then deposited through a food grade nozzle layer by layer. The most advanced 3D food printers have pre-loaded recipes on board and also allow the user to remotely design their food on their computers, phones or some IoT device. The food can be customized in shape, color, texture, flavor or nutrition, which makes it very useful in various fields such as space exploration and healthcare.
3D concrete printing, or simply concrete printing, refers to digital fabrication processes for cementitious materials based on one of several different 3D printing technologies. 3D-printed concrete eliminates the need for formwork, reducing material waste and allowing for greater geometric freedom in complex structures. With recent developments in mix design and 3D printing technology over the last decade, 3D concrete printing has grown exponentially since its emergence in the 1990s. Architectural and structural applications of 3D-printed concrete include the production of building blocks, building modules, street furniture, pedestrian bridges, and low-rise residential structures.