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The 3-D printer that can print a 3-D printer.

thepiratesdilemma.com — The RepRap is an open source 3-D printer - a self-replicating machine that will one day be able to print out all of its own parts.

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  • rabidmonkey1, on 01/08/2008, -4/+58God save us all...
    • digitaloxygen, on 01/08/2008, -10/+37I for one welcome our new self-replicating overlords
      • PleaseJustDie, on 01/08/2008, -14/+3I'm burying you because you stole blackmage439's comment who said it 30 minutes before you and then you put it up here so it would be closer to the top so that people would digg you up because they see it first here.
        • digitaloxygen, on 01/08/2008, -1/+10Actually blackmage439 probably stole it from someone else who stole it from someone else who stole it from someone else. My comment was just another iteration of an overused comment about robots or other things taking over the world. I bet if you search around on Digg you will see that same comment going back at LEAST 6 months.

          I didn't even ready past the first 4-5 comments before I posted that. I put it up here because it fit as a reply to the first comment. AND don't give a rats a$$ if I get diggs or not.

          I thought it was funny and apparently so did several other people. GFY good sir. GFY.
          • JayD16, on 01/09/2008, -0/+2Its as old as the Simpsons episode where Homer goes into space. Six months? Try years and years...
        • KingGorilla, on 01/08/2008, -1/+1When I read the title I thought the exact same thing. I only wished I got here sooner
      • mahdaeng, on 01/08/2008, -4/+8I, for one, welcome the day in which we can leave this "I, for one" garbage behind.
    • tgc1, on 01/08/2008, -1/+4Apparently we still haven't figured out self-fixing servers. Ah well. There's still hope.
    • Lukesed, on 01/08/2008, -0/+2H.U.A.R!
    • cawpin, on 01/08/2008, -0/+1The rods all need a union in the middle to be self-replicatable. The bed is smaller than their length.
    • grumpyrain, on 01/09/2008, -0/+2But will it print a blender large enough to blend itself?
  • geekchic, on 01/08/2008, -0/+73Where's SG1 when we need them?
    • BrandonWicks, on 01/08/2008, -1/+17Indeed.
    • blackmage439, on 01/08/2008, -1/+6I, for one, welcome our new self-replicating overlords.

      Link's down already, though. Mirror?
    • conan359, on 01/08/2008, -3/+2I tried to think of a witty remark about how ink costs too much for this to be a problem, but I can't think of a good one liner. Any ideas?
    • NeoMatrixJR, on 01/08/2008, -6/+0I c wat u did thar

      -- CANCELED :'(
    • KayinAngel, on 01/08/2008, -5/+0in a fictional television show apparently.
      • roflcopterdown, on 01/08/2008, -0/+10The TV show doesn't exist? What have I been watching all of these years?
    • Foamator, on 01/08/2008, -0/+10What we need to do is make our own printer that is attracted (on a subspace level, no less) to all of the other printers, drop it onto the printer's planet and then they'll all get sucked into it, making a printer-neutron star!
    • NullPolarity, on 01/08/2008, -1/+1*****, looks like we'll need Jack to get that Ancient repository downloaded into his head again and figure out how to make a Replicator disruptor.
  • moisie, on 01/08/2008, -2/+41This is the beginning of the end. We're all doomed.
    • MacEnvy, on 01/08/2008, -1/+10This is the beginning of the technological singularity. Once we can make one of these that does the assembly step at the nano-scale, using feedstock to create things molecule by molecule, we can begin a process that will change the world - the elimination of scarcity.

      Replicators for all!
      • Atomic1fire, on 01/09/2008, -0/+1and then when Someone Masters AI and creates a robot that figures out it can recreate itself using said technology
        and then sees that it no longer needs humans and just decides we are a waste of space
        we are all screwed
    • roodammy44, on 01/08/2008, -2/+3It will all be good until someone realises we can use these things to make guns
      • Atomic1fire, on 01/09/2008, -0/+1easier to arm peasants from the self replicating robot overlords
  • dupswapdrop, on 01/08/2008, -10/+8Old news old project
    • EbilPhish, on 01/09/2008, -0/+1Its not exactly old, there has been quite a lot of recent work on it.,
      I wouldn't call it a self replicating printer though, it can only do about %60 of the parts and thats basically the case and other simple bits, the rest will set you back $500
  • skeefree, on 01/08/2008, -5/+1Now if they could only build a turing machine to do that...
  • masternave, on 01/08/2008, -5/+28And skynet is that much closer to completion. I'm going to go to Zion now.
  • brentinkc, on 01/08/2008, -1/+19The new RepRap from Cyberdyne Systems
  • vmos, on 01/08/2008, -1/+19well, building a machine that can make parts for itself isn't such a bad idea, as long as we don't build machines that can assemble those parts

    oh, hang on a second.......

    where's my bunker?
    • theonesteve, on 01/08/2008, -1/+0Except if your machine needs parts, it's probably broken, which means it probably can't make new parts.
  • marx, on 01/08/2008, -6/+1dead...
    • FLarsen, on 01/08/2008, -0/+4The replicators has destroyed the server.
  • Cyber_Akuma, on 01/08/2008, -9/+4[Insert SkyNet reference here]
  • LoganT, on 01/08/2008, -4/+3Combined with Torrent (And that other much better service which I will not name) this is awesome. I'm off to download my house!
  • lyl18, on 01/08/2008, -10/+3Is this like the perpetual motion machine?
  • Fantt, on 01/08/2008, -16/+6I for one welcome our self-replicating overlords.
  • Lugano, on 01/08/2008, -17/+6I for one, welcome our 3-D printer printing overlords...
  • Gillfactor, on 01/08/2008, -5/+3This explains all the shifty-eyed printers I've seen lurking in the shadows in my area.
  • kevdotbadger, on 01/08/2008, -2/+8Wish they would print out a way to make their servers work.

    http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:hGee4LRsIoYJ:th ...
  • lumpking69, on 01/08/2008, -2/+1mirror ?
  • avonwodahs, on 01/08/2008, -2/+8Mirror: http://72.14.253.104/search?hs=sUq&hl=en&lr=&c2cof ...
    • Ploppyplop, on 01/08/2008, -0/+1It works, dunno why you're being buried... :P
  • jeuhrn, on 01/08/2008, -2/+32As a production mechanic, rapid prototyping/3D printing really tickles my sweet tooth, but until it does aluminium it's really not that interesting from an industry perspective, and I think that will trigger widespread usage long before poor 3rd world citizens will get their hands on this.
    I've been nagging the hell out of my employer to get a 3D printer though, my cellphone would look different and my 360 would have a new faceplate every week. Also I could make chocolate *****.
  • Andyschism, on 01/08/2008, -9/+5***** your site! Heres the video!
    http://www.poptech.com/popcasts/popcasts.aspx?lang ...

    And the rest of their videos:
    http://reprap.org/bin/view/Main/RepRapVids
  • MISDIREK7ED, on 01/08/2008, -3/+1^ ^ I, for one, like commas and reply buttons!
  • bgale246, on 01/08/2008, -6/+3Hows that commercially viable? The company sells one at a price. The buyer then creates more and sells them at a lower price ... an onwards ... there's no business model that could support that.
    • jeuhrn, on 01/08/2008, -0/+9"The RepRap is an open source 3-D printer [...]"

      I don't think they plan to sell one in the first place.
    • Aticper, on 01/08/2008, -0/+14Exactly. It's not commercially viable, but it will succeed for precisely the same reason.

      Interesting paradox, isn't it?
    • DarkTrancer, on 01/08/2008, -1/+5Why is it that money is important here?
      • SteveDeGroof, on 01/08/2008, -0/+4One of the long-range plans is to use recycled materials. If that comes to pass, then the only inputs are information and energy. And information's really hard to sell more than once.
        • fyngyrz, on 01/08/2008, -2/+1Buy any books lately? DVDs? Information is valuable and coming up with it requires exertion. If you take it without paying, you reduce the value of being an information producer, and consequently, you will have less to spread around. That's the problem with this infantile thinking.
    • oenoneablaze, on 01/08/2008, -4/+2you forgot one thing... the plastic "ink" that it uses to print the items out will probably be prohibitively expensive. I'll bet printing a new printer would take a whole lot of ink...

      If something seems too good to be true, it is. Re-evaluate your premises.
      • HolisticIsland, on 01/08/2008, -0/+5The end goal is to make all the plastic stuff from biodegradable thermoplastic which could eventually be made at home using plants and a still. I'm not saying that it would be easy to do, but possible.
      • MacEnvy, on 01/08/2008, -0/+4According to the videos on their website, the feedstock can be made pretty easily out of biomass (compost essentially). Sounds like a good plan to me!
      • Culyt, on 07/05/2008, -0/+1Its all a plot to keep corn farmers in business while at the same time starving the people on the planet we don't like (ie the browner ones).

        That and biofuels.


        We will have doorknobs aplenty, and they will be forced to eat grass.

        ☢
    • thymidine, on 01/08/2008, -0/+2I wish you people would RTFA (or watch TF video?). It's all discussed in detail and it is very interesting.
  • FlyCO, on 01/08/2008, -0/+21Don't worry fellow diggers, the Three Robotic Laws will keep humanity safe

    I just hope those work for printers as well
  • Capta1nObvious, on 01/08/2008, -2/+5These comments are full of cliches.
  • imaclatchie, on 01/08/2008, -0/+2@ MacEnvy - "Replicators for all!"
    ... but where would;d we get them all?

    I can't see the link.. does it only print printer parts?

    • SteveDeGroof, on 01/08/2008, -0/+8In its current state, it's able to make some of its own part (i.e. the plastic bits). It can also make pretty much any plastic object up to a cubic foot in size, provided you have a 3D model, enough plastic and a lot of patience. I'm about half-way through building one. Currently waiting for some parts.
      The main site: http://reprap.org
      Builder forums: http://forums.reprap.org
      My build journal: http://sdreprap.blogspot.com (shameless self-promotion)
  • consoneo, on 01/08/2008, -1/+5Von Neumann probes here we come!
    • HolisticIsland, on 01/08/2008, -0/+1This printer cannot yet print all the parts for another printer (such as the metal parts and microchips). Also it cannot yet self assemble.
  • eekthekat, on 01/08/2008, -1/+5Von Nuemann would be so proud!
  • Capta1nObvious, on 01/08/2008, -7/+1These comments are full of cliches.
    • Whackly, on 01/08/2008, -0/+1Machines making machines? How perverse.
    • Capta1nObvious, on 01/08/2008, -4/+1This comment system sucks.
  • MrTonic, on 01/08/2008, -0/+13This is awesome thing. One day, they will be able to print electronics, different strength of materials, organics etc. Think about it.. every object could be assembled straight there where it is needed. Virtually no costs. This is not a bad thing, this is one step toward freedom. Intelligence, wisdom and knowledge of how to use and build / design / operate tools / materials would be only thing that class us. Not the money we own. With this kind of technology we could kill poverty, hunger, diseases and over population (with increased amount of education and tools). This is same thing to material world that printing press was to literature.

    These kind of things are the tools to save us. Hopefully they get it done before its too late.
    • roodammy44, on 01/08/2008, -0/+2And the geek could finally inherit the earth.

      What I want to know is... Could these things one day make guns?
      • jeuhrn, on 01/08/2008, -0/+5Yes.
        And that will be scary.
        • darkhand, on 01/08/2008, -2/+3It will make everyone safer is what it'll do. Who's going to assault someone when there's a nearly 100% chance they're armed?
    • godsdead, on 01/08/2008, -1/+1We dont need guns to survive, this will inevitably be the catch 22 of the situation, for the majority of brainwashed people out there that think we need guns, you only think you need a gun, because others have guns and you feel threatened, which is yet, another catch 22..
    • dupswapdrop, on 01/09/2008, -0/+1Ok this is the same things they said about computers in the 60's and now we have smartbombs.
    • welshie, on 01/09/2008, -0/+1Wake me up when the 3d printer can print something that fabricates the consumables from raw materials that it mines / harvests itself. Until this happens, it's not self-replicating, and humanity need not worry about our 3D-printing overlords, because it will always need feeding with either prepared consumables, or raw materials.
  • Ymeg, on 01/08/2008, -0/+10What has science done?
    • Cyber_Akuma, on 01/08/2008, -0/+1Well, when aliens from the Ghrrtyr galaxy find our lifeless planet millions of years from now I am sure we will go down in legend as the only civilization that managed to destroy themselves when their self-replicating printers turned on their creators.

      Much more memorable then simply another civilization that nuked itself to death.
  • lnxfi, on 01/08/2008, -0/+7Did we learn nothing from Terminator?
    • fyngyrz, on 01/08/2008, -0/+1Oh, we learned something. We learned that sequels were imminent, and that kids would over-generalize the SF theme of the movie. Welcome to the prediction, lnxfi.

  • billsil, on 01/08/2008, -1/+4i've got a 3d printout of a space shuttle that i got on a business trip. the thing is made of corn starch and is incredibly fragile. it broke like 5 times on the way home. sorry wing tips, 2 of 4 engines, and the body flap. ts still f'ing cool tho

    i fear for our landfill-filling 3d-printing overlords.
    • hmac, on 01/08/2008, -0/+2NASA's space shuttle only has 3 main engines.
    • EbilPhish, on 01/09/2008, -0/+1The reason for making it from corn starch is to avoid turning it into land fill.
  • eskizo, on 01/08/2008, -1/+5I'll be back ...
  • tgc1, on 01/08/2008, -3/+3Calm down folks, calm down. They still need us to assemble them. It's when they learn to assemble themselves from raw materials that you should really start worrying.
  • cstout47, on 01/08/2008, -0/+5And they told me recursion wasn't used in the real world. Ha!
    • Cyber_Akuma, on 01/08/2008, -0/+910 PRINT PRINTER
      20 GOTO 10

      Oh *****, Control+Pause/Break isn't working!
  • borez, on 01/08/2008, -0/+1It starts here
  • SteveDeGroof, on 01/08/2008, -0/+6Y'know, there have been about a dozen RepRap articles submitted to Digg over the past year or so and this is the only one that made the front page. It's not even a very good article. You're better off going straight to reprap.org
  • karapuz, on 01/08/2008, -0/+4The printer makes all the parts, but you still need a Chinese child laborer to assemble them into a working printer.
    • Cyber_Akuma, on 01/08/2008, -1/+3Can't you print an assembler?

      Oh wait, but it will still be in pieces, you will need to print an assembler assembler, oh wait...
  • removesstains, on 01/08/2008, -1/+2Whats the youtube address for this? None of the sites people provided video's are working.
  • cactus476, on 01/08/2008, -0/+3Hmm, I've never heard of Pop!Tech. Seems like TED.
  • nickymouse, on 01/08/2008, -4/+1Capitalism will never die! The whole theory is bogus.
  • DivisibleByZero, on 01/08/2008, -0/+4I remeber a BBSpot article back when the Napster controversy started, where this was the punchline. The guy had invented a 3d printer and people were using it to pirate all sortsof stuff on the internet. The inventor didn't seem to mind because his business was booming, until the interviewer informed him that people had started "sharing" his printers as well.
  • tybris, on 01/08/2008, -0/+3Sooo....can they print weapons?
    • Cyber_Akuma, on 01/08/2008, -0/+1I doubt the prototyped parts would be strong enough to handle the force of firing the weapon. it would either crack/shatter (if its a melee weapon) snap in half (if its something similar to a bow) or explode (a firearm).
  • gllopc, on 01/08/2008, -0/+2Intelligence and mechanical ability do not equal mad Powerpoint skillz.
  • bhny, on 01/08/2008, -0/+2reprap home page
    http://reprap.org/bin/view/Main/WebHome
  • EntropyGun, on 01/08/2008, -1/+8To hell with weapons. When this thing can print out cash, Hawaiian property deeds, tequila, and Swedish housemaids, then I'll be interested.
  • Heiliger, on 01/08/2008, -2/+12----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Do you want to spark the downfall of the human race
    at the hands of cold, emotionless robot overlords?

    -CANCEL- -PRINT-

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  • rmeddy, on 01/08/2008, -0/+1Someone call Jack O'neill.
  • ryancalderoni, on 01/08/2008, -0/+4asexual printers!
    • Heiliger, on 01/08/2008, -0/+1the downfall of the printer economy.. Need a new printer? Just cut one in half and both pieces regenerate!
  • Existenz87, on 01/08/2008, -0/+2Excellent. Now we can start making Von Neumann machines.
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