67-498: RepRap (a contraction of replicating rapid prototyper ) 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 . Due to the ability of these machines to make some of their own parts, authors envisioned the possibility of cheap RepRap units, enabling
134-417: A manufacturing process . Other terms that have been used as synonyms or hypernyms have included desktop manufacturing , rapid manufacturing (as the logical production-level successor to rapid prototyping ), and on-demand manufacturing (which echoes on-demand printing in the 2D sense of printing ). The fact that the application of the adjectives rapid and on-demand to the noun manufacturing
201-563: A triangular prism rather than a cube. Mendel was completed in October 2009. On 27 January 2010, the Foresight Institute announced the "Kartik M. Gada Humanitarian Innovation Prize" for the design and construction of an improved RepRap. On 31 August 2010, the third generation design was named Huxley. It was a miniature of Mendel, with 30% of the original print volume. Within two years, RepRap and RepStrap building and use were widespread in
268-619: A von Neumann universal constructor ". RepRap technology has great potential in educational applications, according to some scholars. RepRaps have already been used for an educational mobile robotics platform. Some authors have claimed that RepRaps offer an unprecedented "revolution" in STEM education. The evidence comes from both the low cost of rapid prototyping by students, and the fabrication of low-cost high-quality scientific equipment from open hardware designs forming open-source labs . 3D printer 3D printing or additive manufacturing
335-544: A 25% weight reduction, and reduced assembly times. A fuel nozzle is the perfect inroad for additive manufacturing in a jet engine since it allows for optimized design of the complex internals and it is a low-stress, non-rotating part. Similarly, in 2015, PW delivered their first AM parts in the PurePower PW1500G to Bombardier. Sticking to low-stress, non-rotating parts, PW selected the compressor stators and synch ring brackets to roll out this new manufacturing technology for
402-490: A 3D service provider specializing in Howtek single nozzle inkjet and SDI printer support. James K. McMahon worked with Steven Zoltan, 1972 drop-on-demand inkjet inventor, at Exxon and has a patent in 1978 that expanded the understanding of the single nozzle design inkjets (Alpha jets) and helped perfect the Howtek, Inc hot-melt inkjets. This Howtek hot-melt thermoplastic technology is popular with metal investment casting, especially in
469-688: A British patient named Steve Verze received the world's first fully 3D-printed prosthetic eye from the Moorfields Eye Hospital in London . In April 2024, the world's largest 3D printer, the Factory of the Future 1.0 was revealed at the University of Maine . It is able to make objects 96 feet long, or 29 meters. In 2024, researchers used machine learning to improve the construction of synthetic bone and set
536-468: A commercial 3D printer. On 9 February 2008, RepRap 1.0 "Darwin" made at least one instance of over half its rapid-prototyped parts. On 14 April 2008, RepRap made an end-user item: a clamp to hold an iPod to the dashboard of a Ford Fiesta car. By September that year, at least 100 copies had been produced in various countries. On 29 May 2008, Darwin achieved self replication by making a complete copy of all its rapid-prototyped parts (which represent 48% of all
603-510: A number of years. Both BPM 3D printers and SPI 3D printers use Howtek, Inc style Inkjets and Howtek, Inc style materials. Royden Sanders licensed the Helinksi patent prior to manufacturing the Modelmaker 6 Pro at Sanders prototype, Inc (SPI) in 1993. James K. McMahon who was hired by Howtek, Inc to help develop the inkjet, later worked at Sanders Prototype and now operates Layer Grown Model Technology,
670-470: A pure self-replicating device not for its own sake, but rather to put in the hands of individuals anywhere on the planet, for a minimal outlay of capital, a desktop manufacturing system that would enable the individual to manufacture many of the artifacts used in everyday life. From a theoretical viewpoint, the project aims to prove the hypothesis that " rapid prototyping and direct writing technologies are sufficiently versatile to allow them to be used to make
737-585: A record for shock absorption. In July 2024, researchers published a paper in Advanced Materials Technologies describing the development of artificial blood vessels using 3D-printing technology, which are as strong and durable as natural blood vessels . The process involved using a rotating spindle integrated into a 3D printer to create grafts from a water-based gel, which were then coated in biodegradable polyester molecules. Additive manufacturing or 3D printing has rapidly gained importance in
SECTION 10
#1732855335677804-514: A smaller carbon footprint . Slic3r Slic3r is free software 3D slicing engine for 3D printers . It generates G-code from 3D CAD files (STL or OBJ). Once finished, an appropriate G-code file for the production of the 3D modeled part, or object is sent to the 3D printer for the manufacturing of a physical object. As of 2013, about half of the 3D printers tested by Make Magazine supported Slic3r. Prusa Research maintains an advanced fork called PrusaSlicer . SuperSlicer
871-420: A way to reduce cost, reduce the number of nonconforming parts, reduce weight in the engines to increase fuel efficiency and find new, highly complex shapes that would not be feasible with the antiquated manufacturing methods. One example of AM integration with aerospace was in 2016 when Airbus delivered the first of GE's LEAP engines. This engine has integrated 3D printed fuel nozzles, reducing parts from 20 to 1,
938-579: Is now made up of hundreds of collaborators worldwide. RepRap was founded in 2005 by Adrian Bowyer , a Senior Lecturer in mechanical engineering at the University of Bath in England. Funding was obtained from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council . On 13 September 2006, the RepRap 0.2 prototype printed the first part identical to its own, which was then substituted for the original part created by
1005-414: Is produced by additive manufacturing or 3D printing methods to enable quick prototyping and responses to tooling and fixture needs. Agile tooling uses a cost-effective and high-quality method to quickly respond to customer and market needs, and it can be used in hydro-forming , stamping , injection molding and other manufacturing processes. The general concept of and procedure to be used in 3D-printing
1072-478: Is some evidence that using this approach of distributed recycling is better for the environment and can be useful for creating " fair trade filament". In addition, 3D printing products at the point of consumption has also been shown to be better for the environment. The RepRap project has identified polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as a potentially suitable support material to complement its printing process, although massive overhangs can be made by extruding thin layers of
1139-417: 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 (such as plastics, liquids or powder grains being fused), typically layer by layer. In the 1980s, 3D printing techniques were considered suitable only for
1206-632: Is the technology's ability to produce complex geometries with high precision and accuracy. This is particularly relevant in the field of microwave engineering, where 3D printing can be used to produce components with unique properties that are difficult to achieve using traditional manufacturing methods. Additive Manufacturing processes generate minimal waste by adding material only where needed, unlike traditional methods that cut away excess material. This reduces both material costs and environmental impact. This reduction in waste also lowers energy consumption for material production and disposal, contributing to
1273-543: The UV exposure area is controlled by a mask pattern or a scanning fiber transmitter. He filed a patent for this XYZ plotter, which was published on 10 November 1981. (JP S56-144478). His research results as journal papers were published in April and November 1981. However, there was no reaction to the series of his publications. His device was not highly evaluated in the laboratory and his boss did not show any interest. His research budget
1340-626: The stereolithography process. The application of the French inventors was abandoned by the French General Electric Company (now Alcatel-Alsthom) and CILAS (The Laser Consortium). The claimed reason was "for lack of business perspective". In 1983, Robert Howard started R.H. Research, later named Howtek, Inc. in Feb 1984 to develop a color inkjet 2D printer, Pixelmaster, commercialized in 1986, using Thermoplastic (hot-melt) plastic ink. A team
1407-465: The tensile strengths of parts made by proprietary printers. Unlike with most commercial machines, RepRap users are encouraged to experiment with materials and methods, and to publish their results. Methods for printing novel materials (such as ceramics) have been developed this way. In addition, several RecycleBots have been designed and fabricated to convert waste plastic, such as shampoo containers and milk jugs, into inexpensive RepRap filament. There
SECTION 20
#17328553356771474-399: The 1940s sprayed-circuit process Electronic Circuit Making Equipment (ECME), by John Sargrove . A related approach is printed electronics . Another non-replicable component is the threaded rods for linear motions. A current research area is in using replicated Sarrus linkages to replace them. The "Core team" of the project has included: The stated goal of the RepRap project is to produce
1541-448: The 1980s cost upwards of $ 300,000 ($ 650,000 in 2016 dollars). AM processes for metal sintering or melting (such as selective laser sintering , direct metal laser sintering , and selective laser melting) usually went by their own individual names in the 1980s and 1990s. At the time, all metalworking was done by processes that are now called non-additive ( casting , fabrication , stamping , and machining ); although plenty of automation
1608-515: The 2000s, inspired by the theme of material being added together ( in any of various ways ). In contrast, the term subtractive manufacturing appeared as a retronym for the large family of machining processes with material removal as their common process. The term 3D printing still referred only to the polymer technologies in most minds, and the term AM was more likely to be used in metalworking and end-use part production contexts than among polymer, inkjet, or stereolithography enthusiasts. By
1675-722: The 3D printing jewelry industry. Sanders (SDI) first Modelmaker 6Pro customer was Hitchner Corporations, Metal Casting Technology, Inc in Milford, NH a mile from the SDI facility in late 1993-1995 casting golf clubs and auto engine parts. On 8 August 1984 a patent, US4575330, assigned to UVP, Inc., later assigned to Chuck Hull of 3D Systems Corporation was filed, his own patent for a stereolithography fabrication system, in which individual laminae or layers are added by curing photopolymers with impinging radiation, particle bombardment, chemical reaction or just ultraviolet light lasers . Hull defined
1742-659: The RepRap community, but almost any CAD or 3D modeling program can be used with the RepRap, as long as it can produce STL files (Slic3r also supports .obj and .amf files). Thus, content creators make use of any tools they are familiar with, whether they are commercial CAD programs, such as SolidWorks and Autodesk AutoCAD , Autodesk Inventor , Tinkercad , or SketchUp along with the libre software . RepRaps print objects from ABS , Polylactic acid (PLA), Nylon (possibly not all extruders can), HDPE , TPE and similar thermoplastics . The mechanical properties of RepRap-printed PLA and ABS have been tested and are equivalent to
1809-613: The RepRap project in the UK) announced that it would cease trading on 15 January 2016. The reason given was congestion of the market for low-cost 3D printers and the inability to expand in that market. RepRapPro China continues to operate. As the project was designed by Bowyer to encourage evolution, many variations have been created. As an open source project, designers are free to make modifications and substitutions, but they must allow any of their potential improvements to be reused by others. There are many RepRap printer designs including: RepRap
1876-445: The VIC 3D printer for this company is available with a video presentation showing a 3D model printed with a single nozzle inkjet. Another employee Herbert Menhennett formed a New Hampshire company HM Research in 1991 and introduced the Howtek, Inc, inkjet technology and thermoplastic materials to Royden Sanders of SDI and Bill Masters of Ballistic Particle Manufacturing (BPM) where he worked for
1943-456: The advantages of design for additive manufacturing , it is clear to engineers that much more is to come. One place that AM is making a significant inroad is in the aviation industry. With nearly 3.8 billion air travelers in 2016, the demand for fuel efficient and easily produced jet engines has never been higher. For large OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) like Pratt and Whitney (PW) and General Electric (GE) this means looking towards AM as
2010-413: The aim of the project is for RepRap to be able to autonomously construct many of its own mechanical components soon using fairly low-level resources, several components such as sensors, stepper motors and microcontrollers cannot yet be made using the RepRap's 3D printing technology and so have to be produced independently. The plan is to approach 100% replication over a series of versions. For example, from
2077-449: The developing world. In 2012, Filabot developed a system for closing the loop with plastic and allows for any FDM or FFF 3D printer to be able to print with a wider range of plastics. In 2014, Benjamin S. Cook and Manos M. Tentzeris demonstrated the first multi-material, vertically integrated printed electronics additive manufacturing platform (VIPRE) which enabled 3D printing of functional electronics operating up to 40 GHz. As
RepRap - Misplaced Pages Continue
2144-535: The early 2010s, the terms 3D printing and additive manufacturing evolved senses in which they were alternate umbrella terms for additive technologies, one being used in popular language by consumer-maker communities and the media, and the other used more formally by industrial end-use part producers, machine manufacturers, and global technical standards organizations. Until recently, the term 3D printing has been associated with machines low in price or capability. 3D printing and additive manufacturing reflect that
2211-597: The fabrication of articles on a substrate. On 2 July 1984, American entrepreneur Bill Masters filed a patent for his computer automated manufacturing process and system ( US 4665492 ). This filing is on record at the USPTO as the first 3D printing patent in history; it was the first of three patents belonging to Masters that laid the foundation for the 3D printing systems used today. On 16 July 1984, Alain Le Méhauté , Olivier de Witte, and Jean Claude André filed their patent for
2278-842: The field of engineering due to its many benefits. The vision of 3D printing is design freedom, individualization, decentralization and executing processes that were previously impossible through alternative methods. Some of these benefits include enabling faster prototyping, reducing manufacturing costs, increasing product customization, and improving product quality. Furthermore, the capabilities of 3D printing have extended beyond traditional manufacturing, like lightweight construction, or repair and maintenance with applications in prosthetics, bioprinting, food industry, rocket building, design and art and renewable energy systems. 3D printing technology can be used to produce battery energy storage systems, which are essential for sustainable energy generation and distribution. Another benefit of 3D printing
2345-449: The first commercial 3D printer, the SLA-1, later in 1987 or 1988. The technology used by most 3D printers to date—especially hobbyist and consumer-oriented models—is fused deposition modeling , a special application of plastic extrusion , developed in 1988 by S. Scott Crump and commercialized by his company Stratasys , which marketed its first FDM machine in 1992. Owning a 3D printer in
2412-426: The first decade in which metal end-use parts such as engine brackets and large nuts would be grown (either before or instead of machining) in job production rather than obligately being machined from bar stock or plate. It is still the case that casting, fabrication, stamping, and machining are more prevalent than additive manufacturing in metalworking, but AM is now beginning to make significant inroads, and with
2479-449: The first patent describing 3D printing with rapid prototyping and controlled on-demand manufacturing of patterns. The patent states: As used herein the term printing is not intended in a limited sense but includes writing or other symbols, character or pattern formation with an ink. The term ink as used in is intended to include not only dye or pigment-containing materials, but any flowable substance or composition suited for application to
2546-411: The first time. While AM is still playing a small role in the total number of parts in the jet engine manufacturing process, the return on investment can already be seen by the reduction in parts, the rapid production capabilities and the "optimized design in terms of performance and cost". As technology matured, several authors began to speculate that 3D printing could aid in sustainable development in
2613-414: The goal of many of them being to start developing commercial FDM 3D printers that were more accessible to the general public. As the various additive processes matured, it became clear that soon metal removal would no longer be the only metalworking process done through a tool or head moving through a 3D work envelope, transforming a mass of raw material into a desired shape layer by layer. The 2010s were
2680-427: The high cost would severely limit any widespread enjoyment of a process or apparatus satisfying the foregoing objects. It is therefore an additional object of the invention to minimize use to materials in a process of the indicated class. It is a further object of the invention that materials employed in such a process be salvaged for reuse. According to another aspect of the invention, a combination for writing and
2747-501: The key advantages of 3D printing is the ability to produce very complex shapes or geometries that would be otherwise infeasible to construct by hand, including hollow parts or parts with internal truss structures to reduce weight while creating less material waste. Fused deposition modeling (FDM), which uses a continuous filament of a thermoplastic material, is the most common 3D printing process in use as of 2020 . The umbrella term additive manufacturing (AM) gained popularity in
RepRap - Misplaced Pages Continue
2814-557: The like comprises a carrier for displaying an intelligence pattern and an arrangement for removing the pattern from the carrier. In 1974, David E. H. Jones laid out the concept of 3D printing in his regular column Ariadne in the journal New Scientist . Early additive manufacturing equipment and materials were developed in the 1980s. In April 1980, Hideo Kodama of Nagoya Municipal Industrial Research Institute invented two additive methods for fabricating three-dimensional plastic models with photo-hardening thermoset polymer , where
2881-465: The manufacture of complex products without the need for extensive industrial infrastructure. They intended for the RepRap to demonstrate evolution in this process as well as for it to increase in number exponentially. A preliminary study claimed that using RepRaps to print common products results in economic savings. The RepRap project started in England in 2005 as a University of Bath initiative, but it
2948-565: The manufacturing and research industries, as the technology was still relatively young and was too expensive for most consumers to be able to get their hands on. The 2000s was when larger scale use of the technology began being seen in industry, most often in the architecture and medical industries, though it was typically used for low accuracy modeling and testing, rather than the production of common manufactured goods or heavy prototyping. In 2005 users began to design and distribute plans for 3D printers that could print around 70% of their own parts,
3015-542: The mid-1990s, new techniques for material deposition were developed at Stanford and Carnegie Mellon University , including microcasting and sprayed materials. Sacrificial and support materials had also become more common, enabling new object geometries. The term 3D printing originally referred to a powder bed process employing standard and custom inkjet print heads, developed at MIT by Emanuel Sachs in 1993 and commercialized by Soligen Technologies, Extrude Hone Corporation, and Z Corporation . The year 1993 also saw
3082-488: The onset of the project, the RepRap team has explored a variety of approaches to integrating electrically-conductive media into the product. This would allow inclusion of connective wiring , printed circuit boards , and possibly motors in RepRapped products. Variations in the nature of the extruded, electrically-conductive media could produce electrical components with different functions from pure conductive traces, similar to
3149-520: The original plans of which were designed by Adrian Bowyer at the University of Bath in 2004, with the name of the project being RepRap (Replicating Rapid-prototyper). Similarly, in 2006 the Fab@Home project was started by Evan Malone and Hod Lipson , another project whose purpose was to design a low-cost and open source fabrication system that users could develop on their own and post feedback on, making
3216-440: The parts, excluding fasteners). A couple hours later the "child" machine had made its first part: a timing-belt tensioner. In April 2009, electronic circuit boards were produced automatically with a RepRap, using an automated control system and a swappable head system capable of printing both plastic and conductive solder. On 2 October 2009, the second generation design, called Mendel, printed its first part. Mendel's shape resembles
3283-429: The price of printers started to drop people interested in this technology had more access and freedom to make what they wanted. As of 2014, the price for commercial printers was still high with the cost being over $ 2,000. The term "3D printing" originally referred to a process that deposits a binder material onto a powder bed with inkjet printer heads layer by layer. More recently, the popular vernacular has started using
3350-428: The primary printing media as support (these are mechanically removed afterwards). Printing electronics is a major goal of the RepRap project so that it can print its own circuit boards. Several methods have been proposed: Using a MIG welder as a print head a RepRap deltabot stage can be used to print metals like steel . The RepRap concept can also be applied to a milling machine and to laser welding . Although
3417-458: The process as a "system for generating three-dimensional objects by creating a cross-sectional pattern of the object to be formed". Hull's contribution was the STL (Stereolithography) file format and the digital slicing and infill strategies common to many processes today. In 1986, Charles "Chuck" Hull was granted a patent for this system, and his company, 3D Systems Corporation was formed and it released
SECTION 50
#17328553356773484-429: The production of functional or aesthetic prototypes, and a more appropriate term for it at the time was rapid prototyping . As of 2019 , the precision, repeatability, and material range of 3D printing have increased to the point that some 3D printing processes are considered viable as an industrial-production technology; in this context, the term additive manufacturing can be used synonymously with 3D printing . One of
3551-501: The project very collaborative. Much of the software for 3D printing available to the public at the time was open source , and as such was quickly distributed and improved upon by many individual users. In 2009 the Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) printing process patents expired. This opened the door to a new wave of startup companies, many of which were established by major contributors of these open source initiatives, with
3618-462: The start of an inkjet 3D printer company initially named Sanders Prototype, Inc and later named Solidscape , introducing a high-precision polymer jet fabrication system with soluble support structures, (categorized as a "dot-on-dot" technique). In 1995 the Fraunhofer Society developed the selective laser melting process. In the early 2000s 3D printers were still largely being used just in
3685-549: The surface for forming symbols, characters, or patterns of intelligence by marking. The preferred ink is of a hot melt type. The range of commercially available ink compositions which could meet the requirements of the invention are not known at the present time. However, satisfactory printing according to the invention has been achieved with the conductive metal alloy as ink. But in terms of material requirements for such large and continuous displays, if consumed at theretofore known rates, but increased in proportion to increase in size,
3752-447: The technologies share the theme of material addition or joining throughout a 3D work envelope under automated control. Peter Zelinski, the editor-in-chief of Additive Manufacturing magazine, pointed out in 2017 that the terms are still often synonymous in casual usage, but some manufacturing industry experts are trying to make a distinction whereby additive manufacturing comprises 3D printing plus other technologies or other aspects of
3819-470: The technology, gadget and engineering communities. In 2012, the first successful Delta design, Rostock, had a radically different design. The latest iterations used OpenBeams , wires (typically Dyneema or Spectra fishing lines) instead of belts, and so forth, which also represented some of the latest trends in RepRaps. In early January 2016, RepRapPro (short for "RepRap Professional", and one commercial arm of
3886-431: The term to encompass a wider variety of additive-manufacturing techniques such as electron-beam additive manufacturing and selective laser melting. The United States and global technical standards use the official term additive manufacturing for this broader sense. The most commonly used 3D printing process (46% as of 2018 ) is a material extrusion technique called fused deposition modeling , or FDM. While FDM technology
3953-650: Was also described by Raymond F. Jones in his story, "Tools of the Trade", published in the November 1950 issue of Astounding Science Fiction magazine. He referred to it as a "molecular spray" in that story. In 1971, Johannes F Gottwald patented the Liquid Metal Recorder, U.S. patent 3596285A, a continuous inkjet metal material device to form a removable metal fabrication on a reusable surface for immediate use or salvaged for printing again by remelting. This appears to be
4020-509: Was applied to those technologies (such as by robot welding and CNC ), the idea of a tool or head moving through a 3D work envelope transforming a mass of raw material into a desired shape with a toolpath was associated in metalworking only with processes that removed metal (rather than adding it), such as CNC milling , CNC EDM , and many others. However, the automated techniques that added metal, which would later be called additive manufacturing, were beginning to challenge that assumption. By
4087-445: Was conceived as a complete replication system rather than simply a piece of hardware. To this end the system includes computer-aided design (CAD) in the form of a 3D modeling system and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) software and drivers that convert RepRap users' designs into a set of instructions to the RepRap to create physical objects. Initially, two CAM tool chains were developed for RepRap. The first, called "RepRap Host",
SECTION 60
#17328553356774154-425: Was first described by Murray Leinster in his 1945 short story "Things Pass By": "But this constructor is both efficient and flexible. I feed magnetronic plastics — the stuff they make houses and ships of nowadays — into this moving arm. It makes drawings in the air following drawings it scans with photo-cells. But plastic comes out of the end of the drawing arm and hardens as it comes ... following drawings only" It
4221-565: Was invented after the other two most popular technologies, stereolithography (SLA) and selective laser sintering (SLS), FDM is typically the most inexpensive of the three by a large margin, which lends to the popularity of the process. As of 2020, 3D printers have reached the level of quality and price that allows most people to enter the world of 3D printing. In 2020 decent quality printers can be found for less than US$ 200 for entry-level machines. These more affordable printers are usually fused deposition modeling (FDM) printers. In November 2021
4288-464: Was just 60,000 yen or $ 545 a year. Acquiring the patent rights for the XYZ plotter was abandoned, and the project was terminated. A US 4323756 patent, method of fabricating articles by sequential deposition , granted on 6 April 1982 to Raytheon Technologies Corp describes using hundreds or thousands of "layers" of powdered metal and a laser energy source and represents an early reference to forming "layers" and
4355-428: Was novel in the 2000s reveals the long-prevailing mental model of the previous industrial era during which almost all production manufacturing had involved long lead times for laborious tooling development. Today, the term subtractive has not replaced the term machining , instead complementing it when a term that covers any removal method is needed. Agile tooling is the use of modular means to design tooling that
4422-515: Was put together, 6 members from Exxon Office Systems, Danbury Systems Division, an inkjet printer startup and some members of Howtek, Inc group who became popular figures in the 3D printing industry. One Howtek member, Richard Helinski (patent US5136515A, Method and Means for constructing three-dimensional articles by particle deposition, application 11/07/1989 granted 8/04/1992) formed a New Hampshire company C.A.D-Cast, Inc, name later changed to Visual Impact Corporation (VIC) on 8/22/1991. A prototype of
4489-640: Was written in Java by lead RepRap developer Adrian Bowyer. The second, "Skeinforge", was written by Enrique Perez. Both are complete systems for translating 3D computer models into G-code , the machine language that commands the printer. Later, other programs like Slic3r and Cura were created. Recently, the Franklin firmware was created to allow RepRap printers to be used for other purposes such as milling and fluid handling. Free and open-source 3-D modeling programs like Blender , OpenSCAD , and FreeCAD are preferred in
#676323