RepRap: Blog

We've always described the RepRap in simplistic terms as being like a glue gun on a robot arm. Well, someone has taken this rather literally. It's actually quite invigorating to see people attempting to make more challenging structures than stacks of 2D planar laminations, and we've seen people using repraps to do this before, but the Mataerial people seem to have it worked out pretty well.

Here is a remarkable achievement  Follow this link for details.

To quote Vik Olliver: "3D Printing Where It Needs To Be."

If the thousands of people involved in RepRap each contributed a few dollars, or twenty minutes of their expertise, think what this would become...

The Inside 3D Printing Conference & Expo, April 22-23 in NYC, has attracted 3D printing companies, professionals, industry leaders, and hobbyists who will meet to discuss the latest topics and advancements in the ever-evolving 3D printing field.

You’ll hear presentations by leaders in the field—Avi Reichental, President and CEO of 3D Systems, Hod Lipson, associate professor at Cornell University and coauthor of Fabricated: The World of 3D Printing, and Ofer Shochet, Executive VP of Products at Statasys. View the full agenda here.

Featured Session:

How Professional Investors Are Playing the 3D Printing Boom
A panel of venture capitalists, including professionals from T. Rowe Price Associates, Lux Capital, RRE Ventures, and Piper Jaffray, will explore where investors are placing their bets. You’ll learn what types of startups VCs are interested in funding and where to invest your own money in this emerging industry.

The event’s exhibit hall and networking reception will provide attendants with an exciting opportunity to meet face-to-face with companies in the space.
Reprapers will save 15% off gold passports to the event with the code: RRP15. For the best rates, register today: Thursday, April 4.

The EFF and Ask Patents are organising the submission of prior-art to stop 3D printing patents that shouldn't be awarded.  Details are here:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/03/effs-fight-open-3d-printing-continues-askpatentscom

There is a vast wealth of research and prior art in the RepRap community, on its Wiki, and in its blogs.  All this material is in the public domain, and any attempt to patent any of it should not, therefore, be allowed.

Please take a minute every now and then to visit the site and see if some company is trying to patent something that you know is already public.  And fill in the form with a reference (or better a link) to any prior art that you know. 

Thanks to Melba Kurman for bringing the following writ to the US Supreme Court to my attention:

http://sblog.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/WARF-McBride-Amicus-January-24-2013.pdf

As she says, the analogy struck on the bottom of Page 15 is essentially using RepRap as a model for the behaviour of a living system for the purposes of "intellectual property" law.  The wheel has definitely turned full circle...

I wonder, if that argument holds, how far you would get arguing that, as a living thing is deemed to be a type of RepRap machine, then, ipso facto, all living things must fall under the RepRap open licence...

3D Hackers, Industry experts, venture capitalists, RepRap geeks and people in the engineering, technology, manufacturing, culinary, finance, architecture, medical, and fashion industries will meet at Inside 3D Printing Conference & Expo, April 22-23 in NYC. The two-day event is the first U.S. east coast expo that is fully focused on 3D printing, its applications, and services.

Attendants will hear from notable thought leaders and explore how 3D printing will affect their lives and businesses. The event will feature more than thirty speakers, including people from Solid Concepts Inc, Autodesk, Inc., 3D Systems, Estee Lauder, Stratasys, Authentise, MGX by Materialise, and more.

Keynote presentations will be given by Terry Wohlers, Principal Consultant and President, Wohlers Associates, Inc. (and a sometime critic of aspects of RepRap - go and discuss!) and Peter Weijmarshausen, CEO and Co-Founder of Shapeways.

Featured sessions will include Digital Materials, Spotlight on Fashion, Design Tools in the Age of 3D Printing, Transforming Education Through 3D Printing, Art & Architecture: Redefining the Future of Design, How Professional Investors are Playing the 3D Printing Boom, and 3D Printing Firearms: The End of Gun Control? View the full agenda here.

The conference will also feature an expo hall filled with 3D printing, with companies like 3D Systems and MakerBot to provide opportunities for attendants to talk, to see demonstrations and to make contacts.

Reprapers (that's you!) will get 15% off admission and gold passports with the promo-code: RRP15.  For more information, or to register, click here.