(PhysOrg.com) -- Media coverage: Researchers based at the
Innovative Design and Manufacturing Research Centre at the
University of Bath have designed and developed a printer that
can create objects from 3D files. Dr Adrian Bowyer's Replicating
Rapid Prototyping known as RepRap for short - is a free desktop
3D printer capable of printing plastic objects. The object is
formed by applying successive layers of solid material and the
self-replicating machine could transform the nature of
manufacturing. Rapid prototyping and 3D printing are becoming
commonplace, but the development of a self-replicating machine
is making it possible for anyone to have their own machine for
around the same price as a high-specification mobile telephone.
It has enabled the costs of 3D printing to be massively reduced
and therefore increased its accessibility. Since many parts of
RepRap are made from plastic and RepRap can print those parts,
RepRap is a self-replicating machine - one that anyone can build
given time and materials. It