This is what the rep-rap project is working towards.
One of the first obvious issues is how do you print motors? How to print circuit boards (with 3d printing hardware that is) is another obvious question, though that seems a bit more approachable. Wires are also another obvious one, though printing internal leads into pieces seems like a decent way of avoiding wires after you have gotten the "print a circuit board" thing down.
Less technical issues are "Why do you even want to print the entire thing?". Right now most rep-raps use many metal rods. These could be replaced with printed parts, but is there really a reason? The metal rods are cheap, easy to source, and reliable.
This all said, what rep-rap has accomplished to date is pretty impressive; they have snatched up most of the low hanging fruit and most of what is left isn't stuff that makes sense to print anyway.
There has been a lot of work lately at creating filament makers that would allow people to recycle scrap plastic into filament you can print with at home. I think that when this technology starts to mature things ought to get rather interesting.
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I'm waiting for the 3d printer you download and assemble entirely from 3d-printed parts.
This is what the rep-rap project is working towards.
One of the first obvious issues is how do you print motors? How to print circuit boards (with 3d printing hardware that is) is another obvious question, though that seems a bit more approachable. Wires are also another obvious one, though printing internal leads into pieces seems like a decent way of avoiding wires after you have gotten the "print a circuit board" thing down.
Less technical issues are "Why do you even want to print the entire thing?". Right now most rep-raps use many metal rods. These could be replaced with printed parts, but is there really a reason? The metal rods are cheap, easy to source, and reliable.
This all said, what rep-rap has accomplished to date is pretty impressive; they have snatched up most of the low hanging fruit and most of what is left isn't stuff that makes sense to print anyway.
I'm waiting when you can get plastic in a form that works with these things at $2/pound.
There has been a lot of work lately at creating filament makers that would allow people to recycle scrap plastic into filament you can print with at home. I think that when this technology starts to mature things ought to get rather interesting.
And it will be made out of lego, or at least lego-compatible construction system.