Open-source 3-D printer

The RepRap project started in England in 2005 as a University of Bath initiative to develop a low-cost 3D printer that can print most of its own components, but it is now made up of hundreds of collaborators world wide. RepRap is short for replicating rapid prototyper.

As an open design, 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 the machine to make some of its own parts, authors envisioned the possibility of cheap RepRap units, enabling 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.

RepRap was founded in 2005 by Dr 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 successfully printed the first part of itself, which were subsequently used to replace an identical part originally created by a commercial 3D printer. On 9 February 2008, RepRap 1.0 "Darwin" successfully made at least one instance of over half its total rapid-prototyped parts. On 14 April 2008, possibly the first end-user item is made by a RepRap: a clamp to hold an iPod securely to the dashboard of a Ford Fiesta. By September of that year it was reported that at least 100 copies have been produced in various countries.

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. The Mendel's shape resembles a triangular prism rather than a cube. RepRap 2.0 "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.

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