Editor’s note: This article was first published in May 2013. The 300-350 euro build cost, the “3 big” 3D printer makers and their stock surge “in recent months” reflect that moment, not today.
The debate over 3D printers is wide open, because nobody yet knows what impact they may have as a new industrial revolution in which anyone can make whatever they need at home. At the same time, controversy is guaranteed now that they make it feasible and easy to make a gun at home.
Now you can not only make a huge range of products in your own home, you can also build a 3D printer yourself with a minimum of basic knowledge of mechanics, electronics and programming.
There is currently plenty of free documentation and open source manuals that let anyone build their own 3D printer for around 300 or 350 euros in a few days. All you need to do is buy the necessary materials and follow the steps to build it yourself.
An Electrical Engineering student at the University of Jaén (Spain) has built a Prusa Mendel Iteration 2, as reported by Eldiario.es. The student says it is not the easiest model to build, but even so the process was very rewarding. You can find the complete manual for building this 3D printer from scratch on the RepRap.org website.
The good news about making it easy for anyone with basic skills to build a 3D printer is that anyone can do business with this new revolution. The bad news would be for printer manufacturers: their business model would raise serious doubts if their product is easy to copy. Remember that the three big 3D printer companies have seen dizzying rises on the stock market in recent months.
This video shows a home-built 3D printer at work.
Watch: A home-built 3D printer in action
Featured image: josefprusa, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Flickr.
