CandyFab.org Originally started by Evil Mad Scientist, this 3D Printer project has taken on a DIY life of its own. The machine is said to possibly cost as little as $500, (or even much less depending on what you have sitting around), to build from recycled materials. Granulated sugar is melted in a large 1,000 X 1,000 X 1,000 voxel grid to form 3D objects. The technology uses a gantry-mounted heat gun for selective hot air sintering and melting (SHASAM). Probably not very useful for engineering applications, but might be an interesting means for making sculptures and other artwork. Added advantage: output could be edible. It's also possible to make plastic objects with the machine.

Fab@Home An open-source project to design, develop and manufacture an inexpensive syringe-based additive fabrication machine and related software. The components to build the device can be had for as little as US$2,500, and a variety of materials can be used for building, from silicone to chocolate. The project is led from Cornell University, but there are participants from all over the world.

NextFab Store The company provides kits for fab@home machines priced in the range of US$3,100. It also sells major machine structural part kits for those wishing to procure their own electronic and mechanical components or to experiment. An (almost) completely assembled version of the machine can be purchased for about US$3,700.

Automated Creation Technologies ACT provides a range of parts and assembled systems similar to and competitive with NextFab, above. In addition, a two head version of the machine is also available which allows for the possibility of using a support material during the build.

MakerBot Industries The CupCake is a small open source fused deposition modeling kit that's called the CupCake because its build envelope is about the size of a cupcake - a nice big one that would fit in a 4 inch cube. The US$750 kit comes with 5 lbs of ABS plastic. The company has set up an extensive framework of blogs, wikis, etc., and also a web-site reminscent of Shapeways for users to exchange designs called the Thingiverse.

Open Manufacturing A discussion group dedicated to bringing open source software development methodology and philosophy to the design and construction of the physical world. In many cases this involves additive fabrication, especially as it relates to RepRap and the like, but be prepared for a heavy emphasis on philosophy.

RepRap RepRap Stands for replicating rapid-prototyper. It's an open-source 3D printer design project headed by Adrian Bowyer at the University of Bath (UK). RepRap is intended to make plastic, ceramic, and metal parts, and eventually to have the ability to make copies of itself. The technology is based on multi-axis robotic deposition of filamentary material, similar to fused deposition modeling and is appropriately dubbed Darwin. The parts cost is said to be on the order of US$400, and the RRF estimates that by the end of 2008 there were about 1,000 systems at some state of construction around the world. As befitting an open-source project, there are now several spinoffs of RepRap, as well.

The RepRap Foundation Promotes and distributes the results of research in self-replicating manufacturing systems, and also runs a store for purchasing Darwin parts and components.

The Clanking Replicator Project A spinoff of the RepRap project, this is a personal effort of Dr. Forrest Higgs. The project is developing a machine called Tommelise for extruding various plastic materials using slightly different technology. The projected cost to build a system is around US$150.

The Repstrap Project Simon McAuliffe in New Zealand is the force behind this spinoff of the RepRap Project which is intended to have the capability to produce the parts needed to build a seed RepRap machine. If RepRap is Darwin, maybe this one should be called DNA.

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