RelatedSites

-- Main.AdrianBowyer - 25 Feb 2006

Some universal constructor, rapid prototyping, or otherwise relevant sites on the web

• Fab@Home - an open-source 3D printer based on a syringe-squeezing mechaninism and pre-cut acrylic sheet panels. This is some very nice work by Evan Malone and Hod Lipson at the Cornell Computational Synthesis Laboratory.
• DAVID Laserscanner A free laserscanner software package. See also here.
• Moshe Sipper's Artificial Self-replication page.
• The Worldwide Rapid Prototyping Directory.
• fabbers.com - Digital Fabrication Portal.
• Matt Moses' Kinematic Self-Replicating Machines pages.
• A Universal Constructor made from cellular automata by Renato Nobili and Umberto Pesavento.
• Ralph Merkle's work on Self replicating systems and low cost manufacturing.
• NASA and the Universal Constructor: Advanced Automation for Space Missions edited by Robert Freitas and William Gilbreath.
• Brock Hinzmann's paper: The Personal Factory.
• Josh Storrs Hall's systems-level analysis of self-replicating systems.
• The Kinematic Self-Replicating Machines pages and book by Robert Freitas and Ralph Merkle.
• The Norwegian Metal Printing Process project.
• The Cornell self-reproducing robot.
• Simon McAuliffe's Repstrap project: booting RepRap without an initial RP machine.
• The Tommelise Project Site: bootstrapping yourself into very low-cost 3D protopyping technology
• Turbosquid: a big library of 3D designs for download, some free, some for money.
• The MIT Fab Lab project.
• Making a hot air, surface-mount soldering iron from a desoldering tool.
• Making negative resistance simply - a possible way for RepRap to make electronics.
• How to drive inkjet printheads
• OScar the open-source car.
• The Open Prosthetics Project - these folk are designing new and useful prosthetics and giving the desgin plans away for free!
• Wiring - Wiring is an open source programming environment and electronics i/o board for exploring the electronic arts, tangible media, teaching and learning computer programming and prototyping with electronics.
• Arduino is an open-source physical computing platform based on a simple i/o board, and a development environment for writing Arduino software. The Arduino programming language is an implementation of Wiring, itself built on Processing
• Processing - Processing is an open source programming language and environment for people who want to program images, animation, and sound.
• Tux Droid - A wireless robotic penguin intended as a toy and a way of interacting with your computer.
• MechMate - A set of plans to build a large-scale (~2 meter x 3 meter) cnc router, to cut plywood sheet. The router frame is made from welded steel components. The plans are free to download for noncommercial use. Mechmate apparently started as a set of modifications to the commercial Shopbot CNC router system.

Building/Converting your own CNC machine.

• A busy webforum and discussion site for CNC machine builders.
• EMC - Use an old PC to control your CNC machine, with this free, robust Linux-based CNC machine controller software.
• The CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO mailing list - helful folk who love to discuss these matters.
• How to build your own CNC mnachine (Part 1), (Part 2), (Part 3).