What cool open source stuff I have learned about since joining the luf-team Yahoo group! Reading The Millennial Project for science fiction research, as I recently blogged about, led me to the luf-team Yahoo group. It’s always nice when something cool falls into my lap without effort. So often in life, I have put a lot of effort into various endeavors, only to find that, my efforts have proven counter-productive to my current goals. When one good thing leads to another good thing effortlessly, it helps to make up for life’s little ironies. I have learned that there is actually such a thing as open source hardware! How exciting!

The Fabber, a Fabulous 3D Printer You Can Make At Home

One of the most exciting inventions I have ever encountered is the Fabber. The Fabber is a 3D printer that people can make themselves, using open source instructions and readily available materials. It can be used for rapid prototyping. Theoretically, anything that you can design in 3D modeling software, you can print using the Fabber. Think of your 3D object as being cut into hundreds of tiny slices. Each slice is printed out in 2D on top of the previous slice. That is sort of how the Fabber works. The big breakthrough is that the Fabber is in reach of the budget of garage inventors, unlike commerically sold 3D printers. continue reading »