Jackson Center for Teaching and Learning. The full instructions for the build-including videos of the tricky parts-are available for free on the Wiki Appropedia thanks to a grant from William G. On the second day of class, everyone brought an empty box and selected components for their printers from from bins. The class followed a blended learning format, meaning students often did design project 'homework' in class and a lot of reading at home.

The course covered the hardware, firmware, slicing, and printer controller software for operating and maintaining the device-all of which are free and open source. We used ' Open Source Lab: How to Build Your Own Hardware and Reduce Research Costs' as the textbook to cover the material from an engineering scientist perspective. The course essentially distilled the RepRap ethos and formalized it as an introduction to distributed additive manufacturing. It is about halfway there, and most of the non-printable components can be found in a hardware store. The goal of the RepRap project is to produce a 3D printer completely capable of making itself. Of all the amazing projects it enables, perhaps the most interesting was the open source RepRap 3D printer, which stands for self-replicating rapid prototyper. Open hardware really took off with the low-cost, easy-to-learn Arduino microcontroller. The open hardware community is steadily building on the foundation laid by the free and open source (FOSS) community. The 50 seats for the class filled immediately.

At the end of the semester, each student keeps the printer they built and modified. Students pay an additional $500 course fee for the components and tools necessary to build their own MOST Delta RepRap 3D printer, which they then use for the course. Last fall, Michigan Tech offered a new course: Open Source 3D Printing.

The software industry already knows the force of open source, so now it's time to start teaching free and open source hardware to all engineers. Recent advances in free and open source 3D printing have lowered rapid prototyping costs, making it accessible to everyone. When engineering students start college, the high cost of proprietary tools can be a barrier to making their dreams become a reality.

Open source cad for 3d printing