Hey guys, as part of a cool community of open sourced self replicating things, I thought you might like the RepRap, the self replicating (almost) 3D printer!
http://reprap.org/wiki/RepRapThe rep rap uses thin plastic wire to create 3d shapes and models downloaded on to your computer to make physical models, including pieces for another rep rap machine.
Now I propose a community effort to create a chain of these machines for bitcoin enthusiasts. The idea is as follows-
http://yolkplus.org/bitprint.phpWith affordable desktop 3D printing on the horizon, what's to stop large companies from creating and selling these devices at a large premium, protecting the designs and preventing the users freedoms to create, design and print what they want? With affordable desktop 3D printing on the horizon, what's to stop large companies from monopolizng this business? They could suppress freedomsto create, design and print what you really want. 3D printers are amazing, because they have the ability to self-replicate. As a community, we are working together to create printers that are cheap, light and can print astounding detail with absolute precision. Projects like Rep-rap, and thingiverse collect and catalog the changes and forks in designs, but there is one problem.
They aren't cheap. Yet.
Bitprint aims to collect funding with the digital currency Bitcoin, which will be used to purchase and donate 3D printers to hobbyists, maker clubs, public schools or anyone else who would promise to contribute to the project either with funding, or by simply using the printer to print more pieces for other printers. Our goal is to get enough open source, self replicating printers in the hands of the public, so that they are readily available to anyone who would want one. Eventually it will only be necessary to purchase a few electronic components to create a printer. The rest of the parts can be printed out by a friend for you!
Once a network of these printers is established, jobs could be distributed through a software such as Botqueue, having the items created sold and a percentage kept for the fund.
I will next begin printing out all the parts of the next device for another donating community member (We need a way to decide who is next in line, whether it be the top donating member, or whoever receives the most votes, whatever we decide is fair). The parts will be shipped to the next person, and we will then have twice the printing power.
The goal of this project is to get everyone access to a 3d printing machine. Once one is done, I can make one for someone else, then when the second person completes theirs, we both make one for someone else and so on! The reason we need to continue the funding, however is because the parts such as power supply, motors and other circuitry cannot be printed (Yet, the next revision should be able to make circuits!)
Also, With all this printing going on, we can also use this as an opportunity to cut down on the amount of plastics used, and maybe start our own reprap fork created and maintained by the bitcoin community.
Please let me know what you think!
Let me know how you think I should collect donations, should I start a GLBSE thing?
