Name: Fab@Home Model 1
Materials: Epoxy; chocolate; Boursin (a soft cheese)
Price: $2,400 to $3,600, depending on how much assembly you're willing to take on
What it does: Hod Lipson's grand plan was to make a robot that could build copies of itself....[More]

Name: Fab@Home Model 1
Materials: Epoxy; chocolate; Boursin (a soft cheese)
Price: $2,400 to $3,600, depending on how much assembly you're willing to take on
What it does: Hod Lipson's grand plan was to make a robot that could build copies of itself. What the Cornell University roboticist ended up with was something more modest. In Lipson's Model 1, a syringe ejects epoxy or another gooey material onto a platform in paper-thin layers. He started the Fab@Home Web site in 2006 for the masses to pool their knowledge and improve on the machine's open-source design. So far, early adopters have cranked out ephemera such as wristwatch bands, iPod skins, and logos made of cheese printed on crackers. Lipson's group is currently testing a two-syringe model for printing different colors or materials.
Where to get one: Automated Creation Technologies and Koba Industries sell disassembled parts and preassembled kits.  [Less] [Link to this slide]

Evan Malone, http://fabathome.org/wiki/index.php?title=User:Emalone

Name: RepRap Version 1.0 "Darwin"
Material: Biodegradable plastic or polyester
Price: $500 to $900, depending on assembly
What it does: Short for replicating rapid prototyper, the RepRap is the brainchild of Adrian Bowyer, a mechanical engineer at the University of Bath in England who figured that fabbers would become a lot cheaper and more accessible if they could build their own bodies....[More]

Name: RepRap Version 1.0 "Darwin"
Material: Biodegradable plastic or polyester
Price: $500 to $900, depending on assembly
What it does: Short for replicating rapid prototyper, the RepRap is the brainchild of Adrian Bowyer, a mechanical engineer at the University of Bath in England who figured that fabbers would become a lot cheaper and more accessible if they could build their own bodies. Sound familiar? Like a lo-fi version of the Fab@Home Model 1, Bowyer designed the first RepRap to be built by combining fabbed parts with motors and other store-bought mechanical components. Unveiled earlier this month, "Darwin" heats a solid polymer and mechanically extrudes it like a glue gun. The next step in Darwin's evolution: printing its own circuitry.
Where to get one: Visit the RepRap Web page for a list of parts and suppliers.  [Less] [Link to this slide]

http://reprap.org

Name: Candy Fab
Material: Granulated sugar
Price: Estimated at $500 (sugar packets not included)
What it does: You mean, besides make Homer Simpson drool?...[More]

Name: Candy Fab
Material: Granulated sugar
Price: Estimated at $500 (sugar packets not included)
What it does: You mean, besides make Homer Simpson drool? Developed by Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories—aka the do-it-yourself family of Windell H. Oskay, Lenore M. Edman and their two children—Candy Fab [inset] resembles high-end industrial fabbers in that it prints by fusing a layer of grains in selected spots. Instead of plastic, however, those grains are sugar. To cut costs, the Evil Labs crew replaced the multi-thousand dollar laser with a $10 heating coil similar to what you'd find in a hair dryer. The result: geometric confections including dodecahedra, Möbius strips and sugary helices like the one shown here. Willy Wonka would approve.
Where to get one: Not for sale yet. Whet your appetite on Candy Fab's Web site.  [Less] [Link to this slide]

Windell H. Oskay, http://www.evilmadscientist.com

Name: Craftsman CompuCarve
Material: Wood; can handle acrylics and foam, too
Price: $1,899.99
What it does: Go from a bumbling amateur to a wood-carving genius on par with William Blake thanks to this robotic engraving device....[More]

Name: Craftsman CompuCarve
Material: Wood; can handle acrylics and foam, too
Price: $1,899.99
What it does: Go from a bumbling amateur to a wood-carving genius on par with William Blake thanks to this robotic engraving device. The computer-controlled woodworker etches stock designs or user-generated images into wood planks that are passed under its carbide-steel cutting bit. Certainly an easier way to spruce up cabinet doors and picture frames than breaking out the hammer and a chisel. To make full-fledged 3-D objects, Phillip Torrone, a senior editor at Make: magazine, recommends stacking pieces together. Better stock up on wood glue.
Where to get one: Sears or from Craftsman's Web site.  [Less] [Link to this slide]

Sears / Craftsman

Name: Desktop Factory 125ci 3D Printer
Material: Nylon-based powder (laced with aluminum and glass)
Price: $4,995
What it does: Closest in spirit to industrial-strength fabbers, this 90-pound version focuses light from a halogen lamp to melt shapes in powder on a rotating drum, which plops the layers onto a flat surface for stacking and drying....[More]

Name: Desktop Factory 125ci 3D Printer
Material: Nylon-based powder (laced with aluminum and glass)
Price: $4,995
What it does: Closest in spirit to industrial-strength fabbers, this 90-pound version focuses light from a halogen lamp to melt shapes in powder on a rotating drum, which plops the layers onto a flat surface for stacking and drying. Keep in mind that coffee mugs, toy ducks and other objects coming out of its 125-cubic-inch building bay will have a coarse, gray look to them. The manufacturer recommends giving your creations a good sanding—and maybe a paint job.
Where to get one: The company is sold out. Reserve one at www.desktopfactory.com for shipment in 2009.  [Less] [Link to this slide]

Desktop Factory