it can 3D-Print onto itself?!

Files can be found here:

Update! There is a Discord server for people wanting to help out building this:

Thank you to CNC Kitchen and Proper Printing:
@CNCKitchen
@properprinting

Music in this video:

Check out my social media for sneak peaks and memes:

[jutrbr]

One day, when there's an uprising of the 3d-printers, we know who's to blame 😂

[lcajueiro]

bro took “Buy 3d printer, 3d print 3d printer, return 3d printer” too seriously

[properprinting]

I especially like the fact that the vertical axis of the parent printer becomes a horizontal axis of the child printer which even increases the build volume with each new printer! Awesome concept, to infinity and beyond!

[DistortedSemance]

This is so cool! The fact that it can upgrade to larger print volumes is insane. You could ship a tiny, lightweight "seed printer" through the mail and then bootstrap it to an entire makerspace. Combine it with a upcycled filament extruder and you could transform a pile of old soda bottles into a useful community resource.

[dingodog]

I remember this being part of the original idea behind a 3d printer. A machine that could reproduce itself as an analogy for life.

[xnopasaranx]

dude... this is brilliant! I am just a 3D printing enthusiast and not an engineer sadly, so I doubt I could provide anything useful, but you have a new subscriber and I'll be sure to share this with all my maker/hackerspace friends. hopefully in time, I can build one of these once the concept has matured more. Incredible work!

[dr_fish]

Brings new meaning to "support material." 🤔

[thomaskaldahl]

The word "revolutionary" is overused these days, but I think it really applies here. I literally feel like I'm witnessing acomplete turning point in the way our species does the very task of building things

[DEtchells]

Crazy-clever!

>> To avoid wobble as it gets taller, print diagonal braces (or even a solid shell) rather than just legs.

Definitely out of the box thinking! 👍😉

[swg_fpv]

This is amazing. I recently took on a project which I designed through a similar iterative process, and I appreciate that the majority of components in this printer are probably in at least their 5th or 10th iteration. The design and vision is amazing, and I will certainly print one to try!

Amazing work!

[HRfromJohn]

i found this hilarious
not in a bad way but more of a "damn it man, youre insane and a genius. i want to see the process and i hope you succeed." way
but my brain couldnt handle the sheer scope of this project and was defaulted to laugh.

[spacerules]

just a thought: it reminds me of how a sky scraper can expand and grow in height. if you were to take the gears and have something like block tracks where it would be able to grow inside then you could print all direction and not just clone. an idea on how i would try is maybe if the metal rods were split in half and turned into worm gears you could build from middle outwards. Take 1 axis and lets say the x axis. you could have 2 gears on the printer to travel the 2 gears that are being printed. as its being printed the nozzle would stay close to the middle left and right when the axis is complete you would have the 2 printer gears go in reverse direction to create pressure on the rod eventually locking the 2 pieces together. that way the printer would then be able to travel the entire distance. the supports for longer distances would be harder to deal with however you might be able to print supports as you print the axis since the printer would be spinning it outwards as it extends the support.

[Distanc]

The Summoning Salt music, the Line Rider throwback, the insanely innovative 3D printer concept - this is YouTube gold!

[atmic]

Very interesting project! Your whole philosophy of design is ground breaking! I will attempt to make an infini-z like printer myself and see where to go from there... already have some ideas of improvement floating around in my head.

[Semystic]

That's really neat that you're releasing this to the public to basically get an internet wide collaborative effort on making this work! It'll be amazing in no time!

[Matz]

You're documenting this with the rest of the Reprap community, right? Because they've had the exact same quest as you from before 3D printers were called that (and basically provoked consumer 3D printing to become a thing with their open-source designs). They could be helpful, and will also be REALLY interested in expanding on these ideas. I'm actually kind of shocked you didn't mention them, honestly.

[retractableroof]

Freaking genius! I can see issues with rigidity of the mechanism but your approach clearly shows you have what it takes to solve problems that other people have not even seen yet.

[DanielOzark]

This is like that episode of Futurama where Bender makes two 60% scale Benders until they take over the world at a molecular scale.

[Iceteavanill]

Absolutely crazy idea with a even crazier solution. I love it. Great work.

[SpeedyGwen]

the idea that ontop of having the idea and trying things, u are actually doing it is something I find insane and I love and will always support