Press Releases

11 July 2007 09:02 (Pacific Grove, California)

An updated design for a replacement polymer pump for the Mk 1 AEM extuder was printed successfully in high density polyethylene (HDPE) in a room temperature environment. The pump was tapped and immediately mounted on the Tommelise 3D printer and replaced two parts used previously. This achievement represents the first successful use of HDPE 3D printing at room temperature for an artifact of significant mass and dimensions.

31 January 2007 16:02 (Pacific Grove, California)

Construction on the Clanking Replicator Project's open source, self-relicating 3D printer, Tommelise, is complete. All systems and components are installed and working individually under PC control.

30 January 2007 19:32 (Pacific Grove, California)

The Clanking Replicator Project has successfully extruded both high density polyethelene (HDPE) and homopolypropylene (HPP) engineering plastics at production rates from its newly commissioned Mk 2.1 extruder.

11 January 2007 23:02 (Pacific Grove, California)

The Clanking Replicator Project has successfully extruded high density polyethelene (HDPE), another inexpensive and widely-used engineering polymer, through a new extruder design for the Mk II Extruder .

The new extruder barrel produced a 0.9 mm thread from a 0.5 mm extrusion orifice using 3 mm HDPE filament feedstock. The extrusion was extremely smooth and translucent, resembling monofilament fishing line. An 8 inch sample length was produced. It was self-supporting but more flexible than the HPP samples produced earlier.

Further tests demonstrated that the 0.9 mm thread could successfully adhere to an existing surface of HDPE held at room temperature.

5 January 2007 09:34 (Pacific Grove, California)

The Clanking Replicator Project has successfully extruded homopolypropylene (HPP), an inexpensive and widely-used engineering polymer, through a new extruder design for the Mk II Extruder . This represents a major breakthrough in that heretofore the Mk II has only been used with polycaprolactone, a nylon-like polymer with a very low (160 degree F.) melting point.

The new extruder barrel produced a 0.8 mm thread from a 0.5 mm extrusion orifice using 3 mm HPP filament feedstock. Further tests demonstrated that the 0.8 mm thread could successfully adhere to an existing surface of HPP held at room temperature. This means that the Tommelise 3D replicator, an outgrowth of the RepRap project will be able to successfully build 3 dimensional objects from HPP as well as polycapralactone.