3D printer the size of a room for $ 250

Why not make a 3D printer out of a garage or an empty room? An open-sighted project from Sweden makes it possible for $ 250. Who is less?

Glenn Macdonald's article from Seeker.com is translated for you by Top 3D Shop .

Swedish inventor Torbjørn Ludwigsen has spent the last three years developing a new kind of widescreen 3D printer that can create large objects. His invention can print furniture right in the room — it's very easy and relatively cheap. The invention of Ludwigsen, "Hangprinter", uses a system of cables attached to the walls, floor and ceiling and computer-controlled drives on a block with a printing head. The device uses the room itself as a 3D printer case.


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Hangprinter is not the first wide-format 3D printing system, but it is unique. First, it is cheap. All hardware and firmware components can be purchased for about $ 250. It is also an open source project, which means that any user can improve the system and use third-party updates. Finally, Hangprinter is self-sufficient - most of the components needed to create it can be printed by him.

It all adds up to a system that Ludwigsen hopes will open up the potential of 3D printing to a large number of people. The developer believes that 3D printing should not be an expensive privilege. In his opinion, Hangprinter is not only a technical, but also a social experiment.

“In particular, I want 3D printing to avoid the fate of 2D printing, where machines are programmed to self-destruct after a certain number of manufactured objects. The best chance to do this is not only to use open source, but also to create self-replicating equipment. Hangprinter independently produces most of the necessary elements for itself. ”
- he said.

The Hangprinter project is part of a larger initiative in the community of 3D printers, known as RepRap. All developers are trying to maximize the process of creating prototypes. The idea is to distribute 3D printing technology among low- and middle-income people, using open design solutions and self-replicating mechanisms.

“Open technology can provide new opportunities for low- and middle-income families, and I grew up in one of these families ,” said Ludwigsen.


Novator deals with this project very seriously. As a physics student at Umeå University in Sweden, he recently wrote a master’s thesis on this topic.

In the video demonstrating the work of Hangprinter, Ludwigsen demonstrated how a 3D printer creates a relatively simple and functional object - a lamp shade.



Hangmaker was also involved in more artistic projects - Ludwigsen recently used this system to assemble a five-foot sculpture of the Tower of Babel.


Hangmaker prints sculpture of the Tower of Babel. Author: Torbjørn Ludwigsen.

As the device is optimized, Ludwigsen hopes that the Hangprinter will be versatile enough to print out furniture, tools, and possibly fully functional mechanisms with moving parts. He also hopes to raise money through crowdfunding in order to continue research and development in this direction.

Although the current version of Hangprinter is fully functional, the device is still waiting for a lot of upgrades, as the author says. In fact, improvements are another reason why the author decided to develop the project as open-source.

“This is a flexible production technology, so it will be useful in various situations that I cannot foresee. Some of them can be very important / cool / helpful. I would not want to hinder important and useful discoveries " ,
- he said.

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