this 3D printer has an infinite build  volume because it can print itself higher.   0:05 it can print metals and Plastics, but  most importantly it can print itself.   0:11 imagine it creating two copies of itself in  48 hours, after two weeks one would have 2 000   0:17 printers, after a month over 10 million. this lets  us do amazing things. Send one of those to Mars   0:24 and by the time any humans show up, the printers  will have reproduced and built a luxury Mars base.   0:30 or if you feel like it, replace the production  capacity of China in just a couple of months.   0:35 anyway, exponential numbers are fun  and all but assembling 10 times the   0:39 printers prusa has ever sold in just  a month, is hard, especially on Mars. 0:46 if we want our wildest dreams to come true, we  have to figure out how we can put a big box,   0:53 into a smaller box. I hope you  can see where I'm going with this.   0:58 you see, I am making a printer that can  create an exact copy of itself and not   1:03 just the plastic parts. the motion system,  the motors, the electronics, all of it. 1:10 I am making a printer that requires no assembly  no fuss print it and start printing with it yes   1:17 I am making a print in place printer if it can  replicate itself then it can print anything.   1:23 it will be a printer that will end the age of  centralized mass production, freed by the shackles   1:28 of yesterday's production techniques and with the  help of AI we will create unique items for all.  1:34 why is your iPhone the same size as  everybody else's if your hands are not?  1:37 why does your coffee machine not add the  right amount of sugar and milk by itself?  1:43 why would you download a car? if you can generate  a unique one that fits your needs exactly. 1:56 ow well the software isn't entirely there  yet, but let's make sure this thing does   2:00 what it's supposed to do if you want  the printer to copy itself without   2:04 progressively becoming smaller and smaller  and smaller we have to solve this problem.   2:09 which I'm pretty sure is impossible,  however there's another way   2:13 here we have two completely identical boxes  neither one fits in the other but watch this: 2:24 huh this could work. 2:26 this is infinity as the name implies it  has the ability to print infinitely High.   2:32 it can do this all thanks to this new setup that  moves all the components, Motors, Electronics,   2:38 hotend, everything from the printer base onto  the Gantry of the 3D printer. with this the   2:44 entire printer can climb onto its four legs, and  when there are no more likes to climb, it can   2:49 simply print them higher. it does this by having  the z-axis mechanism inside the build volume,   2:55 thereby it is able to print onto its own legs and  extend them while it's printing an other part.   3:01 so this does the same thing as a treadmill  printer? one that uses a rolling bed to print   3:07 infinitely long objects? on first glance  you might think so, but you would be wrong.  3:12 you see the reason this printer has  an infinite z-axis is not to be able   3:16 to print swords or other big things,  but rather to be able to print itself,   3:22 the infinite build volume is merely  a side effect of its main objective.  3:26 if you measure the height and the side of  this printer, you will see it fits on the   3:30 build plate and when you measure the  length, well that's why it can grow!  3:34 let's use this simplified frame to easier  understand how this works. when a printer   3:39 starts copying itself it's not big enough,  so then it extends itself until it fits.   3:44 oh and who said you have to print  the printer the same size every time?   3:49 make the first copy larger and then the  second one even larger, well congrats you   3:55 have extended your build volume in all three axis  and now you can print a full-sized car at home. 4:00 with this goal of self-reproduction it should  make sense why there's a lot of focus on making   4:04 the majority of the parts printable and  to reduce the number of non-printed parts.   4:09 at the moment the printer only needs four screws   4:13 these, hold all of these parts in place, and  because most of the parts are printed it can be   4:19 assembled from scratch in just 15 minutes. wait a second what is this about:   4:25 a majority of the parts are printed, and quick  assembly. what are we Savages? does he want us   4:35 to bang rocks together to make tools to  assemble that thing too? what is this? 4:40 this is the key to our wildest dreams!  and don't worry about printing metals   4:44 and electronics you'll see soon how to  do that at home for less than 100 bucks. 4:48 let me instead show you why this initial design is   4:51 such a great base for a printer that  can create a full-size copy of itself,   4:56 actually it's not just able to print a full-sized  copy of itself but rather two at a time. this   5:04 allows us to use the actual printers that are  being printed as the z-axis legs and thereby save   5:08 time on not having to print those separately. this idea was already implemented in the first   5:13 version but it was later removed to save time  between iterations of which there were many,   5:20 just like every other project that is "going to be  done by the end of the week". you know how it is.  5:27 the most iteration hungry part to develop  were the z-axis legs you know these things.  5:32 these legs are simply made by cutting along the  length of an internally threaded tube, initially   5:38 the legs used a standard thread profile, but under  load that profile creates axial and Radial forces.   5:44 usually this is not a problem because radial  forces cancel out. but with this design the   5:50 threads are only engaging on one quarter of  the circumference, the radal forces push the   5:56 legs away from the worm gear thereby getting  disengaged and causing the printer to fall. 6:00 No! keeps falling down on this side.. Gahh 6:08 a bracket was used as a quick fix,   6:10 however this does not allow us to do  this so a proper solution is needed.  6:15 if we look at the root problem, it's clear  that the positive thread angle is the issue.  6:21 by reducing this to a negative value the threats  will no longer push themselves away, but rather   6:26 attract each other. and because we know that  these threats are only going to be used in this   6:31 application, we can even make them directional  and thereby easier to print. look at how this   6:36 screw is holding onto one of its legs with no  additional help. this is exactly what we needed!  6:43 we are not done yet! but if you've made it  this far into the video and you're thinking:   6:48 this guy could be a valuable member to  our team! then feel free to reach out   6:51 via my social media or email I'm always  looking for new projects to work on! 6:55 this printer is printing onto  the already existing legs rather   6:58 than just an arbitrary point on a build  plate as a normal printer usually would.   7:03 predictably this causes some  problems we otherwise wouldn't have:  7:07 are the limit switches not perfectly mounted?  that's a problem. are your cheap pre-cut frame   7:13 rods cheaply pre-cut thereby altering the distance  between the ladders and offsetting the extension   7:18 prints? that's a problem. does cura slicer  create travel paths through "do not print"-zones,   7:24 causing your printer to crash and forcing  you to print each extension individually?   7:31 that's a problem! do you have nine hours of  video of troubleshooting and problem solving   7:35 that you now have to somehow condense  into an entertaining 30 second segment? 7:41 the main challenge we are facing at the moment is  determining the position of the printhead relative   7:45 to the legs. this is a very familiar problem  what traditional machinists experience every day,   7:51 and luckily for us we can look at what they're  doing and use the same type of touch tool they   7:56 use to precisely determine the position of  the tool head, relative to the workpiece.  8:00 but it's a three thousand dollar  thing really the solution we need?   8:05 or should we rather just put a conical tip  on the BL touch sensor that's already on this   8:09 printer and use trigonometry to figure  out the exact position? I don't know,   8:14 but maybe you do! creating a fully print in  place 3D printer is not easy for one person. 8:21 and that is where project quine comes  in. at the moment it consists of Sean,   8:25 Alex and me. and the three of us have been  working on this idea for a small while now.   8:29 we need your help. I'm not asking for money,  even though we currently don't have funding.   8:34 but rather I'm asking for your time and  effort! we are releasing all our work for   8:39 free, and I hope that you, yes you dear  viewer, will look at it and add to it!  8:43 the infinity is solely an instrument that  can perform a few pieces, but once it's   8:48 played together with an orchestra of  ideas, it will become a masterpiece!  8:51 hence why I hope to see your ideas  in the future of this project! 8:56 Engineers like you and me run on coffee, so  let's speed up the printer's development by   9:01 improving our coffee making process! a subject  I've already explored! so go check that out!  9:07 in upcoming videos I will show you how you  can print medals and electronics at home,   9:10 so don't forget to subscribe! as you can tell this, is not this,   9:15 and the YouTube algorithm does not take  kindly to hour-long technical breakdowns so   9:20 I will upload an in-depth technical review for my  patreons. thanks for watching, I'm sunshine. bye!

Tohoku University via NewScientist

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