I don't watch Tekzilla but I had to once I read the title "Build your own 3D printer". As I am writing this post, I have only watched half way through the segment. I couldn't wait to go to MakerBot after I heard they put the plans on their website, as well as selling DIY kits. One of these puppies costs US$1,299 and your own skills and patience to put them together. Considering commercial 3D printers cost a hefty 5-digit number, and the fact that you get the satisfaction of telling your friends, "Yeah, I made this.", this is a huge bargain.
While most 3D printer carves out bits to make their 3D objects, Thing-O-Matic makes them by addition process. It's 'ink' (as it would in an inkjet printer) are pounds of ABS plastic wire, which MakerBot also sells in many colours. The Thing-O-Matic heats the wire to its melting point and eject a drop at a time according to the coordinates given to make up its object. The 3D object modelled in various 3D programs such as Blender and Maya (FUCK YEAH!) is converted into coordinates by using a 'slicer' program like Skeingorge or SkeinFox. ReplicatorG can then control the Thing-O-Matic to print the 3D object using these coordinates. ReplicatorG, being open source, is compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux.
From the comments section:
I estimate that it used 41 grams of ABS plastic. The natural colour is sold in 5 lbs. coils for $45, so if my math is right that's about 81 cents worth of material.
Do want.