The RepRap Morgan is an
open-source
Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...
fused deposition modeling
Fused filament fabrication (FFF), also known as fused deposition modeling (with the trademarked acronym FDM), or called ''filament freeform fabrication'', is a 3D printing process that uses a continuous filament of a thermoplastic material. Filam ...
3D printer
3D printing or additive manufacturing is the construction of a three-dimensional object from a CAD model or a digital 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is deposited, joined or solidified under computer co ...
. The Morgan is part of the
RepRap project and has an unusual
SCARA
The SCARA is a type of industrial robot
An industrial robot is a robot system used for manufacturing. Industrial robots are automated, programmable and capable of movement on three or more axes.
Typical applications of robots include robo ...
arm design.
The first Morgan printer was designed by Quentin Harley, a
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...
n engineer (working for
Siemens at the time) at the House4Hack Makerspace in
Centurion
A centurion (; la, centurio , . la, centuriones, label=none; grc-gre, κεντυρίων, kentyríōn, or ) was a position in the Roman army during classical antiquity, nominally the commander of a century (), a military unit of around 80 le ...
.
The
SCARA
The SCARA is a type of industrial robot
An industrial robot is a robot system used for manufacturing. Industrial robots are automated, programmable and capable of movement on three or more axes.
Typical applications of robots include robo ...
arm design was developed due to the lack of access to components of existing 3D printer designs in South Africa and their relatively high cost.
In 2013 the Morgan won the HumanityPlus Uplift Personal Manufacturing Prize and third place in the Gauteng Accelerator Program.
The Morgan name comes from the RepRap convention of naming printers after famous deceased biologists. The Morgan printers was named after
Thomas Hunt Morgan
Thomas Hunt Morgan (September 25, 1866 – December 4, 1945) was an American evolutionary biologist, geneticist, embryologist, and science author who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1933 for discoveries elucidating the role tha ...
. He worked on the genome of the common fruitfly with his wife,
Lilian Vaughan Morgan. Their names were used in the development codenames for the first two generations of Morgan 3D Printers.
Morgan printers are now manufactured full-time by the inventor in a small workshop factory in the House4Hack makerspace.
Versions
There are four versions of the RepRap Morgan, the Morgan v1 (codenamed Thomas), Morgan Pro, Morgan Mega and Morgan Pro 2 (codenamed Lilian).
External links
Official websiteRepRap Morgan page on the RepRap.orgRepRap Morgan files on Github
References
{{reflist
Open hardware electronic devices
3D printers
RepRap project