Lipro (Libre Prototyping) is a free and open source constructing toy, designed for hardware prototyping, but it can also be used as a universal construction kit. It has several advantages over the currently existing alternatives (eg. Lego Technic, Tetrix, Makeblock, etc.):
-
It is free and it always will be! The purpose of Lipro is to make hardware prototyping accesible to everyone, and the best way of doing so is to making it available without any charge. Download and test it now!
-
It is open source! Are you a hacker? A maker? A true tinkerer? Then you want to modify things to suit your needs, don't you? Thankfully everything about lipro is available for you since day one. Hack it, enhance it and don't forget to share it!
-
It is parametric! All parts are generated from code, so they can be reparameterised, to suit the different needs of different users. For example, lipro can be easily generated for both metric and imperial users; or it can be magnified easily to test and get traction of a prototype at a larger scale.
-
It is printable! All parts can be produced on any FFF printers easily, as all of them are support free and can be as small as the smallest printer's capacity is.
-
Widely available externals! There is no special bits needed, all the screws, nuts, bolts, bearings and tubes can be foud in any decent hardware stores nearby.
-
Easy to build! Lipro only requires a single screwdriver. How cool is that?
Currently lipro is in its infantry. The main connector types have been invented, and tested thoroughly. Initial prototypes has been built. However the parts are 'hard-baked' ones, meaning, they are modeled manually and not generated from code. The next step would be to decide wether the project should built on top of FreeCAD's Python API, or should it implement its own library in OpenSCAD.
After that, new parts, like gears, mounts and handles should be designed, tested and coded next.
All parts can be assembled with a single screwdriver. The current statically sized models require M3x10 and M3x16 screws, and their M3 nut counterparts. Here is the quick assembly of a joint from scratch:
This is the first version, of a 2D plotter machine, to demonstrate the capabilities of lipro's rapid prototyping. Since the project is in very early stage, 3 special components were designed to support this particular machine, and are not as compatible with all the other parts of lipro as the other bits are. (The middle block, the pen holder and the motor mount.)
All source codes of this project are licensed:
Copyright © 2016 Peter Varo, Kitchen Budapest
This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program, most likely a file in the root directory, called 'LICENSE'. If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses.
All 3D models, images, videos and other media types are licensed:
Copyright © 2016 Peter Varo, Kitchen Budapest
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
This is a human-readable summary of (and not a substitute for) the license.
You are free to:
- Share -- copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
- Adapt -- remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
Under the following terms:
-
Attribution -- You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
-
ShareAlike -- If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.
No additional restrictions -- You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.