3D Print Your Own Laptop

Of all the various potential applications 3D printing can enable, home manufacturing has always been the most intriguing to me, so I was pleased to see that someone has combined 3D printing with the ultra-versatile Raspberry Pi platform to create a DIY laptop kit. Customers who purchase the Pi-Top pack can use a template to print the shell, which they then fit with a screen, keyboard, battery, trackpad, Wi-Fi adapter, PCBs, and the Raspberry Pi board.

The Pi-top developers also offer add-on boards for the Raspberry Pi that provide sensor input, robotics functionality, and additional LCD screen connectivity.

The kit, which launched in May 2015, was created by Oxford University engineering graduate Ryan Dunwoody and Jesse Lozano, a law graduate and self-taught programmer.

If the device is damaged, it can easily be repaired at home. Its creators also say that it provides a way for students to better understand how the technology in their computer works by giving them a role in constructing it from the ground up. It can also help users learn to leverage 3D printing to create other products.

The company grew out of the Entrepreneur First program, which provides a stipend and seed money to engineering graduates that want to start their own companies.

You can provide funding to Pi-Top on Indiegogo, although the early bird Pi-Top kits are already sold out (you can still order one without a Raspberry Pi if you already have a Model B+ on hand, and other bundles are available). So far, the company has exceeded its initial $80,000 fundraising goal, and as of this writing had booked $157,798 in contributions.

Source: Pi-Top