Here is one of the main actors of our share-friendly time : The Fundació CIM – a nonprofit Technological Institute of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya – attached to the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya-Barcelona Tech, which goal is create and transfer technology to society through teaching, I+D+I activities and the presentation of advanced technological services.
BCN3D RELEASES NOT ONLY THE BCN3D SIGMA DESIGN BUT ALL THEIR KNOW HOW
BCN3D Technologies was born as a project from the Fundació CIM. This University DNA is what pushed the BCN3D management team to open their doors so everyone can have access to their technology.
With this initiative, named Open Source 360º, BCN3D Technologies will share all the engineering content produced during the design and fabrication of the BCN3D Sigma, their flagship.
In this sense, BCN3D Technologies has announced the release of all its documentation and contents transversely, taking another step in the Open Source development. So, Open Source 360º will have all the information of the areas that form the BCN3D Technologies printers, divided in five levels and it will be published under the CERN Open Hardware Licence (CERN OHL) and General Public License v3 (GPLv3). All this information is already available in the BCN3D Technologies website.
Regarding software it will be published the BCN3D Sigma’s firmware –Marlin’s evolution- source code, as well as the BCN3D Cura. Also, the users will have access to all the mechanical design of the machine –so, its hardware-, including the 3D files and the assembling and 2D drawings.
On the other hand, regarding the process, the users will have access to all the assembling and QA files that are followed at the BCN3D production plant, based at Castelldefels, Barcelona. Same as the tools, equipment designs and the testing bench used to adjust and calibrate the electro-mechanical components of the BCN3D Technologies 3D printers (tooling).
Finally, on the teaching level all the contents of the courses given both in the BCN3D classrooms and its resellers all over the world will be included in the Open Source 360º.
According to Roger Uceda, CEO of BCN3D Technologies, this initiative, far from being a risk against possible plagiarism attempts of the BCN3D product and process designs, “it’s an opportunity to take advantage of the knowledge and enthusiasm of the BCN3D Technologies 3D printers users and the RepRap community, origin of the project”.
And he adds, “After sharing this information with some Sigma users from countries like Germany, Sweden, United Kingdom or United States we have realized that following this path will be easier to evolve our technology, answering the challenges that have been proposed to us”.
Taking this huge step, BCN3D wants to show that a technological company can share its knowledge and keep leading its sector, generating contents for all the professionals, students or makers that want to know everything about the functioning and production process of their 3D printers.
