Open5x
Accessible five-axis 3D printing and conformal electronics.
Open5x adapts familiar desktop printing hardware for five-axis fabrication, with a Rhino/Grasshopper workflow for designing and generating curved-layer toolpaths. Subsequent work extends this approach towards multi-material printing of functional electronics on three-dimensional surfaces.
Five axes, on a desktop.
A two-axis rotating gantry converts a Prusa i3 MK3S into a five-axis printer. An accompanying conformal slicer generates and simulates toolpaths within Rhino and Grasshopper. Together, the open hardware and software lower the barrier to curved-layer printing and support-free fabrication.
From curved layers to functional electronics.
Open5x demonstrated conductive traces on curved substrates. Later work investigated multi-material, five-axis fabrication of electrical traces; MM-Open5x extends the workflow to examples including conformal antennas and a switching regulator.
