D3D Universal

We now offer 2 products: D3D Universal below, and D3D Pro

We include a free Collaborative Design Webinar with the D3D Universal kit, where you can learn how to work with a team of world-changers on design that makes a difference. We teach you how to use the D3D Universal in prototyping and in collaborative design. If you would like to join a bigger effort, we’ll show you how you can get involved. The webinar is a crash course on open source hardware. The webinar offers you an entry point where you will learn, you will build relationships and friendships, you will have fun, and you will be blown away by what you learn about the power of open collaboration. For those who are interested, the webinar is an entry point for continuing meetings for open source collaborative design, where we choose meaningful projects to work on, with the goal of designing and building viable products that can be produced in a new world of open design and Open Source Microfactories in every community. This is a lifetime opportunity to change the world.

Whether you just want the machine, or you would like participate in the Webinar – please use the registration below. Or you can send a check in the mail to avoid transaction fees. Participation in the webinar is completely optional. You can email info at opensourceecology dot org with any questions.

D3D Universal Kit

Includes full parts kit for the D3D Universal3D printer. Some simple soldering required. Includes the Collaborative Design Webinar. Free shipping in the USA.

D3D Universal

Fully built and tested machine, ready to print out of the box. Includes the Collaborative Design Webinar. Free shpping in the USA.

1. Universal Gearless Extruder. Our unique design works well with both 1.75 and 3 mm filament, and its ClogFree exposed filament path allows for clogs to be cleared in seconds. No other 3D printer that we know of uses 3 mm filament without using a geardown, and we also know of no other extruder that accepts both 1.75 mm and 3 mm filament without any modification.
2. Interchangeable Tool Heads. You can attach other toolheads simply by removing one bolt. D3D Universal ships with a spring-loaded pen plotter attachment with automatic bed leveling probe so you can print designs on flat substrates such as paper, plywood, metal, cardboard, plastic, or t-shirts. You can attach any pen or marker. We plan on releasing a vinyl cutter, CNC mill/drill attachment, and laser cutter head in February, 2020.
3. Powered by FreeCAD – give extra power to D3D Universal by modifying its parts. We provide full part libraries for the entire design in FreeCAD, the premiere open source CAD package. You can modify parts, and print new versions readily. And – we can teach you a streamlined FreeCAD workflow in a one hour webinar.
4. Flexible Build Plate – with magnetic attachment for quick release of printed parts
5. Automatic Bed Leveling – using an inductive height sensor, the D3D Universal does the bed leveling for you so that the first layer attaches firmly to the print bed. No need for an involved calibration procedure – just print without doing any adjustment and the printer probes the bed at 4 points to determine the level of the bed. All you need to do is to turn a knob on the control panel until the nozzle prints exactly on the surface.
6. Eco-Friendly – our printer uses 67W, orabout 1/3 the energy of typical printers. This may not sound like a lot, but if you are in Germany with 33 cent electricity rates and you are running a print farm, that is $400 electricity costs saved per printer per year!
7. Large Heater Block and Nozzles – D3D Universal ships stock with the Volcano heater block and 1.2 nozzle for fast printing and stronger prints for prototyping and production. Also comes with 0.8 and 0.4 nozzles. We found that using 1.2 mm nozzles with 0.4 mm layer gives us excellent quality and strength and super-fast production rates.
8. Self-replicating – print more parts and build more D3D Universal printers. The limit here is that you still have to use metal parts that you buy from the store – but you can make 1/3 of the unique parts with the printer itself.
9. Distributive Enterprise. Our goal is to shift the world from consumerism to a maker society. And we have a clear way for you to do this: we will buy printed parts for the 3D printer from you, so you effectively become our supplier! This is an education in itself – as you will need to learn specific quality control methods so that you can guarantee to us that your parts will work. Find out more about this unique opportunity at D3D Universal Part Production
10. OSE Lifetime Design Guarantee – We pay attention to simplicity, desing-for-repair, design-for-disassembly, and robustness. We use a 100% open source design with full documentation in FreeCAD. We use common, off-the-shelf parts in our design You can improve D3D Universal with time by modifications or tool head additions – no specially-fabricated parts or exotic components are necessary. This means that YOU can decide how long you would like to continue using the machine, where ready replacement parts and our design-for-repair make this easy by using parts that you print, parts from a local hardware store, or from Amazon. Even if we ever go out of business, you will be able to use, maintain, and upgrade your machine.
11. Universal Axis belt-driven design. CNC motion system for modification and scalability. Can be scaled up 100x in size and 2000x in torque-handling ability by upsizing from 8 mm prcision motion rods up to 3 inch shaft.
12. Innovative Belt-Driven Z axis allows for fast Z motion (such as with plotter function) and makes it impossible for a crash into the bed to destroy the print surface.
13. Uses the Universal Controller, a modular controller for 3D printers, other CNC machines, and other mechatronic devices. The Universal Controller in D3D Universal is identical to the one used in our larger production printers, CNC circuit mill, and CNC Torch table, so it’s part of a robust product ecology that is relevant to much more than the D3D Universal.
14. LCD Screen – Uses the common Reprap Discount Full Graphic Smart Controller for control and information display. Keep track of print time and extruder temperature, print speed, and adjust parameters directly on the printer.
15. Marlin Inside – uses the open source and most widely used firmware in the world – Marlin, with a great support community and decent documentation
16. Powered by RAMPS – uses the most common 3D printer controller in the world, which is open source so you will always be able to find a replacement or make one yourself
17. Safe Design – uses an on-board GFCI protector to eliminate the risk of severe electric shock
18. Product Ecology – The D3D Universal is part of a larger product ecology of machines with interchangeable parts. It can make parts for other machines.
19. Bootstrapping to the Open Source Microfactory – As part of the OSE product ecology – we allow for easy bootstrapping. D3D Universal can be used to make all the 3D printed parts for our dedicated production printer, the D3D Pro. It can also be used to make all the parts for our CNC Torch Table.
20. OSHWA Certification – we are applying for the Open Source Hardware Association certification as an official artifact of open hardware to be shared with the world.
21. Flexible Bed – a removable magnetic spring steel sheet with Buildtak surface is used for easy print removal. Prints stick well to a Buildtak sheet without needing a heated bed.

• Print area – 6″x6″x6″
• Energy usage – 67W
• Stock nozzles – 1.2 mm. 0.8 mm and 0.4 mm are included
• System voltage – 24V system
• Print Surface – Buildtak
• Firmware – Marlin
• Controller – modular controller with GFCI outlet, with 5V/24V RAMPS 1.4 board and Reprap Discount Full Graphic Smart Controller LCD screen. Arduino is fed with 5V.
• Untethered printing using SD card and SD card reader
• Can use USB connection for printing
• Slicing Software – Lulzbot Cura, or any other slicer
• Extruder – OSE’s Universal Gearless Extruder, direct drive, no gearing, works with 1.75 and 3 mm filament
• Heater block – E3D Volcano clone with 40W heater and 24V heater element
• Filament – 3 mm or 1.75 mm filament using the same extruder
• Built Dimensions (without filament spool) – approximately 14x16x16 inch (36x40x40 cm)
• Weight – 6.4 kg (14.2 lb)
• Shipping dimensions – 6 x 12 x 12 inch for kit
• Maximum extrusion rate – about 5 lb/24 hours
• Motion System – belt-drive Universal Axis with 8 mm rods
• Automatic bed leveling using an 8 mm distance sensing inductive probe that stays far away from the print surface compared to standard 4 mm sensors.
• Supported materials – PLA, PETG, ABS, Flexible materials

• Robust, uncloggable extruder – after frustration with leading brands, we decided to design our own and succeeded. Not only that, we discovered that our design works great with 3 mm filament, apparently making ours the first extruder in the world that does not use a geardown for 3 mm filament.* (*We’ll be glad to retract this claim if someone indicates otherwise).*Fast print speeds with large heater block and large stock nozzle. This is afforded by the stock volcano heater block, and we will be designing a larger heater block in the future so we can print rubber tires and tracks for our open source tractors.
• Lowest unique part count of any 3D printer in the world – means more simplicity, less down-time potential, easier troubleshooting, and more ability to repair and maintain
• OSE lifetime design guarantee – you get to decide the lifetime your machine. Breakage, costly or impossible repairs, lack of parts, or lack of support do not play a role in determining the useful lifetime of this product.
• Great performance with 3 mm flexible filaments – we have shorter filament path-to- than the leading Titan Aero, and are leagues over any Bowden
• Only extruder that works equally well with 1.75 and 3mm filament (except for rubber – we do not recommend our extruder with 1.75 rubber filaments, nor do we recommend using 1.75 mm at all for any flexible filament, as pushing a flexible noodle will make it bend and it will clog your extruder). We think that this is a big deal – as working gearless extruders for 3 mm filament are unheard of. But we like to break rules. Read more about why a gearless extruder works.
• Low energy usage while producing strong parts. Not using a heat bed may sound backwards, but if most printing is done with PLA (and flexibles in our case), then a heated bed is not necessary as Buildtak works great as an unheated bed surface. So you can print effectively while saving energy.
• Great community support – by using the popular Marlin, RAMPS, Cura, and FreeCAD software – we are benefitting from large user communities for support. This is quite the opposite of highly custom products that can be supported only by specially-trained and dedicated staff, which may disappear if a company goes out of business.
• Open Source Manufacturing – We are serious about open source production and Distributive Enterprise. We can train you to make 3D printed parts for D3D Universal – using this very same D3D Universal printer! We require that you learn our distributed quality control procedures – and then we can certify you to be an authorized part supplier – and we will buy parts from you at the same fully-accounted cost that it would take us to produce the parts in house. We are interested in win-win situations where open source economics become a de-facto standard – just like open source software has now become a de-facto standard. You can help us get there. We can even train you to produce the 3D printers themselves – either independently or certified under the OSE brand. Email info at opensourceecology dot org to get started.
• Joining a project to change the world. This is part of a continuing and ongoing open source product development effort to create a transparent and inclusive economy of abundance.