Maker
| Portable Maker | |
|---|---|
| Type | Tool kit |
| Tech Level | TL–9 |
| Cost | Cr1500 |
| Size | 2 liters |
| Weight | 1 kg |
| Lan Maker | |
|---|---|
| Type | Tool kit |
| Tech Level | TL–9 |
| Cost | Cr15,000 |
| Size | 260 liters |
| Weight | 150 kg |
| Roup Maker | |
|---|---|
| Type | Tool kit |
| Tech Level | TL–9 |
| Cost | Cr100,000 |
| Size | 2600 liters |
| Weight | 1500 kg |
| Ton Maker | |
|---|---|
| Type | Tool kit |
| Tech Level | TL–9 |
| Cost | Cr1,000,000 |
| Size | 2 Dtons |
| Weight | 15,000 kg |
A Maker (also known as a Makershop, Fabricator, Fabber or Fab) builds tools, parts, and equipment from raw materials. The Maker is a combination of multiple tools, using additive (3D printing and sintering) and subtractive (machining) manufacturing, to create useful objects.
Makers require feedstock, a pre-manufactured specifically designed material (or materials). Feedstock comes as spool of wire or thread, a container of fine powder, a bottle of liquid, or similar kind of thing. These are manufactured to a high degree of precision and purity. You can buy cheap feedstock, but it's not recommended. Feedstock is sold in Kg units, and making a 1 kg item requires between 1kg and 2kg of feedstock, depending on the item.
Standard design of Makers come in one of four sizes, rated for the maximum size of the item that it can create. If you want something larger than the size of your Maker, you build it in parts and assemble it outside the Maker. The sizes are Liter, the Lan (135 liters), the Roup (1350 liters / 0.1 Dtons), and the Ton (13,500 liters / 1 Dton). The Maker itself is approximately twice the size of the manufacturing chamber. This extra space hold tooling and the feedstock (spools, containers, tanks).
A maker can take a while to manufacture a part, a Liter or smaller part takes up to 10 minutes, a Lan size part or tool takes about an 1 hour, a Roup sized item takes 6 hours, and a Ton sized items can take up to a day.
Liter and Lan makers require an external power source (a vehicle or starhips power is sufficient). The Roup and and Ton sized makers at TL–12 include a Fusion+ power source which requires annual maintenance and refueling. Otherwise they also require access to a power source.
There are two limitations what the maker can manufacture. The first is the maker requires a detailed specification of the item to be manufactured. Normally this isn't a problem as, at least within the Imperium, the specifications of most tools and parts are published and available of a modest fee. Creating the specification for a unknown item depends on the complexity of the item, and can take anywhere from a few minutes to several days.
Second is the limitations of the available feedstock. A maker can not manufacture an item without the correct materials to work from. Most of the commercially available designs include a list of alternative materials, but using these may result in an item which is heavier or not as safe. Material use also depends quite heavily on the TL of the Maker itself. Manufacturing and materials handling techniques evolve with the available technology, and the maker manufacturing tends to be two or three TLs behind. This does mean a maker can not replicate itself.
Basic feedstock is available for Cr30 per kilogram. Some exotic materials can be more expensive.
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This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Digital_modeling_and_fabrication. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. The text of Wikipedia is available under the Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. |