The German Company Dedicated to the Research and Development of Open Source Machines

Why is it that you’re able to enjoy 3D printing as a hobbyist today? It isn’t because Stratasys or 3D Systems released affordable 3D printers for the consumer market; it is because of the hard work of people dedicated to open source initiatives, like the RepRap project. The world benefits from such efforts and German company InMachines is dedicated to the cause, researching and developing open source machines ranging from 3D printers to scientific lab equipment.

InMachines works outside of normal commercial constraints and motivations, operating with a substantial amount of its funding coming from research grants and in partnership with the Fab City project — an EU-funded initiative to bring open workshops to metropolitan areas. InMachines also does work for and in collaboration with the New Production Institute at Helmut Schmidt University. Those partnerships let InMachines avoid many of the motivations of traditional corporations, giving it the ability to focus on open source machine development.

At the highest level, InMachines has the goal to develop the Open Lab Starter Kit (OLSK), a collection of eight open source machines important for covering the needs of Fab City workshops. If you’ve ever visited a makerspace, the machines with the longest wait lists mirror those in the OLSK lineup. Those include CNC mills/routers, 3D printers, laser cutters/engravers, a 3D scanner, and even a vinyl cutter. In fact, that may be the only fully open source vinyl cutter out in the wild.

And “fully” open source is a key aspect of the InMachines philosophy. Is a design really open source if the original PCB design files aren’t available? Or if the license is restrictive? The founder of InMachines, Daniele Ingrassia, doesn’t believe so. He told us:

“There are also others claiming open source designs, but not in this range and most often they are just ‘open washing’ for instance using a Non-Commercial license (if the others cannot sell it, it is not open source according to open source definition), or not publishing the entire data required to replicate a machine (e.g. a partial 3D model, no PCBs schematics and layouts, or missing Bill of Materials etc), or even restricting access to documentation (e.g. with password, required purchase etc)."

Ingrassia is passionate about open source ethics, going back to 2016 with the release of his LaserDuo. That is why InMachines publishes everything possible. Their online documentation is some of the best we’ve ever seen and the machine designs have very accessible licenses, such as the CERN-OHL-W. When a customer commissions a custom machine, InMachines does their best to reach an agreement that will result in a similar open source license for the design.

Ingrassia and his team are talented engineers, and InMachines designs go beyond the typical 3D printers and CNC mills — though those are impressive in their own right.

The Cylindrical Positioning System is one example of a more specialized machine intended for taking measurements while conducting scientific research. It is a unique five-axis motion system and is the kind of machine that would be wildly expensive to purchase from a traditional instrument manufacturer. Thanks to InMachines’s work, anyone can build this open source design using mostly affordable, off-the-shelf components.

Other notable releases include the aforementioned OLSK Vinyl Cutter, the OLSK Large CNC (2500×1250×300mm), the OLSK Large 3D Printer (1 meter cubed), and the OLSK 3D Scanner V2. There is even a delightful open source coffee grinder, since we all know that innovation runs on caffeine.

InMachine’s core competencies are research, development, and documentation. The company does some rather bespoke manufacturing on occasion, including the construction of two Tolocar “Mobile Makerspace” vehicles deployed in Ukraine. InMachines has also sold more than 30 of their Fabulaser machines — mostly to German high schools and universities. But they aren’t currently in the business of manufacturing and selling mass-produced machines.

The designs and documentation are there, ripe for makers, hobbyists, and DIYers of all kinds to take advantage of. You can go jump in right now.

But some people and organizations lack the ability or motivation to construct these machines themselves. That’s why InMachines will be launching one of their designs, the Fabulaser Pro, as a commercial product later this year. That will include an integrated AI for image generation and a laser tool changer. Be sure to keep an eye out for that release.

In the meantime, there are many online resources you can explore, including the InMachines website, the InMachines YouTube channel, the Open Lab Starter Kit GitHub page, Ingrassia’s own GitHub page, the Open Lab Starter Kit online documentation, and the Fab City project page.

It is hard to overstate the importance of open source work like this and we’re happy to see InMachines leading the charge.