Readers may recall the RepRap project recently hit a milestone: their machine was able to (mostly) reproduce itself.
The resulting child was, of course, of great historical interest. It was taken to OSCON 2008 for show and tell, but apparently did not make it back:
Instead of simply smacking the box around a few times as had happened on the outbound trip, the TSA dismantled the custom hard-case for the RepRap by removing the 16 bolts securing the top panel rather than undoing the 8 bolts marked “Open”.
Unable to fit the panel back on again – it was not meant to come off so the nuts were not captive – they simply sent it on its way with the panel detached. I retrieved it from the conveyor – as opposed from the fragile/outsize section despite clear “Fragile” stickers on every face
Oh dear, this won’t do. The baggage guys had no idea what they have wrecked. However, we’re pretty sure the RepRap team will reproduce another soon.
Via Blog.RepRap
