A Cantilevered DeltaXY Positioning Mechanism Enabling Rackable Digital Fabrication Form Factors

Desktop digital fabrication presumes form-factors designed for workbenches, limiting suitability for other spaces and workflows. We propose a class of physically narrow and deep “rackable” digital fabrication machines that offers opportunities for new applications and interactions. Flexible and inconspicuous placement supports ubiquitous fabrication, including site- and context-specific tools. Personal factories could be enabled by shelf-optimized rackable digital fabrication technologies that improve organization and functionality for collections of machines. These explorations necessitate new positioning mechanisms and machine architectures. We contribute the Cantilevered DeltaXY mechanism that enables rackable digital fabrication form factors with high lateral spatial efficiencies (LSE). We develop first-order design tools to aid the implementation of DeltaXY machines. We demonstrate DeltaXY by creating Fab Unit, a “bookshelf 3D printer” with an LSE significantly higher than similar commercial desktop machines. Together, DeltaXY and Fab Unit open the design space of rackable digital fabrication for future HCI fabrication research.