In February 2004, Adrian Bowyer, from the University of Bath, began an open initiative
called RepRap, with the purpose of creating an open source rapid prototyping machine
which, moreover, could replicate itself. This article analyzes the current status of the
RepRap initiative, commenting the basic components of RepRap machines, the
differences between the different 3D printers developed by the RepRap community so
far, and the technical possibilities that opens this technology from the engineering point
of view. In addition we propose some improvements that could be perfectly feasible in
the short term. For this purpose, the assembly of a RepRap Mendel Prusa was
performed, but with some modifications.Mechanical Engineerin
