In the summer of 2013 before my GCSE exams, I decided to purchase the components for a small 3D printer to assemble at school and at home, which I did using the open-source instructions posted on the RepRap Wiki. I was fascinated by what was then a very novel fabrication method and I wanted to try my hand at the technology. 

The printer currently sits next to my desk in my home in London and has been used extensively in later projects, such as CanSat and the Ardberry Buggy. The issue with this printer is that it requires constant calibration, so printing requires regular monitoring and correcting. This if further compounded by the fact that the printer cannot detect when it has fallen out of alignment.

However, I did learn a great deal about fabrication, 3D printing and the associated open-source software.