Farmer saves cash by 3D printing parts for home-built drill

摘要

A cheap 3D printer has allowed one enterprising Norfolk farmer to design and manufacture his own singulation system for a precision maize planter at a fraction of the cost of buying new. Oliver Mark reports.Farm workshops are a brilliant starting point for heavy-metal machinery projects but, for inventions requiring delicate components, there's inevitably a point at which home-builders have to resort to buying bits off the internet.But that's not so for Jonny Leech, a Norfolk farmer and self-employed designer who decided the shrewder move was to buy his own 3D printer that would allow him to churn out plastic parts of any size or shape on the cheap.