Designing for replicability: a qualitative empirical study on the replication of open-source machine tools

Abstract

By making building instructions freely accessible to everyone, open-source machine tools (OSMTs) promise to democratize manufacturing by enabling users in marginalized settings to build machines tools by themselves. There is, however, a lack of empirical evidence of the replicability of OSMT designs in low-resource contexts. This article explores OSMT replicability through qualitative and empirical methods to answer the central research question: Are designs that are fully open source also globally replicable? A comparative experiment was carried out by replicating an open-source 3D printer in two different locations: in Germany (resource-rich) and in Oman (resource-poor). The experiment aimed to determine the barriers faced with the replication in each location. It was significantly more challenging to replicate the 3D printer in Oman, primarily due to difficulties in sourcing and manufacturing, necessitating extensive modifications, which demanded greater skills and dexterity from users compared to those in Germany. Qualitative interviews found that limited digital literacy posed a significant barrier for microenterprise owners in replicating OSMT. Finally, design guidelines were proposed to enhance the global replicability of contextualized OSMT designs.