RepRapPro is shutting down as competition for low-cost 3D printers gets crowded

Adrian Bowyer brought us the idea of an self-replicating machine and started the hype around open source and the RepRap movement.

Under the RepRapPro brand his open source 3D printer kits were sold. These would give you everything you need to build one of your own and get the development of other RepRap machines started.

Besides the kits RepRapPro sold a fine selection of supplies and hardware needed to build or improve your 3D printer. On Friday January 15th 2016 the company will without any debts cease trading.

The decision didn´t come out bankruptcy but because of the thriving competition for cheap 3D printers.

Here is the complete statement of the RepRapPro website:

We have decided to close RepRap Professional Ltd.

The company will cease trading on Friday 15 January 2016.  We will service all support and warranty requests up to that date, and fulfill all our outstanding orders.

The market for low-cost 3D printers is now so crowded and so competitive that a small specialist company like ours cannot expand.  So, because we are not bankrupt and we do not have any debts to pay, we have chosen to stop now while we are ahead and to concentrate on other activities.

Note that our closure does not affect RepRapPro China Ltd.  That is a completely separate company  (though we have obviously worked closely with them) and they will continue.

We are an open-source company.  This means that all our designs, software source-code and documentation are freely available online on our website and on Github.  All that information will continue to be available into the future.

We would like to thank everyone who has supported us in the past, either as customers or as contributors who have improved our open-source products, or both.  The fact that, unusually for a former company,  we will be able to leave megabytes of useful information available to everyone in perpetuity is due in part to the support from those people.