Forget making a billycart out of old bits of wood and the tyres from a broken-down lawnmower — a 3D-printed billycart has just made its debut at the 23rd annual Bangalow Billycart Derby in northern New South Wales.

The billycart, called Bukitti, was designed and built by Steven Rosewell, who purchased a 3D printer 15 years ago for his sculpture and film prop manufacturing business Studio Kite.

Mr Rosewell designed Bukitti using 3D-modelling software, and printed it with the aid of a multi-axis robot arm and extruder machine that shaped and melted the plastic.

"We needed something that was achievable in one complete print, because you can only print upwards," he said.

"There's a term called FDM, or fuse deposit modelling, and it's literally laying down a hot plastic bead and it builds it up layer by layer, a bit like a carefully-manoeuvred hot glue gun."

Bukitti was made of chipped plastic that can be re-melted and used to build something else.

"We can print all these waste products that are normally treated as garbage, and we're finding our bins are not filling up with drums of resin and plastic cups," Mr Rosewell said.

"All of it can be re-chipped up and used again."

Steven Rosewell holds the grill for his billycart that was 3D-printed with the help of the printer, robot arm and extruder behind him. ( ABC North Coast: Samantha Turnbull )

He said Bukitti's only flaw was its lack of speed, but it did win one of three races in the Bangalow derby.

"It was a great car to handle but it wasn't quite as streamlined as it could've been," Mr Rosewell said.

"Maybe next time we'll give it a pointier nose."

He said he was yet to decide Bukitti's post-race fate.

"We might put it in a plastic case somewhere, maybe the Smithsonian Museum in New York," he said.

"Or we might melt it and print another one."

3D printer worth the cost

Mr Rosewell said his 3D printing system would be worth about $100,000 second-hand, but it saved money in the long run.

Bukitti was designed using modelling software. ( ABC North Coast: Samantha Turnbull )

"You think about how much labour it saves and how much material costs it saves. It's well worth it," he said.

"Traditional processes require elaborate moulding systems and they can be hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"The average plastic garden chair that people take for granted, there could be $100,000 of engineering that goes into the moulds that makes those parts.

"We can eliminate all of that. There are a couple of products we've made that are literally a couple of hours from concept to product."

Mr Rosewell said 3D printing was also environmentally friendly.