Soon, you may not need to drop a ton of money for a bit of body art. A team of French students managed to replace the extruder of a 3D printer with a tattooing instrument, thus creating their own functioning, tattoo machine.



The students built their makeshift tattoo machine, entitled the 3D Printer X Tattoo Machine project for Public Domain Remix, an event hosted by the French Ministry of Culture. Those who partook in the event had eight hours to hack an electronic device, with help from manufacturing expert LeFabShop. This particular team, led by Pierre Emm, decided to hack a 3D printer, a Makerbot Replicator to be more specific. First, they installed a pen into the printer. Eventually, they took it one step further, replacing the extruder with a real tattooing device. After testing their improvised printer on artificial skin, they also got a volunteer, who let the team test their machine his own flesh. Brave dude.



Though we don't recommend you trying this at home, here are the step-by-step instructions for creating the 3D Printer X Tattoo Machine. Click through for some photos, and watch the transformation of the 3D printer happen below.

[via PSFK]

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