MakerBot Industries

On Saturday, Jeff Rutzky, Chris K. Palmer, and George Hart stopped by and hung out with me and the MakerBot Cupcake CNC for a few hours. These guys are pioneers of folding, cutting, lasering, and 3D printing and it was so great to have them by. Make sure to check out their websites for inspiration!

We got to talking about what objects work and Chris promptly got sketchup out and made a really cool Zono10 design. He’s been going wild making insanely cool chocolate molds and uploading them to Thingiverse!

Cory Doctorow wrote a story in 2006 imagining a future of contraband 3D printers. In the story these MakerBot-like machines become illegal because they can make trademarked and patented objects and get around the whole centralized manufacturing process. It’s 2009 and the 3D printers of the future are here. The MakerBot launches us into a new future filled with digitally designed and personally fabricated objects. The future that Cory predicts in his science fiction story where 3D printers are common place is now officially fact. You may not be getting a rocket-pack anytime soon, but we’re delivering on the dream of a machine that prints out the things that have had to stay locked in your imagination. In the near future, you’ll be sending your kids to college and making sure they have a MakerBot on their dorm room desk.

There are other 3D printers out there, but they are either very expensive or have a long and twisty path to existence. When designing MakerBot, my friends Zach Hoeken Smith, Adam Mayer, and I have taken all the research on making 3D printers work and and spent a ton of time finding the cheapest way to get a super precise (to .085mm) machine. Then we designed this machine to look good because we want you to be able to get it, use it, and care enough about it that you can hand it down to your grandchildren and they’ll be able to use it.

This MakerBot Cupcake CNC machine is the Model T of 3D printers, blazing a trail to make 3D printers available to the masses. You solder it and put it together yourself. Unlike $250,000 printer, you have to make it from a kit, just like with the first Apple Computers. By making it yourself, you also get the pride of knowing exactly how it works!

If you are a citizen of the future and you have any interest in 3D printers and MakerBots, then take 5 minutes right now to read Cory Doctorow’s story titled, “Printcrime“. Since it’s licensed under Creative Commons, you can read it here after the jump. If you’re inspired, buy a MakerBot now and become one of the proud citizens of the digitally designed future.

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We’re really happy to be carrying the latest, top-of-the-line RepRap electronics which we use to drive our MakerBots. These boards were developed by me (Zach Hoeken) as part of my volunteer work for the RepRap Research Foundation. As always, the designs are 100% open and free. You can hit up the files on Thingiverse, you can read the blog entry introducing the design on the RepRap Blog, or you can skip straight to the wiki page for full-on documentation.

Oh yeah, and we sell them in our online store if you want to get a hold of one. We’re in the process of getting these boards fully assembled (a first for us) and this will probably happen in the next month or two if you don’t feel like doing SMT soldering.