MakerBot Industries

Up till now we’ve done all of our research and development at NYCResistor and then done all the shipping out of our friend Jake’s office. His lease is coming to an end at the end of July so we’re on the lookout to find a new place. We’re looking in Brooklyn for a location that is 2000-5000 square feet with benevolent neighbors/landlord and on our wishlist is a loading dock! Give us a heads up if you’ve got any leads! We’re excited to have a place where we can do research and ship things and have our warehouse all in the same place!

There have just been very minor tweaks to the machine for the first 4 batches. Batch 5 we’re going to be making a few changes. We’ve gone to thinner diameter rods and entirely pre-built electronics. Because you folks are buying enough machines that we can buy bigger quantities of things, we are able to keep the price at $750 for the basic kit and $950 for the deluxe kit even though the electronics will from this day forward come assembled! We’ll still sell electronics kits, but all the basic and deluxe kits from here on out will come with pre-assembled electronics! Go shopping now!

We managed to buy all the steppers in the world with the right diameter rod for our pulleys and when we went to get more and there weren’t anymore… anywhere! So we had them manufactured. We had planned to ship batch 3 on June 15th, but we just got an update that the brand spanking new stepper motors are not due to arrive until June 25th. We have the boxes all packed up and ready to go so when the steppers come we’ll ship batch 3 right out! We were clear in the description that they would be shipping “on or around June 15th,” but still we’re grumpy about it because we’re ready to ship out the machines and are just waiting on these motors! We apologize for the delay. We want to get these to you to make your machines!

The good news is that we’re getting ahead on batch 4 which is likely to ship a bit earlier than expected since we’re ahead on all the materials at this point! We can’t promise anything, but we’re optimistic about getting Batch 4 out early!

MakerBot is on BoingBoing! Very Exciting! Check it out the whole interview that Bill Gurstelle put up!

Update: We just sold out of Batch 4. We’ll have Batch 5 up ASAP so you can get one!

CES, where the VCR got its start, saw the launch of some of the most awesome technologies including some that you may have heard of: the NES, the commodore 64, the cd player, and now in 2010, the MakerBot!

Yesterday we spent the entire day showing off the MakerBot at the CEA Lineshow. We met some great people and have gotten awesome press (Huge thanks to Gizmodo, Engadget, Make, Dvice and Hackaday) while doing what MakerBot does best: cranking out awesome objects!

Read about how Bre wowed the judges at the startup competition in the NYTech Meetup Blog.

Here at MakerBot, we’re big fans of the McMaster.com website. It’s basically the worlds biggest hardware store and they sell pretty much anything mechanical that you’d ever want to lay your hands on. Their online catalog is one of the best we’ve encountered in terms of ease of use. You can search quickly and easily, and if you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for you can whittle down category by category until it tells you what you are looking for. The whole way there are nice, clear pictures and lots of descriptions of what the various things mean. Not to mention the gluttonous amount of specifications and CAD drawings they provide.

However, there has always been one thing lacking from their website: NO DEEP LINKING! As it was a javascript / ajax based site, it was always a pain to link to that specific part you were looking for. Well, fear no longer because they relaunched their website today and added this crucial picture. Want a $1344 bar of titanium? No problem.

Thank you McMaster!

We love Geek Entertainment TV and so when they stopped by our booth at Maker Faire we were thrilled when Eddie Codel and Irina Slutsky got their cameras and microphones out!

It’s true. The future is here. Really. Anything you can dream in 3D can be made real. MakerBot’s affordable Cupcake CNC, a slightly larger than a breadbox 3D printer, will take your 3D modeled dreams and make them manifest. MakerBot’s Bre Pettis, a man who knows how a lot about making robots and dreams come true, gives Irina the skinny on what MakerBot is and how it works. – Link

Obijuan has used his MakerBot to create the most insanely cool robotic catipillars called REPY-1 Modules. You can find the REPY-1 design on Thingiverse! Super bonus points for adding star wars references to this project!

Here’s another video featuring penguins riding a much longer REPY-1!

Yesterday, we introduced Will, the MakerBot intern. We’re steping up operations and are on the lookout for more interns!

Here at MakerBot, we’re on the lookout for a few interns who are interested in design, engineering, and the internet to work with to produce and develop awesome open source hardware. Some of the projects we have coming up are alternate extruders, 3D scanners, and a conveyor belt build platform.

The ideal candidate will have some experience some or all of the following: digital design, blogging, and general prototyping. Work will vary and include building kits, design work, production, and running a laser-cutter.

Send us a note if you’re interested!

So you got your MakerBot together and are ready for your first prints… With the wealth of digital designs out on Thingiverse these days it might be hard to choose which one is going to be your first ever print and forever mark this historic occasion. Having just recently experienced my first 100% successful print I’m hoping I can offer some guidance.

Bre’s MakerBot Coin is definitely my pick for first print. It’s easy, fast, and perfect to show off to your friends.

Zach’s 608 idler pulleys are again a quick build and will definitely help you prove to the skeptics out there that the MakerBot can and does print useful parts.

For your third print you should definitely test the limits of your machine. It took a lot of tuning and fiddling before my MakerBot could print Wizard23′s Screwable Jewellery Boxes but once they came out flawlessly I knew my MakerBot was ready to take on any challenge. Now go out there and start printing and be sure to upload your pictures to the MakerBot Flikr pool!