MakerBot Industries

Charles Pax of NYC Resistor has been experimenting with a conveyor belt design that would allow him to fully automate the build process and create a ‘print queue’ of sorts. Here’s his latest results:

Iron Man should be renamed “3D Printed Man” according to Fabbaloo! I’m pretty sure that the parts for the glove could all be designed and made on a MakerBot by a digital designer.

Blockbuster film Iron Man 2 has a direct 3D printing connection: Iron Man’s suit, as well as that of arch-nemesis Whiplash, were produced on a 3D printer. And they didn’t just print a mould for the suit parts, they printed the actual suit components. After a bit of paint, they were ready to be worn!

The Iron Man technology has advanced significantly since the first film, and not just on the screen. Apparently actor Robert Downey Jr. was in “constant discomfort” wearing Iron Man 1′s gloves, which had been made in the conventional manner. Their tightness caused pain and difficulty moving and flexing. Iron Man 2 technology involved a 3D scan of Downey’s hands to “create flexible gloves no thicker than a dime”. The scan enabled the creation of gloves that precisely fit Downey’s hands.

via Fabbaloo – Fabbaloo Blog – Printing The Iron Man, And More.

We’re giving away a MakerBot to someone who uploads a design to Thingiverse and it’s going great with over 80 entries so far!

I’ve gone through the comments on the Makezine blog and tagged all the entries so far with “makeentry” and it’s a great selection of things! Which one’s do you like? Click the <3 to like your favorites! Browse through them all!

Don’t see your thing on there? All you have to do is go to the Makezine Blogpost and post a link to your thing!

You have until May 5th to get your entry up on Thingiverse! Go!

So on my first day at the Trinity Fire Fighting Robot Challenge, I got the Makerbot set up and everything. I was finishing the last bits of the white ABS plastic still in the plastruder and then fed in a new line of yellow ABS. Now this was a first where the yellow ABS got jammed and the pinch wheel striped it. What happened when I opened up the plastruder was the yellow ABS started getting ahead of the white ABS and eventually they bottlenecked above the heater barrel and got stuck. At some point the Z axis also fell out of alignment but luckily one engineer had a level application installed on his iPhone and we quickly restored it to its proper orientation. He chuckled “this is just me reaching a new level of geekiness” but I think that was a really useful application. I cleaned out the filament from the teeth of the gear. I also met Will Langford there, which was pretty cool.

I met some people who’ve seen the Makerbot in Make: Magazine and online but never in person. People at trinity ranged from junior high school students to professional engineers. It was great getting feedback from all of them. Kids of all ages were just imagining all the things they could do with it. Professional engineers took many pictures and analyzed all the components of the Makerbot. I heard responses from “wow” and “awesome” to “highlight of my day”. One engineer even asked if the Makerbot was competing in the firefighting competition. When I said no, he breathed a sigh of relief. Others were not so convinced on sight and wished for a full demonstration. A few of them were disappointed that I could not getting it running that Saturday but nonetheless, we were all familiar with the stage fright our robots get whenever they perform in front of a crowd. Too many times have our robots worked perfectly in our own basements only to watch Murphy’s law come into effect when others are watching.

Thankfully, that was not the case on Sunday. After the teeth were flossed and the filament ready to go, Goldie started printing everything from dodecahedrons to rocket ships to custom parts for some of the robots at the competition and monopoly pieces. It was pretty exciting to see students and engineers from all over the world dreaming up their next contraption to come hot off the Makerbot. I met people from Israel as well as China at the competition. I even had a great chat with another proud owner of a Makerbot from batch 9. By the end of the day, all but 3 postcards about the Makerbot were given out as well as a bunch of dodecahedrons and monopoly pieces. Otherwise, people went home with lots of pictures.

Jack Poon is an intern at MakerBot. Thanks for sharing Jack! If you’ve got an experience you’d like to share, feel free to drop us a line!

Charles Pax and I were up late and explored the world of sanding down the kapton tape on the MakerBot heated build platform. Charles found that sanding added a lot of “tooth” to surface which increases the amount of surface area and makes the plastic adhere to it with more constancy.

Charles wrote it up on his blog:

After an initial bit of frustration with the heated build platform I sanded the surface with 220 grit sand paper, increasing the surface area significantly, thus increasing the adhesive force. Since doing this I’ve had fewer failed prints, most of which were due to the Kapton being too cool.

The heated build platform greatly reduces warping of prints and so if you’ve been wanting to make bigger things on your MakerBot you should get it!

Friends,

We’ve completed shipping Batch #13, two weeks ahead of schedule! Our original estimated ship date for this batch was at the end of April. We plan to begin shipping Batch #14 next week, although at this point I can’t commit to how many we’ll be able to ship or when we’ll be able to ship them. As you may recall, the original commit date for Batch #14 was the middle of May. We’re going to try our best to beat this deadline as well.

Cheers,

Sam

One of my favorite things to do is give presentations about MakerBot and blow people’s minds with the possibilities that MakerBot presents to the world. Yesterday I was in Berlin talking to internet enthusiasts at Re:Publica. (Photo by Leralle)

Showing the MakerBot always attracts a crowd.

I gave a short interview for dctp.tv.

Annalena took visual notes on my talk. I really need to get a better photo of this!

In Berlin? I’m planning on having brunch at Cafe Morgenrot on Saturday around noonish. You’re invited to stop by and say hi!

We’ve been growing quickly and so we’re looking to add a shipping tech to our team to help us make the world a better place, one 3D printer at a time. If you think you know someone who might be a good fit, send us an email at hiring@makerbot.com. Here are the details on the open position:

As a shipping tech, you will be responsible for picking, packing and shipping customer orders. We pride ourselves on working hard, being innovative and having fun. By working for us, you will be a part of the next manufacturing revolution.

Pay & Benefits
- $12/hour full time (approximately 40 hours/week)
- Health, Vision and Dental benefits

Duties
- Assemble and pack customer orders
- Process shipping information and print shipping labels
- Maintain appropriate inventory records
- Restock inventory from warehouse – lift up to 40 lbs
- Receive and process inbound inventory shipments
- Perform quality checks on assembled kits to ensure accuracy

Required Skills
- Detail oriented
- Quick learner
- Strong work-ethic and ability to work in a fast-paced environment
- Willingness to grow with the company and recommend improvements to processes & procedures
- Experience using a PC

Desired Skills
- Experience using UPS WorldShip software
- Experience working in a shipping department for a medium/large size company

Please send you resume via email to hiring ‘at” makerbot.com. Job location is Brooklyn, NY.

Bubblegum Pink ABS has arrived!

Hi Everybody-  Some good news for all you people who love printing in color on the CupCake CNC!  You can now get our full selection of colors in 1 pound rolls!  We know that some people just don’t love red, or blue, as much as they love yellow, so now you don’t have to deprive yourself ever again!  Buy all the colors, and then round it out with a 1 pound or 5 pound roll of delicious looking PINK ABS.   For the first week we are also offering a special reduced price to get them out to you on the cheap!

It’s Bubblegum Pink ABS time!