MakerBot Industries

Check out the beautiful red rings on this pinhole camera lens!

I made an L series wide angle pinhole for my canon last night with my makerbot. had some leftover super red plastic in there when I loaded the black. It put down 2 rings of the red before the black started coming out.

Designed by thingiverse user chriswoebken, this is a nice print by tmo-photo! Check out all the things he’s designed on Thingiverse. Lots of great photography stuff!

We received  more than 100 entries into the MakerBot Teacher Giveaway. Now we’ve got to go through them and evaluate them and choose 10. It’s going to be tough, I looked through them briefly and there are a lot of good ones. We’ll be publishing a lot of the lesson plans so you’ll be able to imagine what teachers are doing with their students and MakerBots! Thanks to everyone who submitted!

Today is the last day to submit for the MakerBot Teacher Giveaway. If you’re submitting, make sure you’ve included a lesson plan!

With the advent of the new Plastruder MK5, we have a lot of MK4 parts here at the botcave. We’ve decided to take 50% off the MK4 Plastruder to make room for the MK5 parts.

We’ve also got lots of lasercut parts for the MK4 and we’ve dropped those down to $29 which is more than 50% off!

If you’ve wanted an extra extruder or a backup extruder or frankly, if you just need spare parts, here’s your chance to get an extruder for cheap. At this point, if you need spare parts for your MK4, you might as well buy a whole new extruder!

Some stories really show how having a MakerBot can make a difference. Thingiverse user Peter Harris, AKA colorbroken created this tripod mount, but it’s more than that. Read on.

This was designed specifically for one of my photo customers who has a degenerative condition, Late Onset Taye-Sachs disease. He experiences muscle fatigue and problems with grip and steadiness, so he uses a smaller point-and-shoot camera with a table-top tripod for a hand-grip.

The problems are multi-fold. One is that the tripod has to be removed every time he changes his batteries, or when he puts the camera away, and he disassembles the whole setup for storage and transport. Two is that when he does this, it wears out the 1/4-20 tripod mount in the camera, which is plastic.

Instead of ordering a steady supply of new tripod mounts, which would only solve one problem, we agreed on an offset platform so we could move the tripod mount towards the center of the lens axis, and allow the battery door to open and close with ease. The two-fingered offset on one side allows a 1/4-20 bolt to lock down into the camera, with the intention of it no longer being removed regularly. We agreed to modify the camera a little so it could support a second mount on the far side, so I disassembled and bored out the hole for the body panels.

The center hole supports a standard 1/4-20 nut to interface with whatever you connect the camera to. This should prove much more reliable than any type of plastic could.

Don stopped by the shop today and picked it up, and was very pleased with the results. I’m posting it just because it’s my first serious design project, and I’m pleased too. We put a Joby Gorillapod quick-release plate on the bottom of it, locked up nice and tight, and set him up with a monopod with a Joby ballhead, and a Gorillapod SLR Zoom with the same. Now he has one plate mounted full-time, and two methods to support it. Testing will tell if it flies long-term, and we can just print another one!

Check it out and download the files and print out your own over on Thingiverse.

Get the Plastruder MK5 now!

After strenuous testing which logged hundreds of hours of continuous extrusion, we are supremely excited to offer the all-new Plastruder MK5.

Designed for reliablity, low maintenance, and ease of use, the next-generation MK5 revolutionizes the MakerBot extrusion mechanism.

Hot End Reinvention:

This story begins with the complete redesign of the extruders’ heating element, barrel, and nozzle. Our goal was to take user feedback and our experiences the MK4, and return with the most robust, most reliable, and longest lasting extruder possible.

In close consultation with our manufacturers, we opted for precision machined stainless steel throughout the hot end. Every part was totally redesigned and pushed to the limit before we included it in the final product.
Each component screws tightly together, creating rigid connections and no room for leaks or loosening over time. The result is an all-stainless hot end that feels heavy and strong, and extrudes smoothly for hours and days without issue.

The heating element has been reinvented too: Nichrome wire has been replaced by two matching power resistors that screw-mount directly to the stainless steel MK5 Thermal Core. The resistors receive current straight from the Relay Board, and they heat evenly to produce a consistent temperature perfect for reliable extrusion.

Sayonara Idler Wheel:

You may notice the reduced footprint and profile of the MK5 Plastruder. It’s thinner, sleeker, and the motor housing is smaller. The reason for this is the complete “Paxtruder” inspired redesign of the filament guide mechanism. Now simply twist the thumbscrew to push the Delrin plunger into place, and your filament guide is set. No moving components, and the low coefficient of friction and high strength of Delrin means that the filament will slide over it smoothly and meet with the MK5 Drive Gear with no variation. It’s a simple design, and it’s simply effective.

The Gear that Drives It:

The MK5 Drive gear, released earlier this year, has become the defacto standard drive gear for MakerBots around the world. It’s custom machined stainless steel, lasts ages, and is easy to clean without removing from the plastruder body. The MK5 Drive Gear grabs filament with 100% greater push strength than the MK4 Extruder Pulley. The proof is in the pudding for this item- it’s already in successful use around the world.

Power Play:

With the larger surface of the MK5 Thermal Core to heat, the extruder needed more juice to get hot. For this reason the MK5 is powered by our Relay Board Kit, already in steady use with our Heated Build Platforms.

The Relay Board comes standard with enough outputs to run the Plastruder MK5 and the HBP simultaneously. By using the relay, the MK5 doesn’t draw the power load through the Extruder Controller. Translated- Steady power, without wearing on sensitive circuits or microcontrollers.

The combined effect of our innovative new components, redesigned filament guide, and stainless steel construction is tremendous. It’s a totally reinvented extruder that mounts easily to existing CupCake CNC Z-stage, and makes your machine better instantly.

Assembly required.

Check out the complete documentation here

Paul Wasson over at lasermego.com has MakerBotted up an Apple II+. Wow, does this make me happy. I played wizardry endlessly on a machine like this!

The model was printed out on my Cupcake 3D printer and painted using Krylon Fusion beige paint.  I then made several stickers from various images of the Apple II.  It measures about 1.5 inches wide and 2 inches deep. Coming soon, a monitor and disk drives.  Plus I’ll make a Lost Dharma Initiative version.

Check it out!

We are looking for a blogger at MakerBot who has the chops to write fantastic blog posts about the latest and greatest in the personal manufacturing space, be able to write up project documentation, and create and document great projects with the latest MakerBot gear. It wouldn’t hurt to be obsessed with MakerBot already, but what we really care about is that you have writing skills and can write with wit, keep things concise, have a personal voice and have some tinkering skills. Professional experience isn’t necessary (though it doesn’t hurt), what we really care about is that you can write! If you’ve got experience taking great photos and editing up video, that’s a bonus! We’re looking for a blogger in the New York City area because we actually want you here writing about things that are happening at the Botcave in Brooklyn!

Here’s what the gig is:

• Writing for the MakerBot blog. A mix of original writing, posts that spotlight the awesomeness of the MakerBot community, and posts that track the latest developments on Thingiverse and in the world of personal manufacturing.
• Writing copy for MakerBot product launches on the MakerBot Wiki and in the MakerBot store.
• Building new MakerBot products, creating projects with those products, and documenting the process.

Sound good? Here’s what you need to send in to apply:

2 writing samples of blog posts written by you.
These sample posts can be about whatever you want that somehow relates to personal manufacturing or MakerBot in your own words. We love robots, but don’t want you to sound like you are one. We won’t be using these on the site, we just want to get a sense of how well you can write.

Tell us your favorite thing on Thingiverse.com and why.

Photo and Video: If you have experience with video and photography, send us a link to your work on the internet.

Tell us about You

• A few words about yourself. (Sorry, but due to legalities, we can’t hire minors.)
• Give us a few words about what gets you excited about writing for MakerBot.
• Your contact info
• How much time you have per week to commit to the gig. If it’s less than 20 hours, then you probably shouldn’t bother. Be realistic, okay?
• Any questions you might have about the job.

What not to do: Don’t just send us attachments or resumes. Also, reminder, we are accepting applicants who live in or around the NYC area.

If this all sounds awesome, email your information to blogger@makerbot.com.

Hey Teachers!

There is still a week to submit your email for the MakerBot Teacher Giveaway! The deadline for sending in your email is August 23rd!

As part of the submission process, we’re asking teachers to submit lesson plans so that we can start thinking in clear, structured ways about how a MakerBot could be effective in a classroom. Some submitted lesson plans don’t have enough information and detail so here is some information about lesson plans so that you can be sure that there will be enough information in your lesson plan for us to evaluate it.

There are lots ways to write a lesson plan, but most have the following components:

• Objectives: What do you expect the students to learn?
• Structured Lead In: How will you engage the students and connect the new learning to their life?
• Instructions: What are you going to teach? How are you going to do it?
• Independant Practice: What will you have the students do to demonstrate their new learning?
• Evaluation: How will students know if they have learned what you’ve taught them?

These are not rules set in stone. Every teacher has their own way of creating lesson plans to scaffold student learning. We won’t be evaluating you based on the structure of your lesson plans but on clarity, innovation, and curriculum integration shown in your lesson plan! We are excited to see how you are thinking about integrating a MakerBot into your curriculum and want as much detail as possible for the benefit of teachers everywhere who will follow in your footsteps to bringing the power of personal manufacturing into the classroom! If you have already submitted, but want to send another email with more details in your lesson plan, please do! The email to send in your submissions is learning@makerbot.com.

Are you a teacher that could use a MakerBot? It’s almost time to go back to school and so we’re giving 10 teachers each a MakerBot Cupcake CNC Deluxe Kit with standard MK4 Extruder and a bonus Heated Build Platform kit.

Before August 23rd send an email to learning@makerbot.com with the following info. We may publish the ideas/lesson plans on the blog or wiki after the contest ends.

• Your name
• Your school’s name
• The address you’d like the MakerBot sent to if you are chosen
• A paragraph describing how you would integrate the MakerBot into your curriculum. Include some description of the learning environment and what you teach
• A lesson plan that you will implement if you get a MakerBot

Both me, Bre Pettis, (a former art teacher in Seattle Public Schools) and Charles Pax (a former Newark New Jersey physics teacher) will evaluate the information submitted and our criteria for the giveaway will be clarity, innovation, and curriculum integration.

Teachers who get a MakerBot will be expected to join the MakerBot Educators Google Group and document their experience with the MakerBot so that the other teachers can be inspired!

If you are not a teacher, but know a teacher who would benefit from having a MakerBot, please pass this along to them!

Our goal is to get more MakerBots into teachers hands and give them creative tools that will inspire young people to use their imagination and creativity. If you questions about the contest, leave a comment!

Update: Do not be fooled by the photo above of young children. Any teacher at any level is encouraged to apply.