MakerBot Industries

1 meter LED Stripes are the single best way to make your MakerBot look awesome! At MakerBot, LEDs are a core value. With years of experience at raves, we can say that these 1 Meter LED strips are 1000000% awesome.

LED Strips come in really bright red, blue, yellow, green, and soft white!

For an added bonus they’re adhesive backed flexible circuits, so no construction is required and they’ll stick pretty much anywhere! This is the best way to pimp your MakerBot and make the interior look great. As an added bonus, these LEDs make pictures you take of the inside your MakerBot look great. Buy now and make your MakerBot 1000000% more awesome.

Glow in the Dark ABS Filament!

We had to wait until night to make this announcement, it’s only appropriate!  Glow in the Dark MakerBot ABS Plastic. This is a wonderful material and we’ve got it just in time for you to make things for Halloween! You can make things and then they will glow in the dark! Get yours now and make things that you’ll be able to see when the sun is down and the lights are out!

You asked for them, you get them! Nothing is too good for you guys. Videos are courtesy of lrodriguezvideo.

Thing-O-Matic from nearly every angle

Thing-O-Matic startup routine

Thing-O-Matic printing

Is that a clear acrylic internal floor? That’s pretty nifty. I could see myself installing some LED’s down there.

Door chock from Lt. Jason Rivera Rescue Co. 1 Stamford, CT Fire Rescue Dept

Just about every firefighter keeps slightly different gear on their person while fighting fires.  Interestingly, their gear usually includes equipment modified by the firefighter themselves, improvised ways to carry equipment, and homemade tools like the “door chocks” above.  These improvised door chocks can be tossed between a door and it’s frame, over the hinge to keep it open as the firefighter advances through an area in a building.

The website VentEnterSearch.com has several sections devoted to training props, pictures showing what some firefighters carry on their person, and lots of tips for helping firefighters in the field – basically firefighter hacks.  There are some pretty ingenious ideas in those pages.

What can you think of that could help out our firefighters in the field?

Behold! The Thing-O-Matic!

Actually, I don’t think anyone was afraid to ask.    With the lead up to this last weekend’s Maker Faire in New York there was a lot of speculation and curiosity about the new Thing-O-Matic. ¹  After combing through the comments I put together a pretty big list of answers to your questions.

First, some tech specs on the Thing-O-Matic:²

• Interface: Print through USB or print from SD card
• Size: 300 x 300 x 410 mm (12″ W x 12″ D x 16″ H)
• Build Area: 96 x 108 mm
• Build Height: 115 mm
• Generation 4 Electronics
  • Supports up to 5 stepper drivers (XYZ + A/B)
  • Connect over USB (no more FTDI cable)
  • Optional LCD interface support (Not included)
  • Full mechanical endstop support
  • High current mosfets to drive heated build platform and extruder heater
  • Thermocouple support for more accurate temperature sensing
• Standard ATX power supply
• Works with both 110v and 220v power
• Theoretical XY Positioning resolution of 0.02mm (20 microns or 0.0008″)
• Theoretical XY Maximum Feedrate of up to 5000mm/minute (roughly 200 IPM)
• Theoretical Z Positioning resolution of 0.005mm (5 microns / or 0.0002″)
• Theoretical Z Positioning Feedrate of up to 1000mm/minutes (roughly 40 IPM)
• Capable of printing with ABS and PLA

And, your questions:

@James Taylor asked, “Any idea when you will be posting the bits in SVN?”

Bre: Yup, we’ll release them when we ship.

@Rob asked, “Does it ship with any plastic?  Is it compatible with the Frostruder MK2 and Unicorn?  Will it work fine with the filament spindle box?”

Bre: The Thing-O-Matic will ship include 1 pound of natural ABS and will be completely compatible with the Frostruder MK2 and Unicorn.  The Thing-O-Matic was designed to work with the filament spindle box and even has integrated holes to run the tube through the machine in the back.

Also, check out some more awesome photos of the Thing-O-Matic taken at the New York Maker Faire by I, Dioloid!

Ask your questions in the comment below and we’ll do our best to get them answered.

1. Photo courtesy of I, Dioloid [↩]
2. Mmmm…  Delicious stats… [↩]

What’s that? You absolutely, positively MUST have videos of the MakerBot Unicorn in action? Well, you’re in luck – Matt Griffin has come to our rescue! He’s put together several videos of this majestic creature in action doing some amazing things!

MakerBot Unicorn Pen Plotter: Unicorn Logo print (single)

MakerBot Unicorn: Unicorn Logo “Print-to-Pad” derivative

MakerBot Unicorn Pen Plotter: Printing a Sticker

MakerBot Unicorn Pen Plotter: Trace from Video Frame

Thanks Matt!