MakerBot Industries

Along with the MakerBot 3D Scanner, we’re excited to launch the DIY version of the MakerScanner, an open source 3D scanner designed by MakerBot Operator Andy Barry. The MakerScanner captures color 3D pointclouds that you can convert into printable meshes with entirely open source tools… and a LASER! Basically, you’ll need a webcam, some MakerBotted plastic parts and… a LASER! Did we mention the LASER?

You may have seen this on the Wired blog. It’s another cool way to experiment with 3D scanning. You can even use the same webcam as the Makerbot 3D Scanner to decrease the overall parts cost of your adventures into 3D scanning!

Instead of using lasercut parts, the MakerScanner’s parts are 100% MakerBot printable. If you are without a MakerBot, fear not! As soon as we set up the MakerBot Botfarm™ we’ll start cranking out the parts and assemble a laser based 3D scanner kit for your experimental laser scanning adventures.

Check out the documentation and start building your MakerScanner on the MakerBot Wiki.

MakerBot printed coins and tokens

Besides being a great example of a printed part, jabella’s collection of MakerBot printed coins and NYC tokens is just plain pretty.  I normally photograph on a white background, but it’s now evident to me a black background is much better for printed pieces.  Or, perhaps, you know, photography skillz.

As I wandered around the Botcave last Monday, I noticed a heart-warming trend in the décor:  puppy and kitten calendars everywhere. This is my photo essay about them.

Next to Widget’s workstation, where he is checking the levelness of some rods, two golden retriever pups snuggle with each other, on the verge of a nap.

Near an area where Bot Farm-bound Cupcakes are getting a final check to prepare for the upcoming Maker Faire, where sixteen of them will print full-time, a calendar shows two black labs posing in a grassy field.

Behind a desk where Sam and Marisol were discussing a recent shipment, an inter-species friendship seems to have formed between a floppy-eared pup and a silvery kitten. The furry friends sit together in a high chair.

Attached to a post in the shipping area where MakerBot Kits are gingerly hand-packed packed atop a conveyor belt, a calendar shows a pug-nosed pup nibbling at someone’s jean cuff.

What is the connection between MakerBots and the dogs and cats calendars? Some investigation has revealed that one of the MakerBot suppliers has the option to get calendars as a bonus gift with big orders. When faced with the choice between a gym bag and kittens and puppies, MakerBot will always choose the cute kittens and puppies!

Beco Blocks FTW

Absolutely, positively, a bucketful of Beco Blocks.

When I started printing on my MakerBot, one of the first things I tried to crank out were Beco Block parts.  Using the Skeinforge Multiple feature, I could print up 4-9 copies of a particular block piece at a time.  Unfortunately, without a spindle or an automated platform this was a time consuming process of printing, setting up, and monitoring for tangles.

The idea of setting a MakerBot to build a full set of construction toys and having a bucket of parts a few hours later is almost too much.  What would you print if all of a sudden the setup and monitoring time dropped to zero?

ReplicatorG 0019 is now available for your printing pleasure.  This release includes:

• Unlimited undo/redo in model editing mode
• Better support for simultaneous 3-axis motion
• New skeinforge profiles for the Mk. V extruder
• New skeinforge profiles for the automated build platform
• Support for separate PID parameters for HBP
• Experimental .obj and .dae file import

There’s also two new releases of the extruder controller firmware available: one for mk4 extruder users, and one for mk5 extruders that use a relay board.  Get the new ReplicatorG from the download page and give it a try!

Fair Companies made a video about MakerBot, check it out!

You have displeased AnarchyBot3000

Building and operating a 3D printer isn’t all fun and games. ¹² I’ve burned and pinched fingers, yanked out a little hair, and had little bits of molten solder splatter unpleasantly.  Thankfully, I’ve avoided having a robot make me punch myself in the face.

Neil, I think you and I should start a chapter of REAVE. ³

1. Just mostly fun and games.    [↩]
2. Photo courtesy of Bump [↩]
3. Roboticists Escaping A Violent Environment. [↩]

Introducing The MakerBot 3D Scanner! The MakerBot 3D Scanner is a cheap, structured light scanner to turn real things into digital designs. It’s a 3D scanner!

Created by our summer engineer Taylor Goodman, the MakerBot 3D Scanner builds on the 3D scanning technology created by Kyle McDonald.

It’s a cute little scanner kit with lots of depth- just assemble the laser cut parts we supply, and add your Optoma EP-PK-101 PICO Projector, your PlayStation Eye or a Microsoft LifeCam, and an iPod touch or iPhone, (or alternate VGA video source) and you’ve got a small format, low cost 3D Scanner!

The technology behind this device is known as Structured Light 3D Scanning. This kit is for 3D scanning experimenters, as you will need to be a bit savvy to get the best results. If you dont feel comfortable manipulating 3D point clouds, look through the documentation to see if this project is over your head.

Here is the full documentation so you know exactly what 3D scanning with the MakerBot 3D Scanner is all about!

We provide you with a lasercut package so you can mount your (not supplied) projector and (not supplied) PS3 Eye, and get started scanning. When you see your first point cloud you’ll be blown away at what you’ve scanned. If you want, you could duct tape your projector to your webcam and ipod and it might work. One of the benefits of a kit like the MakerBot 3D Scanner is that all a lot of people will have the same setup so that you can compare stories over at the MakerBot Scanner Google Group. Join the conversation!

The first batch of 20 available MakerBot 3D Scanner kits were personally lasercut by our engineer Taylor Goodman at NYC Resistor, and they come with extra dusty DIY character! We’re set to ship these right away. After the first 20, we’ll have 6 week lead time as we level up and get new lasercut parts in. We’re starting with an introductory price of $40 for these first kits and after that the price will go up to $50. Buy a MakerBot 3D Scanner and start experimenting with 3D scanning now!

MakerBot is in the NYTimes today!

Depending on the type of job at hand, a typical 3-D printer can cost from $10,000 to more than $100,000. Stratasys and 3D Systems are among the industry leaders. And MakerBot Industries sells a hobbyist kit for under $1,000.

Check out the full article.

Today my MakerBot equipped with the MakerBot Automated Build Platform is printing out business cards. It makes one every 6 minutes and then rolls it into a box in front of the MakerBot.

Because the MakerBot MK5 Plastruder is so reliable, it has been printing all morning and I’m going to keep it printing all day. I figure at 10 an hour, by the time I leave the botcave, I’ll have 100 3D printed business cards to give away.

For fun, I switched filament colors during the letters on a few of them to get the two toned look. I like the way that looks best, but it requires that I pay attention to it and that’s just too much to ask during the workday.

I had the idea to make business cards last night at 6:15PM and was printing cards by 7PM. My process was that I modeled my name in Sketchup, exported a 3D file in the Collada format, imported the Collada file into Blender and exported it as an STL and then imported it into ReplicatorG and scaled it. Make your own!