MakerBot Industries

As you know, Makerbot is growing by leaps and bounds nowadays.  We’re shipping more bots, rolling out more new products, and researching more incredible stuff than ever before.  The only thing around here that isn’t growing is my brain.  Sadly, skulls don’t scale.  So, it’s time for us to add another noggin!

We’re looking for a programmer to help out with our firmware and software.  This is a full-time position at the botcave in scenic Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, just steps away from Atlantic Terminal.  You’ll helping to maintain the firmware for our current boards, as well as developing code for the latest and greatest.  You’ll also be working a bit on ReplicatorG, supporting new products, and coordinating with open source hackers around the world.

Interested?  Check out the job listing, and get in touch.  We’re looking forward to hearing from you!

Easy path to upgrades

Here’s one of the things I love about open source projects – clear to understand and consistent upgrade paths.¹

To put this in perspective, I have a name brand GPS unit.  Shortly after buying it that company released a new version that was thinner and had some new features.  Alas, no such upgrades were available for my unit.  And, really, that’s just silly.  My unit has a processor, memory, a small hard drive, and a GPS receiver.  Why shouldn’t I be able to just update the firmware to get these new features? ²

Last month brought lots of cool new upgrades for MakerBot printers as well as a brand new printer, the Thing-O-Matic.  Since MakerBot Cupcake CNC’s are an open source project, you have an opportunity with your printer I don’t have with my GPS.  The parts are designed to be modular, updated, swapped out, and hacked.  Unlike with my GPS, a 3D printer owner need not ever worry about being left behind by upgrades.  With the designs online, you can even source (or print!) all the parts you need.

Now that I’ve picked up all the upgrades for my own Cupcake, I can highly recommend them.  The MK5 Plastruder gives an extremely smooth extrusion and the Deluxe Filament Spindle Box box gives you tangle and hassle free filament feeding.  The Automated Build Platform has worked for me admirably as a heated build platform – but I expect it will work better as I get the hang of it.

1. Photo courtesy of eggman [↩]
2. Also, if it were open source I could have modified the on-screen keyboard to be QWERTY rather than have keys in alphabetical order. [↩]

Stuart Fox of TechNewsDaily stopped by the Botcave to talk about 3D printing and 3D scanning. In this video you can see the MakerBot Cupcake which is currently on sale and the New Makerbot 3D Scanner designed by Taylor Goodman and built on technology by Kyle McDonald.

Three years ago, a marketing company produced a video envisioning the future of the media. It illustrates the collapse of old media and rise of new media through the concept of the “prosumer.” The prosumer is not content to sit passively as news is fed to her, but actively contributes to the knowledge stream as an idea producer.

Needless to say, prosumerism has expanded to the world of manufacturing, and MakerBots is at the cutting edge of that transformation. Prosumerism is not just for digital media anymore.

According to one definition, in a prosumerist society, “interconnected users come together to create products to meet their demands.” The power of advertising wanes as consumers realize they can design their own goods.

MakerBot Industries teeters at the intersection between the producer and consumer. Our product is interactive, and we encourage our consumers to help us improve our product, and to be producers.

This new model is what Mateusz Makosiewicz explored for his master’s thesis in philosophy from the University of Gdansk. His blog is “probably the first dedicated entirely to the matters of prosumerism.”

If you’re interested in learning more about prosumerism, check out his recommended reading list, which includes classics such as “Wikinomics,” “The Third Wave,” and “Netocracy.”

Pattywac bearing contest winning design

Thingiverse citizen Pattywac has been working to spur creativity and innovation with his recent design contests.  His first was a magnet design contest and second was a bearing design contest.  Right now he’s running two concurrent contests for rubber band designs (current prize is $100) and another for MakerBot improvement designs (current prize is $65).

The submissions to Pattywac’s contests have resulted in some really incredible designs, such as the winner of the bearing contest, Twotimes with his Mendel inspired X and Y carriage lowrider.  The Cupcake CNC 3D printer was designed to be built within the constraints of lasercut wood and acrylic.  Twotimes’ designs demonstrate how a 3D printer can create effective and efficient improvements not possible with other means.

Do you have an idea for one of these two contests?  (Or an idea you can enter in both?)