MakerBot Industries

There have been a number of printable candle holders uploaded to Thingiverse lately.  In all seriousness, please do not use ABS or PLA for printed candle handle holders or any kind of use involving flame or heat.  ABS will catch fire, even without a blow torch, and keep burning while giving off a bad smelling and toxic smoke.  PLA becomes very malleable at low heat, will deform and melt, and could easily drop a candle.  That’s one of the reasons PLA can’t be used as a hot beverage or food container.

Please have a safe holiday season and do not use any ABS or PLA with or near flame or heat.¹

1. Remember:  Only you can prevent bunny fires. [↩]

Hanukkah is rapidly approaching. It starts this Wednesday, December 1st at sundown. Need a menorah? Want to do a little soldering? Want to save wax?

Come visit the MakerBot Store. We have the Deluxe LED Menorah kit from Evil Mad Science Laboratories in stock for $14:

Our Deluxe LED Menorah kit is an updated take on the traditional hanukkiyah, the nine-armed Hanukkah candelabrum. Two candles are lit on the first night of Hanukkah (one “real” candle plus the lighter candle, or shamash), three on the second night, right up to nine on the eighth night. (That’s (2+9)*(8/2)=44 candles all together, for those of you keeping score.)

Ours works pretty much the same way, but uses less wax. When you turn it on, it displays the correct configuration of LED “candles” for a given night of Hanukkah. Each time that you press the button (or switch it off and back on), it displays one more light than it did the previous time that you turned it on (unless it showed all nine last time, in which case it goes back to two). The LEDs are lit up in the traditional sequence, with a gentle fade.”

There is plenty more to shop for at the MakerBot Botcave. We have all the traditional MakerBot faire like MakerBot Cupcake CNC Kits, TTL Cables, LED strips, pen plotters, extruders, and ABS plastic. We also sell Adafruit Kits like the Brain Machine, stuff from Evil Mad Science Laboratories, Arduino products, Jimmy Rodgers and much more.

Also, every visitor gets an object printed by one of our very own MakerBots!

So come and say hello. We’re located at 87 3rd Avenue. Hours are Noon-8 p.m., Tuesday thru Saturday, now until December 24th. See you at the MakerBot Botcave!

Youssef Tayeb's full-scale model of a trans-tibial socket, printed on a MakerBot

I was joking earlier when I referenced the OLAF as an MakerBot printable prosthetic for frogs.  Youssef Tayeb has clearly taken the idea of printable prosthetic very seriously.  He designed this full scale trans-tibial socket to be printed as 16 separate pieces, glued them together, and then reinforced them on the outside with fiberglass.  Youssef has also started an OpenProsthetics.org project group for publishing and getting feedback on his designs.  If you’re interested learning more about printed prosthetics, be sure and check out OpenProsthetics.org, the Trautman Hook uploaded to Thingiverse by Erik de Bruijn¹, and the Prosthetic Hand Kit uploaded by SpedZero.

Besides being of noble purpose, Youssef’s designs demonstrate an interesting way to build larger forms out of smaller MakerBot sized print jobs.  With a set of calipers and a 3D printer, making one’s own prosthetics could soon become a reality.

(Thanks Make!)

1. Erik is one of the inventors of the Ultimaker! [↩]