MakerBot Industries

Seriously, who else thought of The Cure’s “Lullaby” when they saw this clip? ¹ And, I mean, that scritch scratchy sound? It wouldn’t be scarier if it were made of fingernails and crawling up a blackboard…
Special thanks to moleofproduction for this seriously creepy ModHex and endless therapy bills.

1. The spiderman is always… hungry [↩]

Vertices and diameter suggestions

A little over a year ago Nick Ames put together this handy graphic demonstrating his recommendations for designing printable objects with small holes.  The reason this is even a concern is that a printer’s hardware takes longer to calculate the print head’s path on objects that are closer to a true circle. ¹  If the calculations are taking too long then the extruder may end up depositing a little bit of extra plastic causing “blobbies.”  This is definitely not a big problem and merely requires some extra clean up which is easily accomplished with a drill bit or sanding.

I would offer a few caveats to Nick’s recommendations.  First, the slower you’re printing the less this is an issue.

Second, these recommendations are really only relevant to vertical holes.  If you’ve got a hole running in the XY plane, there are other considerations – like overhang issues.  For small M3 size holes in the XY plane, I use a high-vertex count polygon or even a true circle.  In those instances the holes are so small that overhangs aren’t a big deal.  And since the hole is being sliced on its side, the hardware doesn’t have to perform a lot of tough calculations.

Third, unless there’s a cosmetic reason go ahead and print with the smallest vertex count polygon your design permits.  There probably won’t be a structural difference and you’ll have less clean up post-printing.

A special thanks and kudos to Jordan Mills for finding Nick’s post and graphic for me!

1. The RepRap wiki has a lot of math explaining what’s going on here. [↩]

Apple made with 3D printing technology, Apple Core Stop Motion Video Art

“Het Klokhuis” (The Apple Core) is a Dutch youth science show which covers all sorts of sciencey things.¹ The interesting thing about their stop motion animation introduction sequence is that it uses 3D printed models!

1. Photo from creativereview.co.uk [↩]

Having 3D printing enthusiasts tout 3D printing as the next big thing for 2011 isn’t exactly surprising.

What about a company with a track record of trend picking?  Take a gander at JWT Worldwide’s slide show on the “100 things to watch in 2011.”  Oh, what’s right there, way at the top?

That’s right, 3D printing clocking in as the #1 thing to watch for the coming year!