MakerBot Industries

I’m happy to announce the availability of a few new kits from our friends over at Liquidware- check them out! Liquidware makes really cool sensors and modules for your hacking projects. We’re going to carry some for all you MakerBot Operators, so you can keep innovating and making awesome new devices and projects. Check out all our new kits in our Accessories section!

I was walking by a shop window art exhibit here in Brooklyn, and the display sensed my presence and a bunch of lights started flashing- and it got me thinking- what would a Compass Module, a 3-Axis Accelerometer, and a Temperature Sensor do for that piece? Or for your Arduino project? I remember in my college “New Media Technology” class students agonized over Macromedia Director to trigger a sequence of audio samples and lights. The equivalent of that today is a handheld WIFI touchscreen that senses it’s position and triggers an HD camera at 1800 frames per second, and writes it’s own tweets.

Make something happen!

Liquidware AMBI Light Sensor

Liquidware Temp Sensor

Liquidware ButtonPad

Liquidware Compass Module

Liquidware 3-axis Accelerometer Module

A few days ago, answering Customer Support questions, I was thrilled to read the following:

I worked on my Thing-O-Matic through the long weekend and yesterday around 6 pm actually started printing. I’m a 53-year-old lawyer with no formal technical training and have never really done any robotics or electronics building on my own before. There were times during the startup process when I thought I might have bitten off more than I could chew. But ultimately I found answers on the web for every issue I encountered and … I DID IT.

I followed up with Greg about his experiences and he added:

I feel like I’ve really become part of an important phenomenon here. I see this little “toy” the same way Benjamin Franklin saw the potential of flight when attending the first manned balloon flight. He heard a skeptic comment “What’s it good for?” Franklin replied: “What’s a newborn baby good for?” I think we’re on the cusp of a real revolution with the maker movement, and I’m excited to be part of it.

Well, MakerBot is thrilled with the growing army of MakerBot Operators. Where possible in the endless maelstrom of support tickets, Ethan, Isaac and I will slip into the blog here to brag about a few of these incredible folks.

Here’s a micro interview with Greg:

Q:   What brought you to 3D printing/MakerBot?

A:   First, a long-term interest in new, personal manufacturing tools.  I believe we’re on the verge of a “new industrial revolution” with this technology.  More proximately, I saw a youtube video about MakerBot, then spent a few weeks looking into other options, and finally decided that I just might be able to tackle building a TOM.  So I took the leap.

Q:   What is your favorite thing you have printed so far?

A:   Hoeken’s Twisted Form Study

Twisted Form Study by hoeken

Just a bunch of regular polyhedrons hanging out doing normal things. Print out the whole series and it looks nice.

This thing brought to you by

Q:   What object do you most want to design (or download from Thingiverse.com)?

A:   I’m an avid collector of 1/18 scale models.  I have a dream of being able to contribute to this hobby with things I make myself.  I’ve been working toward the idea of building a 1/18 scale model of a German V-2 rocket.  Maybe by the end of the year I can do it!

Thanks, Greg, for getting in touch with us.

If any of you MakerBot Operators out there have a great story or picture of you/your bot/your prints, send them our way: support at makerbot dot com.

CC 2011 by Yoyoj3d1

This event notice forwarded to us from the MakerBot Users Group in Seattle!

This Saturday, January the 29th, Jigsaw Renaissance and the Seattle Makerbot Users Group are hosting a family friendly gathering to share the fun and excitement of the 3D printing community! Members of the Seattle Makerbot users Group will be bringing Makerbots and Mendels as well as knowledge and some expertise on how to use them.

This is a great opportunity to meet others who are interested and active in 3D printing. Come and find some local experts with whom to ‘talk shop’, and share the excitement of this up and coming technology
When: January 29th 2010
5:00pm-7:00pm (if you’re bringing a bot please arrive at 4:30pm to set up)

Where:
Jigsaw Renaissance
1026 Madison Street
Seattle, WA 98104
If you own a Makerbot or 3D printer and would like to bring it to the gathering to share your knowledge, please gives us a heads up on our discussion forum so we can make sure you’ll have a table and electricity.

Jigsaw Renaissance: http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org
Seattle Makerbot Users Group: http://groups.google.com/group/seattlemakerbot

ReplicatorG is your friend!

This is the third in a series of posts about ways to get even better print results from your 3D printer.  The absolute best part about the two prior posts, on calibrating hardware and upgrading hardware, have to be the voluminous comments.  Please keep your hints, tips, hacks, and suggestions flying in!

• Calibrate Software. Once you’ve got your 3D printer hardware tuned up, it’s time to look to the software, especially the Skeinforge settings for your machine.

1. Skeinforge calibration.  There are a number of guides out there, but the one I would recommend is the series written by Dave Durant.
   1. Skeinforge basic settings
   2. Five critical Skeinforge settings
   3. Configuring the latest version of Skeinforge
   4. Creating a new Skeinforge profile
   5. Tuning a new Skeinforge profile
2. Find the best print temperature for your choice of plastic.  The ideal plastic temperature would be hot enough that it will stick to the platform and to the layer underneath.  It should also be cool enough that by the time the next layer is laid down the prior layer isn’t too molten allowing it to deform.  I print PLA at around 195-205 for small to larger objects, respectively.  I print ABS at around 220-230 for small to larger objects, respectively.
3. Find a good build platform temperature.  Not so hot that the plastic is kept molten, but not so cool as to allow warping.  A good warm build surface also allows the plastic to adhere to the build surface better.  When printing in PLA I like to keep the build platform at about 70 degrees and at 135-140 for ABS.  There’s very little warping with PLA even without a warm build surface, but the PLA sticks so much better.
4. Even after your machine is well calibrated, there are still a number of ways to improve Skeinforge calibration.  There are just dozens of little settings to tweak.  Configuring the Skeinforge Oozebane setting can remove the little plastic strings that get left between parts. ¹
5. Calibrate Skeinforge for printing with a higher Z-axis resolution by trying to print with thinner layers.  The main downside is that printing overhangs may become more difficult.  Reading Dave Durant’s posts should help with this.
6. Tune your “start.txt” and “end.txt” files in ReplicatorG.  You can add some pretty cool things to the start and end files.  You’ll need to read up on your GCode, but it’s well worth the trouble to fine tune the start routines for your machine.  Perhaps you need a longer extrusion time?  Need to adjust where the wipe procedure homes in?  This is the place to get to work!
7. Experiment with using the “outline” plugin either in conjunction with or in lieu of the “wipe” command.  Thanks to Riche for e-mailing me this tip!
8. Skeinforge 0006 or 35?  It’s tempting to stick with an older version of Skeinforge once you’ve got all of your settings dialed down.  Switching to the latest Skeinforge version within ReplicatorG allows you to use the latest features, improvements, and plugins.  Yeah, it’s more work.  But, then again, if you were afraid of a little elbow grease you wouldn’t have build your own 3D printer, would you?
9. Cupcake:  Can you build a set of “start.txt” and “end.txt” files to replicate the auto-homing behavior of the Thing-O-Matic using your stock Generation 3 electronics?  I bet you can!
10. Thing-O-Matic:  Calibrate your starting height in Skeinforge.  Obviously you don’t want to smash the print head into the build platform.  Neither do you want to start building10mm above the build platform.  You may find that it’s best to start at different heights depending upon the material you’re printing on and the plastic with which you’re printing.

What am I missing here?  What software calibration tricks and tips do you have to share?

1. Some have referred to Oozebane as a dark art, not without some cause. [↩]