MakerBot Industries

The latest version of ReplicatorG is now available for download! The big news with this release is support for your shiny new MakerBot Stepstruder™ MK6 (or other stepper extruder), which drastically improve the reliability and repeatability of the printing processes. This release also brings a new firmware version for Generation 4 electronics, which features an improved temperature control system, support for servo motors, and a number of heater safety features.

We’ve moved our issue tracker to Lighthouse, so if you notice any bugs please report them there. Here’s the changelog:

0024 ReplicatorG
* Support for stepper-based extruders on G4 hardware
* Early reversal for stepper-driven extruders
* 5-axis motion commands for G4 hardware
* More example objects and scripts
* Build temperature monitoring reenabled
* Number of UI cleanups
* Improved extruder status reporting
* Several memory leaks solved
* 64-bit platform fixes for Mac OS X, x86_64
* Added s3g decompilation script
* Startup info dump to aid debugging
* Continuous jog and motion stop commands
* Improved Ultimaker support
* Support for legacy RepRap firmware
* Improvements to serial layer
* Scale field reflects mouse scaling factor
* Skeinforge 31 reintroduced
* Skeinforge 39 introduced as experimental

In honor of Valentine’s Day, I’m happy to present this list of top ten prints to help celebrate the occasion!

1. Schmarty’s 8-bit Heart for that 8-bit Nintendo heart flavor!
   8-bit Heart by schmarty

   

   Just in time for Valentine's Day, it's an 8-bit heart from my favorite video game series. From Nintendo to me to 3DTin to you!

   This thing brought to you by
2. Nophead’s original heart box was uploaded to Thingiverse more than 2 years ago! 
   Heart shaped box by nophead

   

   A small container in the shape of a heart.

   This thing brought to you by
   Those of you who either don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day or do so with a certain theatrical flair might prefer the Twisted Heart Box from Wizard23.
3. 3D printable Heart by emili
   3D printable Heart by emili

   

   A 3D heart! Maybe the most geek present you can make for Saint Valentine's day ;) I generated a set of cubes discretizing this formula: (x² + (9/4)y² + z² - 1)³ - x²z³ - (9/80)y²z³ = 0 | -3 <= x,y,z <= 3 I found this formula some time ago in a website, but I don't remember where :S Update: Now I know, the formula is here: mathworld.wolfram.com/HeartSurface.html Take a look at emmett's Exploitable Heart: thingiverse.com/thing:6190 I had to write a perl script that generates the OpenSCAD code for all the cubes, because I don't know enough OpenSCAD (or maybe it's just impossible, the limitations modifying variables are a strong constraint).

   This thing brought to you by
     While this model appears indistinguishable from an “8-bit” version, it’s actually a mathematically generated model!  For a smoother mathematically derived model, there’s always the excellent “exploitable heart” by emmet.
4. Message Heart Box by JadeKnight
   Message Heart Box by JadeKnight

   

   This is a mash-up of Nophead's heart shaped box, and TBuser's OpenSCAD bitmap font. This OpenSCAD file allows you to cut, or extruded, a small message on the lid and/or the box. It requires the STLs from Nophead's Heart Shaped Box ( thingiverse.com/thing:61 ), and TBuser's OpenSCAD bitmap font ( thingiverse.com/thing:2054 ). I also scaled up the box a bit to support two lines x 4 characters. Of course, some pieces of the 'cut' letters won't come out (like the center of the 'o'), but the message should still get across...

   This thing brought to you by
   Why just limit yourself to putting a message in a box?  JadeKnight was kind enough to provide numerous possible messages for your heart box printing delight!  These are like the 3D printed plastic of those chalky candy hearts. ¹
5. Valentine’s Day Heart Box by Starno
   Valentine's Day Heart Box by Starno

   

   A palm-sized heart container with a sliding dove tail lid. Files have a support structure modeled into them for easier printing. This requires some cleanup after the print. UPDATE Rev2 has a stronger connection with a better fit. flickr.com/photos/nickstarno/5446315732/

   This thing brought to you by
   This is another model that makes use of the “exploitable heart” to great effect.
6. Heart shaped cookie cutters by CreativeTools and guru of the cookie cutter script fame
   Pig-, heart- and Christmas tree-shaped cookie-cutters by CreativeTools

   

   3D models of a pig-, heart- and Christmas tree-shaped cookie-cutter.youtube.com/watch?v=XY_XTvkAtw0flickr.com/photos/creative_tools/5299375565/in/set-72157623208472275/flickr.com/photos/creative_tools/5299375687/in/set-72157623208472275/flickr.com/photos/creative_tools/5299375621/in/set-72157623208472275/creativetools.se/produktnyheter/271/14599.html

   This thing brought to you by
   Cookies!
7. Illusionist Butterfly locket by McTrivia
   Illusionist Buterfly Locket V2 by mctrivia

   

   This is my improvement on my own design thingiverse.com/thing:3915 V1 of the design could fall apart when the box was rotated 90 between states. This version fixes that but since the instructions are completely different and it is more work to assemble I made it a variant. Video of it spinning around: youtube.com/watch?v=u0XMJx0voJU Video of the lids being printed(before I made lid thicker): youtube.com/watch?v=-ZDZ3nH7Ugo

   This thing brought to you by
   A little locket and box that transforms from a butterfly into a heart and back again.  What’s not to love?
8. Printed LED Heart by worldgnat
   Printed LED Heart by worldgnat

   

   I saw the pictures of the Valentine's day "sneak peak" on the NYC resistor blog, and knew that I had to make a LED heart out of PLA. (Sort of like the acrylic one here: nycresistor.com/2010/02/10/a-little-valentines-day-sneak-peek/) Obviously mine has a bit of a different form factor, and the plastic isn't transparent, but I think it's pretty nonetheless. The battery compartment is a little large, but whatever. As long as you tape the LED leads to the battery it won't jostle around much. Update: I changed the scad and stl files so that both halves of the battery compartment are on the same side when the heart is put together (thanks to owenscenic for pointing this out!) I also decreased the size of the pegs so that hopefully it won't take any drilling and/or filing to get it to fit together. Disclaimer: the pictures are photoshopped a smidgen. Because the LED I used is so bright, my camera interpreted the middle of the heart as being yellow, and the picture wasn't as vibrant as I had hoped. So I changed it.

   This thing brought to you by
   How else would you find your sweetie in the dark?
9. Love Gasket by IHeartRobotics
   Love Gasket - Fractal Heart Barrette by IHeartRobotics

   

   Since a Thing-a-Week was too often, it's time to try a thing-a-day! TAD Day 13 - thing-a-day.com/fractal-heart-barrettething-a-day.com/tag/IHeartRobotics Previous Adventuresiheartrobotics.com/search/label/thing-a-monthiheartrobotics.com/search/label/thing-a-week ---- This is a BIG heart shaped fractal barrette. The 'love gasket' fractal is based on the classic Sierpinski gasket fractal. The approximately 2" long barrette clip can be purchased from metalliferous.com Available for sale at Shapewaysshapeways.com/model/213665/fractal_heart_barrette.html

   This thing brought to you by
   Infinitely recursive fractal hearts?  Now, THAT says love!
10. Heart Gears by Emmet, inspired by the Broken Heart by GregFrost, are a spectacular mashup of the exploitable heart and the cube gears already on Thingiverse. 
    Heart Gears by emmett

    

    For a very nerdy Valentine's Day, I give you heart gears. This was inspired by Greg Frost's Broken Heart thingiverse.com/thing:4683, but it fits in the palm of your hand and can be twisted like some kind of worry ball. It makes use of the heart shape from thingiverse.com/thing:6190, the MCAD involute bevel gear script from thingiverse.com/thing:3575, and nophead's polyhole script for making properly dimensioned tap holes thingiverse.com/thing:6118. UPDATE: If you lack a 3D printer, you can now buy these from CarryTheWhat at etsy.com/shop/CarryTheWhat. I was daunted by the complexity of Greg's design, so this one is much simpler, having fewer gears, and a much simpler attachment design (simply thread the bolts into tight plastic holes). It also uses a smooth heart shape and is made for the hand instead of the desk.

    This thing brought to you by
      What I like about Emmet’s design is that he provide details on how to create your own Whatever-Gear object!

1. Only far more palatable! [↩]

Over here at the botfarm, we’re hard at work frantically printing out some last-minute valentines day gifts before it’s too late. Some favorites are:

Emmett Lalish’s epic Heart Gears,

Nick Starno’s giant Heart shaped box with a sliding dovetail lid,

and Chris Palmer’s heart shaped boxes. We still have a bunch of these available, so if you’re near the Botcave, be sure to stop in and grab one!

Pictured above is the impromptu 8-bit sucker, which is both long-lasting and low in calories.

OpenSCAD Tip: Round 1 of 3 - Basic Rounding

The guys over at IHeartRobotics just posted the first in a trilogy of tutorials on OpenSCAD.  Their tutorial teaches how to round off the edges on a structure where two flat edges meet at a 90 degree angle.  What I really like about the IHeartRobotics tutorial is that they uploaded their examples to Thingiverse so that it’s easier to follow along at home. ¹

There’s been a renaissance in OpenSCAD in the last few months with people posting more and more OpenSCAD tutorials.  With more resources and places to look for inspiration and illumination, people are going to be better suited to get started designing in OpenSCAD.

Some people have mentioned that they’re put off by the “programming” used in OpenSCAD.  To those people I would point out that although my tutorial series uses “code,” that’s really just shorthand for describing to the program what you want it to do.  There’s actually a big difference here.  I’ve made an effort to keep the “programming stuff” completely out of my tutorial series.  If you can type “cube” you’re about 90% of the way to designing anything you want in OpenSCAD.  I used to be a die-hard fan of Google’s Sketchup.  The reason I made the switch to OpenSCAD is that I no longer have to fight with Sketchup to get an object that has no holes, that converts neatly to an STL every time, and can easily conform to the exact measurements I specify.

But!  Enough of my preaching!  Here’s a list of the tutorials you can find out on the interwebs to get you started:

OpenSCAD tutorials:

1. OpenSCAD beginner’s tutorial by Daniel K. Schneider
2. Getting Started by The Masked Retriever
3. Modules and Loops by The Masked Retriever
4. Include and Import by The Masked Retriever
5. MCAD Library by The Masked Retriever
6. Loops and Constants by The Masked Retriever
7. OpenSCAD Tip: Round 1 of 3 – Basic Rounding by IHeartRobotics

Then, there’s my own series:

1. OpenSCAD Basics: The Setup
2. OpenSCAD Basics: 2D Forms
3. OpenSCAD Basics: 3D forms
4. OpenSCAD Basics:  Manipulating Forms
5. OpenSCAD Intermediates:  Combining Forms
6. OpenSCAD Intermediates:  Mashups

OpenSCAD learning resources:

1. Official OpenSCAD website
2. OpenSCAD User’s Manual

Am I leaving out your tutorial or your favorite tutorial?  Please leave a comment and let everyone know about it!

1. Or, if you’re lucky, at work. [↩]

We’re are on the lookout for a few champion summer interns!

A few internship slots are available for software engineering, marketing, design, electronics engineering and mechanical engineering.

If you’re interested in open source hardware development and have some skills and a passion for 3D printing, shoot us an email with a letter of interest/intent and a resume and your availability. The MakerBot internship experience is varied and includes building kits, design work, production, using a laser-cutter, and bigger projects. Interns get real experience doing real things that make a difference in the world.

We’ve got the MakerBot Botfarm™ fired up and printing out LOVE in the shape of Nophead’s small heart boxes. Swing by and say hi and pick one up. We won’t be giving tours, but you can check out our new vending machine filled with open source electronic goodness!

Here’s our address and a link to a google map!

MakerBot Botcave
87 3rd Ave
Brooklyn NY 11217

On Friday, February 11th, a young inventor named Schuyler, age 10, stepped on to the stage in front of a sold out crowd of 850 people at Ignite Phoenix and proceeded to explain why he loves his 3D printer, a MakerBot.

The delivery is perfect. He gave shoutouts to Thingiverse, the RepRap community and his local hackerspace heatsynclabs. Most importantly, he explained 3D printing in a clear and understandable way that any other 10 year old, or parent of a 10 year old, can understand.

Our mission at MakerBot is to Democratize Manufacturing and empowering young people with technology is baked into the DNA of MakerBot. Seeing MakerBot presented at Ignite in such a great way by such a great young person is super awesome! A huge congrats to Schuyler! So great!

We had some internet connectivity issues this week (thanks TimeVision ViaCable VeriziCast MegaCorp) so unfortunately our Robot Hospital broadcast is broken up over a few archives…this one is just one of a few, so make sure to check out our Ustream show page for more…and disregard the 30-second ones.  Grr.

This is the blogwrap section of the show, were we recap our first artist in residence, Marius Watz, and the awesome (and fairly straightforward) Cupcake via Bluetooth hack.  We also showed off some awesome models from the Thing-A-Day and Mashup challenges.

We also want people to know about this MOSFET-based extruder motor fix; unlike the now-standard relay fix, it preserves both reverse and PWM.

In this section, Matt shows us how to take your 3d designs from 3d Tin into Wings3d, and re-iterates the importance of a 3-button mouse for Wing3d.

Somewhere in there, we also show off this awesome video: http://vimeo.com/19845978 (Should be ready in a few minutes, if you’re seeing this right as I post it.)

And lastly, don’t forget to pick up your hearts!

Heart Shaped Boxes

With the MakerBot BotFarm™ running steadily, we have been testing out fun prints to keep the machines cranking out parts. We decided a few weeks ago to make a ton of Nophead’s Heart Shaped Box file and now have a bundle.

So we’d like to invite those of you who are nearby to stop by the BotCave from 10-6PM on Valentines Day, and pick up a free 3D printed Heart Shaped Box for your sweetie! We won’t be able to give tours, but if you need to pick up many of the kits in our expanded accessories section, bring your cash and try out our hardware vending machine! Come by and we’ll see you on Monday!

The MakerBot Botcave is located at 87 3rd Ave. Fl1, Brooklyn, NY. 11217

HOT ZONE v1.1......Tssssssss!!!!! Hot!

Today we are happy to announce the three most-requested parts for your Thing-O-Matic are now available in the MakerBot Store!

We are launching the Thing-O-Matic Heater Board v1.1 for all you makers out there who really, really need a heated build surface for that fantastic idea you have, and you need a 130 degree Celsius PCB heater with built in thermistor and temperature feedback. (I’m wishing here, but please build a single-serving mini-griddle.) With that, you’ll certainly need our adhesive Aluminum Heat Spreader, so you can transmit more heat to the pancakes 3D prints.

Then, because your platform has to glide like an angel, you’ll need these self-aligning linear bearings so you can insert smooth rails and watch the robotic breakfast CNC Platform action!  Or you can assemble the extra platform that came with your Thing-O-Matic 3D Printer!

In the Store:
MakerBot Thing-O-matic Heater Board v1.1 and Documentation

Thing-O-Matic Aluminum Tape Heat Spreader

Thing-O-Matic 3/8″ Self-aligning Linear Bearings Pack