MakerBot Industries

This week, we were given a clear challenge by Bre Pettis, our C.E.O.

Robot Hospital was to be under five minutes.  No ifs, ands, or buts.

We failed.¹

However, it is a pared-down episode, weighing in at a fairly svelte 5:something minutes of edification, exploration, and general enjoyment.

1. We’re 5 seconds over…ok plus a 45-second intro, which seems silly long for a 5-minute show.  Next week. [↩]

A few good people have recently noticed a photo in MakerBot employee extraordinaire Matt Mets’ photostream: Botcave vending machine by night

Matt’s photo has a handy-dandy key to what’s in there for there now; there are also $0.25 sample prints in there now, and we’re going to be adding even more products as time goes on.

We had been putting the finished touches on it, so we hadn’t yet shouted it to the rooftops, but you can come on down to the Botcave, 87 3rd Ave in Brooklyn 11am-6pm weekdays, to vend yourself  little helpings of the future.

If you come this week…bring $1 or $5 bills.  (It’ll take twenties soon, I promise.)

Check out Michael Fonda’s Blog post about his experience at the BotCave: “Democratization of Manufacturing”

As it sometimes happens, I am working at my desk, and one of my coworkers taps me on the shoulder, and I hear a now familiar phrase- “Isaac, we have guests!” This is my cue for me to give a walk through tour, and run down as many salient points about MakerBot as I can pull from memory. Last Friday I walked up to the front of the BotCave and was greeted by Michael and Tyler Fonda, who were on a quest to learn about the 3D Printing sphere, and visiting Brooklyn.

They had both recently read The Economist’s cover story on 3D Printing, and wanted to gauge for themselves the possible impact 3D Printing will have on manufacturing. Michael works for Avison Young, a real estate company that often caters to manufacturing industries. His son Tyler, is a Director of Strategy for Gotham and was doing his strategic due diligence on 3D printing.

Michael wrote a post about his experience at the BotCave, and it’s an interesting perspective on their experience, and his view of the potential impacts of 3D Printing.

“Suddenly, the future came into focus as I visualized how my sister-in-law and her husband would utilize 3D printing in their sunglass business Centerline Optics. They would no longer have to source product from China. No more ordering months in advance of their selling season. No supply chain risk of political upheaval in China, of a lost TEU on the Pacific Ocean, of a longshoremen’s strike at the Port of Long Beach, a diesel fuel spike that drives up the cost of transporting the product across the North American continent. All design, manufacturing, marketing, distribution, and sales would happen out of the Centerline “headquarters” in Old Lyme, Connecticut. Centerline’s customers are all within four hours of the “headquarters”. Talk about efficient allocation of resources.”

Check out Michael’s original post here.

George Hart’s amazing work is not new to many MakerBotters, but we are extremely excited whenever we see his pieces trickle out to Thingiverse.  If you haven’t seen it, you’ll want to.

This puzzle (by Thingiverse designer relet) is a derivative of some of George’s stuff, and it belongs on any display shelf you might have.  It’s twelve copies of the same part, get your ABP ready and queue up 12…or 24…or 36….

12 Stick Puzzle by George Hart by relet

Another of George Hart's playthings:georgehart.com/puzzles/12-sticks.html

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George Hart's Math Monday: Compound Polyhedral Dimmer Knobs! by MaskedRetriever

More amazing creations from George Hart! George Hart is a curator at the awesome Museum of Mathematics. Designs are from his Math Mondays columns. George Hart's page:georgehart.com/index.html Museum of Mathematics:momath.org/ Math Mondays:mt.makezine.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-search.cgi?blog_id=1&Template=tag_display&tag=@Math+Monday Posted with permission.

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This is just a few…check here for more.