MakerBot Industries

If you have ever lost a quick release plate for a tripod, you know what a galling thing that is.  It’s a small but essential part of the system, and one that is different for almost every tripod head.

This is why zgbot’s quick release plates are so awesome — I don’t know if he’s printing replacements or extras, but I’m thinking he has enough to leave on all of his cameras now.

6 sided bogen quick release plate by zgbot

BE VERY CAREFUL WITH A PRINTED QUICK RELEASE PLATE, MY CAMERA EJECTED OFF MY TRIPOD AND LANDED LENS FIRST ON THE GROUND DESTROYING A VERY EXPENSIVE LENS

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bogen 484RC2 quick release plate by zgbot

replacement for a lost bogen 484RC2 quick release plate BE VERY CAREFUL WITH A PRINTED QUICK RELEASE PLATE, MY CAMERA EJECTED OFF MY TRIPOD AND LANDED LENS FIRST ON THE GROUND DESTROYING A VERY EXPENSIVE LENS

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arca swiss type quick release plate by zgbot

arca swiss style quick release plate, this plate can be used on many different tripod heads BE VERY CAREFUL WITH A PRINTED QUICK RELEASE PLATE, MY CAMERA EJECTED OFF MY TRIPOD AND LANDED LENS FIRST ON THE GROUND DESTROYING A VERY EXPENSIVE LENS

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Recyclinate! Dalek tagged with recycling instructions by TBuser

MakerBot Operator Tony Buser was reading a blog post at Make about using a MakerBot to print items for home repair when a comment caught his eye — a suggestion that given a MakerBot’s ability to print anything an Operator wants out of plastic, designers should offer a handy tool for adding recycling triangles right onto models for printing.

Well, Tony took this suggestion seriously and has released to Thingiverse a recycling-stamped villain from the Doctor Who universe — along with tools and instructions for similarly stamping other objects. I have a feeling Tony’s experiment will suggest loads of possibilities to other MakerBot Operators. Already, I’m thinking about stamping designer, printer, or user initials or chops onto the bottom of my designs.

Bonus points for using a Dalek to help save the world a little bit. Re-cyclinate! Re-cyclinate!

RECYCLINATE! by tbuser

Stamp your things with a recycling code! Inspired by a comment on this article suggesting we have a subroutine that printed a recycling mark on every part we make: blog.makezine.com/archive/2011/04/polite-houseguests-print-and-repair.html

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This week’s Robot Hospital is not as groundbreaking as last week’s announcement, but we still have some good stuff for you.  There’s a Thingiverse round up with our Drabbit, a Caterpillar Robot, a cool disk shooter, a very hip custom chess set, a special Thing-O-Matic coin holder, and of course, the first parts for a printable difference engine.  We also talk about some awesome kinect scans we took at the recent user group meeting, and have an easy tip about aligning your Stepstruder MK6 drive gear. Dig it!

MakerBot Coin Holder by M_G

Thingiverse citizen M_G has designed the perfect way to display his MakerBot Thing-O-Matic Operator Coin with pride.  It’s a little bracket that will clamp the coin to the top of your Thing-O-Matic for the world to see.  And, if you use the spot on the top of the ‘bot as he suggests, you could even see the underside of your coin if you look into your ‘bot.

MakerBot Coin Holder Updated! by M_G

A holder for the metal coin that comes with your MakerBot. This allows it to be attached to the spare motor mounting holes on top of your machine using standard M3 bolts. Now with less drilling, sharp corners and rebuilding of your ABP! Changes from previous versions: 1.2 Raised above z=0 plane to prevent damage to ABP/HBP etc. (Sincere apologies to all affected!) Fixed naming issue "hole_diameter" vs "hole_diameters" so that bolt holes are correct diameter Gave it rounded corners using "rounded_cuboid" module 1.1 (DELETED) Increased hole_diameter from 3.1 to 3.2 Increased coin diamter from 37 to 39 Replaced hard coded numbers with named variables

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I saw one of these at the MakerBot User Group Meetup last night here at the BotCave.  This is impressively big, and really looks like it was printed in one piece — well done MakeALot!  And JohnA for printing it.

If you need  to store some pencils (or possibly pens) and want to show off your bot, this is a really way to do both!

Bolt Pencil Case by MakeALot

A bolt shaped pencil case After spending the weekend building and testing my new MK6 extruder, I had seen quite a few of these and needed to exorcize thoughts of them rolling across the floor. If you don't have an MK6, save up for one - they're fantastic!

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Thanks to all the MakerBot Operators who came to the Botcave last night for out MakerBot User Group New York meeting. We had a blast meeting all of you, hearing your MakerBot experiences and sharing pizza and LEDs!

MakerBot users explored the Botfarm and were 3D scanned and printed with Kyle McDonald’s 3D Photo Booth.  Highlights also included a MakerBot user show and tell, and a demonstration by our first artist-in-residence, Marius Watz.

Stay tuned to the blog for future MakerBot User Group events!

Lazzor + Cardboard + Bag?

The hour grows late dear friends!  I’m pretty sure no one has anything import due around April 14th or anything.  And, even if you do, a great way to avoid adult responsibilities is to take part in Thingiverse champion Twotimes’ Cardboard Bags design challenge.  There’s even $150.00 on the line in cash and MakerBot store credit!

So, go read up on the rules, upload your best designs, tag them with “cutbag” and then cross your fingers!

The deadline is April 15, 2011!

Robot Film Festival in New York!

You may remember Heather Knight from her awesome Botacon talk entitled, “Robotic Touch: Capacitive Sensing to Understand Human Body Language.”  Well, she’s organized a film festival!  Wait for it…  a film festival…  about ROBOTS!¹

The Robot Film Festival was founded by roboticist Heather Knight of Marilyn Monrobot to inject a sense of playfulness into traditional science and engineering and explore new frontiers for robotics before the technology is even possible.

The event itself is a two-day festival July 9-10 taking place at Three Legged Dog theater in lower Manhattan.  In addition to the juried film screenings, there will be a live performances, cocktail and coffee mixers throughout AND a red carpet award ceremony with interactive installations and uniquely designed ‘botsker’ awards.  Don’t forget your party shoes (or wheels)!

Please submit your outstanding, dazzling, hilarious or thought-provoking short film.  JUST ONE REQUIREMENT: please feature a robot as one of the main characters as or framing devices of the narrative. Films should be less than 8 minutes long.

Deadline: June 5, 2011!

Follow us on twitter for the latest details: @robotfilmfest

1. Yeah, I know the title of the post was kind of a spoiler… [↩]

Abacus by bongoboy23

And, quite possibly, the very first one ever!

[thinigiverse thing="7399"]

Ah, spring, when a young MakerBotter’s thoughts turn to…printing out large numbers of rabbits.  And this is clearly one of the must-have Easter-oriented prints.  And this egg/bunny combination is an instant classic.  Soon, we’ll all be thinking, “How did I even get through Easter/Passover/Rite of Spring without 3d-printed egg-shaped bunnies?”

Not only that, but Zydac has outdone himself with this design.  The ear inserts, nose, eyes and whiskers are all separately printable so you can get the multi-color effect seen here.  This is sure to be a crowd-pleaser, so print a couple…maybe they’ll start multiplying on their own.

Eggbunny by Zydac

This isn't just an Eggbunny- it is a groundbreaking statement about the human condition, a critique of contemporary praxis in the post-digital era and a jelly bean holder as well! Update 04 03 2012: I remodeled the Eggbunny body so it should be more friendly in Skeinforge.

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