MakerBot Industries

I'm the new hotness.

One of the most popular prints on Thingiverse is Starno‘s Coin-Op Bottle Opener – it’s functional, beautiful, easy to print, and uses our 16th president’s head for operation. Of course, like the Lincoln monument, it takes up quite a bit of space.

That’s one of the reasons br3ttb‘s modification to the design is so ingenious. It’s smaller, doesn’t require as much plastic, and won’t challenge your rabbit’s foot for king of the keychain. While it does require a little bit of extra work to get it working, the payoff is worth it.

Of course, this all started with hoeken‘s original bottle opener, which makes for a great tale, and a great example of what Thingiverse is all about. We approve!

Mighty Bottle Opener by br3ttb

UPDATE: I've been unable to find a reliable way to protect the plastic with this design. If you're using PLA, keep reading; people have had good results. If you're printing with ABS however, I recommend using this updated design: thingiverse.com/thing:11025 The Coin-Op Bottle Opener ( thingiverse.com/thing:1842 ) is awesome on so many levels. No wonder it's often the first thing that gets printed on a new machine. It doesn't take long to see its weakness though: it's HUGE. This design keeps the same (strong, satisfying) jaw geometry, but puts it in a package that isn't a burden on your pants pocket. Also, because it's much smaller, it takes FAR less time to print. One drawback is that you need to man-handle a paper clip to keep the plastic from getting chewed up. On the plus side you get to call yourself "crafty." Also I removed most of the handle, so you may have to adjust your normal hand position. I find this opener works best with my thumb on top, index finger underneath. (I've left this as a "work in progress" for the time being. It has done well in my testing, but please let me know if something doesn't work for you)History: - Part gets submitted using a modified bottle cap as the protector. looks awesome (it's still the title thumbnail) - Thing gets featured. - Turns out the bottle cap protector doesn't work all that well. Embarrassing update posted. (good thing it's a "work in progress") - Furious design session yeilds improved paper clip design. (thanks go out to thingiverse users waaronw and jprodgers for their contributions to that process) - Made the part ~1mm wider (to help the fill around the hole) and added a little recess for the paperclip on the back side.

This thing brought to you by

Hey everybody!  As we’d expected, the amazing Thingiverse community has taken notice, and they’ve been busily making wild, crazy, and wonderful mashups with Mr. Colbert’s likeness.  Check out the growing collection!

Here are a few of the new standouts, including the Colbeagle by Jon Monaghan which was featured on the show.  Not all of these are printable (yet) but they are all outstanding.  Keep up the good work!

Stephen Colbert's Tek Jansen by OhadReiter

Tek Jansen, based on his appearance in Stephen Colbert's Tek Jansen #1 from Oni Press ( onipress.com/title/stephen-colberts-tek-jansen-1 ).

This thing brought to you by

ColberT-rex by JamieClay

Proof that dinosaurs and man coexisted, the ColberT-rex was a cunning linguist that would distract you with it's verbosity all the while stealing a slice of your fresh pizza pie (using his pizza slicer tail). Thought to have gone extinct when early man adopted a strict no-carb diet, rumors abound that it has been spotted lurking outside the Pappa John's in Orlando.

This thing brought to you by

Colbeagle by JonMonaghan

As seen on TV!

This thing brought to you by

Inverse Colbert by meshmixer

(I'm sorry. Couldn't help myself.)

This thing brought to you by

USB memory stick holder by jpcw

To date my solution for organizing extra USB memory sticks and SD flash cards has been to toss them into a drawer.  Thingiverse user jpcw’s solution is so much more elegant – a block with carefully designed notches for holding USB memory cards and another block with equally carefully designed notches for holding SD flash cards.  Much like the tool holders for hex keys, screwdrivers, and wrenches, it is now possible to hang your SD cards right off of the side of your MakerBot.  Nice!

USB memory stick holder by jpcw

This is a simple USB memory stick holder that holds up to 5 memory sticks. It should fit most size memory sticks and print fairly well without a raft.

This thing brought to you by

SD Card Holder by jpcw

This is a simple SD Card holder that holds up to 8 SD cards. The slots are a little tight to stop the cards falling out if you knock over the holder. Very simple design and prints well without a raft on my heated build platform. I tried using a bit of FeastWatson Prooftint oak wood stain on it and the effect is quite good. I didn’t expect the stain to go very well on the ABS but it comes out really nice

This thing brought to you by

One of the cool things about watching people upload things to Thingiverse is seeing someone contribute an entirely new design.  Bengarvey recently uploaded his “Marble Run” model.  As soon as I saw this I thought that a marble run system is such a perfect match for 3D printing.  You could make some seriously awesome twists, turns, and swirls with a 3D printer that might otherwise be very difficult to craft.  I would love to see a big swiss-cheese looking marble run block that has a convoluted internal path with little viewing windows.

I could easily see this becoming another great modular building/playset on Thingiverse.  With some dovetail joints, a marble run derivative could remove the need for fasteners.  With a little bit of creative work, I’m sure someone could make a Marble Run to train tracks adapter – allowing people to make immediate use of their existing Thomas train track infrastructure.

Marble Run by bengarvey

The Maker Bot Marble Run! This set includes a turning block, straight ramp, spacer block, and even a printable marble!

This thing brought to you by