MakerBot Industries

We might have started with Stephen Colbert, but we didn’t stop there.  Since last week,  our artist-in-residence Jonathan Monaghan has been busy scanning artists, bloggers, hackers, musicians, comedians and our friends — whoever we find interesting or notable and could visit our offices.

If you want to have a look to see who we’ve been scanning, have a look at the Thingiverse user “Friends.”  We’ll be adding to this over the course of the next few weeks, and then,  June 30th we’ll be having a party to show off what we’ve done.

This is going to be part art show, part party — we’ll be printing busts of our New York Notables for visitors to take home.  So make sure to pencil in a visit to our new workshop for the evening of Thursday June 30th — you won’t want to miss this one.

The Head of Stephen Colbert

As a surprise for the recent Colbert Report interview of Bre Pettis, Bre scanned Stephen’s head and asked some Thingiverse users to create mashups of Stephen Colbert’s head.  Within a day the designs started to pour in.  At last count, there’s 28 models tagged with “Colbert.”

What will you do with Stephen Colbert’s head?

Emergency Kit Backpack for kids by bryanandaimee

Thingiverse citizen Twotimes recently organized a “Cardboard Bag Design Challenge.”  The winner was to receive $50.00 from Twotimes himself with MakerBot kicking in $100.00 in store credit!  Well, you’ve been kept in suspense long enough – the winner is…

The Emergency Kit Backpack for Kids by bryanandaimee!  Twotimes chose bryanandaimee‘s designs because he met all of the requirements for the challenge¹ , provided excellent detailed directions, great assembly instructions along with lots of pictures of his assembly. ^2 3  Designs for an emergency backpack, as well as a suggestion for contents, are a timely reminder for disaster preparedness given recent natural disasters.  In the spirit of the challenge, bryanandaimee made use of lots of used, found, and/or recycled materials in the construction of these little backpacks.  Obviously, they could be used for any number of purposes.

bryanandaimee, please leave a comment here so that we can get your prizes!

1. Awesomeness, attention to detail, discussion and comments generated, completeness of entry, and number of likes [↩]
2. I’m pretty sure photos of cute kids didn’t exactly hurt! [↩]
3. And, really, those kids’ excitement about impending disaster is almost infectious. [↩]

DocProfSky, aka Schuyler St. Leger, helped get the crew at Noisebridge psyched for Maker Faire Bay Area 2011 during their “5 Minutes of Fame” lightning talk series on May 19, 2011 by giving an encore performance of his critically acclaimed hit, “Why I Love My 3D Printer.”  While his original presentation at Ignite Phoenix was in front of a crowd of 850 people, the original video posted to YouTube now has more than 120,000 views.¹  Schuyler has been an amazing advocate for helping explain how 3D printing can be accessible and useful to anyone of any age.

1. Not to diminish this, I’m pretty sure several thousand of those views could be traced back to the BotCave… [↩]

Michael Overstreet and Luis Rodriguez had some fun with two talking heads last night. They remade the Colbert interview using MakerBotted heads!

Hello intrepid Botsters!  We’ve prepared another episode of our spectacular weekly video series to cap off what’s been an amazing week.  As you may know, Bre was on The Colbert Report, and, possibly even better, we scanned Stephen Colbert’s head so people can make crazy mashups.  Not content to stop there, we just launched a fully assembled version of the Thing-O-Matic.

We show off some of those amazing mashups, and our newest member of the support crew, Sam, also has some tips about the new calibration script in the recently-released ReplicatorG 25.  And that’s not all!  There’s some other fun stuff in there, so check it out.

The Fully Assembled MakerBot. In Stock Now.

This is a momentous day, one that has been requested by our users since the beginning! We can now proudly provide a fully built and tested custom MakerBot Thing-O-Matic in the store.

MakerBot has grown enough to be able to lovingly hand-assemble each Custom Thing-O-Matic. Our skilled technicians will build and test each machine after you place your order!

With each Custom Fully Assembled Thing-O-Matic, you will receive:

- A Thing-O-Matic built in-house at the MakerBot BotCave hand assembled by our skilled technicians, and fully tested prior to shipment
- A Generation 4 Interface Controller pre-built and wired for use. Control your Bot without a computer!
- MK6 Plus Steptruder pre-built and tested
- Heated Build Platform with Aluminum Surface installed, and a (1) roll of Kapton SuperWide 120mm tape included
- Pre-assembled 4th Generation Electronics, installed and tested
- Customer’s Choice of Color LED’s installed. (red, blue, green, yellow, or white)
- Customers choice of 1kg Spooled Plastics (ABS or PLA)
- One hour live setup and personal technical support from the assembler via Phone or Skype
- SD Card loaded with 4 prints
- A printed spool holder created by your machine. Other test prints included.
- Tools kit with all the hex keys, wrenches, and other bits for tuning your bot!
- USB cable – so your computer can talk to your bot!
- Carefully packed and shipped insured to your location

So if you just don’t have time to build your Thing-O-Matic, or you just want to leave it to the professionals, this is the machine for you!  This is a premium MakerBot, with the best accessories. Get awesome!

Available in store.makerbot.com now!

Here at the support desk, we like to ask our customers what they’re going to be using their MakerBots for, and every once in awhile, you get a fantastic answer.  I was helping one customer out recently (Andrew) and here’s what he said when I asked him about his plans:

The next things I’m planning on scanning are parts for my classic car (a la Leno), and more importantly, scanning my kids!

Now I am all for scanning your children — after all they’re growing and they won’t be small for very long; I think all of us will be scanning our children very soon (if we’re not already.)  But I have to admit that I was a bit more intrigued by the car stuff.  So that’s what I asked about…to which Andrew replied:

The car I’m printing parts for is attached in this mail (internal door lock parts, plus a few impossible to get bits). I’m scanning one side of the car, mirror, then print, you get the idea.

That’s when he sent this photo of the 356 Speedster.  Well, apparently the Thing-O-Matic isn’t the coolest toy in Andrew’s household, but it gives me a warm feeling inside just knowing that our humble little machines are helping keep something like that in good running order.

The Colbert Report June 8, 2011 with Bre Pettis

In case you missed it live last night, here is Bre’s appearance on Colbert. The show is really funny and Stephen is clearly excited about 3D printing and all his new mashup objects! Watch the whole show, or skip to Bre’s part at 15:48.

If that's not how to America, then I don't know what is.

If you’ve just come from The Colbert Report and are visiting this website for the first time, we’ve got some really great stuff for you starting with a copy of Stephen Colbert’s entire head.  You’ve just seen Bre Pettis, co-founder of MakerBot, talking about and demonstrating our flagship product, the Thing-O-Matic.  It is a small, affordable 3D printing machine you build yourself that can make anything you can dream up out of plastic. ¹  Think of it as Star Trek replicator for your desktop.

It’s useful for designers and artists who can use it to quickly refine their designs, tinkerers who need to prototype their inventions, or anyone who fixes things around the house.  Why not prototype your idea for an iPhone accessory with a MakerBot?  Want a new handle for your window blinds?  Need to replace a broken car key fob?  Maybe you want to use your Duplo blocks with your wooden train set?  Just fire up your printer!

And, if you’re running short of ideas or want to see what other people have done with their 3D printers, don’t forget to check out Thingiverse.com – an free online website for sharing designs.  That’s where you’ll find Stephen Colbert’s head,  which you can print your own copy of, or, better yet, add on to another design!  We call these mash-ups, just like when a musician combines two songs into one.

This is a great way to get started with 3d modeling, and we want you to do it.  Grab Stephen’s head and paste it onto something else!  If it’s related to bears, bald eagles, America, or Freedom, all the better.  We’ve had a few friends get the ball rolling, but there’s plenty to be done yet.

There’s lots of great free software for designing and mashing things up.  MeshMixer is a great app for these mash-ups.  If you want to design something of your own, try 3dtin.com or one of many other free 3d modeling programs.  And if you upload something made from Colbert’s head, be sure and tag your creation with “Colbert.”

I think we’re all pretty excited, so stay tuned to the blog for updates.

The head of Stephen Colbert by Colbert

At long last, everyone in the world (ok everyone who has access to a 3d printer) can have their own bust of America's greatest entertainer and statesman, Stephen Colbert. Even better, you can use this model and your favorite 3d modeling software to add Mr. Colbert's face to objects which were formerly lacking in Colbert heads, like bannisters, umbrella handles, toothpaste squeezers, and rabbits. (To name a few.) Made with a Polhemus 3d scanner at the Colbert set on 6/6/2011.

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1. And, yes!  It works with Macs, PC’s, and Linux! [↩]