MakerBot Industries

This week’s amazing, superlative Robot Hospital extravaganza is going to hit you like a ton of tribbles.  Why tribbles? Because it’s Space Month, as Keith Ozar explains.  Don’t miss the special Space Month MakerBot Make-A-Thon at 3rd Ward tomorrow, July 16th, 2-6pm, where we’ll be printing some of the space-themed items shown in this Thingiverse roundup!

Join us for our second 3rd Ward MakerBot Make-A-Thon, where you’ll get to see our tiny space factories in action, meet MakerBot Operators from the entire region, and talk to members of the MakerBot team.

In this installment, we’re celebrating Space Month. We’ll be printing Rockets, Astronauts, UFOs and Aliens in 3D. There will even be a space-themed 3D-printed object Zoetrope, giving a 21st century-spin on a centuries-old device.

Wear a space costume and get a printed space shuttle. Plus, grab a helmet and show your friends you landed on the moon in our photo booth. And there will be prize giveaways from MakerBot, NOOKA, Apress and O’Reilly Media!

Click here for photos from 3rd Ward’s first MakerBot Make-A-Thon.

MakerBot Make-A-Thon 2 // MakerBots in Space
Saturday, July 16, 2-6pm
195 Morgan Ave,
Brooklyn, NY 11237
FREE admission RSVPs are required at 3rdward.com/rsvp

Open Source Disc Shooter

I started to design an open source disc shooter about six months back.  At that time I was using Google Sketchup to design things.  Since then I’ve been designing in OpenSCAD.  Here’s a few things I learned while starting over:

1. Solid modelers FTW.  I find it more difficult to revise a Sketchup design than it is to redesign from scratch with a solid modeler.  When you move a line or surface in Sketchup, it can push/pull any lines or surfaces connected to it.  Since making a change to something in Sketchup means fixing all the things connected to that change, it’s often just easier to start over.¹
2. Sometimes starting over isn’t so bad.  One of the reasons I set this design aside was that I had hit a design block.  Starting over means that I now have a fresh perspective on the design.  Since then I’ve also been inspired by mraiser’s 27-to-1 reduction gearset and it’s snap-together assembly to design the mechanism with assembly of this device in mind.  Another more recent inspiration is Tony’s mars rover for many of the same reasons.
3. Over design and scale back later.  My initial designs had pieces that were 1.5mm thick.  Now I’ve redesigned the parts mostly with 2-3mm thicknesses.  Just so you know, making a change like this is really really simple in OpenSCAD.  Just change the thickness variable, and the design instantly incorporates the new thicknesses.   Once I get the basic design totally working, I’ll be able to scale back the thickness of parts later.  It will be a lot easier to decide which parts to alter once I have a working prototype.
4. Printing in clear PLA isn’t always such a good idea.  Yes, it’s biodegradable.  Yes, it doesn’t warp on large flat pieces.  And, yes, it really does smell like candy as it melts.  However, finding small clear parts on tan carpet can be a challenge.  I think I’ll print in nuclear green for the next batch of discs.  I had honestly never previously given much thought to the color of plastic I was using in a prototype.
5. Design from the inside out.  In this revision, I began with designing the firing pin that slides forward and worked my way outwards.  My original attempt was centered around trying to make a printable version of an existing toy.  Since then I’ve tried to design from what I perceive to be the most critical parts and work my way out. ²
6. Design with clearances in mind.  My previous attempt did not fit well together at all.  This time, since I was designing from the inside-out, I made sure that each piece could fit with the others.  Also, since the prior versions were so thin, they didn’t have much room for adding clearances later.

1. Don’t get me wrong, I really like Sketchup a lot, but the free version of the program models surfaces, not solids.  This means you could create some amazing looking models that are not really solids at all. [↩]
2. In this, I take my inspiration from chats with Syvwlch. [↩]

That’s right — the time has finally arrived for the Robot Film Festival!  The screenings (and awards ceremony) are in lower Manhattan this weekend.  There are a number of films by many different directors, both famous and completely unknown, as well as comedy, workshops and a BotBQ.

Saturday is completely sold out, but Sunday tickets are still available (for now.)  That’s the day with the workshops, Reggie Watts, and the barbecue.  Get’em while you still can!

Here’s another Thingiverse item that falls into the “useful” category: a nice little print that shores up that place where those nice white cables always start to fray.  Since quite a few of us do own devices like this, I think most of us are familiar with this phenomenon.

As seen above, with Zaggo’s iPhone dock, it makes a really nice DIY solution for many of your i/Phone/Pod/Pad “needs.”  Good job FreeRider!  Now how about a version for the power adapter cable…

USB Strain Relief by FreeRider

I made this to beef up the other end of my old iphone cable which is showing its age. The 30pin end is supported with Zaggo's dock:thingiverse.com/thing:1279 This is one the first things I have created since switching to Alibre for my designing. Compared to the multitude of mesh modelers out there I am very happy moving to a full solid modeling program and love the parametric nature of it. Highly recommended Alibre! I also very much like the extra gripping cutouts I placed on the sides. I dont know about others but I find yarding the little connector out from the USB port on the backside of my computer more difficult then it needs to be...seems like the designer was looking to make life harder then needed when they not only made the plug as small as possible but also gave it a mirror smooth finish! Sure looked pretty, but I dig the beefy look of its new body ;).

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