MakerBot Industries

Are you a teacher or educator interested in bringing a MakerBot into the classroom? During this 4 hour session you will be introduced to 3-D printing with the MakerBot Thing-o-Matic. We’ll walk you step-by-step through the process of creating a 3-D computer model and preparing it for printing with the MakerBot. You will be given an overview of various 3-D modelling software tools that are available for free online. In addition, you will be shown a set of lesson plans that you can use with your students over the course of a semester. No prior knowledge of 3-D modelling or 3-D printing is required. Please bring a laptop computer to the workshop.

When: Saturday, August 6th, 2011, 12PM – 4PM
Where: Bot Farm, 314 Dean Street, Brooklyn
Cost: Free! (You must also email a brief statement describing your work with young people).

Only 15 slots are available, so sign up as soon as possible! You can register
via Eventbrite.

This is another pretty cool item for the DIY-oriented photo/videographer.  A nice plastic thingy to hold your audio recorder  to your camera!

PeterZBinden mentions the popular Zoom H1, but this should really work with just about anything that has a tripod-type screw mount; since you supply the screw it should work with a large number of devices, audio and other.  Second camera for portrait-mode 3d?  (You don’t see enough flat panels mounted in portrait.)

Good job and keep the awesome camera stuff coming!

Zoom H1 Holder for Camcorder/DSLR by PeterZbinden

This is a simple Holder which I made to use my Zoom H1 Reccorder with my Camcorder (Panasonic SD707) and my DSLR (Canon 500D). It simply uses the Flashlight-mount on both of these cameras to be attached. The H1 has a standard screw-tread which can be found on almost any tripod, so you could use this very holder to attach other things than just the H1... (you might want to get crazy and attach a second camera to your SLR :D) The Position of the mic does not interfer with the 35mm Viewangle of the camcorder, there might be a problem if you intend to use a wideangle-adapter. To reccord i simply attach the Linout of the H1 to the LineIn on my camcorder. For the DSLR, I simply lay the Audio over the Video after reccording as the 500D unfortunatly does not have a LineIn (Only Mono-Sound *eeeek*). The soundquality with the H1 is way better as the mic is able to reccord uncompressed 24bit 96khz .wav files.

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Oops! I wasn't ready to publish!

There has been a lot of discussion of late over at the Thingiverse Google Group and elsewhere about best practices for publishing Things, and whether a longer list of requirements for publishing would be helpful or harmful. Well, after considering feedback and use cases for a few months, the Thingiverse web dev team (ie Marty!) introduced the Thingiverse Publishing Checklist to help guide users into uploading and annotating their materials before launching their projects.

Here’s what you need to publish:

• Does your project have a name?  (“Untitled” doesn’t count!)
• Does it have a description?
• Have you included at least one file which is not an image?

The checklist tool helps prevent users from publishing too early (accidentally!) as well as encouraging new designers to participate in the community by sharing more useful design, cut, or print documents beyond just that final bragging snapshot. While it is tricky to stimulate communities by forcing standards, we feel this list has been whittled down to be the absolute minimum obstacle to publishing possible, while still doing its job keeping Thingiverse great!

This is the beginning of the BEST Dr. Octopus Halloween costume EVER.  I could totally see myself wearing a suit that had four of these mechanical tentacles grafted to the back, with a series of wires and cords going to a set of complicated gloves.  Thank you Thingiverse citizen Misguided for making this dream a reality!

Mechanical Tentacle by Misguided

I'm trying to make a mind controlled tentacle and this is where I'm at so far. Right now, the ball and socket joints are a little too loose, and the movement isn't very good (partly due to the weight of the parts). Also the sockets are a little stiff and fragile when printed with PLA Once all that is sorted, I'll hook it up to some servos and the obligatory Arduino. Video of it "working": youtu.be/EVMatHNgC6s

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A budding roboticist writes to share that she was spotted on the red carpet at the recent Robot Film Festival, sporting a MakerBotted bracelet!

This year, Robot Film Festival, next year…Tonys?  Grammys? Oscars?  Will Joan Rivers be asking the glitterati  “whose Thingiverse item are you wearing?”

Anybody else making fashion statements with their MakerBots?  Share your stories in the comments.

Beautiful Chunky Bracelet by tinkerbelle

Simple. Elegant. Parametric Faceted bracelet that any lady would love. Looks like a nut. Guess that makes her arm the bolt. =) The must have accessory of the year! As seen on CES 2012 runway, MAKE magazine, and Robot Film Festival red carpet. My first 3D printed project! Here's the OpenSCAD and STL files. Collaborative project with thingiverse.com/beatbots

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I wanted to use a metal spring for a new design.  However, the problem with metal springs is trying to find something that is useful, ubiquitous, and cheap.  However, I was shocked that I simply could not find any pictures anywhere on the internet of the inside of a Pez dispenser!  After a little help from Chris Connors, I decided that the metal spring from inside a Pez dispenser would be absolutely perfect for my application.  After locating a Pez dispenser of my own, I disassembled it and found it was, indeed, just what I needed.

If you’re interested in taking apart a Pez dispenser in a minimally destructive way, here’s how you do it:

The reason you need to tilt the Pez candy platform down is because it has two small prongs on the front and back, making it slightly too long to come out of the colored plastic Pez case easily.

Notice the bumps along the side of the white plastic slide.  The bumps at the bottom prevent the slide from coming out of the colored case easily.  The bumps at the top prevent the white plastic slide from coming out of the bottom.

In case you’re curious, I was using my Pez dispenser for a Pez Powered Disc Shooter.

Preparing for a quest

A day or so ago I tried out a single TinkerCAD quest.  I then immediately completed all of them.¹  Frankly, I was kinda shocked they were as fun as they turned out to be.  If you haven’t given this a shot, I highly recommend trying it out.

Some of my favorite video games include what amounts to a learning level.  Your first goal is to complete a simple task using a set of features before really getting into the game.  By the time you’ve completed those simple tasks, you’re basically ready to tackle any of the obstacles in your way.  Many programs include initial help dialogs to point out the various buttons or even a learning mode, but most have you learn by viewing rather than learning by doing.

Given how much fun I have 3D printing, it’s very refreshing to also have a fun way to design as well.

1. Photo courtesy of Lrice [↩]

LED Micro-TARDIS by Bioluminescence

Thingiverse citizen Bioluminescence has contributed this magnificent Time And Relative Dimensions In Space, including a little glowing LED at the top.  It features a back panel that can slide into place, spaces for wire springs, batteries, and, of course, the glowing bit at the top.  Bioluminescence has also provided copious notes on their construction, even down to how to color the plastic with a blue sharpie to get just that right TARDIS-blue.  And, I always appreciate photos showing a design’s progression from prototype to final form. ¹

LED Micro-TARDIS by Bioluminescence

Who hasn't wanted their own TARDIS at some point? The Old Girl (or Sexy, as she prefers to be known) can be yours in miniaturized form, complete with light on top. This micro-TARDIS just looks small from the outside (5cm tall) - there's a lot more going on inside.---TARDIS Blue--- To get the best colo(u)r, I recommend printing with blue ABS, and covering it fairly evenly BEFORE printing, with a blue Sharpie. This changes the print colo(u)r from blue to dark blue. (Approx 0073CF to 0000B8)---Bits and Pieces--- You will need 1x 5mm LED (in white, blue or UV), some wire, 2x small cell batteries, and an empty drinks can (or similar). I've got some smaller LEDs coming in the mail, and I intend to get this small enough to attach to one of my infamous hair clips. The photograph shows my iterations, but it looks a bit like the TARDIS is moving through time in a way that only Baker-era special effects could claim ;)

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1. It’s all very Aristotelian.    [↩]

Hello RoHo connoisseurs!  It is, indeed, that time of the week, and we have prevailed against all odds to provide more mind-blowing infotainment despite constantly being on the verge of heat exhaustion all week.  This time, we’ve got some video of a very funny man being scanned, a demonstration of the import of infill (via sports equipment), and a high-temperature Thingiverse round-up.

Nerf Claymore Mine by diw08

This is the kind of warfare I can really get behind.  Settling disputes via Nerf dart.  While there are certainly several foam dart options on Thingiverse, this little dart claymore mine by diw08 is my new favorite.  I could see it being a part of an elaborate Rube Goldberg machine, a booby trap, sentry robot, or even as a part of a huge foam dart machine gun.  I’m really interested in seeing how this design progresses.  While not active at the time of this post, Diw08 has posted a streaming video feed for his Thing-O-Matic.

Nerf Claymore Mine by diw08

I've been wanting to create some nerf traps and thought I would start with a claymore. I'm hoping to make it spring loaded, firing 12 darts, and at least initially trip cord activated. It is very much a work in progress as I've coded one piece so far.

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