MakerBot Industries

This position is in the heart of the action of a growing start-up and demands a person who wants to work hard, has technical knowledge and writing skills. You’ve got questions to answer, orders to process, and jobs to track.

You’ll be responsible for eloquently representing a growing DIY 3D printer and technology company to it’s customers directly. Via email, on the phone, or in person. You’ll help customers solve their technical challenges, sooth their nerves, and reinforce our brand. It’s a challenge, but it’s a dynamic, fun one. The person best suited for this position is a detail oriented problem solver with a mind for mechanical, electronic, and software troubleshooting challenges. You’ll put your strong interpersonal and written skills to the test.

We need you to answer emails, but that’s the tip of the iceberg. You should be a self starter proficient and comfortable with Mac, PC, and Linux operating systems. Experience with WordPress or Zendesk a plus. The office tools we use much of the time should be a no-brainer. Current MakerBot Operators preferred! If you’ve had experience with DIY technology, that could be very helpful. You will be processing orders, so an interest in participating directly in a multifaceted online store is a final requirement. Full time, on-site only.

Desire to offer revolutionary technologies and change the world a plus.
Help democratize manufacturing and reinforce MakerBot as a global brand.

Submit your cover letter, resume, and linkedin profile (preferred)

Brooklyn. Easy access to subway.

No phone calls, please.

Please respond to http://newyork.craigslist.org/brk/csr/2550478297.html

After scanning Stephen Colbert‘s head in preparation for Bre’s appearance on the Colbert Report, we encouraged Thingiverse users to mashup the Colbert model with all sorts of other objects. (And got to work ourselves.)

Not content to confine ourselves to mashups, we initiated the MakerBot Space Program with a mission to send a bust of Stephen Colbert into space on a weather balloon with a Flipcam and a GPS enabled cell phone.

Special thanks to Bre Pettis, Jonathan Monaghan, Keith Ozar, Luke Schantz, Anney Fresh, Eddie Codel, Mariko Kosaka, Stephen Colbert, and Dave Neff for the R&D, launch, and recovery of this, our first MakerBot Space Mission.

UPDATE: Check out some of the great pieces written about this project at BoingBoing, Gizmodo, Makezine, TechCrunch, CBS News, Mashable, The Huffington Post, and Laughing Squid!

I love SideLong‘s Door UnJam. SideLong, who hails from Melbourne, Australia has a problem when his house…oscillates. (That can happen when your house is built on sand.) The problem is that door frame to the entrance of his home shifts in relation to the actual door, resulting in a stuck door, and inevitably, some frustration.

Looking for a better solution than repeatedly damaging/bending what he could find to open the door, he looked to his most powerful tool: his MakerBot. Now, after placing the UnJams underneath his door prior to leaving home, he’s able to easily open his door upon his return, by simply stepping on his UnJam, lining up the door with the door frame.

Now I know this isn’t an issue most of us deal with on a regular basis, but this is a fantastic example of a user seeing a legitimate problem, designing and printing a solution, and sharing it for the rest of us.

Door UnJam by Sidelong

My house is built on shifting sand and is continually oscillating between Brunswick and Coburg (in Melbourne, Aust) with the direction of travel depending on the weather. This means that my front door frame has a disconcerting habit of moving and getting stuck; really stuck! It's very frustrating to get home and find that I can't get in, because the door has moved and the lock tongue is jammed into the frame. So before I managed to destroy all the screwdrivers/bike levers in the house I designed this small thing, which I call the Door UnJam, to do exactly that.

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Carbon Fiber Arducopter/Quadcopter Frame by Octovir

One of the things I really like about being able to print 3D objects is that designs and solutions can be so much more than duct tape and paperclip hacks.  If your designs are centered around existing and readily available objects – say Pez dispensers or 2 liter bottles – your finished project can be every bit as professional as the thing for which those parts were intended.  Thingiverse user Octovir is working on developing a Carbon Fiber Arducopter/Quadcopter using printed parts.  Since a MakerBot Thing-O-Matic won’t produce carbon fiber parts¹ , the real issue is where do you find light weight and strong carbon fiber parts?

Answer:  Arrow shafts.

A 3D printer, like no other tool, let’s you combine and remix existing objects for endless repurposing.  In a sense, it’s the ultimate recycling machine.

Carbon Fiber Arducopter/Quadcopter Frame by Octovir

So I purchased an Arducopter Pre-assembled and tested, Something I rarely do. Maybe it was a subconscious action then, that within a week I had smashed it into the ground? Now I am designing and rebuilding it, testing and learning and really enjoying it. Some pieces survived and I had initially thought to design things as a replacement/upgrade. Now I think that would be silly to tell people to "Print these, and buy these 'special' parts", so I am making the attempt to make this frame fully DIY... I haven't really been documenting the process, but initially it seemed there would be a slight weight savings in the carbon fiber/ABS parts vs the stock arducopter aluminum/acrylic parts. Maybe some different construction methods could be used to increase savings? This is very much a work in progress, but thought I'd get the idea out in order get some feedback and enable collaboration.

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1. Yet!!! [↩]