MakerBot Industries

Klein Bottle / Mobius Vase by RotoScan

People learn in a lot of different ways.  One of the most common is by doing.  Take programming for instance.  The first lesson in just about any programming language is essentially the same – how to display the phrase “Hello World.”  Even if the result is not unique, the experience is.  Some of the coolest programming and design tricks I’ve ever learned have been from looking into someone else’s designs and replicating their work.

The above is not the first Klein bottle uploaded to Thingiverse.  In fact, kelsorj, the first Klein bottle uploader, actually pointed out that there are many variations on this theme.

“The Klein Bottle is a bit like a mobius strip but without the edge. There are many flavors that a bottle can take so this model is only one of many representations that can be imagined.”

Not only was the design of the bottle useful as an exercise for the designer, but it adds to the  “flavors” of a Klein bottle that can be downloaded from Thingiverse.  Even though Thingiverse already had one or two Klein bottles, it is a richer place for having a third.

So!  If you’ve noticed a design pop up on Thingiverse, why not try to duplicate it and share your findings for everyone else to see and learn from?  And, if you’ve got a design sitting on your hard drive, don’t be discouraged from sharing it just because there’s a variation already on Thingiverse.  Who knows what we could learn from it?!¹

Klein Bottle / Mobius Vase by RotoScan

This is a Klein Bottle.

This thing brought to you by

1. Also, how meta was the title? [↩]