MakerBot Industries

We constantly get great ideas for additions or improvements to ReplicatorG from our users. They range from the fantastic to the fantastical. Almost always it’s hard to tell someone: “No, sorry, we can’t work on that right now.” Since our hardware and software are Open Source, it’s possible for people to add their own features to it, but it’s not always practical.

I’m sure many of our readers know that what Open Source is, but I want to take this paragraph to explain as a refresher. While there is some lawyering as to the exact definition of Open Source, the general idea of Open Source is: Users get the design docs as well as the product, so they can understand and modify what they use. For MakerBot that means our hardware designs as well as our Source Code are available on the web for our users (and anyone else) to inspect, mutate, or just ponder. A great example of how open source super-charges innovation is some of the great work Rob Giseburt has done to tweak his own setup, and support the MakerBot community. Because we open our designs to the community, Rob has been able to create nifty hardware add-ons as well as some great software updates.

We’d like to make this kind of innovation easier for MakerBot users, to help them expand, tweak, and improve their own setup. To that end, we are hosting a “Tinkering on ReplicatorG” class for the New York MakerBot User Group and other makers. It will be an introduction to updating and changing ReplicatorG. The class will be on December 8th, from 6:30 to 8:30PM, at the MakerBot Workshop (314 Dean St in Brooklyn). Hosted by MakerBot’s own Software and Support folks, it will be an hour of setup, tutorial, and discussion, followed by an hour of DIY workshopping. We will have experienced ‘botters on hand to answer questions, help out, and give suggestions.

If you every said “Geez, it would be really cool if this window did X” or “Wow, if only I could make the program also Y” this is your chance for some hands-on help doing that. All you need to bring is a laptop that has a USB port and runs Windows, Mac, or Linux. Well, that and some curiosity and creativity!

The Skinny:
Tinkering on ReplicatorG Class
Dec 8th, from 6:30PM to 8:30PM
@ The MakerBot Workshop
314 Dean Street (between 3rd & 4th Ave)
Brooklyn, NY 11217

We’re cleaning out our inventory at the Botcave! We’ve put together a of grab bag of great parts that you can pick up at a fraction of their cost for your own projects – We’re selling each bag for only $9.99! Most of these parts are from the cupcake – so this is a chance to stock up on some extra parts for veteran MakerBot operators, but but it’s really just a great deal that makes sense. Some of my personal favorites in this kit that I know are a great deal include the USB to TTL cable from grab bag #1 which usually retails for $20, and that big collection of thermistors.

In the spirit of crazy grab bagness, we don’t guarantee items and quantities in each bag, but we do guarantee an incredible deal on each one (10 Bucks!). It’s a fraction of the cost! So pick up one in the store today: grab bag#1 and make your parts drawer all that much happier.

Venezuelan artist Pedro Morales relies on his MakerBot Cupcake extensively for his new installation, De Redes and Cadenas, using it to transform brief poems by Rafael Cadenas into sculptures made up of machine-readable cyphers such as QR codes and Microsoft Tag.

The above video demonstrates how a viewer might experience the installation, using a cellphone to read the sculptures made up of transformed poems.

This is a very neat MakerBot-enabled work, and it also provides an interesting view of Cadenas’ work, which appears to be under-translated into English.

Are you using a MakerBot as an artistic tool?  If so please share your stories with us — most of us here at the BotCave are more engineer than poet, and we need to know where free-associating artists want to push the boundaries of 3d printing.

Ear Hook by JinxTheRabbit

It is with a heavy heart that I bring your attention to this awesome new contribution to Thingiverse.  For want of a simple plastic ear hook, JinxTheRabbit lost everyone on his entire team to a zombie horde.  Think of your families and be sure to print an emergency kit containing one of these potentially life saving devices.

On a more serious note…  I have a friend who frequently breaks the ear hook part of his bluetooth headset.  He then takes it back to his local cell phone carrier store and get an entirely new bluetooth headset, complete with new ear hook, as part of his warranty.  While the plastic involved is probably around about $0.02 – $0.03, the cost of purchasing just one plastic ear hook is anywhere from $1.00 to $10.00, not including shipping or handling.

Here’s the amazing thing, this isn’t just a situation where the average consumer would benefit from a print-on-location-on-demand.  Since the cell phone carrier store gives my friend a full new headset, that means that not only is a perfectly good headset going to waste, but that they’re out the cost of a brand new headset!  Imagine how much good will a cell phone carrier would get for giving out extra bluetooth ear hooks – all while reducing waste and saving money.

Ear Hook by JinxTheRabbit

I broke the cheap plastic ear hook thing that came with my Samsung bluetooth mic when I was surrounded by zombies last week. I suffered a fatal lack of communication to the detriment of my teammates. THEY ALL DIED, I TELL YOU!!! OH, THE HUMANITY!!!

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