What an ingenious 3D-printed lamp!

The lamp from architect Margot Krasojevic is designed as a turbine, capturing the power of the wind with a generator, and thereby lighting itself. David writes at the Ponoko blog that his very windy hometown of Wellington, New Zealand could probably replace its street lights with these. Can anyone second that?

A new week begins and I have a few items to put on your calendar. These concern Saskatonians, New Yorkers, Washington, DC, and Connecticuters.

First things first: if you’re in the New York City area and you’re interested in some basic MakerBotting education for free, reserve a spot now at our class at Tekserve on Thursday. You can see the invitation and RSVP here.

What — 90 minute class with MakerBot Education guru Liz Arum
When – Thursday, April 26; 6:30-8:00 p.m.
Where — Tekserve in New York City; 119 West 23rd Street. New York, NY 10011

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If you are anywhere near the nation’s capital this weekend, there are a couple chances to Kinect (see what I did there?) with our MakerBot road crew, Matt, Keith, and Nick. The guys will be hanging out on Saturday and Sunday for the USA Science and Engineering Festival, which bills itself as “the most compelling, exciting, educational and entertaining science festival in the United States.”

This is a jam-packed festival that basically anyone could enjoy. For example, page 6 of the list of stage shows includes an hour session by Bill Nye. THE SCIENCE GUY! If Bill Nye’s on page 6, you know the rest of the lineup has to be pretty exciting. There’s an Electronic Fashion Show, a talk from actress and neuroscientist Mayim Bialik, a panel discussion with CIA scientists, a Harry Potter magic demonstration, and dozens and dozens of other shows, not to mention exhibits like ours where kids and families can interact with fun science of all kinds.

The MakerBot booth will have our latest 3D printer, The Replicator, and we will be scanning and printing visitors with the Xbox Kinect and ReconstructMe, and more! Come see us!

What – MakerBot booth at a giant, awesome science fair in Washington, DC
When – April 28, 10:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.; April 29, 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.
Where – Walter E. Washington Convention Center; 801 Mount Vernon Place, NW. Washington, DC 20001

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While the crew is down in D.C., they plan to party Saturday night close to the Convention Center at The Passenger. We have rented a room from 6:00-8:00 p.m., and will be offering food and drinks on us, first-come-first-served, until we run out!

What – A chance for MakerBot Operators to come together and hang out with Keith, Matt, and Nick
When – April 28, 6:00-8:00 p.m.
Where – The Passenger; 1021 7th St NW, Washington, DC 20001

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For any readers near Saskatoon, Canada — often considered the Edmonton of Saskatchewan — come see MakerBot at The Man Show 2012. This is a lifestyle trade show geared subtly toward men. Okay, frankly, this looks awesome. It’s a giant exhibition of gadgets and tools. It will be a great chance to check out The Replicator in the midst of a bunch of other really cool things. Tickets are $10.

What – Chance to see The Replicator and speak with an expert on our 3D printers
When – April 26-27, 4:00-10:00 p.m.; April 28, 1:00-9:00 p.m.
Where – Credit Union Centre; 3515 Thatcher Avenue. Saskatoon, SK S7R 1C4, Canada

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A second group of MakerBot staff is also thrilled to attend the Mini Maker Faire in Westport, Connecticut. We’ll be rolling from 10:00 a.m until things wind down at 4:00 p.m. Come visit us (including me!) and say hello to our 3D printers.

What — Mini Maker Faire featuring MakerBot and many other exhibitors
When – April 28, 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.
Where — Westport Library; 20 Jesup Road, Westport, CT 06880

There was a really nice set of responses to a post last week about sketching. Basically, I asked whether blog readers and MakerBot operators were accustomed to sketching their designs from the very beginning or using CAD tools to 3D model a design from the get go.

I just thought the responses deserved a quick recap, especially because they underscore the point that there is no right answer. As someone who jumped into this company with no background in 3D printing or any other hardware hacking, I have been continually surprised how accessible the concepts are. I think it’s nice to point out that those of you who do such great work all also have varying processes — so the results aren’t just individualized, the process is too.

The star of today’s episode of MakerBot TV, Kacie Hultgren (aka PrettySmallThings), said that the sketching stage is often absent from her work; not because she eschews pencil and paper, but because much of what she does comes from photographs. It’s pre-sketched, in a way.

Emmett, whose Things number among the most notable contributions in the Thingiverse, similarly doesn’t sketch much. But in his case, it’s because his “imagination works in 3D already.” Communicating an idea to someone else, however, deserves a sketch. Renee  not only sketches, but cleans that sketch up in Illustrator before bringing it into a modeling environment.

The creator of MakerBot mascot R.Maker (pictured above), ErikJDurwoodII, said he sketches to lend some purpose to the CAD process, even if that sketch will change over time, and Gregg Wygonik also uses sketching to make sure the computer phase doesn’t include avoidable elements that cause discouragement. (Visit Gregg’s Thingiverse page here.)

Stephen Holmes, who writes for Develop3D, pinged us on twitter with a really relevant article showing yet another mindset: 3D sketching. The people at the UK product design consultancy 3form Design (3fD) do specifically leave pencil and paper sketching out of their process. Founder Austen Miller argues that the “reverse engineering” required to take a designers sketch on paper into the domain of the engineer can cause the loss of original design intentions. Instead, the groups designers start in SolidWorks.

Echoing what our commenters said:

Miller doesn’t succumb to the argument that by jumping straight into CAD stifles creativity. In his opinion, just like pen and paper, CAD is a tool and depends whose hand it’s in as to the end result. “Creativity should not be measured by the medium we choose but how successful we can be with it…”

Thanks, all, for the input!

 

Remain calm. This is just a video of adorable, 3D-modeling-and-3D-printing-savvy children designing a pendant in Tinkercad and printing it on a MakerBot Replicator. While surrounded by copies of Arduino Cookbook. So I suppose the phrase Happy Monday means something now.

For more videos from Osamu Iwasaki’s, which pretty much run the gamut of everything, here’s his website.

 

Today we’ll meet with MakerBot operator and Broadway set designer Kacie Hultgren. Kacie has made a number of incredible contributions to Thingiverse under the user name PrettySmallThings including her well-known Queen Anne Chairs, the oversized armchair, her SciFi Control Room and whole array of beautiful and delicate tiny pieces of furniture. Find out what she’s doing with all of her prints and why she considers the MakerBot an ideal tool for someone who uses their apartment as a workspace.

Kacie will be doing some guest blogging for us in the coming weeks, so keep your eyes on our blog for some really helpful insights into her process!

Dominic Wilcox’s offhand tweet about racing a 3D printer to make something became a reality this last Friday.  They competed against a 1.5 hour time limit to build a replica of the Duomo cathedral in a competition hosted by WeFab.it.

I would respectfully disagree with Dominic.  The future isn’t just humans – the future is human-robot collaboration!  Just imagine what Dominic could have done with a trusty robot sidekick!