I was totally floored by this sweet shoulder scale armor by Krest.  It appears to use a leather cord woven through holes at the top and bottom to hold the scales together.  Krest’s 3D files include five variations on the scales so that they could experiment to get the best effect.  Frankly, I think the result is amazing.

Although Krest’s shoulder scale armor uses leather cords which can be adjusted for fit, I think it would be really interesting to use an elastic cord so that the armor could bend and flex.  While not nearly as authentic, it would also be interesting to use loops on the inside of each scale instead of holes which might allow for a seamless appearing exterior.

And, if you’ll forgive the pun, wouldn’t it be great to scale this model down for a smaller set of armor?

Sweet! Another 123D Catch tutorial video, and this one shows how you can use the same process to make a model out of paper or card stock slices.

Photos are a century-old invention that store 2-dimensional memories. Isn’t it time technology improved upon it?

 

The line above got me thinking about the possibility of capturing a memory in 3D. How nice would it be to have a 3D model of your child’s school portrait?

 

Six days from now, we celebrate the fathers in our lives – our own dads and other people’s dads! – to say how much we appreciate their work and wisdom.

This Fathers’ Day, we all have a chance to give things that we make ourselves. Things you make with your MakerBot are the new kind of hand-made, and they are durable, attractive, and handy, to boot.

With a tool that makes anything, you can customize a solution for a problem that you know irks your target dad, or find something on Thingiverse you know he would love to have sitting on his desk.

Here are some Father’s Day gift ideas from the MakerBot Crew. You can find all these and more under the Father’s Day tag on Thingiverse. If you have more inspiration for others, be sure to tag your uploads!

 

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Fully parametric Tool Holder by benglish

Finally get all those screwdrivers off the workbench and onto a wall rack; but best of all, this file is designed to let you change it as necessary. Maybe you only need two holes, maybe you need 15. Maybe want to do a little modeling work and add your dad’s name to the bottom.

Cable Hangers by Revar

Does your dad have a thousand cables snaking across the floor untamed? Bundle them up with these cable clips. The best part is you can make as many as you need, and only as many as you need.

Remote Control Battery Cover by GregT

The biggest offense growing up in my house was losing the battery cover from the remote control. (But we needed AAA’s!) These days, a replacement cover is probably the best gift I could give him. Luckily Thingiverse citizen GregT has mocked up an example to encourage others to solve this pesky problem.

Drawer Dividers by Factotum and jherrm

You’ve been giving your dad socks and ties for years. Imagine how busy that drawer must be! Factotum’s Drawer Divider Generator will give you exactly the dimensions and number of dividers you need, and jherrm has given us all a similar file for smaller storage cabinets. Genius!

 

You may have seen this already, but it is worth repeating. Vice President Joe Biden gave a speech to graduating high school seniors over the weekend in which he challenged them to think big.

You know, there’s a lot of talk these days that America’s future is not as bright as its past. But I’m here to tell you don’t believe that not for a single moment. Class of 2012, you’re going to live through a period of the most remarkable and rapid technological, scientific and medical breakthroughs in the history of mankind. And we’re going to lead those changes from America.

That is a great thing for kids to hear right now, and better yet, he followed it up with some excitement about 3D printing.

As an aside, in the future — just one example — using 3D printers, we’re going to be able to restore tissue after traumatic injury or a burn, restore it back to its original state. It’s literally around the corner.

That is an exciting vision, and the Vice President is right. These things really are in the works. The Washington Post produced a nice explainer on bioprinting that’s worth a quick look.

 

Okay, this poster tweeted to us by @caygreen admittedly has some very interesting interpretations. Give us your best caption in the comments, or tweet to @makerbot.

Okay guys – it’s time to get real. This video that you’re about to watch is most assuredly the coolest video I’ve ever made. Seriously. It’s really freaking awesome.

This project was a collaboration (all awesome projects are, aren’t they?) between myself and my associate producer Josh Friedman and a handful of the greatest fingerboarders on the planet – Mike Schneider, Taylor Rosenbauer, Doug Bodkin and Tim Hurley. Josh, who animates the wonderful R.Maker Adventures and moonlights as a 3D designer, designed a bunch of skate ramps in Sketchup and put together the ultimate indoor skatepark which the boarders came in to shred on. And shred they did.

The best part of all this? Now you can MakerBot your own skatepark using the design files on Thingiverse. So make your own park, customize your own ramps, make your own sweet videos and keep on keepin it awesome!

 

This video courtesy of a pioneering yo-yo master @yochu, who throws down some dope spins on this MakerBotted yo-yo! Get Eric Chu’s yo-yo files for yourself on Thingiverse (link below!)

Note: I’m sorry for saying “dope spins”. I don’t know yo-yo lingo, even after I googled “yo-yo lingo”.