MakerBot Industries

I’ve been using a 1/16″ aluminum build surface on my Thing-O-Matic for weeks, with really good results. Now you can buy an aluminum platform from Makerbot, and cover it with wide Kapton tape for the ultimate build surface. I’ve been using this combination on my Cupcake CNC for a while, and it is great: parts adhere really well and there is no warping. (Top tip: wipe the platform with acetone before printing for even better adhesion.)

However, this poses a challenge: sometimes parts stick to the platform so well that it can take a real effort, and a lot of force, to get them off. On the Cupcake, I would just detach the build platform and lever the piece loose. However, on the Thing-O-Matic, the platform is fixed, and you end up applying a lot of force to the X&Y platform as you try to release the piece.

One solution is to just double up the aluminum plate, and hold it on with bulldog clips, as described here. However, I went for a quicker solution in the short term.

Wing nut holding heated build platform for easy removal

I just put M3 wing nuts on the bolts holding the platform (you only really need 4, one on each corner, not 6). When I’m done printing, I can just detach the HBP connector (power off first!) and quickly unscrew the wing nuts. This allows for easy access to the printed piece from all sides, plus I can apply quite a bit of force without affecting the structure of the Thing-O-Matic.

At some point, I’d love to see a quick release mechanism for the Thing-O-Matic platform, like this one, but for now this is really saving me a lot of time and effort.

When putting together my Thing-O-Matic, first with a Mk5 extruder and then a Mk6+, a perpetual source of frustration was attaching the thermocouple to the thermal block. It seemed like tightening the nut would rotate it, and it would come loose. Moreover, more than once the stresses of assembling and disassembling the extruder would loosen it as well.

Fortunately, there is a simple solution:

Mk6+ heater block with groove for thermocouple

I used a Dremel tool with a diamond grinding bit to make a groove in the side of the heater block, where the thermocouple fits. It grips the thermocouple wire as the nut is tightened, and prevents it from rotating loose. With this simple change, I can always get the thermocouple installed on the first try, and it feels really solid.

I’ve been working with Lynn Hershman on some interesting projects, including a large-scale interactive installation that was shown at the Sundance film festival. The piece allows users to browse an archive of videos featuring work by contemporary women artists, using virtual flashlights that illuminate a simulated room.

I was able to use my Makerbot to make some small but critically important parts for the physical interface, parts that would have been difficult to make using any other techniques. Using the Makerbot and OpenSCAD, not only was I able to build the part (with help from friends), but I had it very, very quickly.

Wii to flashlight adapter ring

Keep reading for more details on what this little part does, and why using the Makerbot was the best option for building it.

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Sometimes you need to manually edit or delete a Skeinforge profile. The built-in profiles are stored with ReplicatorG in its installation directory, but the user-created profiles are in a hidden file within the user’s home directory. On Mac OS X, if you want to edit these profiles directly, say to edit the start.gcode file, it can be awkward to find and open the right directory. Fortunately, there is a simple way to access it, with no hacking or trickery required! Here’s how it’s done:

First, make a new Finder window. It should open in your user directory. Then, go to the Go menu in the Finder, and choose the Go To Folder… option.

Then, enter the name of the folder where ReplicatorG stores all the user stuff, which is usually “.replicatorg”:

And voilà, the folder opens up!

Your Skeinforge profiles will be in the folder labelled sf_xx_profiles, where xx is the version number. The start.gcode and end.gcode files are in the folder “alterations” within each of the profiles, and can be edited with TextEdit, or any other text editor. The “profiles” folder within each profile contains the settings for each individual module within Skeinforge. You can edit them directly if you are brave, or more practically, just copy the profiles to back them up or move them to another machine.¹

1. This trick works great when using ReplicatorG 24 and earlier. Stay tuned — or take a peek at the beta early — to take advantage of the new “Locate” button in the Skeinforge window when you “Generate G-Code”: automates this for you. [↩]

I wanted to make sure our 8 month old son felt welcome in our new home, and what better way than by putting his name on the door of his room in Makerbotted letters!

I looked on Thingiverse, where there are more than a few sets of letters for blocks and for including in OpenSCAD, but it turns out that it is super-easy to make 3D extruded letters in Sketchup.

1. Download and install Google Sketchup, if you haven’t already.
2. Make sure you have an STL export plugin installed. I use this one but there are others.
3. Start Sketchup
4. Go to the Tools menu and select 3D text
5. Type your text (it can be a single letter)
6. For your dimensions, 0.075m for height will fit nicely in a Makerbot. 0.01 extrusion is good to start with.
7. Press the Place button
8. Select your letter, and find the STL export option. If you used the plugin I linked to, it’s in the Tools menu.
9. Select millimeters as your export unit
10. Select STL as your export format
11. Open the STL in ReplicatorG
12. Use the Move button, and then Center + Put On Platform to get it all lined up
13. Print!