MakerBot Industries

Bespoke Glowstick Connector

In some ways, it’s almost easy to take inspiration from something that’s right in front of you.  When asked why he wanted to climb Mount Everest, George Mallory famously replied “Because it’s there.”  That mountain would always be there.  However, it’s at least as important to recognize when something isn’t there, to ask your self why something isn’t some other way.  Sometimes the answer is, no reason at all or that no one has thought of it before.

A few weeks ago my daughter was playing with glowsticks.  We had made necklaces, bracelets, hoops, and wands.  But, then she tried to tuck a single glowstick under the bracelet on her wrist.  Since her wrists are much smaller than the bracelet, they just slipped right out.  She asked whether we had any connectors that would allow her to attack the second glowstick at 90 degrees from the one on her wrist. ¹  My reply was, simply “No.”

I waited for a little while… hoping.  And then the question came, “Why don’t we have one?”

Thing-A-Day #7: Glowstick connector junction by MakerBlock

These are a tight fit for the glowsticks we have, so I shoved my needle nosed pliers in each aperture, rotated, and scraped the holes until the glowsticks fit. Story to be continued on the blog...

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1. Actually, she asked nothing of the sort.  She articulated it mostly by showing me what she wanted to do.  I described it for you, dear reader, as above since you have a better grasp of geometry than my 5-year-old. [↩]

X Buckteeth Leader parametric by timmytool

If you’re rockin’ a Thing-O-Matic, consider installing this clever upgrade from timmytool.  This little plastic part allows you to customize the belt height in your X axis to the height where your X belt naturally rides.  If the place where the belt is held in place on the X carriage is too high or low, it can create additional vibration and noise.

Plus, it kinda looks like a wacky robot face.

X Buckteeth Leader parametric by timmytool

I've found that the x idler pulley tends to ride up against the top y carriage wood. This creates noise and other problems. There are bearing and belt holders and all manner of x axis improvements but I've yet to see one to fix this. The idler rides up due to the belt being pulled up to mesh with the x carriage belt teeth. My solution is to customise the teethes position to match the belts natural path. This is based off of Joakim's x follower openSCAD file so it can match its customization for a perfect x axis sliding action, print his and mine as they replace 2 separate parts. All comments and suggestions welcomed, heck just comment

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"The future is already here — it's just not very evenly distributed." - William Gibson

How long ago was it that you first saw a pack of blank CD’s at your local drug store or super market? ¹ For me this was ten years ago.  I purchased my first CD burner in 1998 – but it wasn’t until about 2002 that I first saw a blank CD at the corner drug store.  Until that time I could only find blank CD’s online or at electronic component stores.  But, at some time between 1995, when I first saw a CD burner and 2002, when the media were available off just about any store shelf, the future, to paraphrase William Gibson, started to become evenly distributed.

I wonder how long it will be before I can find plastic filament in the supermarket? ²

1. Photo courtesy of indi.ca [↩]
2. Aisle 12, sir, between the greeting cards and stationary. [↩]

Robotic Moth-Bee by Gwygonik

Thingiverse citizen Gwygonik published a post on his website to accompany the above robotic moth-bee designed by his wife.  From his post:

“So once I started printing things, my sci-fi loving wife’s eyes sparkled (more than normal) and she had a ‘we can replace every plastic piece in the house with something custom’ moment. What I love about her is this was immediately followed by ‘you could drive someone mad with real subtle changes, too.’”

Of all of the potentially mischievous uses of a 3D printer, this is the most creative I’ve heard to date.  This could even be automated to a certain extent.  It would be fun to shrink someone’s office supplies.  Heck, it’s not inconceivable that someone could scan in someone else’s objects, then scan the objects they will morph into, create a stream of intermediary 3D models, and slowly replace someone’s beloved coffee mug with a sculpture of a jackalope.

MothBee by gwygonik

This is a "robotic moth-bee" loosely based on a sketch by my wife. Story and more pictures here: gwygonik.posterous.com/66358440

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http://myplasticfuture.com/66358440

Japanese hirajiro castle by arnsteio

How’s this for a first-time contribution to Thingiverse?  Arnsteio’s first design shared on Thingiverse is this incredibly intricate and detailed Japanese hirajiro castle.

This is a small Japanese “hirajiro” plains castle from the sengoku period. Bases were simply made of earth so for the castle to survive the vagaries of weather and earth quakes, superstructures had to be light. Hence we see simple walls, small houses and open-work towers. It is meant for use when wargaming, and will be suitable for campaigns in Japan in the 1400s and 1500s – I will use it for the Kawanakajima campaigns.

Awesome work arnsteio!  Please keep the models coming!

Japanese hirajiro castle by arnsteio

This is a small Japanese "hirajiro" plains castle from the sengoku period. Castle bases were simply made of earth so for the castle to survive the vagaries of weather and earth quakes, superstructures had to be light. Hence we see simple walls, small houses and open-work towers. The model is meant for use when wargaming, and will be suitable for campaigns in Japan in the 1400s and 1500s - I will use it for the Kawanakajima campaigns. I have made it for use with 10mm wargaming armies, though it would work equally well for larger or smaller scales. The ashigaru figure I placed in the courtyard for scale is 10mm foot to eye. He is a ripoff of Erik's excellent bride and groom from thingiverse.com/thing:3495 (and he's based on the bride, no less!).

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OpenSCAD Bathtub Sailboat

The hardest part of cranking out a Thing-A-Day for me is coming up with new ideas.  When I have an idea for a printable thing, I typically just design it, publish it, and get it out there on Thingiverse.  However, that means I generally don’t have many ideas left over for creating something new each day.

Thankfully, I have my daughter.  After explaining that February was Thing-A-Day month and that I wanted to design something that was printable on our 3D printing robot, I asked her what she would like me to design.  A saildboat for the bathtub was her answer. ¹

In many ways the challenge of coming up with something that will meet her arbitrary and completely unpredictable specifications is actually easier that thinking up an idea for something each day myself. ²

Thing-A-Day #2: OpenSCAD Bathtub Sailboat by MakerBlock

After explaining Thing-A-Day to my daughter, I asked her what she would like me to design for her for day 2. Answer: A sailboat for the bathtub. Designed in OpenSCAD, but not very parametric.

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1. Actually, her answer was a paper sailboat.  I reminded her it had to be something out of plastic, so she revised her response. [↩]
2. After all, the spirit of the exercise is to create a new thing each day, not necessarily come up with the ideas for them yourself [↩]

Rubber Band Ties by lasivian

One of the most noble uses of a 3D printer has got to be making the world a safer place.  Thingiverse user lasivian described the reason behind his rubber band ties:

You might have seen these under other names, but most of them were no good for me because my girlfriend is allergic to latex.

Enter the printer and a box of latex-free rubber bands from a local office store.

Rubber Band Ties by lasivian

You might have seen these under other names, but most of them were no good for me because my girlfriend is allergic to latex. Enter the printer and a box of latex-free rubber bands from a local office store.

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February has arrived and, with it, Thing-A-Day!  My goal for Thing-A-Day this year is to create a digital object every single day this month.  I’ll be using my design program of choice, OpenSCAD.  If you haven’t tried out OpenSCAD yet, this is the perfect excuse.  I’ve already put together several OpenSCAD tutorials that will take you from this:

Hollow Calibration Cube by Starno

to this:

OpenSCAD Pirate Ship by MakerBlock

in no time!¹

Before you cringe at the prospect of taking on OpenSCAD, let me point out that the above pirate ship was designed entirely with just cubes and cylinders.

Recently I had need of a way to mount an Arduino to a project box.  Unfortunately, I hadn’t finished the rest of the project yet, so I didn’t know where the Arduino would end up or how it would be mounted exactly.  I ended up knocking out a simple friction fit holder.  While there are no mounting or screw holes in it, I figured I could always just drill them later if needs be.  Since my project is still need a lot of work be elevated to a “work-in-progress” status, for the time being this mount is being held in place by my second-favorite DIY tool… duct tape.

1. Admittedly, that pirate ship took a while. [↩]

Mutang bug by addy

This is the very first Thingiverse design from Thingiverse citizen addy’s 9 year old son – a mutant bug designed with the help of 3DTin.com.  As you can see from the comments, addy’s son has really taken the Thingiverse spirit to heart by making changes to the designs based upon feedback from other users.  Designing an object, managing constructive criticism, and revising designs – these are important lessons for anyone, let alone a 9 year old.

And, lest we not forget his contributions…  A special thanks to addy for helping his son share these designs and making Thingiverse a better place for it.

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:16545

Mutant bug by addy

My 9 year old son, Joel's first design, created using 3d tin.

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Parametric Boltless Hook for keyhole shelving units by Timmytool

As I’m gearing up for Thing-A-Day this year, I thought others might be interested in more OpenSCAD tutorials. ¹  Is there something you would like me to cover in another tutorial?  What would you like to learn?

While I’ve more or less written these tutorials right up to my level of competency, there are a few additional things that we could cover – some of the additional variables for previously covered functions, hull, Minkowski, and for loops.

OpenSCAD Tutorial Series

1. OpenSCAD Basics: The Setup
2. OpenSCAD Basics: 2D Forms
3. OpenSCAD Basics: 3D Forms
4. OpenSCAD Basics: Manipulating Forms
5. OpenSCAD Intermediates: Combining Forms
6. OpenSCAD Intermediates: Mashups
7. OpenSCAD Intermediates: Modularity
8. OpenSCAD Intermediates: Extruding 2D Objects
9. OpenSCAD Intermediates: Fixing Design Problems

Parametric Boltless Hook for keyhole shelving units by timmytool

Turn the unused keyholes in boltless shelves into practical hanging space. Using 2 keyholes in the uprights this thing sits and provides a hook for things like scissors, headphones (I use 2 half shelves and a laminated MDF as a PC desk, huge desktop), pots and pans and a whole thingiverse of items. Make your own custom 3d prints that are held up with this print. Yes it’s completely parametric so it will work with any brand of keyhole style boltless shelves The bridge in the model might sag, as long as it minimal it should add to prints snug fitting. (Yes it works better without a perfect bridge) Some of the pics are of the non parametric version; it has a smaller wedge in the hook but otherwise is near identical to the openSCAD’s uploaded stl

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1. As always, if you go through these tutorials and publish something on Thingiverse, I’d love to feature your designs in my OpenSCAD tutorial posts! [↩]