MakerBot Industries

Hey everybody – it’s the big day, so I sure hope you have your costume all sorted out!  We’ve been ready for awhile now, as you can see in this special Make Live segment, which features many MakerBotters showing off their finery, and a real Space Kitty!

Not too impressed?  Wow, you must have something really super all lined up.  Well then –  you’d better share your amazing costume with us in the comments!

Chris Fenton is building an electromechanical computer!

Q: “Why build an electromechanical computer?”
A: “Because I have a 3D printer, and I can”

Thanks Eric Skiff! Via NYCResistor

MUGNY OpenSCAD Study Group

This Thursday evening at the MakerBot Workshop, the New York MakerBot User Group (MUGNY) will launch a monthly Study Group focusing on the parametric CAD application OpenSCAD. OpenSCAD is cross-platform and open-source, a phenomenally powerful tool that has been getting quite a bit of attention on Thingiverse and beyond. And if it is a wee bit under-documented, counter-intuitive, and eccentric, well….that is where a Study Group comes in!

Those of us pulling this study group together (Liz Arum, Jon Santiago, and Matt Griffin) believe strongly that a wider audience of MakerBot Operators (and Thingiverse Modelers) will embrace this tool and push it even further if many of us roll up our sleeves and do the footwork to compile and generate curriculum, tutorials, libraries, and example files that demonstrate practically how to use this application.

We will be kicking off by revisiting MakerBlock and Allan Ecker’s excellent tutorial series on the Thingiverse and MakerBot blogs, investigating in-development tools such as Marty McGuire’s OpenSCAD Polygon Output for Inkscape, experimenting and reporting on the many many OpenSCAD libraries you can grab from Thingiverse and beyond, and generally digging in deep to see what we can find.

If you are MakerBot Operator in the greater New York area and want to attend, please RSVP via Eventbrite for event location details.

Before you arrive to the first session, please take a look at MakerBlock’s OpenSCAD Basics tutorial series — and make sure to get OpenSCAD installed and ready to go before you arrive:

1. OpenSCAD Basics: The Setup
2. OpenSCAD Basics: 2D Forms
3. OpenSCAD Basics: 3D forms
4. OpenSCAD Basics:  Manipulating Forms

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Start Yer Own Study Group

Members of MUGNY decided to jump into OpenSCAD for our Study Group, but there are quite a few topics and areas of research out there in the Thingiverse for other MakerBot User Groups to tackle.

If you’d like to start your own Study Group, please do so! Declare a meeting and get started with your investigations. But once you are underway, let us know what topic your group has picked and when you and your fellow MakerBot Operators and Thingiverse Modelers will be meeting for the second and later meetings so that we can share details here on the MakerBot blog to reach everyone in your area who might be available to chip in!

Some popular topics that MUGNY considered before selecting OpenSCAD:

• “Finishing Techniques” — Your MakerBot wrapped up printing a part– now what else can you do with it? What paints, sandpapers, adhesives and solvents work best?
• “Blender for Solid Modelers” — Blender has a reputation for being intimidating that might be shifting away with the release of 2.5 and 2.6. But still, with so many tools and modifiers and techniques — which are the best practices for using Blender for MakerBotting?

Cardboard Dragon with 3D-printed feet

I can honestly say I didn’t understand just how cool these simple 3D printed feet were until I saw this picture.  Drawing an animal for a kid is one great.  But being able to turn that drawing into a toy for them to play with is just so much cooler.  Thingiverse user and MakerBot dad guru has provided his method for creating quick and fun characters for use with these plastic feet.  In the true spirit of Thingiverse, he’s also shared his OpenSCAD designs for printing your own feet.

Also, I would be remiss in my duties if I didn’t mention SuperAmi‘s own game piece foot which serves a similar purpose. ¹

Feet for Cardboard-Figures by guru

I made some cardboard-figures from the delivery-boxes of a very famous book-seller and needed some feet. So i fired up my makerbot and printed some local-guru.net/blog/2011/10/12/Cardboard-Dragon-with-3D-printed-feet

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Game Piece Foot by SuperAmi

At the flee market this weekend I found a board game from my childhood, so of course, I bought it for my child. Unfortunately it was missing one of the plastic feet for the game pieces. So, I broke out the calipers and got scading. The piece is designed for the great game Mausefalle (http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/25097/mausefalle), but it should work with little or no modification with many a great board game with cardboard cutout game pieces. (ie: Candy Land) Now I just need to find the rules for Mausfalle, since I don't remember how to get out of the mouse holes...

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1. I suppose, SuperAmi’s foot is for monopods and guru’s feet are for bipedal and quadrupedal creatures? [↩]

Pirate Hook by SuperAmi

Thingiverse citizen and MakerBot dad SuperAmi has shared what is sure to be a Halloween favorite – a parametric pirate hook!  One of the most amusing things about this picture is that it really looks like SuperAmi’s son is running at top speed.  In my family the refrain of “You’ll put your eye out!” has been passed down through generations.  I can just picture this pirate tyke responding, “No I won’t!  I’m wearing an eyepatch!”

Parametric Pirate Hook by SuperAmi

This is a parametric pirate hook I made for my son's birthday party. It fits the paw of a 4-5 year old very well. It consists of three prints, the cup for around the hand, the hook, and then the grip and joining piece. My son really likes it, although the hook is a little primitive. I've included the SCAD. The cup file is parametric, and while not greatly laid out, it should be easy enough to scale up or down. Its also relatively tall, and could easily be shortened by a centimeter or two. The other files are not parametric, because I was in a hurry, but they should be easy enough to adjust.

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If you are in the Seattle area, check out this invite from the Seattle MakerBot Users Group!

On Saturday, October 15th, the Seattle MakerBot Users Group in collaboration with StudentRND invite you to a family friendly gathering to share the fun and excitement of the 3D printing community! Members of the Seattle MakerBot Users Group will be bringing MakerBots and Mendels as well as knowledge and some expertise on how to use them.

This is a great opportunity to meet others who are interested and active in 3D printing. Come and find some local experts with whom to ‘talk shop’, and share the excitement of this up and coming technology!

We’ll also order pizza and split the cost depending on how many people show up.

When:
October 15th 2011
4:00pm-8:00pm (if you’re bringing a bot feel free to email chgray@gmail.com with any questions)

Where:
StudentRND
1405 132nd Ave NE, Suite 3
Bellevue WA 98005

Seattle Makerbot Users Group

• http://groups.google.com/group/seattlemakerbot

StudentRND

• http://studentrnd.org/
• http://facebook.com/StudentRND
• http://twitter.com/StudentRND

Mechanical Animals by sconine

Thingiverse citizen sconine has just shared some really amazing toy mechanical animals.  Colorful, playful, and whimsical, each of these hand crank toys is sure to delight a child. ^1 2  Guaranteed not to wet the carpet, bite, or require you to let them out in the middle of the night these creatures would make excellent pets for any kid.  Interestingly, since the coolest instances of these toys is with multiple colored components in each toy, this is one of the few multi-piece prints that would not be well suited for printing plates!  I especially like how each of these toys has a distinctive motion to them.  I can’t wait to see what other little mechanical toys Sconie shares!

Also, over the last two weeks or so I’ve gotten into the habit of handing out imaginary and arbitrary points.  10,000 awesome MakerBot dad points to Sconine!

Mechanical Animals by sconine

These are 3 different machanical animals. They are all pretty basic mechanical devices that turn rotary motion into more of a linear motion. My kids (and their friends) have gotten a real kick out of them. I drew them all in sketchup.Jumping Prairie Dog Turn the crank and make the prairie dog jump up and down.Diving Dolphin Turn the crank and watch the dolphin dive through the waves.Wood Pecker Turn the crank and see the wood pecker peck away. (This was originally posted as a pecking bird, but my kids all call it the woodpecker, so I'm putting it up as part of this collection).

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1. Or, as in my case… the child-like. [↩]
2. They are also very reminiscent of the popular Trammel of Archimedes [↩]

Thingiverse and the MakerBot community are obviously full of many people who were touched by Steve Jobs and the products his company produced.  Our founder, Bre, shared a story about how Mr. Jobs and his company affected his life, but there are many more stories to be shared.  Thingiverse user E_Roth_3 has posted one such story, along with a model of the Mac Classic which I’m sure will be printed by many people today.

Whatever your feelings on Jobs and Apple, his legacy is impossible to ignore.  He achieved more in his first tenure at Apple than most CEOs can hope for in a career; during his time at NeXT, Pixar, and again at Apple he helped create even more game-changing innovations — all in a tragically shortened life.

If you have a design inspired by Steve Jobs, preferably one with a good story, please share it at Thingiverse and tag it with “steve jobs.”

Mac Classic by E_Roth_3

Having used Apple computers all my life starting with a //e I felt like I needed to print SOMETHING to honor Steve Jobs. Based on sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=4b3607f3cde3037658fc1ad354006c7 I modified that to make it more printable, scaled it to size, and added the classic apple logo to the front of the screen. I'm skeining it right now to see how it prints. Enjoy --- A few hours later....Print is going, I've edited the file several times to tweak some details. Every member of the original Macintosh team had their signatures injection molded on the inside of the cases of some of the computers. I've added my twist on that as a memorial to the members of that team that are no longer with us, flip the computer over and you'll find their initials. Jef Raskin, Brian Howard, and Steve Jobs rest in peace.

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I saw these action figures pop up on the internet and I had to interview Ed to find out more!

Can you explain the grant you got and why it inspired you to make action figures on a MakerBot?

The Cambridge Center of Adult Education is exploring the idea of producing art in the model of sustainable agriculture. It’s called CSArt. People buy shares in nine artists and recieve 3 pieces per delivery, over a two month period. CSArt encourages artists to think about their work in a small business context. In return, shareholders get access to a wide range of artists at a fair price.

When the grant was announced last June, I had just returned from my visit to the BotCave and was really charged up. I was convinced the MakerBot would be a great tool for artists. It was only a matter of time before I was all-in. The CSArt grant came up at the perfect time. It gave me the opportunity to adapt my work into mass customization without giving up the hands-on aspects of making art. Price barriers makes it hard for people to access original art. This is one of the key ideas in CSArt and in my approach to making art. The low cost of production on the MakerBot makes the end product very accessible. The work I produced is a series, but, not a set of “signed and numbered” reproductions. The MakerBot enabled mass customization as a practical artists’ tool.

What was your process like? Please walk us through it from idea, to design to object. I’m curious about the survey, too.
I used a Thing-O-Maticwith ABP and the beta of Rhino3D on the mac. I assembled and tuned the MakerBot over a five week period, starting in mid-June.My original idea was a model kit, like the tiny anime robot kits from Japan. I learned about design vs print by developing a prototype form, heavily influenced by Kaiju movies of the 60s. I printed a lot of variations and thought about print-to-print variations, what designs work best raftless and efficient post-printing assembly. In the end, I decided to produce the action figures as kits of parts that I would assemble. For this first series, I wanted to ensure the end result met my standards. I also settled on the idea of mechanical men who carry tools and do heavy work. The one exception is a variant inspired by the works of HP Lovecraft, droids and the octopus on Thingiverse (I love the tentacles).I spent June through early July building the ToM, then prototyped until mid August. I did a test run of the final forms on Labor Day and production through the second week of September. I designed and printed accessories during the third week of September, with two days of assembly and packaging at the end. The MakerBot performance was excellent. I couldn’t have been as efficient without the ABP, Print-O-Matic and the memory card.I decided to start the project with an on-line survey to the shareholders. I wanted to introduce myself and get the shareholders involved from the start of the project. Here is a sample question:

If you had to pick, which of the following would be your most prized possession?
(a) magic ring; (b) lucky pliers; (c) a never-miss hammer; (d) a pencil that promotes worldwide literacy.

95% of the shareholders participated and reported they enjoyed the survey. The packaging of the action figures includes a QR code to the survey results.

What are your plans going forward? What’s next?

I’m very excited about more action figures — so many ideas came up during the summer. I want to look at small groups of figures presented in a scene. I’d really like to create another large series and show them as a group.

Thanks Ed! I love the focus on tool carrying action figures. Ed’s put Robot Toy #A up on Thingiverse for your MakerBotting pleasure.

The Be Your Own Souvenir campaign continues. Having just wrapped up a spot at Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria, the blablabLAB team is heading to London for Alpha-ville for what should be another great festival. If you’re gonna be in London between the 22nd of 25th of September, you should go check ‘em out, just like the love birds out there in Linz.