MakerBot Industries

MakerBot’s R&D all-stars have been printing up a PLA storm on our MakerBot Replicators and getting impressive results! Last night we did an overnight time-lapse of this skull and it turned out beautifully!

You’ve heard about Michael Curry’s Rocket Playset and the MakerBot Astronauts who live there. So you must know that these astronauts love adventure – over their lifetimes they will be traveling to the farthest reaches of Thingiverse to discover the unknown. Follow along on their adventures or take them on adventures of your own.

What lands will your astronauts traveling to? Take some pictures of your MakerBot Astronauts in the wild and show us what kinds of adventures they’ve been having!

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As a special treat for CES this year, MakerBot posed a set of provocative questions:

Remember the playsets, dollhouses, action figures, army figurines, and plastic ponies you played with so passionately in your youth? Dreaming up secret worlds — or creating narratives with friends, neighbors, classmates, and siblings?

Well, what if you could produce these tools of imagination with the push of a button? And what if you could roll up your sleeves and invent your own characters, furnishings, and buildings — and share them not only with your children, nieces, nephews, neighbors, or friends, but also, and instantly, with the rest of the world?

Handcrafted dollhouses are nothing new to the serious Maker, but MakerBot is taking steps to make this practice easier and more widely adopted than ever before. For the rest of January, MakerBot and a squadron of Makers will be introducing the MakerBot Playsets to the Thingiverse: 1:18 scale dollhouses as full of imagination and mischief as craft, modeling techniques, and cleverness.

MakerBot’s own design superstar Michael “Skimbal” Curry, creator of such Thingiverse megahits as the Turtle Shell Racers and Gothic Cathedral playset, starts the ball rolling by architecting a pair of MakerBot Playset buildings. Introducing two new Thingiverse superstars: Cushwa and PrettySmallThings are doing a tremendous job furnishing these playsets with their imaginations.¹

So without further ado, straight from the soundstage backlot of Annelise’s Replicator music video, The Right Heart, we present you with the MakerBot Fairytale Castle Playset and the Damsels!

The MakerBot Fairytale Castle Playset and Damsels

MakerBot Fairytale Castle Playset by MakerBotWorkshop

Long Long ago in a land far away, there was a little castle surrounded by an industrious town. The townspeople loved their little castle and wanted it to be perfect. But the little castle was empty. Its owner had left long ago, taking all the fine things with him and locking them away. The Townspeople resolved to re-furnish there castle. They learned to craft and create. Making chest and chairs, tables and beds, gadgets and gizmo's, they filled the castle with things that reflected themselves and their experiences. They created so many things that at the end of each day it looked like little castle couldn't hold any more. But the castle had a secret. Every night, it grew. Sprouting new towers, chambers, and cellars. The town's people would awaken and rejoice, ready for another day of crafting and creating. The town was proud of its magical castle, and everyone wanted to fill it with the best that they could offer. But wasn't a magical castle, it was a MakerBot Castle. Each night the daring Damsels deftly deployed their wondrous Replicator, creating new rooms to extend the structure. Floor by floor they built up into the sky. Until one day the little castle had become the tallest and grandest in all the Thingiverse. And the small town around the castle had grown into a great city, filled with the incredible things and spectacular ideas. The Makers, Crafters, and Hackers had learned from furnishing the castle. They had perfected their crafts and honed their skills. When they looked out on the world from the tallest tower, and saw that it too was a place they could rebuild. And they spread across the land, sharing their knowledge and teaching others how to improve the world around them.Created by Thingiverse user Skimbal, designer of the Turtle Shell Racers, MakerBot Botmobile and the Gothic Cathedral Playset.

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MakerBot Damsels by MakerBotWorkshop

The daring MakerBot Damsels are in no manner of distress -- they deftly define their own world of wondrous wizardry. Making, Creating, and Crafting, they dexterously develop designs for castles, creatures, and contraptions. Deploying Cupcakes, Thing-O-Matics, and Replicators, dozens of Damsels distribute production precisely for punctual perfection. Dastardly deed doers and nefarious ninja gnomes beware, the Damsels don’t take kindly to klepto capers and would-be kidnappers.Created by Thingiverse user Skimbal, designer of the Turtle Shell Racers, MakerBot Botmobile and the Gothic Cathedral Playset.

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1. We will be introducing new Thingiverse superstars over the next few weeks. [↩]

One of the most interesting challenges faced in 3D printing is creating facsimiles of real-world objects, things that have not been designed according to design rules that make them easier to print. Animal skulls, and in particular dinosaur skulls, are a great example: full of complex organic shapes, extreme overhangs and bridges, and thin shells. I’ve been learning a lot about printing these, and thought I could share what I have learned.

Three reptilian skulls

I was inspired by the dinosaur skull posted on Thingiverse and set out to look for more. The Digimorph project at the University of Texas has some dinosaurs, but the STL files are not posted.  However, Artect, a company that makes 3D scanners, has posted a very nice high-resolution STL file of a Tarbosaurus skull, on their 3D model download page. It’s the first model listed on the page.  I sliced it in Netfabb, and have posted the sliced files on Thingiverse.

Keep reading for some tips on how to print this object, and other complex organic shapes!

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WNYC has included MakerBot’s New Museum window in their list of top Holiday Window Displays, Off the Beaten Path.  If you haven’t made it by the New Museum yet, there’s still time to see the Dalek Snowmen, X-Wing Reindeer and Cylon-Santa for yourself — the window display will be up through the end of the year!

MakerBot conquers NYC with the cover of this week’s Time Out New York! Not only did MakerBot print the entire cover, complete with our mascot, R. Maker, taking on a mini version of New York City, but the Thing-O-Matic is featured as a gift For the Person Who Has Everything. We are also giving away a Thing-O-Matic to one lucky reader, to enter click here!

New Yorkers who want to see a real MakerBot in person, or even buy one, can visit these brick and mortar stores:

AC Gears

69 E. 8^th Street (between Broadway and University)

New York, NY 10003

(212) 260-2269

Wired Store

4 Times Square (at 42nd and Broadway)

New York, NY 10036

Friday, 11/18 – Saturday, 12/24

Demo on December 17th

12pm-2pm

Gizmodo Gallery

White Box Art Gallery

329 Broome Street

New York, NY 10002

Tuesday 12/6 – Sunday 12/11

New Museum Store

235 Bowery

New York, NY 10002

212.343.0460

Once in a while an item comes up on Thingiverse that I just have to print. Immediately. Eried‘s awesome fastening system was one of those items. Using raised knobs spaced perfectly apart, this fastening system differentiates itself from the hook and loop system we all know.

By his own admission the system is not yet perfected, but Eried’s got a great start on his design. I’ve printed some out (you should too!) and have had fun testing its strength and the sound it makes when taking two sides apart. Make sure to join the discussion to offer suggestions for improvements and naming!

Printable VELCRO by eried

This is the first iteration (third internal) of my attempt to make printable Velcro. It is pretty nice to hang things, probably this small piece will resist much more than a kilogram of weight (hanging weight) and it is very easy to remove. 3d printing revolution is just starting, I don't say this is a flawless piece but I really consider it is a very good example about a very sweet future about us modifying our brains from "search-buy-adapt" (frustration included) to "think-design-print" (self-pride included :D ). Quick demo video: youtube.com/watch?v=BtLSMI3xVDY Quick demo #2 (perpendicular): youtube.com/watch?v=eLehgIfjmpA This was an object that did not exist in our 3d printing world, so I like to think this is an "upgrade" from real world to a better virtual&teleportable world ;)

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If this sounds familiar, I apologize. You wash your pots and pans carefully, and on the rare occasion, even use soap. With your dishtowel, you dry off the last remnants of H20 and with any luck, you have a clean, water-free, cooking tool…with no home. The top of the stove looks convenient, until your last night’s sauce pan gets in the way of your cast iron skillet for your daily ostrich, bacon, and cheese omelet.

I’m a sucker for practicality and to this day have been looking for a good place to store my pots and pans. The cabinets work, until I have to stack one item on top of another, inevitably dirtying the bottom pot or pan. PolygonPusher‘s hook is brilliant: Strong, functional, and cheap. I’ll be printing some of these today to hang underneath my kitchen side table.

What’s particularly interesting about this Thingiverse item is the conversation about the, well, practicality of printing out such an item, when it would seem that these hooks could be sourced locally. PolyGonPusher gives a great explanation for why he did what he did, and it’s yet another example of what makes Thingiverse a fantastic forum for 3D design and printing.

Hook for hanging pots and pans by PolygonPusher

In this project I build a set of shelves for hanging pots and pans in my kitchen. For that I needed 27 hooks. In my local hardware store I did not find any suitable hooks so I decided to design and 3D print my own! :) This also saved me some money since a simple hook in the store costs $4 a piece, making the total $108!

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If you’ve been following the GE Air Show on Facebook, you might be interested in the Grand Finale, posted above. Tons of new models, and as always, funny animation.

All the models shown will make their way to the GE page on Thingiverse shortly, so keep an eye out.

It was really fun to work on this. The teams from Impact Media and Evolution Bureau were smart, creative, talented and great to work with. I’d like to highlight the participation of Gabriel Bentley from Impact Media, who basically taught himself Sketchup and Makerbot operations in the space of weeks, and was running a one-man model airplane factory by the end of the project.

Also, one more thing: the observant amongst you may have noticed that there was never a Week 2 video. Well, fret no more – that footage was discovered, and is posted below:

Another video from the GE Air Show project, this time featuring helicopters. The client (GE) has discovered what most of us already know: that watching a Makerbot print is hypnotic! The creative direction has been to emphasize the design and print process, so you’ll be seeing more timelapse takes of the print.

This is likely to be the penultimate video of the project: they are taking submissions for the grand finale right now on the Facebook page.