MakerBot Industries

The MakerBot Family of Stepper Motors

Good news! We’ve launched all three of the MakerBot Thing-O-Matic’s motors for individual sale in the store this morning! We have had lots of requests to make the Threaded Rod Nema 17 and High Torque Nema 17 available, and now we can. The third motor shown is our new NEMA 17 model with a 5mm shaft, which now ships with our bots.

We can’t wait to see what awesome devices you build with these great motors- send in your photos!

Threaded Rod NEMA 17 Stepper Motor

High Torque NEMA17 Stepper Motor

Hybrid NEMA 17 Stepper Motor

Hey it’s Friday!  In light of that, we’ve whipped up another addition of Robot Hospital, which we hope you’ll enjoy.  We’ve got a new product announcement (new Nema 17 motors), a report from the Blip festival, where we’ll be demoing bots tonight and tomorrow, and the final installment of Matt’s squirrel modeling tutorial.

The 3rd Ward MakerBot Make-A-Thon was awesome! Special thanks to MakerBot User Group New York for showing off their designs and introducing 3rd Ward members to MakerBot. Kyle McDonald used the interior of Michael Felix’s geodesic dome for his 3D Photo Booth. If Kyle scanned you, be sure to find yourself on Thingiverse here. Stay tuned for our next MakerBot User Group meeting and a continued collaboration between MakerBot and 3rd Ward.

 
Check out this fantastic 3D printed Vans shoe that was created for the opening of Off the Hook, Vans first partner store in Montreal.  Personally, I want Vans to be the official shoe of MakerBot staff.  It’s the Brooklyn way.  Full disclosure, this wasn’t printed on a MakerBot, but look out!  We’re getting there fast.  It was designed and printed by Consult Design.

Nice work!

Vans by OTH Store.

CRASHspace will be hosting the L.A. MakerBot monthly meeting.  Bring your MakerBot, RepRap, or other DIY 3D printer to work on, print with, or just show off.  If you don’t have one yet, it’s a great chance to see a 3D printer in action and learn more.

At 7:30 PM will be a MakerBot 101 class – learn the history of 3D printing and how to print with a MakerBot.  This is a hands-on workshop and everyone gets a chance to print something to take home. Space is limited to 5 seats. More information on the MakerBot 101 class here.

Sunday, May 15th 2011
2pm – 5pm L.A. MakerBot Monthly Meeting
7:30pm MakerBot 101 Class

CRASHspace
10526 Venice Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232
(424) 241-3379

MakerBot had a chance to hang out at the Nooka Lab this week. Nooka produces a line of wristwatches and other fashion accessories with enhanced functionality and a futuristic philosophy. We had an awesome time printing with the Nooka team and can’t wait to see what they create on their new MakerBot!

Printing the Nooka logo on the MakerBot Thing-O-Matic

Alexander from Nooka showing the first print!

Check out more photos on the Nooka Blog.

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!

The Stuff of Invention

Today we are launching the third round of our ABS and PLA plastics as they switch to being supplied on spools in Kilogram weights. The last of our classic colors and styles are now available in both 3mm and 1.75mm filament formats, and some previously unavailable formats are now up in the store! I am happy to report that our crowd-favorite UV reactive “Nuclear” green is now in our classic 3mm format, so Plastruder MK4, MK5, and MK6 3mm users rejoice! Also notable is PLA 4043D filament is now available in 3mm and 1.75mm formats- so hop to it if you want some of this great print stock.

Here’s the full selection of new plastic offerings!

Nuclear Green ABS 1kg Spool 3mm Filament

Blue ABS 1kg Spool 1.75mm Filament

Blue ABS 1kg Spool 3mm Filament

MakerBot PLA 4043D – 1kg spool -1.75mm

MakerBot PLA 4043D – 1kg spool -3mm

Yellow ABS 1kg Spool 3mm Filament

Fluorescent Red ABS 1kg Spool 3mm Filament

Red ABS 1kg Spool 3mm Filament

Check out our full variety of plastics in the MakerBot Store here!

iPhone Hook for Airplanes by jgrout

MakerBot Operator jgrout must be a real road warrior — he has been printing out a number of the iPhone stands and accessories up on Thingiverse for a while now.¹ Well, his practical research has paid off – his iPhone hook that clips onto the back of a tray table on an airplane is something of a killer part for this function.

Having a MakerBot and some digital calipers, MakerBot Operators have no difficulty creating accessories and mounting gear to fit their gadgets. Jgrout studied designs for other useful iPhone stands like juniortan‘s iPhone Universal Stand, and then scaled his design for the iPhone hook down to only what he needed for both back of seat hanging and propping up on the tray table.

I wonder if jgrout is at this very moment leaning back in his seat on a transatlantic flight, watching Objectified: A Documentary Film, arms comfortably in his lap, deeply satisfied.

iPhone Hook for Airplanes by jgrout

Iphone hook for airplanes by jgrout

When I watch movies on planes I end up holding the phone for 2 hours or having the tray-table down and using the Mini stand for iPhone & iPod Touch by MakiYoshida (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2205). There are worse fates, but having the tray table up gives me more freedom of movement for my long legs. I wanted an iPhone hook for the tray table in the up position, so I designed and built this. It clips over the tray table when up, and props the screen up when placed on the tray table so you can keep watching while you eat your snack (with the tray-table down). This is similar to the iPhone Universal Stand by juniortan (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2426) but more for a specific function.

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1. For Android users, check out these. [↩]