MakerBot Industries

A quick update from the Botcave stockroom: we’ve just had a delivery of ABS plastic and we are pleased to be able to offer some MK7-compatible 1.75 mm plastic.  Small-filament ABS has been a hot commodity since we first announced the Stepstruder® MK7, so don’t hesitate if you’re in the market for a few spools!

We’re also pleased to announce for that we can offer silver ABS in 3 mm filament for the first time, for those of you printing with MK6 and earlier extruders!

Joshua Pierce sent us email about his contest.

You are invited to participate in a design competition for development of sustainable technologies and their components for printing on open source 3-D printers.

The goal of the contest is to facilitate an open exchange of 3-D sustainable technology designs that can be printed to meet various
needs in the context of sustainable and self directed development. 3-D printers such as RepRap and open sourced innovation hold great promise for development of appropriate technologies to help millions of world’s poorest communities reach a better standard of living. Designs will be judged on the technical printing viability, feasibility and functionality of the innovation, as well as sustainability from ecological, economic and social perspectives.

Anyone can enter the competition but the contestants must post their digital designs on Thingiverse under an open license (e.g. CC-BY-SA). The contest is funded by the Queen’s Applied Sustainability Group and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

There’s no website for the contest that we can find, but there is a pdf!

hipsta by pomalin

Thingiverse citizen pomalin is the winner of 9000 internet points and bragging rights for being the first to upload a “moregangsta” challenge mashup! ¹ The one I was really hoping someone would upload first was a HipSTA – and thanks to pomalin  now there is one!

There are still more points and bragging rights to be had!

hipsta by pomalin

First try for an hipsta, don't know yet if it's printable without raft, because I run out of filament, but will try as soon as I have some. Hipsta-third uploaded, it's a three parts print, should print better, and be taller. edit : Bobble head hipsta uploaded edit 2 : add each three parts to fit a thing-o-matic

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1. Pomalin also gets another 9000 points for being the first to upload one of the specific models for the challenge. [↩]

If you follow our blog regularly, you may have noticed a serious dearth of things related to dollhouses, even though MakerBots are ideal for creating dollhouse items, and also sort of look like dollhouses if you squint.  Thank you PrettySmallThings for helping us rectify this situation!

This is a great debut Thingiverse item, and we hope to see many more, perhaps including tea sets and canopy beds.  Also, nice platform-leveling system!  Welcome to the community; we look forward to more tiny, dainty furniture!

Miniature Queen Anne Chair by PrettySmallThings

This is a miniature Queen Anne style chair, designed for use in scale models and dollhouses. The files below are provided in 1/2" = 1'-0" scale, also known as 1:24. My design goals were: Maintain delicate proportions, but balance the need for durability. Print without support Good looking resolution, with little cleanup needed This does print at 50% (1/4" scale or 1:48) but is very fragile. I imagine that printing at 200% (1" scale or 1:12, typical dollhouse scale) would require support, and I have not tested it.

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snakesta by cibomahto

Thingiverse’s all time most-mashed up model on Thingiverse has got to be the “gangsta” by Yzorg.  However, there are a number of things on Thingiverse that really should be mashed up with a gangsta.

1. STAtue of Liberty – She stands for liberty and freedom…  and slouching.
2. The ThinkSTA – He’s thinking… about his life as a gangsta.
3. DeathSTAr – The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the potential of the gangsta.
4. NatashSTA the pen holder -  Don’t mess with her.  She’s carrying… a pen.
5. GnomeSTA – Because it would be so cool to have a bunch of GnomeSTAs lounging around a garden.
6. Project ShellSTA – Because even hermit crabs need a gangsta hideout.
7. Bucket of OctopSTA – What has eight arms and is more gangsta than you?
8. SkullSTA – Nothing has more gangsta street cred than an actual skull.
9. STArfish – Sure, there’s already a *sta, but don’t you want a gangsta that’s a little more… fishy?
10. HipSTA – Because I really really really want a HipSTA.  I want to put it on the edge of my desk and wait for someone to ask what it is.  “Oh, it’s this mashup-meme.  You’ve probably never heard of it.”

This challenge is pretty easy with 10 possible winners.  All you have to do is mashup the gangsta with one of the models above.  Tag your entries with “moregangsta.”  Please also be sure to add appropriate other tags to your designs.  It’s also good form to add derivative links to the designs of others’ you use.  9000 internet points, bragging rights, and a blog-nod to the first-to-upload-a-challenge-entry and to each first entry in one of the 10 categories above.

Good luck!

MakerBot is excited to be named one of the 20 Most Innovative Tech Start-Ups by SAI’s Business Insider! The list was created by the team at SAI, as well as a crew of investors and entrepreneurs.

Why does Business Insider say we’re innovative? ” Printing 3D images, including Stephen Colbert’s head, is both original and awesome.”

Check out all 20 innovative start-ups here!

Hot on the heels of ReplicatorG 0026, we are already releasing a new version, ReplicatorG 0027. Most users will see no major feature additions in this version, but there are a stack of bugfixes, including the automated build platform belt issue, as well as  some important user interface improvements and other tweaks. However, for advanced users, we did include support for our experimental DualStrusion process into this release as a full feature, so it’s easier to get those awesome multi-color prints. The UI tweaks come compliments of Rob Giseburt, one of our community contributors. He had a great idea for a design to simplify skeinforge settings selection, and it worked so well we included in into our codebase. Many thanks to Rob!

Some details on the interface tweaks after the jump!

Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve all been there: in the middle of a session, the singer wants to change key.  Sure, not a problem;  just slap a capo on there so you can keep all of the sweet fingerings you’ve worked out.

But oh no!  Where’s your capo?  How could you have not left your capo in your gigbag?

Well, thanks to hairygael, if the recording studio has a MakerBot (as I’m sure most will in time) you can just print one out!  You’ll need the spring from a clothespin (which again any recording studio should have…maybe) and some rubber (a rubber band will work) and you’re golden.

Ok…well, this might not save the day instantly, but it’s still pretty cool to have a fully printable capo up on Thingiverse.  Well done!

Capodastre-V1 by hairygael

Well, this is my first attempt. This is a capodastre for folk guitar but it might also work for classic.I haven't printed it yet because I haven't finished my printer. No idea if it's thick enough to resist pressure. But if anybody feels like trying...

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ABS, PLA, PVA, Oh My! In this episode of MakerBot TV we explore the ins and outs of our three printable plastics. Find out what they’re made of and how to print with them. Also hear about the tiny green men that are invading the Bot Cave! Don’t miss this stellar episode of MakerBot TV! Thank you Thingiverse users tbuser for the f-bomb design and gpvillamil for the flying saucer and tiny green men. 

Dr. Bulinski took some time out of her busy day to weigh in on the first crab encounters.

After looking at the footage, I don’t think I would classify the first video with Kourtney as a true examination.  It looked like she just walked over it.  In my experience, when the crabs investigate a shell, they really take the time to move it around in its appendages, insert claws inside and rotate the shell around.  The second video (Khloe) looks more like an investigation–I think I would go so far as to say that it would be “Examination-inserted appendages into shell.

I appreciate these professional observations, and will update the earlier post to reflect Dr. Bulinski assessment. She continued:

One thing I noticed though was that the printed shell was WAY too large for the crabs.  If the printed shells were much smaller I think that you might have better luck with the crabs investigating and interacting with them.

I also felt the shell was too large, so I am printing 60% and 50% sized shells. They will soon be in ShellterWest, awaiting another crab encounter!

Thanks for the input Dr. Bulinski!

This guest post is part of Project Shellter.