MakerBot Industries

MakerBots are the new rock stars! Rolling Stone paid a visit to our Brooklyn workshop for this profile that just ran on their Gear Up Tech blog. Check out the new video we created for those Rolling Stone readers who are new to the idea of MakerBotting. Bre created this How-To video covering the basics for any 3D-printer novice.

It’s not unusual for us to receive requests for DXF files for our MakerBot machines and Scott Hunter did just that – asking for the files that would enable his group of students the ability to replace the wooden components of his school’s Thing-O-Matic with various colors of acrylic. What caught my attention was that his students were 12 year old girls, from Scotland, with a penchant for designing the future of Formula 1 cars. Yep.

The students, involved in the F1 in Schools Technology Challenge, are using CAD/CAM(Computer Aided Manufacture) software to communicate their vision. The participants are encouraged to consider everything from physics, aerodynamics, design, and manufacture, to branding, graphics, sponsorship and more. It’s a comprehensive competition with wind and smoke tunnels, culminating with a race down a 20 meter track with the cars going as fast as 60 kmh (over 37 mph!).

The competition permits the use of 3D printers for the front and rear aerofoils of their miniature gas powered balsa wood F1 cars (manufactured on a CNC machine), and Scott’s team chose the Thing-O-Matic to help them get to the finish line. As you can see from the photo above, it’s looking great! With an international field of contestants (34 countries) aged 9-19 (for a total of 12 million(!) students), and fierce competition, the Challenge is more worth following…if you can keep up.

Hey MakerPeople! This friday, we are going to have a hyper-fun mega-event at Manhattan’s über-hip AC Gears store!  There will be refreshments as well as a DJ — that’s right, a professional Disc Jockey, who will be playing all the latest dance hits on an up-to-the-minute solid-state Hi-Fi!

AC Gears is on E. 8th St in Manhattan, and it’s a small place, so an RSVP is required on the official Facebook invite page.  See you there!

Well folks — it’s gotten to be that time of the year.  I hope you’ve stored away enough nuts to make it through the winter.

If you haven’t, perhaps you can print out an army of these squirrels by MBCook to help you gather enough to get you through.  I suspect ABS (or PLA) squirrels don’t eat very much…but then maybe they’re not quite as quick as real squirrels either.

Whatever the case, it’s clear that you need a whole lot of plastic squirrles for a crisp fall day like this.

Squirrel by MBCook

This is a 3D model of a squirrel that I found on Aim@Shape [1]. It was uploaded by MPII and is actually under the MPII Institute License, which you can view by clicking on the download link on the things page at Aim@shape. I flattened the base and cleaned up some artifacts on the tail that I'm guessing were the result of scanning. This is the most work I've ever done on a model (I used Netfabb and Blender to clean it), so I learned a lot, and he came out very cute. My print came before I caught an error in the model, which caused the bandana looking line. It slices correctly now. [1] shapes.aimatshape.net/view.php?id=105

This thing brought to you by

The cameras are now deployed at each crabitat!

Big ups to Dropcam for being the first sponsor of Project Shellter!

Here are screen captures of recent activity in each crabitat:

             Tori Shelling (on right) taking a late night stroll at ShellterEast

             The Karshellians (Khloe and Kim, left and right) enjoying a midnight snack at ShellterWest

Here’s the real news: now you can see a live crabitat video feed while you’re surfing the interwebs; just drag-and-drop the following images to your bookmarks toolbar or right click each and add to your favorites.

This will install a bookmarklet that will allow you to watch the crabs from anywhere on the interwebs (except a blank page)!

Once installed, click on the words in the toolbar to launch a live video feed in a popup window.

Depending upon your browser and version, you may have to allow popups for certain sites to see the feed.

These are alpha versions of the bookmarklets. If you have any problems using them please post your experience in the comments.

Also, if you’re a web developer that wants to help with the continued development of these bookmarklets, drop a note in the comments.

Hermit crabs are, for the most part, nocturnal creatures. Most crabitat activity occurs during nighttime PDT and EDT. YMMV.

This guest post is part of Project Shellter.

Lightsaber for a 2-year-old by bryanduxbury

If Halloween has snuck up on you this year, there’s still time for a costume – especially if you have a MakerBot 3D printer!  Check out these awesome and quick to print costumes:¹

1. A Mustache.  Sometimes all you need for a little bit of anonymity is a simple disguise – such as a mustache.  There are at least a dozendifferent variations on mustaches on Thingiverse.  My personal favorite is the Mustache Ring for it’s silliness and simplicity.  You could probably print a Mustache Ring in less than 10 minutes.  Bonus points for printing extras for friends who have forgotten their costumes.²
2. Autobot or Decepticon Ensigna.  Those tricky robots can hide as just about anything…  So why not a human?  Affix to a shirt and proudly display your robotic affiliations.
3. A demon tail.   With little more than a forked tail and perhaps some makeup, you could be a demonic attendant.  For bonus points, carry around a contract for the purchase of souls and a bag of empty promises.  If a tail is too understated, why not go for horns?  You have your choice of double-horn or the  single horn unicorn variety.  Again, this print might be so quick you could carry extras – or use them to adorn shoulders, elbows, and knees.  These little ghost figurines might even make excellent horns to round out the costume.
4. A brain slug.  Printed in nuclear green and glued to a simple hair clip, these little guys are a fashion statement, indispensable accessory, and an instant geek-cred costume.
5. Star Trekcommunications badge.  With nothing more than a communications badge, you’re totally ready for an away mission!  Bonus points for wearing a red shirt.
6. Green Lantern mask.  The only problem with this printed mask is that in order to get it to conform to your face, you’re going to need to mold the print while it is still warm.  You need nimble fiberglass fingers to do it properly or you risk becoming cast in the title role of an Alexander Dumas or Gaston Leroux novel.  If you’re committed to this one, don’t forget your Green Lanternring options!
7. Pirate hook.  A hook by itself is very persuasive evidence of one’s pirate-status.  If you need a little more flare, don’t forget the eye patch.  If you’ve still got time before the Halloween festivities start, you could also print up a nifty telescoping tube set for use as a spyglass. ³
8. Light Saber.  While there are some really intricate light sabers on Thingiverse, you can definitely crank out this little one for that padawan in your life.
9. Sonic Screwdriver.  Don’t believe in weapons but do believe in technology?  Me too.  Well, with just this little prop you too can be a madman with a box.⁴  Triple bonus points for printing your own TARDIS.  If someone points out that it is too small, just assure them they are just very far away.
10. Arc Reactor.   There are several excellent arc reactor designs on Thingiverse.  If you don’t have time to wire one up, you can always print it in glow-in-the-dark ABS or flourescent yellow.

What’s your favorite printed costume?

1. I figure most, if not all of these items could be printed in about 15 minutes or so. [↩]
2. And who obviously don’t own a Makerbot! [↩]
3. And, a tiny treasure chest for itty-bitty booty [↩]
4. How could I NOT do this?! [↩]

Happy Halloween from Sphero from GoSphero on Vimeo.

The crew over at Orbotix have made a spooky Halloween video starring Sphero. The costumes were made by Adam (one of Orbotix co-founders) using his MakerBot. Cool! Link. Via Brad.

PRI talked to Bre about Project Shellter for the latest episode of their Living on Earth radio show. Listen here to get the scoop on what Project Shellter’s mission is, why hermit crabs are facing a housing crisis, and the challenges that come with the project (who knew hermit crabs were right handed?!).

The US Embassy in Bahrain invited MakerBot’s own Jonathan Monaghan to show off the Thing-O-Matic and talk about creativity and innovation. Our embassy puts together some pretty awesome programs there; they are bringing out Andrew W.K. next! Jonathan took a MakerBot to five major schools and universities and gave workshops to over sixty locals. The response was overwhelmingly positive, and now people all over this small island nation in the Persian Gulf can go to the Al Riwaq Art Space and use Bahrain’s first MakerBot. We think its awesome that the US State Department sees MakerBot’s ability to engage the creative side of youth and its potential to help a build a better future for everyone. We are excited to see what they make with it!

More photos from Jonathan’s trip after the break.

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This week on MakerBot TV – PRINT YOUR KITCHEN!!!! Find out about the many incredibly awesome and incredibly useful items that can be MakerBotted for your kitchen!

Huge thanks to Thingiverse users PolygonPusher for the hooks, tomlombardi for the sponge holder, eM5 for the drain plug handle, jahg for the dishrack foot, hoeken for the funnel design, Fido for the corncob screw, Seanz0rz for the knife design, vik for the rice spoon, deadmeat038 for the cheese slicer, loonix23 for the paper towel holder, emmett for the jet cookie cutters, RobertHunt for the heart cookie cutter, laserdonkey for the donkey cookie cutter and MattChapman for the star cookie cutter.. Music by Kevin MacLeod.