MakerBot Industries

So you still haven’t gotten anything for Dad?  Have a 3d printer?  Even though there time for shipping has past, you still don’t need to hit the mall.  Here’s your solution: a 3d-printable tie!

Thingiverse user Nudel_P was no doubt in this very situation just a few days ago, before he created this ingenious 3d-printable accessory.  The advantages are obvious: easy assembly, high resistance to soup drips, and a handsome, vaguely 8-bit aesthetic.

Fire up your MakerBot and print one out today in your favorite color — your dad is sure to love it!

Tie - Print and wear - Parametric by Nudel_P

I present to you, the RepRap tie!Update 12.30.2011: Added minecraft stl one one 20x20cm build plate and individual pieces in zip file. Yet untested! Don't know how well the holes will print when laying flat, please leave feedback if you try.Update 12.30.2011: Added a stl file of a tie made from a stl file. Check out tie_stl.zip for source code. Not yet printed! For years people have made ties out of wood, and I adopted the principle for 3d printing. Could it be a world first? The basic idea is to take a 3d model, cut holes in it for string and then cut it into smaller pieces so the tie will bend. I'm not overly satisfied with how the ties sits around the neck, perhaps someone has an idea for a better solution? Also, any special ideas for a tie, just make a comment and I'll give it a go. :)

This thing brought to you by

As it gets to the candle-lighting hour here on the East Coast, it really feels like (C)Hanu(k)kah 2k11 is going to be a good one.  And what’s the number one accessory for the festival of lights?

OK, well, yes, candles.  But the number two accessory is definitely the dreidel!  And thanks to the prolific Zydac, Thingiverse has a lovely example to help share out the gelt.

Well done, Thingiverse!  Now what about some printable latkes?

Dreidel by Zydac

Fast spinning dreidel for Hannukah. Makes a good stocking stuffer for Christmas too! Update 12/20/2011: Dreidel 03 has the Hebrew letters flipped the right way. Doh!

This thing brought to you by

A broken lock and me without my MakerBot

As you may not know, I don’t actually work at the BotCave/MakerBot Headquarters in Brooklyn.¹  Today for my day job I had to go to a bunch of meetings in a building that was filled with meeting rooms.  I had left a bunch of my work, backpack, and some other stuff in one particular meeting room while I went to go make some copies.  When I came back I discovered that the door had locked behind me because something inside the mechanism was broken. ²  Although I was able to get into the room eventually, I needed to be in and out of several meeting rooms and it became a pain to find someone to let me back in.

Now, if I only had my trusty MakerBot with me, I could have just ripped out a quick doorstop, propped the door open, or perhaps over-engineered a little plate that would fit inside the door jamb to prevent the door from locking.  Or, I could even have put the call out to Thingiverse for someone to design a brand new door handle and lock.

How would a MakerBot have changed your day today?

1. In fact, it was a condition of my employment… [↩]
2. Photo courtesy of Auntie P [↩]

Ye Plastic-hungry masses: we have good news!  We’ve just received a shipment of 1.75 mm plastic and it just so happens that plastic will be delivered by Christmas (aka day 6 of Channukah or the day before Kwanzaa) if you order today and choose one of the overnight shipping options!

Even better, we’ve received another small allotment of one of our new favorites, silver ABS in 1.75 mm.

If you’re still doing last-minute holiday shopping, there’s still time: just choose one of the next day delivery options.  We hope that this makes a few holiday seasons just a bit brighter.

Final pre-Christmas ship dates:

Ground Shipping: Too Late!

3-day service: Too Late!

2-day service: Too Late

Next Day Air: Today!

NOTHING says Christmas more than an animatronic 3D printed dinosaur skull singing “Jingle Bells.”  In the creator, rweaving‘s, own words:

It was my son’s idea to create a dinosaur skull that would sing jingle bells. This is the result of that project. The skull is controlled via servo motor triggered by the music. The skull, stand and mechanics were printed using a Makerbot Thingomatic. You can make your own by going to http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:14248

But, perhaps the best part of all was rweaving’s comment afterwards:

I love being able to take my 4 year old’s crazy idea and making it into reality.

Can you imagine if your parents had a Thing-O-Matic?  Just look back at some of the wacky things your parents put up on their fridge or office wall, the wacky amazing things that were only possible in your 4-year-old mind… and now think about how insanely cool the world would have been if your parents had said, “Sure thing kiddo, we can print that.”

Animatronic Dinosaur Skull by rweaving

It was my son's idea to create a dinosaur skull that would sing jingle bells. This is the result of that project. The bottom jaw is controlled via a servo mounted in the base. In this video you can see the skull in action singing jingle bells.youtu.be/Z-ojvIRqI_Q Undubbed with circuit board visibleyoutube.com/watch?v=0hoYsfMroyg

This thing brought to you by

Thing 14222 -- thanks jimcook for the photo!

We are getting right down to it here, people.  This is do or die time — when the men are separated from the boys.  This is where we winnow the wheat from the chaff, gift-giving-wise anyway.  It’s where the going gets tough, and the…yeah, well, anyway the point is there’s not much time left to order gifts.

If you want any amazing items from the MakerBot store to arrive by December 24th (or as I like to think of it, day 5 of Hanukkah) then the shipping schedule will be as seen below.

There are some great things in the store right now for your favorite makers, including MakerBot Projects like the Windup Walkers and Dynamo, as well as amazing prices on kits like the evergreen MintyBoost and LOLshield, and the epic Ostrich Egg Bot kit!

Final pre-Christmas ship dates:

Ground Shipping: Too Late!

3-day service: Too Late!

2-day service: GLORZOMG!  TODAY!!!!

Next Day Air: order by December 20th

A picture is worth a thousand words – here are a few more…

Kendall, one of the five “sisters” living at the Shellter West crabitat, seems happy in her Project Shellter shell. She’s one of two crabs sporting printed Oxystele sinesis shells in the crabitat.

Here she is adopting it for the first time:

Follow, share and contribute to help save hermit crabs by keeping natural shells in the wild! Use the hashtag #shellter or the shellter tag to let others know you are participating in this crowd-sourced science experiment!:

• projectshellter.com
• @ProjectShellter
• bit.ly/​ProjectShellter
• bit.ly/​ProjectShellterShells
• youtu.be/​ProjectShellter

Tip o’ the hat to Greg at Dropcam for the “Holy Crab!”

This guest post is part of Project Shellter

Project Shellter - Oxystele by TeamTeamUSA

UPDATE 2011-12-13 07:23Kylie Karshellian adopted a print of this shell today! See it happen here with annotations and music: youtu.be/LtvlLBQnEc0UPDATE 2011-12-07 21:35Kendall Karshellian adopted a print of this shell today! See it happen here: youtu.be/QpCusZ_q0wwUPDATE 2011-12-04 19:11The original oxystele.stl had spiral holes in it. After running it through cloud.netfabb.com the holes are gone. If you downloaded the file before, please re-download it. Another one of M. B. Cortie's greatest hits sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/009784939390054D! Modeled on the shell of the Oxystele sinensis sea snail, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxystele_sinensis, will Coenobita clypeatus - "Purple Pincher" - hermit crabs like this? Only experimentation will tell! It was created using Maya's shellNode plugin, which is based upon Cortie's model, and thickened using Blender's Solidify modifier blender.org/development/release-logs/blender-256-beta/solidify-modifier/. The goal is a workflow using open source tools, but this shell surface required a commercial tool. Thanks to a tip from thingiverse.com/mesheldrake, the conversion to a solid is now handled by an open source tool. :) Cortie's model and many of its resultant shells have been written in Maple maplesoft.com/applications/view.aspx?SID=3851&view=html. Porting them to an open source tool such as Sage or Blender is the last step in creating a complete open source workflow. Any python ninjas up to the task‽ Follow Project Shellter progress here:projectshellter.comtwitter.com/ProjectShellterbit.ly/ProjectShellterbit.ly/ProjectShellterCamsbit.ly/ProjectShellterVideos

This thing brought to you by

New Yorkers can stop by the Wired Store in Times Square tomorrow, Saturday, December 17th, for the chance to see MakerBot demos and witness the Botmobiles in action. Demos will be held from 12pm-2pm with a talk at 1pm from Michael Curry (a.k.a. Skimbal) and John Dimatos, the team behind MakerBot Projects, who will be speaking about the creation of the Botmobile, with a Q&A to follow.

Wired Store

1472 Broadway (corner of 42nd Street)

New York, NY 10036

Must-have print: R. Maker Christmas ornament!

That’s right folks — the days are counting down to the big day with boxes under the tree.  There are a few more days to get some of those great kits, or one last spool of plastic for some holiday printing…or perhaps a MK6 upgrade if your favorite MakerBotter still doesn’t have a stepper-based extruder. We even have a few colors of 1.75 mm plastic in stock right now!

So if you haven’t scratched all the names off of your “nice” list, it’s time to get cracking!

Final pre-Christmas ship dates:

Ground Shipping: Too Late!

3-day service: TODAY!  ZOMG!

2-day service: order by December 19th

Next Day Air: order by December 20th

MakerBot is looking for new peoplebots – the most enthusiastic, interesting, engaging, creative and amazing people to join our current team of superstars.

To keep in line with the holiday spirit, we’ve got something for everyone! Check out all of our job listings and let us know what piques your interest.

• Have experience in the business world and looking for a way to apply your skills, learn more and do something different and interesting? Look at our Head of Sales/Product/Operations positions!
• Want to show off your sales skills? Look at our salesbot position!
• If channels and bizdev is your game, then check out the bizdevbot position!
• If you are a super organized, really curious, full of energy person who loves to keep busy people well supported – we need an Executive Admin and an adminbot.
• Love to blog, tweet and broadcast the good word about MakerBot? You’re a perfect fit as a writerbot or Marketing Intern!
• Is TCP/IP your mother tongue? Love making computer systems talk and systems hum? We need a netadminbot!
• Looking to slay the next patent troll? We need a researchbot!
• We can never have enough interns – if you are looking for an internship, let us know!

Don’t see what you are looking for? There’s more – and then, if you still dont’ find what you want, just apply!