MakerBot Industries

One-line portrait of a MakerBot by Yao Xiao

Here’s an amazing one-line drawing of a MakerBot Thing-O-Matic by Yao Xiao.  Fluid and evocative, this single-line drawing does an amazing job of conveying the essence of a 3D printer.  But, I wonder…

Who’s ready to upload a Unicorn pen plotter TSP single-line drawing of Yao Xiao to Thingiverse?

Thanks to Molly Crabapple for the tip!¹

1. Get your own Molly Crabapple here! [↩]

CUBE -The 3D printed 3D printer by Webca

Thingiverse champion Webca has done it again.  First he printed an entire Cupcake CNC on his Cupcake CNC.  Now, he’s used that printed printer to print another printer.  His creation has a much larger build area, linear bearings, custom heated build platform, used more than 15 pounds of plastic, cost around $3,000.00 (which I’m sure does not include his time) and eight months of printing.  Webca suggests this might be the largest multi-print to date.  He’s got me convinced.

Here’s a video of it in action:

3D Printing for Fathers Day!

This is an unheard-of 3D Printing bargain, the likes of which shock even me, your dear narrator. On Sunday 6/18, The CupCake CNC Ultimate Kit is dropping to a brain-freezingly low price. We love the CupCake CNC and know what a st/deal this is, so take advantage and get one soon! These are the last units of the CupCake, and we have run out of space for them here at the BotCave. Yesterday an avalanche of printed parts temporarily blocked access to the bathroom, and the decision was made. “Sell, sell, sell!” called Commander Bre. The big wheel keep on turning, and Fathers Day is looming! So get cracking and get the all-time best bargain in DIY 3D printing history. It’s everything you need to get started 3D Printing with a fun build, a great device, and a great Fathers Day gift! This is a limited time offer so carpe diem!

In this episode Keith takes us on an awesome tour of RobotFest 2011 at the National Electronics Museum, Ethan pushes the extreme limits of acrylic T-Slot construction, and Matt traps and traces a massive squirrel- Check it out!

In this episode Ethan gives you a worms-eye view of perfecting your build surface, Matt gives you an nifty intro to solid modeling withTinkerCad, and Isaac runs down the latest notables from Thingiverse! Check it out!

After months of intensive research and development, MakerBot Industries is proud to announce a newly realized capacity of the MakerBot Thing-O-Matic 3D Printer- the ability to print listenable vinyl records from the desktop.

“The process of transcribing an audio file into a vinyl record is so simple, anyone can do it.” Said Chief Audio Engineer Isaac Dietz. “Right now, I’m using the Automated Build Platform to rip my entire MP3 collection to individual records!”

“It’s an exciting innovation for MakerBot, as we all grew up listening to vinyl. We all wish that more records were available with the latest hits,” said Audio R&D Associate Marisol Murphy. “I can never get enough Justin Bieber or Rebecca Black until I listened to them on my turntable.”

The process utilizes the MakerBot 96khz AudioNozzle™ technology to print audio waveforms in real time. Using the MakerBot Generation 4 Electronics microstepping capacity, the AudioNozzle™ modulates the amount of plastic deposited to create a high-fidelity waveform. The results often surpass the dynamic range of 24-bit recordings and can contain frequencies up to 57khz — even higher than the Nyquist frequency for 96khz digital recording. You can even record directly to your 3D Printer by attaching a microphone to your computer, and singing into it.

Says Ethan Hartman, Vice President of Audio Operations: “MakerBot’s pioneering spirit has always hearkened back to early inventors like Thomas Edison. We are honored to be able to re-invent the audio record for the personal manufacturing space in the burgeoning 20-teens.”

Pre-orders for the 96khz AudioNozzle™ will be available shortly.

MakerBot 3D Printed Vinyl Records can be downloaded from Thingiverse here.

The MakerBot Gen 4 Interface Board Kit!

Today we are happy to announce a new product in the MakerBot Thing-O-Matic line, our new MakerBot Gen 4 Interface Board Kit v1.1! This is a fun DIY Interface that allows your to operate your Thing-O-Matic independently, without the use of a computer! So you can pop in your SD card into the Generation 4 Electronics, and regulate, operate, and print from your machine by this interface alone.

With the great set of programmable buttons and LCD interface, you can turn this hackable board into an control surface for almost anything as well! We are using it in-house here and are really pleased with the live feedback it provides during a build- monitor temperature, percent completion, and view files on the SD card are all available. Plus manual jog control of the stages, and extra assignable switches are available for new inventive uses.

It’s a fun soldering kit as well, and the complete through-hole construction makes the level of difficulty appropriate for even beginner kit-builders. This kit is open source, so you can use it to control anything you build, even your robots, or homebrew CNC device. Advanced users can match it with our Gen 4 electronics kit and use it to control any machine they can design with our electronics. It’s flexible, open, and provides programmable feedback depending on your application.

A Thing-O-Matic warming up in Monitor Mode

We are installing a group of these on the BotFarm™, so we can quickly fire up builds and monitor progress on multiple machines without needing computers attached. It truly turns the Thing-O-Matic into a standalone 3D Printer that just needs a power cord, and your files on SD card to operate. Awesome! The lasercut wood body includes tabs so the MakerBot Gen 4 Interface Board can hang nicely from the top or side of your Bot.

Check out the store page and buy the MakerBot Gen 4 Interface Board Kit v1.1 now!

A close up remote

As a kid I received a few remote control toys.  Back then “remote control” was a funny term that wouldn’t be widely recognizable today. ¹  Imagine opening a toy race car – to find out that the remote control is really just a few dials with a reallllly long cord running to the back of the toy. ²  Yes, I suppose the control is, indeed, remote from the toy.

My point with all of this is that although something is technically true, it can still be a little deceptive.  According to a recent article from the TechTalk section on IEEE Spectrum MakerBot was one of only two 3D printers being displayed at CES 2011 in Las Vegas.  The other was a traditional inkjet printer except that it could blend two images so that you get a “3D” view when wearing those blue-red glasses.

So, how about a new slogan for MakerBot?  Perhaps something like, “You don’t need special glasses.”

1. Photo courtesy of jasleen_kaur [↩]
2. If you were lucky it was a long cord.  If you were unlucky, well, then I suppose there’s no real point in putting batteries in it, right? [↩]

Coasterman's Makerbot Oiling Script

What I love about this new frontier of 3D printing is that everyone can contribute to making DIY 3D printing better for the world.  Even a small improvement can make a big change to the overall community – but raising awareness and drawing in support for a new problem or solution.

Look at basic 3D printer maintenance, this was just something I had always done – but never given much thought to.  Coasterman, on the other hand, found a way to ensure consistent and efficient oiling of a MakerBot Cupcake’s rods.  He’s created a GCode script that will move the platforms around and guide you through the maintenance process.  Now that he’s published this, it’s probably only a matter of time before it is adapted for a Thing-O-Matic or RepRap and then even integrated into ReplicatorG!

To run the script, your machine needs to know where zero is, and then you can run it. In other words, if you move all axes to zero, the machine should put the nozzle on the platform on the center. Endstops are currently not supported.

The machine will prepare for oiling and the script will produce messages to guide you through the process. It will move off to one side for you to oil, then the other side to expose the rest of the rod, then run the axis back and forth to make the oil “set in.” Also, to make oiling the Y easier, it keeps the X off to one side so you have space to stick the oil bottle in.

Oiling Tips:
When oiling the rod, squeeze a bit out over the length of the rod. If little drops of oil start to form hanging below the rod, take a paper towel and suck up the extra oil. The oil should cover the rod but not drip below it.

If, like me, you don’t have wicked software or hardware¹ skills, you can always find a way to help out the community.  Just look at your ‘bot and think about what you’ve done to improve it.  Chances are you can help out a lot of people just by posting your thoughts, ideas, or design files.

1. Or writing [↩]