You’ve probably heard us talk about the fact that we’re an open source company – but you may not know exactly what that means or why a company would choose to follow an open source model. In this episode of MakerBot TV you’ll hear from Bre about how he got hooked on open source and you’ll learn how you can participate in the open source revolution!

PS. Speaking of open source – did you see that the design files for The MakerBot Replicator™ are now on Thingiverse?

Are you coming across the MakerBot Replicator for the first time? Are you still trying to wrap your head around how a MakerBot works? Are you trying to explain to a friend what a MakerBot is, but frustrated because they still don’t get it? Well stop being frustrated and confused and WATCH THIS VIDEO! This is where MakerBot CEO and Co-founder Bre Pettis explains it all! See the MakerBot Replicator in action for the first time ever! And be amazed!

Txchnologist, the online magazine from GE, has posted the first clip from an interview with Bre they did at our workshop. What better subject to start with than Project Shellter?

Watch the the video to hear Bre talk about the mission behind Project Shellter and why the MakerBot community is taking on the challenge. They also got some great shots of the crabitat at Shellter East and a shell being printed on the Thing-O-Matic!

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?!).

Bre Pettis Bioloid

Thanks to Skimbal we now have a cyborg CEO.  Now all we need is cyborg talk show host.

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MakerBot’s Tony Buser has been doing quite a few experiments with mashing up the heads we have been 3D scanning lately. He put Bre’s head on the Statue of Liberty, Stephen Colbert’s head on a Teddy Bear, and made a classic statue bust and plinth of his own 3D scan. Well, this line of investigations has lead finally to the inevitable, the highest form of statuary … bobbleheads!

Now, “bobbleheads” (also bobbing head dolls, nodders, wobbler, dashboard nodders, and “those things you get at baseball games sometimes”) have been a quest for MakerBot Operators for a while now — one actually calling up to ask what the “bobblehead setting” was for ReplicatorG.¹ Well, Tony didn’t stop his work at producing one bobblehead, he created parametric tools to help all of us make the bobbleheads we have been dreaming of!

Check out his detailed step-by-step instructions for how to use his negative object or “nega-thing” to punch the bobblehead cavity and spring mount into the base of your own head model! Or a hero’s head model. Or an enemy.

He includes a great “*sta”² base — and you can use his tools to design and share your own base as well. Tony has observed that mounting bobblehead on the turning spool works pretty well.  Bonus points to the first MakerBot Operator to artfully integrate a bobblehead into beatbot’s Spazzi! (Perhaps next to Isaac’s Sign of the Horns?)

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1. True story. [↩]
2. ie the classic Gangsta mashup model [↩]

Colbert Corn Screw by fido

Thingiverse, taken as a collective, is an amazing thing.  Sometimes all you have to do is leave a comment saying do or don’t want something…  and someone will upload a printable version of it.

Bre says, “I feel a beard coming on… NOOOOOOOOO!”  And less than a day later, Coasterman posted a picture of Bre with an octopus beard. ¹  Three days ago mattproc asked, “Can we get one [corn cob screw] with Colbert’s head as the handles?”  Less than twelve hours after that request fido uploaded Colbert Corn Screws, as derivative of his own Corn Cob Screws work.

What do you wish someone would upload to Thingiverse?

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1. Hey, Coasterman, can you upload the STL? [↩]

Getting Started with MakerBot

Coming later this year from MAKE and O’Reilly Media, Inc., Bre and MakerBlock have teamed up on a new book: Getting Started with MakerBot.  Here’s just a little blurb to whet your appetite:

Get a hands-on introduction to the world of personal fabrication with the MakerBot, the easiest and most affordable rapid prototyper available. This book shows you how the MakerBot open source 3D printer democratizes manufacturing and brings the power of large factories right to your desktop. Not only will you learn how to operate MakerBot, you’ll also get guidelines on how to design and print almost anything you can imagine — including models, mechanical parts, puzzles, and toys.

What’s more, this book is coming out under a Creative Commons license, and you can read the text of the book as it’s being written,¹ through the magic of O’Reilly’s Open Feedback Publishing System.  The book is available right here.

1. No pressure, right? [↩]

Does Bre Pettis dream of electric sheep?

MakerBot Cupcake operator and Thingiverse champion Skimbal has done it again. ¹  This is not a guy who does anything half way. ²  While not a prolific designer, his works have easily become some of the most epic and memorable pieces ever printed on a 3D printer. ³

Skimbal’s latest work, in collaboration with Jestin Stoffel of the Cowtown Computer Congress, created this multi-print job Bre Pettis talking head.  See if you can tell the difference between the one Skimbal printed and the original:

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1. I hesitate to claim he’s outdone himself simply because his work is always SO epic. [↩]
2. Well, I guess the VW bus would be the exception? [↩]

3. • VW Bus
   • Gothic Cathedral Play Set
   • Spider Pumpkin of DOOM
   • Rubber Band Gear Mechanism
   • CD-ROM Motor Pump
   • Christmas Lego Men
   • Bathtub U-Boat
   • Bre Pettis Talking Head

   [↩]

Bre appeared on CNN’s “The Big I” this morning!