MakerBot Industries

The title says it all. Or does it.

A father/daughter project of assembling a Thing-O-Matic didn’t stop when the last nut was bolted into place. A paint job was in order, but that meant the famed MakerBot logo had to go…temporarily of course. Instead of merely repainting the logo, Tinkerer and his daughter took it upon themselves to take that logo and render it in three dimensions, and then paint it.

What really gets me is this line in the description: “I created a 3D text of the MakerBot name/logo that you can print out to add bling to your printer.” Make sure to take a look at Tinkerer’s bot – it’s smokin’ hot.

MakerBot 3D Text Logo by Tinkerer

I created a 3D text of the MakerBot name/logo that you can print out to add bling to your printer or maybe blend into other objects like key chains or what have you. I created this in Solidworks (because that is what I know) so I attached the native part file in addition to the STL file. My daughter and I finished building our Makerbot Thing-O-Matic last week and we decided to paint it red on the outside and white on the inside. This obliterated the nice logo's that Makerbot prints on the wood, so that is what we decided to create this 3D printed logo to attach onto the front of the bot.

This thing brought to you by

colorbroken's Film Advance Crank

Colorbroken on Thingiverse just uploaded a 120 Film Advance Crank.  Replacement cranks and knobs are nothing new to Thingiverse.  Replacement cranks and knobs are probably the first repair people think of when looking at a MakerBot.  They’re easy to model, small enough to print without too many problems, and relatively easy to print.

What makes this particular knob special is how colorbroken designed it.  A typical knob design would include a thin cylinder sitting atop a flat… knobby bit.  Using Skeinforge, you would then set the desired fill ratio of plastic.  However, there are different benefits to different fill ratios. ¹  The problem with a heavy fill is that the part uses more plastic, takes longer to print, and is heavier – the upside being it will be a more sturdy part.  The problem with a low fill is the part is more sparse and potentially weaker² , but it prints much quicker and conserves plastic.

But what if you need one area of the part to print quickly and another area of the part to be extra sturdy?

Well, colorbroken thought of an interesting way around this problem.  By putting a hollow core inside the axle for the knob, the MakerBot printed a thick ring inside the axle.  The end result is the knob is whatever fill he specified, but the axle has a thick sturdy hard core running all the way through it providing additional strength and durability.  I love this design tip for its simplicity and effectiveness.

Thanks for the idea colorbroken!

1. Fill ratios aren’t rocket science.  I use 20% fill on all of parts unless I absolutely have to change that setting. [↩]
2. Although, I’ve printed amazingly sturdy parts using a fill as low as 10%.  It’s really a testament to the strength of ABS. [↩]