Parametric Tardis by Gossamer

If there’s something that’s even better than a regular TARDIS, it’s a parametric OpenSCAD TARDIS. ¹  In the true spirit of Thingiverse, the designer Gossamer, shared their designs and source code.  Doing so allowed other users to join in, offer suggestions, and Gossamer immediately updated the TARDIS code to incorporate these improvements.

Here are two OpenSCAD pro-tips:

• Best Programming Practices.  OpenSCAD for Windows tends to freak out when you don’t add a leading “0″ to a decimal.  By adding writing “0.5″ rather than “.5″ you can ensure compatibility across platforms.  Thanks Bluemetal!
• Too Many Elements.  Sometimes OpenSCAD will complain that there are too many elements.  You’ll see this happen a lot more when you’ve got some “for loops” or lots of nested functions. By adding “render()” before a group of code, you force OpenSCAD to render and cache that group of code.  Each successive render will be a lot quicker. Thanks Tbuser!

What other OpenSCAD tips do you have to share?

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1. And, goodness knows, I feel compelled to blog anything Doctor Who related. [↩]

Tardis : Laser cut cardboard version by t4obrien

So, here’s the deal.  I’m a Doctor Who fanboy.  I think that show is awesome.  And, I like blogging about awesome things.  So, if you share something related to Doctor Who on Thingiverse, however tangentially, I’m probably going to start gushing about it.

This detailed and thoughtfully laid out laser-cuttable cardboard version of a TARDIS by t4obrien totally qualifies as awesome.  I don’t own a laser cutter, but I just found the perfect excuse for buying one.  And, if you don’t glue the pieces together, you could open it up so that it is larger on the inside…

Untitled by t4obrien

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TARDIS Lollipop Mold by Bioluminescence

How do you make a time traveling, infinitely big on the inside, flying police call box even cooler?  You make it out of candy.

Bioluminescence has provided their design files, STL’s, materials list, and instructions for how anyone can make their own time traveling candy.

Also, I would like to take this opportunity to publicly address the rumors that uploading anything Doctor Who related will definitely get liked, commented upon, and then blogged by me.  Let me put this issue to rest by assuring everyone, once and for all, this is completely true.

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LED Micro-TARDIS by Bioluminescence

Thingiverse citizen Bioluminescence has contributed this magnificent Time And Relative Dimensions In Space, including a little glowing LED at the top.  It features a back panel that can slide into place, spaces for wire springs, batteries, and, of course, the glowing bit at the top.  Bioluminescence has also provided copious notes on their construction, even down to how to color the plastic with a blue sharpie to get just that right TARDIS-blue.  And, I always appreciate photos showing a design’s progression from prototype to final form. ¹

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1. It’s all very Aristotelian.    [↩]

TARDIS and mini-TARDIS

Everything about this makes me happy. ¹²  Tony Buser printed the same object³ twice, fixed a hardware issue in between, printed it again in a scaled down form, and got a much better print result the second time.  In his words:

Now that I fixed the ripple problem. Unfortunately I don’t think I have enough blue filament for another large one.

Of course, he⁴ could always use the second print to go back in time and fix the ripple problem before his earlier self printed⁵ the first TARDIS. ⁶

1. Yes, I may well be a Doctor Who fanboy. [↩]
2. Tell me something I don’t know. [↩]
3. Two TARDIS‘es [↩]
4. Tony Buser One [↩]
5. Tony Buser Two [↩]
6. Sure, it might tear a hole in the universe, but I’m pretty sure he could fix that too. [↩]

Panoramic Egg (parametric too!) by MakerBlock

Basic Egg Cup, printed by Mark Cohen

I talked with Keith, MakerBot’s Marketing Manager, last week — he had a theory why so many great things went up on Thingiverse around Easter / Passover: ”This season is already really crafty, like Halloween. You are expected to create decorations while drawing families together — so this is a great Thingiverse season.”

So much awesome¹ went up after my Stanford Bunny post last week that I wanted to highlight a few more favorites. A number are egg-focused, including MakerBlock’s incredible parametrical panoramic egg.² So another reason must certainly have something to do with eggs, eggshells, egg-bots, and the things you can do with all of these things.

Untitled by EggyWeggs

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1. Keith’s favorite word [↩]
2. Mashups are no longer just hijinks, they are becoming some of my favorite designs on Thingiverse. I cannot wait to have the time to try to print MakerBlock’s design, as well as Chick In Egg by nicholasclewis [↩]