There are two excellent posts from Shane Graber, or sgraber on Thingiverse, about using a MakerBot for your aquarium. The first of these is a general introduction to aquarium owners themselves as to why 3D printing can be useful for that hobby. I have to be honest, I had never thought about it, but Shane makes a pretty good case:

Picture this: It’s late Saturday night and you hear a noise coming from your fish room. Upon investigation, you find your return pump is buzzing loudly and not pumping water. “Huh? What’s going on here?!” You disassemble the pump and discover that an impeller blade has sheared off, and you don’t have a replacement on hand. … However, you are no ordinary hobbyist because you have a 3D printer at your disposal. You fire up your favorite modeling program and quickly model a replacement impeller then hit the [Print] button. The printer begins spitting out molten plastic.  15 minutes later you are fitting your replacement impeller in place and have saved yourself a lot of heartache and worry — and possibly the lives of many critters in your tank.

Well gosh, when you put it that way. Printing replacement parts is always a compelling reason to have a MakerBot at home. It’s even more compelling when it’s a matter of life and death!

Today Shane posted another great piece on Advanced Aquarist about 3D printing parts for the entire process of fragging and propagating coral in your aquarium. I know what you’re thinking: if only that previous sentence had more ‘p’ and ‘r’ sounds. I’ll try harder.

The post is a great tutorial in fragging, showing you different kinds of plugs you could use and why, and explaining that for parts you want to sink in saltwater, PLA is a better option than ABS. Shane printed all these parts on his Cupcake CNC, including the coral frag plugs that he designed, and they look fantastic. It’s also so interesting to hear about this application of 3D printing that I had never considered.

What is your hobby? How much of what you do for that hobby could be printed on a MakerBot?

Shane's Coral Frag Plugs by sgraber

This Thing is a coral frag plug that is used when propagating (i.e. "fragging") coral in the saltwater aquarium hobby. Coral fragments are either cut or broken off of the mother colony and then glued to this frag plug using cyanoacrylate gel (superglue). The resulting fragged coral plug is mounted into 14mm eggcrate that is submerged in the saltwater aquarium where it is left until it is either traded with another hobbyist or sold at a frag swap. I have uploaded four variations on a concept that I have been toying with for what might be useful to a coral farmer. I am keenly interested in optimizing this concept so that it Works for those needing a good, quality, multi-purpose coral frag plug so please leave comments on how I might improve this Thing.

This thing brought to you by

Shane's Two-Piece Coral Frag Plugs by sgraber

This Thing is a coral frag plug that is used when propagating coral (i.e. "fragging") in the saltwater aquarium hobby. The post for this frag plug has been made removable making it much easier to glue a mounted frag into place in your aquarium as you now don't have to deal with the post being in the way. Rejoice! Coral fragments are either cut or broken off of the mother colony and then glued to this frag plug using cyanoacrylate gel (superglue). The resulting fragged coral plug is mounted into 14mm eggcrate that is submerged in the saltwater aquarium where it is left until it is either traded with another hobbyist or sold at a frag swap.

This thing brought to you by

Hyperboloid pencil holder by MakeALot

Tinkercad just profiled a cool MakerBotter: Thingiverse user MakeALot, who also occasionally goes by the name Mark Durbin. You may remember Mark as the creator of the Amsterdam House chess set, which took Second Runner Up honors in the recent Tinkercad design challenge.

Go have a read! But also note that Mark’s “house backs onto fields which often contain cows, horses and even sheep, sometimes; you look into the back garden and appear to have a herd of cows.”

I love the idea of a MakerBot printing away out in the pastures. This makes me want to see a picture of where each of your Cupcakes and Thing-O-Matics and Replicators sit in your home or office. If you’ve got a photo, send it over!

There was a really nice set of responses to a post last week about sketching. Basically, I asked whether blog readers and MakerBot operators were accustomed to sketching their designs from the very beginning or using CAD tools to 3D model a design from the get go.

I just thought the responses deserved a quick recap, especially because they underscore the point that there is no right answer. As someone who jumped into this company with no background in 3D printing or any other hardware hacking, I have been continually surprised how accessible the concepts are. I think it’s nice to point out that those of you who do such great work all also have varying processes — so the results aren’t just individualized, the process is too.

The star of today’s episode of MakerBot TV, Kacie Hultgren (aka PrettySmallThings), said that the sketching stage is often absent from her work; not because she eschews pencil and paper, but because much of what she does comes from photographs. It’s pre-sketched, in a way.

Emmett, whose Things number among the most notable contributions in the Thingiverse, similarly doesn’t sketch much. But in his case, it’s because his “imagination works in 3D already.” Communicating an idea to someone else, however, deserves a sketch. Renee  not only sketches, but cleans that sketch up in Illustrator before bringing it into a modeling environment.

The creator of MakerBot mascot R.Maker (pictured above), ErikJDurwoodII, said he sketches to lend some purpose to the CAD process, even if that sketch will change over time, and Gregg Wygonik also uses sketching to make sure the computer phase doesn’t include avoidable elements that cause discouragement. (Visit Gregg’s Thingiverse page here.)

Stephen Holmes, who writes for Develop3D, pinged us on twitter with a really relevant article showing yet another mindset: 3D sketching. The people at the UK product design consultancy 3form Design (3fD) do specifically leave pencil and paper sketching out of their process. Founder Austen Miller argues that the “reverse engineering” required to take a designers sketch on paper into the domain of the engineer can cause the loss of original design intentions. Instead, the groups designers start in SolidWorks.

Echoing what our commenters said:

Miller doesn’t succumb to the argument that by jumping straight into CAD stifles creativity. In his opinion, just like pen and paper, CAD is a tool and depends whose hand it’s in as to the end result. “Creativity should not be measured by the medium we choose but how successful we can be with it…”

Thanks, all, for the input!

Alright! It’s closing time for most people, so here are the final three things in your Friday the 13th Thingiverse Quest. I’m posting them all here in descending order, and waiting for your replies in the comments. Click “Read More” to see the entire list.

Remember that you have to give me the appropriate Thingiverse ID numbers (e.g. “123456″ from www.thingiverse.com/thing:123456) for items 1-13 below.

Thing 13.

The only four-digit Thing on this list, #13 is out of place in terms of seasons (at least in New York). But by the look of it, it fits right in with Passover!

Thing 12.

Whoo whoo whooo can find this Thing for me? This helpful accessory has been bringing eyes and ears together since 2009.

Thing 11.

It took 13 months to build, and you may be surprised to know it does indeed have a 13th floor.

Read the rest of this entry »

My friend Bruce had a pretty nice suggestion for limiting the number of posts involved in this Quest. So I’ll knock it down to this one and just one more! Here are your next three Things:

Thing 8.

The maker of this Thing says it holds a particular amount of a particular kind of beverage. Sounds delicious!

Thing 9.

Ever sat on the dock of the Bay? Maybe you saw the real-life version of Thing 9 while you were there! A San Francisco landmark.

Thing 10.

Hang this elegant Thing in your closet to keep things tidy. This may be less relevant to women.

Thing 7.

This is either a lovely tunnel for ants or a perfect accessory for underneath your desk. What Thingiverse Thing am I talking about?

We’re halfway through, so it’s a perfect time to remind you that this is not an official MakerBot challenge. This is mine and mine alone, and your reward will be my Endless respect indeed.

Thing 6.

Right hand rules and coils. Find this Thing and the Thingiverse user who uploaded it might just lead you out of Egypt.

Six down on your quest for the Freaky Friday grail!

Thing 5.

So we’re not supposed to walk under ladders, but would it be safe to walk under this? Because if not, that’s 7 years’ bad luck for roughly 7 million people a year.

Go get the fifth Thing for your quest and keep following till the end of the day! We’ve got eight more after this.

Remember: you’re looking for Thingiverse items with ID numbers that add to 13.

Thing 4.

The Thingiverse Friday the 13th Quest is rolling, and I hope you’re having fun.

Mother’s day is a mere month away. Feel connected to your mother, kinda, with this Thing. I hope this clue isn’t too much of a stretch.

Thing 3.

Okay, I’m sorry. Maybe this is a little hoeky, but this guy made a lot of us dream and wonder. Find him.

Go!