We have seen some sensational stuff done on MakerBot technology in the past. This collection from the artist David Hirmes has got to be a quick entry into the hall of fame. Check out “Boolean Buddhas“.

These pieces are all based on a single Buddha head model that was uploaded to Thingiverse back in 2010¹ by Peter Bios. David Hirmes notes that the 3D design file is listed in the public domain, which is important. The licenses available on Thingiverse allow everyone else to adapt the file for other uses. Because of that licensing, he felt free to go wild with this art.

Using the free design program Blender, he mashed up the head with other shapes using boolean operations. A boolean is when you subtract the outer surface of an object from another solid object, leaving a negative space in that shape. Two other boolean operations are “union”, or when you mash two things together, and “intersection”, when you leave only the space that the two objects have in common. David’s graphic explains it much more simply.

Look at the insanely cool shapes he got from this process.

The gold paint looks incredible. And here’s the sweetest part, and the part that we have all come to expect: David has graciously shared his entire process on his own website and put all of the design files up on Thingiverse for you, yes YOU, to play with.

1. Take note! There may be some untapped gems for you to explore from years past! [↩]

We told you about our latest firmware release for The Replicator, but there’s nothing sweeter than getting good tips from a fellow user. Andrew Mazzotta has been sharing his growing MakerBot expertise with the world through a series of videos on YouTube (andrewupandabout). In the one above, he demonstrates a great process for updating to Firmware 5.5, and talks about the advantages of using the acceleration feature.

Thanks for the continued great work, Andrew!

Hello intrepid Botsters!  We’ve prepared another episode of our spectacular weekly video series to cap off what’s been an amazing week.  As you may know, Bre was on The Colbert Report, and, possibly even better, we scanned Stephen Colbert’s head so people can make crazy mashups.  Not content to stop there, we just launched a fully assembled version of the Thing-O-Matic.

We show off some of those amazing mashups, and our newest member of the support crew, Sam, also has some tips about the new calibration script in the recently-released ReplicatorG 25.  And that’s not all!  There’s some other fun stuff in there, so check it out.

Improving a print through abrasion

This is the fifth in a series of posts about ways to get even better print results from your 3D printer. ¹  The prior posts provided information on calibrating hardware, upgrading hardware, calibrating software, and maintenance.  Please keep sending in your hints, tips, hacks, and suggestions!  Today’s post is about one of the most common kinds of finishing techniques:

1. Abrasion.Removing excess plastic by abrasion is an obvious way to improve the look of a printed object.  Here are the tools I use to clean up a printed object:
   1. Needle nose pliers or wire cutters to remove any large strings of plastic or plastic blobs.
   2. A spackle or putty knife to pop off any large blobs.  This is the same spackle knife I use to remove printed objects from the print platform.
   3. A utility knife to clean, smooth, and sometimes even carve parts.
   4. Sandpaper or emery board.
   5. I have been known, on occasion, to rub a printed object on concrete to sand down an edge.
   6. I’ve also used drill bits to ream out holes or clean off edges.

What other techniques do you use to abrade a printed model to get a better printed result?

1. Photo courtesy of jwcline [↩]