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Entries in makerbot (15)

Friday
29Jan2010

The Homemade 3D Printer

DateFriday, January 29, 2010 |

Those new to the concept of 3D printing are often even more amazed to find out that it's entirely possible to actually build a 3D printer yourself! It's not particularly easy and you must have very reasonable hardware talent, but definitely possible.
 
You'll need to select a method of depositing print media from many potential concepts, prepare a design for your build chamber, engineer a precision movable print head mechanism, a housing, electronic interfaces and a power source. Oh, and you must develop sophisticated control software to ensure it all works perfectly. 
 
Doesn't sound quite so possible now? Perhaps. 
 
Don't fear! There are several approaches that just might make your project a whole lot easier. Consider the paths taken by others to simplify the work:
  • Re-engineer an existing 2D printer mechanism. There's quite a bit of truth when someone explains that a 3D printer is similar to an inkjet. The print head moves across X and Y dimensions already - you merely have to add the third Z dimension. This greatly simplifies the work.
  • Use an existing design already perfected by others. There are a couple of excellent projects that can provide the necessary designs and even the required software. The leaders in this category would of course be the RepRap project and Fab@Home.
  • Buy a kit. It's not only a proven design, but it's also all the parts and instructions you'll need. Two leading kit makers include MakerBot and The Rap-Man. You can also purchase assembly kits for RepRap and Fab@Home, too. 
It is entirely possible to build a homemade 3D printer. You simply have to decide how much effort you wish to put into the project. If you are up for a difficult technical challenge, design and build it yourself. If you want the assurance that your build will actually work, consider RepRap or Fab@Home. Finally, if you just want to get it done quickly go for a kit. 

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Wednesday
27Jan2010

Opinions on HP's 3D Printer

DateWednesday, January 27, 2010 |

Following up on last week's massive news that HP has linked up with Stratasys to produce an exclusive line of 3D printers, we scanned the 3D blogosphere and found a great many comments and opinions. Here's the highlights:
  • Shapeways thinks this will raise the profile of 3D printing, but says everyone can easily print in 3D already - with their service, of course
  • Replicator thinks it's not a big deal, because HP gets Stratasys's lower-end technology, which might not be applicable to their target market: architects
  • Gizmodo seems excited, but recommends a MakerBot for now
  • TechWorld says "it may not be long until we're printing our own household items as-needed". Well, maybe
  • The Inquirer believes you won't get much change from $20,000 if buying this printer, but "it will make some interesting copies of peoples' bottoms at the office Christmas party"
  • Engadget questions the affordability of the mysterious product, and recommends a MakerBot in the meantime
  • Geek.com is "filled with glee" about the prospects of having their own 3D printer, and says "3D printing is clearly never going to be as useful to most consumers as standard page printing". They compare the mystery HP offering to MakerBot
  • Ponoko fears HP will gouge customers on media cartridges, as they do today for 2D printing, but suggests "schools and businesses may be more comfortable buying a 3D printer from a ‘reputable, known brand’ rather than something like RepRap or MakerBot"
  • Wired thinks the HP offering will "probably cost less than $15,000" and compares this price to MakerBot's USD$950
It seems that the winner, at least of this media blitz, is clearly MakerBot. 

 

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Monday
11Jan2010

3D Printing the Vasona Branch

DateMonday, January 11, 2010 |

The "Vasona Branch" is a model railroad setup by Robert Vasona, who recently wrote on his experiences using 3D printing for a 1920's Drive-In Market section of the model railroad. 
 
Building unique structures is a constant interest among model railroaders, and it seems to us that 3D printing technology is more than an excellent fit for that need. Robert Vasona, as have other model railroaders, have been using the technology to build unusual pieces for their railroads. Recently he's been using a MakerBot.
 
Robert's encounter with 3D printing had several key learnings:
  • Duplicate parts ore easy. Normally model railroaders make parts by hand, and one can imagine the difficulty of producing identical parts. With a 3D printer it's easy. Just print two. 
  • Smooth surfaces are not easy. The MakerBot tends to leave "stripey" surfaces due to the nature of its extrusion. However, Robert fixed the surfaces: "I covered the face with spackle, gesso, or acrylic medium to try to smooth out the edges."
  • Part joins are easy. Building structures by hand usually requires joining several parts together, and the more parts involved, the more difficult it gets to align them all properly. But with a 3D printer you can simply print out the entire object without having to worry about part alignment. 
Via Robert Vasona's Branch Blog

 

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Sunday
10Jan2010

Bre Prettis at 26C3

DateSunday, January 10, 2010 |

The 26th Chaos Communication Congress (26C3) took place in late December in Berlin and offered a multitude of topics from the hacker world. One of the speakers was Bre Prettis of MakerBot, whose speech entitled, "Peanut Butter and Plastic: Industrial Revolution" focused on "decentralized manufacturing and desktop fabrication". 
 
Bre speaks on many things during the 43 minute speech, including promoting the Metric system (yay!) and the amazing era of hardware today, where anyone can do awesome things. He recommends we stop watching TV and start doing things. 
 
He described the Zaggo's 3D whistle design, which once uploaded to Thingiverse was quickly downloaded and printed by many others around the world. "It's the closest thing to teleportation we have today."
 
Caution: the MP4 download is 490Mb, so make you'd better clean out those old 3D models to make some space!
 
Via Uni-KL and Pleasant Hardware

 

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Tuesday
05Jan2010

MakerBot Introduction Video

DateTuesday, January 5, 2010 |

Yeah, we keep talking about MakerBot. But this wonderful video introduces the MakerBot concept and how it arose from Maker Culture. There's plenty of other highly interesting (but unrelated) videos to watch, too. Enjoy!

 

Via Babelgum

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Monday
21Dec2009

MakerBot Hall of Fame

DateMonday, December 21, 2009 |



The MakerBot guys are not just hardware and software geniuses. They are marketing genuises, too. They've set up a "Hall of Fame" for MakerBot users, in the best use of Game Theory we've yet seen in the 3D printing space. This is a terrific approach that we think will definitely make more things happen in the MakerBot world. We thought the Fame Categories were pretty interesting:

  • Tallest Print
  • Biggest Volume
  • Longest Print
  • Most Complex
  • Best Replication
  • Biggest Overhang
  • Highest Resolution
  • Most Awesome Print Ever

With the exception of the last category, all of them are specifically challenging MakerBot users to Make the Machine Better. Building on their previous approach of convincing their customers to build MakerBot for them, they've now set up a framework for customers to improve the product. Well Done, MakerBot!

We can't wait to see the Most Awesome Print Ever, too.

Another thought: Should there be a Hall of Shame? Maybe not, because it'd probably end up being an array of badly colored lumps. Ugh.

Via MakerBot

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Saturday
05Dec2009

Pleasant Tuning of a MakerBot

DateSaturday, December 5, 2009 |



Pleasant Hardware's blog deals with the nuts and bolts of 3D printing, and recently they've been doing experiments with their MakerBot. One of the experiments involves printing "without a raft". The raft is that cross-hatch base layer used to isolate the object from the build platform itself. Their advice:

I recently started with printing objects without a raft (another thing not really advisable without a heated build surface).

Printing without a raft is still tricky, especially when printing complex shapes (like tooth wheels or something like that). So I started with more or less rectangular objects.


Removing the raft obviously saves wasted material, but also simplifies the finishing process since you don't need to shave the raft off your shiny object.

We are truly encouraged by this type of activity; not so much because we have another iPod dock printed, but because it represents something very important: home-based 3D printing is slowly being tuned by not only Pleasant Hardware, but by many others too. The crowd is improving MakerBot, little by little.

Where will we be in a year?

Via Pleasant Hardware

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Thursday
29Oct2009

Gadgetoff 2009

DateThursday, October 29, 2009 |



We noticed MakerBot made an appearance at this year's Gadgetoff in September in New York City. They showed off their amazing Cupcake 3D printer kit, as we've covered before. However, that's not the reason for this post. Instead, we were astonished by all the truly amazing gadgets makers demonstrated at this event. Be sure to watch the videos at the link below. Will that spider-car fit in our garage?

Via DesignVerb and Gadgetoff

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