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May 10 2012
MUGNY Live!
As we did last month, we are about to live stream our MakerBot User Group New York (MUGNY) meeting! Please join us here on the blog, or come over to UStream.com. Enjoy!
Live Video streaming by Ustream
Baltimore Teacher Shows Kids The World Of MakerBotting
Man, talk about teacher appreciation. Here is a teacher I think we can all appreciate.
In late March, I got looped into a series of emails involving our Support guys and our Education team. As I read through the long thread, I learned that a man named David Brelsford down in Baltimore was making every effort to get his hands on some MakerBots. Not for himself, but for his students. As Dave put it, his is a group of “amazing kids,” but their school sits “in a pretty rough area, a lot of gang activity, drugs and crime.”
When The Replicator launched in January, Dave asked us directly what we planned to do with all the Thing-O-Matics in the BotFarm. A lot of these were being cycled back into R&D, but we still had a handful in limbo. Dave made us this deal: if MakerBot donated the machines to his school, he would give them all the TLC necessary to get them up and running, use them to teach his students about robotics and the thrill of making stuff, and report back to us on everyone’s progress. He and I made a virtual handshake, and not too long later he was up here in Brooklyn to pick up his three new Thing-O-Matics.
These three TOMs are now down at NAF Prep, where they sit in Dave’s Bot Lot. This is where he hopes to build some momentum toward a pre-engineering class at the middle school.
After a few weeks of having the TOMs down in Baltimore, I had a chance to catch up with Dave and check the group’s progress. He told me there is a “definite ‘really interested-almost psychotically’ group of 8” kids regularly stopping by the Bot Lot after school. Even the “principal is hooked on it as well. She came by the other day, and really saw how the kids would interact with the machines. We are now working on a way to make this a part of an actual class.”
So far, Dave and the students have done some “tuning as far as resolution, and optimal temps,” but are mostly trying to refine their workflow. As a teacher, he said it was crucial for the group to talk extensively about safety. He used the opportunity to get the kids practicing conversions from Celsius to Fahrenheit.
As for design, the group is testing a variety of programs. Tinkercad, Google SketchUp, and 3Dtin. Dave says he might be leaning toward 3Dtin and that SketchUp may have too steep of a learning curve to get the kids started with a MakerBot.
I’m looking forward to checking in with Dave and hearing how he’s using the Thing-O-Matics in his curriculum. He has shown so much drive and passion just in tracking down the machines themselves that I know he is going to be a great voice for MakerBotting teachers. One quick note I’ll share from him is that the presence of the program has already had a positive effect on at least one student’s behavior at school. Dave and Kyosha have spent a lot of time printing parts for a quadcopter. Can’t wait to see this!
If you’re a teacher and you use a MakerBot, I would love to share your stories and best practices. You can always email me.
Classic Letter Scale by Maakit
Printable Letter Scale by Maakit
A store-bought postage scale might set you back anywhere between $10-$20. This amazing design from Maakit creates a working letter/postage scale you can build yourself and use with a minimal amount of calibration. If you’re not sure if you need one of these – you might want to check with that special knitter in your life. Besides using our postage scale for determining correct postage, my wife uses a postage scale all the time to weigh yarn when she’s designing knitting patterns – so she can give people a sense of how much yarn is needed for a particular design.
It may actually surprise you how many special mothers in your life might appreciate this exact gift. You’ll have fun building it for her and she’ll love using it. 1 (You really should call her more, you know?)
- Maybe you could even personalize it with an embossed message?
Awesome Video Of A First Print
Okay, I’m not the only one getting truly excellent first prints out of The Replicator. Check this video from Teehan+Lax Labs in Toronto. This bust looked great right after they took the support material off, but beautiful after some quick finishing.
Design firms, you’re on notice. This is how it’s done.
Click here to view the embedded video.
Also, what are these gears for, guys?! So glad you’re off and running.
Printing gears off the @makerbot for our next project – bit.ly/KpJ9yN
— Teehan+Lax Labs (@tllabs) May 10, 2012
Kickstarter Record Breakers Add The Replicator To Their Toolbox
You gotta love this. Have you heard about the Pebble Watch? Eric Migicovsky’s company Pebble has raised a record-breaking $10 million+ on Kickstarter1 — with a week left in its campaign — to produce its Bluetooth supported smart watch.
They thought they’d raise enough money to make 1,000 of these beautiful and highly sought after watches. Well, now it looks like they’ll have to produce 85,000. That’s a tall order, except that they say they’ll use The Replicator to help the production process.
The team has smashed the Kickstarter record for funding, and collected its initial goal of $100,000 in a matter of two hours, and had surpassed $200,000 within four hours.
The Pebble crew is a ten person startup, which Migicovsky says is working around the clock on perfecting the software. Regardless of the team’s heavy workload, Migicovsky assures that backers will receive a Pebble in the order in which they were purchased. In the future, says Migicovsky, the production phase will bolstered upon the purchase of a MakerBot replicator.
More proof that a MakerBot is an essential tool for the entrepreneur.
via Digital Trends
- !!!!!!!
What Is A “Real Manufactured Good”, Anyway?
Need everyone’s input on this. Someone just posted a comment on a BusinessWeek feature on MakerBot and our CEO Bre Pettis.
I Like Bre…Great Charisma and energy. I wish him well. I think his printers will be successful but ultimately real manufactured goods will still be made with industrial 3D printers. I believe that his equipment is perfect as an educational piece, hobbyists or even classrooms.
Is this true? This sounds like the commenter is taking for granted that manufacturing will never change, as if it’s always been the same. We make MakerBots so that people can make the things they want and need, not just one copy of something that was made a million times. The way things are done now satisfies the broadest base of customers.
What does it mean to say something is a “real manufactured good”? Does that mean that something you make for yourself can’t be just as good as something that was made for you? We totally disagree.
By the way, the article in BusinessWeek today is great. And in case you’re wondering, you can now scan yourself in a number of ways that don’t involve cornstarch! But the cornstarch method is still fun. 4Chan founder Moot and new media guru/Internet philosopher Clay Shirky were into it! Watch the video of their scans below.
Where You MakerBot
Sorry folks. We’ve been getting some great pictures of MakerBot habitats in our inbox, but I have now acquired a backlog. Fixing that! But please do keep sending.
Here’s Ben’s TOM home. Looks like a busy workspace! What is that board attached to, Ben? It looks like it’s wrapped up in bubble wrap, making it doubly interesting.
Ben's Thing-O-Matic
Why Makers Make Less Trash
Yesterday’s New York Times had an interesting piece about a group of people in Amsterdam who help people fix things instead of throw them out; like an old iron that doesn’t steam or a skirt with a hole in it.
Founder of the Repair Cafe, Martine Postma:
“In Europe, we throw out so many things,” said Martine Postma, a former journalist who came up with the concept after the birth of her second child led her to think more about the environment. “It’s a shame, because the things we throw away are usually not that broken. There are more and more people in the world, and we can’t keep handling things the way we do.”
Exactly! This is how Makers see the world. Sure, something breaks, but that doesn’t mean it’s ready for the trash can. Look at all the things that have been saved with the mindset that Ms. Postma talks about:
Wrist Watch Back by Renosis
Thingiverse user Renosis saved a family member’s beloved wrist watch by making a replacement for the lost battery cover. He wrote, “I don’t expect anyone has the same watch and if they do, I wouldn’t expect that they lost the back to it. This is more of a proof of concept. I wanted to post it because I was so amazed that it worked and hopefully, it will inspire someone else to use this temporary fix one day if their watch breaks.”
Dishwasher Lock Mechanism by rbckman
rbckman made a replacement lock mechanism for his buddy’s dishwasher. The manufacturer of the dishwasher wasn’t shipping that part anymore, so they either had to fix it with a custom part or throw out the dishwasher. The choice is clear!
Blender gear by lazlo
lazlo‘s blender broke, and the solution was to simply make a new gear. Why throw out an almost perfectly good blender? Good as new.
The other day, Brendan Dawes saved a mop from going to the garbage by just making a couple new clips.
Annelise talked about her own fix to the drain plug in her kitchen sink. If you don’t have a handle to remove that plug, it’s gotta go. That handle broke, so she just made a new one, and avoided a trip to Home Depot.
Even better: these are all available for free for anyone! Sometimes people wonder, “why should I make more stuff out of plastic?” But a lot of times it’s more about the waste you’re not creating by keeping old things in good condition!
What have you revitalized with a MakerBot?
You Know What Makes Me Mad? Ink Cartridges.
At MakerBot, we are on a mission to make manufacturing things yourself inexpensive, easy, and fun. We hold the MakerBot Operators of the world in the highest regard. We’ve been engineering our tails off to bring you the best personal 3D printer and we rejected the proprietary cartridge model for printing materials which other companies use, because we encourage sharing and iteration. And those are both best done when material is inexpensive. You can be generous and give things away and the cost of failure is low. We believe the low cost of failure will drive people to iterate their designs, bask in the glow of innovation, and invent the future.
I hate the ink cartridge business model where the machine is ultra cheap and the ink cartridge is absurdly expensive. Have you ever bought an inkjet printer inexpensively and then run out of ink at a critical moment? Then you have to go out and spend a lot of money on a whole new cartridge. It often is cheaper and more convenient to buy a new printer than it is to buy a replacement cartridge. On top of that, I’ve had an inkjet say it’s out of ink when there’s visibly still ink in the cartridge. This is done by chipping the cartridges to monitor use, so you can never use all the material. That makes me so mad. It’s wrong.
This is such an old, accepted model of doing business, we don’t even think about it anymore. Razor blades, ink cartridges, photo printers, Swiffers, and mobile phones & service contracts. That’s the old world. That’s a wasteful world. That’s a world in which consumers are treated like hostages. That’s not the future I want to live in. The way we’re doing things at MakerBot is common sense. It shouldn’t be a revolutionary business model, but these days, it is.
May 09 2012
Make A Fruit Bowl
On Teacher Appreciation week, I’m remembering my elementary school teacher Ms. Harrelson, who said nothing has to be perfect; just give it a shot and see what happens.
Unfortunately for Ms. Harrelson, I made something on Monday and it’s basically perfect. This was really exciting because it was one of the first things I made with my new Replicator, I barely changed the default settings, and it printed flawlessly the first time. Behold, my apple.
Apple by jbakutis
This started with the purely awesome Original Apple logo in 3D by acen. I wanted to photograph some of our people here offering an apple to a teacher they really liked. But acen’s has a bite taken out of it. First I discussed with the design guys how we could change this into a dualstrusion model, with a red peel, and natural colored fruit on the inside. Jason suggested another route: why not split acen’s model in half and mirror it to get a whole apple?
Bing, bang, boom.
I made this on a Replicator at 0.27mm layer height, feed rate of 55, 5% infill. I wanted something that would look good from a distance in a picture, but I’m telling you this thing looks beautiful. No cracking, no irregularities, and honest to goodness practically no effort. In Replicator G, under Scale, I clicked on “Fill Build Space!” – or in other words, I Keith-ed it1 . This made the model 6” tall, so I scaled down by 0.7 to get an apple that’s just over 4 inches tall. For this, we made the leaf a separate piece, so this isn’t a dualstrusion file.
Sminnee asked on Thingiverse if I used any support material, but the answer is no. I might add another shell if I make it again; I just used one this time. I wonder if the very top, right where the leaf piece fits snugly into the apple itself, would have looked smoother with a little more structure in that area. One of our modelers, Jason, thought the model should have a hole all the way through the center of it. This gives the stem area, which dips down, a little beam of internal support.
But on account of the hole all the way through, this is also now a possible jewelry piece.
There are several fruit pieces, fruit bowls, and other accessories on Thingiverse (listed below). So here’s one more for your collection, or perhaps you think your mom would want a fruit bowl on Sunday. Enjoy!
- not surprisingly, I did this at Keith’s suggestion.
May 08 2012
How To MakerBot A Joke
Oh…pranks.
A couple of the guys in Software thought it would be fun to mess with our CTO, Adam Mayer. Far, our head of software, first thought to model up a fake keyboard and replace the one on Adam’s desk. Joe suggested a mouse instead, MakerBotted in black ABS.
That cord is just a string of black ABS. The joke really threw Adam for a minute, who finally flipped the mouse over to see what the problem was. Of course he realized immediately what had happened, and just so everyone could share in the fun, there was a smiley face staring back at him.
Kudos to Todd for designing this thing, and I’m further impressed that Far and the others were able to wait patiently until the next morning to watch this unfold.
So now you know what MakerBot software guys do for fun.
UPDATE! The mouse model by Zenix is now up on Thingiverse. Go get it and mess with your favorite/least favorite coworker today.
Countdown To May MUGNY Event!
A mere two days from now — 50 hours, to be precise — we will host the second big MUGNY (MakerBot User Group, New York) event of the year. We have been invited by Parsons School for Design, part of The New School in New York City. Check below for important details on how to be a part of this event.
For fans of 3D design, creativity, awesome things, learning, and making (did I leave anyone out?) this is going to be a blast. At the last MUGNY, we featured some MakerBot staff members and various short tutorials. This month, we will have two rock star designers from our community: PrettySmallThings and Cushwa.
PrettySmallThings, occasionally known as Kacie Hultgren, is a scenic designer, among other preoccupations. She uses her MakerBot to print scale models of detailed furniture and sets for Broadway productions, and you’ll see she has nearly 30 beautiful, original designs on Thingiverse. This is a rare opportunity to hear a specialized artist speak in person about her trade. Awesome!
Tom Cushwa, or Cushwa on Thingiverse, is similarly specialized. He creates 3D models for film and television, and has lately become fanatical about making his digital designs tangible with a MakerBot. His Owl Statue has been downloaded over 1,200 times; WHOA.
This event is open to the public and not one to miss. Check this address carefully, since Parsons does have buildings in different spots of the city. Join us on Thursday for enlightening talks and a chance to meet other MakerBot operators.
Where:
The New School
Parsons School of Design
“Masters in Design & Technology Thesis Show”
6 E 16th Street
12th Floor, Room 1200
When:
6:30pm – 8:00pm
MakerBot will provide light snacks and refreshments.
Here is a simple tilt-shift adapter which will attach to any micro four thirds camera body and hold a Nikon Series E 50mm lens. This adapter will create a tilt-shift effect or miniature effect in your photos (see examples below). This is intended to be a more durable and cheaper solution than both DIY and commercial lenses ($2100). It was designed to be part of the "Make It Real Contest" on instructables, so if you dIg it - follow this link and vote for my project. Thanks!
check out the project on instructables instructables.com/id/Printable-Tilt-Shift-Lens-Adapter/
download the files at thingiverse.com/thing:22325
Teachers, This Apple’s For You
“It’s important to take the time to color inside the lines.”
“12 x 12 = 144″
“The Treaties of Westphalia heralded the era of the nation state in Europe.”
“An adverb describes a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.”
“Do your best; nobody can ask for more than that.”
“The First Law of Thermodynamics is you do not talk about Thermodynamics.”
Think about it: there was a specific point in time when you learned each of these things. (I double checked all but the last one, but it sounds right.) We learned these things, and we did it through the persistence and patience of great teachers, at home or in the classroom.
Whether your formal education is ongoing — hey, young readers! — or ended 50 years ago, there is never a bad time to reflect on the people who chose teaching for their career. It is a demanding and often thankless job, and we at MakerBot want teachers to know they are always on our minds.
If you are a MakerBot owner, you have the chance to give the teachers in your life a special gift. It could be a customized nameplate, a desk organizer, or the old standby, an apple.
I made an apple yesterday on my Replicator and brought it around to some of the people here at MakerBot. These are people in our company who come from lots of different backgrounds, and I was personally curious to know which teachers inspired them and got them here. Here are their answers.
Adam, Co-Founder and CTO
Is there one teacher you remember fondly?
Mrs. Wolff, physics teacher.
What was one thing that person taught you that stuck?
That there’s no luminiferous ether.
What would you say to that teacher if you had a chance?
Why the hell wasn’t that part of the basic curriculum?
Jeanene, Head of Operations
Is there one teacher you remember fondly?
My favorite teacher has to be Father Art Wheeler from the University of Portland. He was not only my favorite history professor, he was also my favorite beer buddy. I went to a small school, where some of the teachers lived on campus and in the student dorms, so we had the opportunity to know them beyond the classroom. Father Art was wise beyond having an encyclopedic historical mind; he also had many memories from his extensive travels.
What was one thing that person taught you that stuck?
The one thing that stuck with me were histories of traveling to Asia and all that he had seen and experienced there. It stuck because I went to live in Japan and work for a year after college. I learned some of his stories were true and some had been a little “embellished.” The lesson was get outside of your comfort zone and do something different!
What would you say to that teacher if you had a chance?
If there was one thing I would give Father Art, it would be a heart within a globe.
Far, Director of Software
Is there one teacher you remember fondly?
A shoe-in: Physics Prof Robert Pompi of Binghamton U. Greatest. Physics 131 Evar.
What was one thing that person taught you that stuck?
He taught me that those crazy equations we had to memorize *meant* something, in a way I had never learned before. That there is a lot of meaning embedded in those small equations, and when you know how to use them, that meaning is uncovered in excellent and amazing ways. He was great at also teaching folks that being a good person was as important as being an excellent scientist.
What would you say to that teacher if you had a chance?
Prof. Pompi, thanks for making time for undergrads, and treating us as intelligent, learning humans. You spent a lot of time teaching green undergrads how to think, rather than on research. We still swap stories about you when we hang out, you made a lot of fans, and made a lot of people smarter, and more thoughtful. Also, I appreciate now how you were a bit of a bike nerd. I didn’t get it back then, but I totally dig the simplicity and elegance of bikes now.
Keith, Events Manager
Is there one teacher you remember fondly?
Margaret Lopez, my 5th Grade Teacher at Nut Swamp School. At 70 years old this was her final year teaching. She was an amazing, energetic person who had just won first place in the “70 and over” category in the New York City Marathon. She had an amazing spirit and wasn’t afraid to do things her own way.
What was one thing that person taught you that stuck?
There was a wooded area behind our grammar school. A path led to a cleared area that served as an “outdoor classroom.” We spent most of our days outside in the woods, learning about plants, trees and wildlife. I had never experienced education this way before and realized this was very special. It felt like summer camp and school at the same time. I’ll never forget this.
What would you say to that teacher if you had a chance?
Thank you for teaching me to explore my world and to be creative in my work. I am looking forward to completing my first New York City Marathon when I turn 70!
Charles, Director of Research & Development
Is there one teacher you remember fondly?
I was never a student of Doc Hersh (Dr. Bennett Hershfield), but several of my friends were. Sometimes after school we would hang out in the lab for a bit when someone had to talk to him. We would sometimes chat about experiments I thought of. His typical response would be either an in-depth explanation or simply, “I don’t know, you should try it.”
What was one thing that person taught you that stuck?
Doc encouraged me to experiment. He even let me borrow a section of his classroom to run a few throughout the year. There was no formal arrangement, no lab reports, and no grades. I really appreciated the freedom to do pretty much whatever I wanted.
That experience taught me there are fewer rules than one thinks. I took advantage of this in college by approaching professors who were doing interesting research and asking if I could help. nobody ever
said “no,” which is surprising because I was just knocking on office doors in the restricted part of the physics building.
What would you say to that teacher if you had a chance?
Thanks, Doc.
John, Head of Applications
Is there one teacher you remember fondly?
It’s hard to choose, but ONE of the teachers I remember most fondly is Mrs. Marketos, my 9th Grade English Literature teacher. She’s a dedicated educator who is completely no nonsense and doesn’t tolerate monster 9th grader antics – but she taught me that it was quite possible to make her smile by being attentive to our readings and clever in conversation.
What would you say to that teacher if you had a chance?
Mrs. Marketos – I’m still trying to make teachers smile whenever I can (with MakerBots)!
Michael, Design Superstar
Is there one teacher you remember fondly?
David Dowell and Matt Estes, at Randolph School in Huntsville, Alabama
What was one thing that person taught you that stuck?
Be the best at what you do. But never take yourself too seriously.
What would you say to that teacher if you had a chance?
Keep class unusual, keep the students laughing. The things they laugh about are the things they will remember 10 years later.
Jenny, Head of People
Is there one teacher you remember fondly?
When I was a kid, I moved a lot. I moved maybe 15 times before I was 8 and then I moved to England twice between 7th and 12th grade. I went to two first grades and then to 7th and half of 11th grade in England.
Both of my parents are teachers – my mom teaches Marriage in the Family and Sociology and my father has a PhD in Middle Eastern History and teaches a lot of different history and current events classes. They both teach at community colleges. So, teachers have always been a part of my world.
My parents gave me the love of learning. I used to drive my mom nuts because I was always maxing out the library lending limit and always needed more books to read. So, my fondest memories of teachers are my parents – and parents are the ultimate teachers, really.
I have mixed memories of teachers – one is a high school math teacher who let me know that, because I was a girl, that I was sure to fail Geometry. He made me so angry that I got A’s in his class and then went on to graduate from college with a BS in Applied Mathematics. My very favorite teacher, ever, was my 3rd grade teacher. Mrs. Hintenlang. I was always Citizen of the Week and when I finished my work early (I’m of the “individualized learning” era of education) I was always allowed to do more different and interesting things. She let us be curious, came up with ways for us to keep our active minds engaged and used kind and thoughtful words with us. We had such fun and grew and learned so much.
More recently, I’ve been truly inspired by my rowing coaches. I learned to row about 6 years ago and have become a competitive rower – if it weren’t for my coaches, I wouldn’t have the tangle of gold medals that are hanging in my house.
STOP!!! Don’t you realize, this is how it all starts?!
Not all upgrades are a good idea
Sure, it seems harmless and innocuous at first. A little upgrade here, a little upgrade there. A super strong metalic arm, a sweet head’s up display, maybe an embedded MP3 player. People, don’t you understand – no good can come of mashing up evil cyborgs and dispensers of delicious candy?! The next thing you know we have replicas of talk show hosts and disruptive CEO’s. I urge, no – I implore you, please stop the madness. And, whatever you do, do not create an evil cyborg action figure that can walk on it’s own.
P.S. A special thanks to TeamTeamUSA, 7777773, Tony Buser, jbakutis, skimbal, I-Bioloid, Luis, and InnovationByLayers for bringing us just a little closer to Judgment Day and the robopocalypse.
P.P. S. Okay. You got me. I’m not really that worried about the coming robopocalypse. I really just wanted a post highlighting awesome Doctor Who-themed things on Thingiverse so I could post THIS:
Click here to view the embedded video.
Thanks for the head’s up Sasha!!!
May 04 2012
What NOT to Carry On
Printable non-lethal grenade by Beardface
As soon as I saw this printable non-lethal grenade by Beardface, I immediately thought… There is NO way any self-respecting TSA agent or air marshal would ever let you board a plane with such a thing. There is simply nothing you could say to anyone in an airport that would be soothing enough to make them forget you’ve got a grenade-shaped object in your luggage. Yes, with great power comes great responsibility.
Where You MakerBot
I’m really digging this Where You MakerBot from Brian. He’s got his TOM on the left side of his workstation, and a soldering station on the right. “This way I can be printing on my makerbot and programming my arduino at the same time.”
Never missing a chance to Make. That’s a MakerBotter for ya.
Want to show the world where your MakerBot lives? Send me a picture of the full habitat here.
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