MakerBot Cupcake heated build platform 2.0

Power users of the MakerBot Cupcake 3D printer have been crying out for a heated build platform for a long time, which would allow for larger prints without fear of warping. Some have even experimented with their own: Andrew “Clothbot” Plumb has been working on a heated build platform for some time. Jordan Miller created one on his own. And Keith Neufeld of Keith’s Electronics Blog has been conducting his own experiments.

Well guess what? MakerBot Industries announced 2.0 of their official heated build platform based off of Miller’s design.

No longer will your prints be thwarted by the evil incarnation of plastic physics: CURLING! Curling happens when layer upon layer of plastic cools down on top of each other and shrinks a small percent. This shrinkage builds up layer after layer and the edges of the printed object start to curl up! The heated build platform greatly reduces curling by keeping the temperature of the base of the object at a steady 110C.

The new design is open source, with instructions available on the MakerBot Wiki and designs downloadable from Thingiverse.

Don’t want to build your own? Buy it from the MakerBot store — save 40% if you buy it by March 29th.

More:

• CupCake CNC build, part 1: Introduction & background
• CupCake CNC build, part 2: Unboxing
• CupCake CNC build, part 3: The electronics
• CupCake CNC build, part 4: Update & burning the bootloaders
• CupCake CNC build, part 5: Pulley & enclosure finishing
• CupCake CNC build, part 6: Building the enclosure
• CupCake CNC build, part 7: Building the Y-stage and adjusting the Z-stage
• CupCake CNC build, part 8: Building the X stage