3D Printing & Imaging

If you’re a maker, 3d printing is an incredibly useful tool to have in your arsenal. Not only can it help bring your projects to life faster, but it can also offer unique results that would be difficult (or impossible!) to achieve with traditional methods. In these blog posts, we’ll provide you with some essential information and tips regarding 3D printing for makers—including the basics of how to get started, plus creative tutorials for spicing up your projects. Whether you’re already familiar with 3d printing or are just starting out, these resources will help take your game-making skills even further!

Shelter 2.0: Distributed manufacturing for emergencies

Bill writes in to tell about Shelter 2.0, a fabbed structure system that aims to leverage distributed manufacturing and shipping to provide durable emergency structures to situations of need.

The Shelter 2.0 was designed by Robert Bridges as a CNC-cut emergency shelter in the Guggenheim/Sketchup contest in 2009. The idea was that it would be partway between a tent and a real house and could be dis-assembled and re-assembled using some interesting CNC-cut joinery to make it easy.

Continue Reading Chris Connors8
Milled blocks designed in Sketchup

Milled blocks designed in Sketchup

Recently, I had a class of 7th graders designing in Sketchup. One of the projects is to accurately design a block of 2″ x 2″ x 1.25″. These designs were then converted to G code with Millwizard by an 11th grader who then milled them in the high school across the street on a Taig Micromill. This was a fun project that helped illustrate the concepts and processes of separating the design from the manufacture of objects.

The way it worked out was that the middle schoolers would make some designs, and share them with the high schooler. If the files were designed correctly, proper size, no overhangs, then they would be converted to code and milled. He was able to process 4 files in one class period by cutting in 2 inch insulating foam. Then, the next time I met with the 7th graders, I gave them the blocks they designed.

Continue Reading Chris Connors12
Letters from the Fab Academy, Part 1

Letters from the Fab Academy, Part 1

As part of our coverage of 3D printing, laser-cutting, CNC routing, and other forms of desktop fabbing — to coincide with the new “Your Desktop Factory” issue of MAKE — we’re thrilled to welcome guest contributor Shawn Wallace. Shawn is a member of AS220, the Providence, Rhode Island community arts space. From there, he weekly […]

Continue Reading Gareth Branwyn2
MIT’s food printer

MIT’s food printer

Cornucopia: Digital Gastronomy is a project by two grad students working in MIT’s Fluid Interfaces Group. The goal: a consumer-friendly machine that prints food. (Spork not included…) Cornucopia is a concept design for a personal food factory that brings the versatility of the digital world to the realm of cooking. In essence, it is a […]

Continue Reading John Baichtal20