Gyroid Magnetic Assembly Blocks
A work-in-progress from Thingiverse user searchresults. Each block has twelve 3mm supermagnets installed around its six edges, their polarities alternating so they will click together.
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!
Laser Cut Computational Architecture
Photographs of Michael Hansmeyer’s latest work in computational architecture could easily be mistaken for a computer rendering. Weighing about 2,000 pounds, Michael’s take on the classic Doric column is composed of between 8 to 16 million polygons created by repeatedly applying a smoothing algorithm to an existing column model. Surpassing the upper limit of most 3D printing facilities, Michael decided use a laser cutter to cut out around 2700 1mm think sections, which are then stacked one on top of the other.
The Prints of MakerBot Artist-in-Residence Marius Watz
I love the work Marius Watz has been producing as MakerBot artist-in-residence. I love even more the idea of a maker business being able to afford to sponsor an A-I-R! I wonder if, one day, we’ll see successful maker organizations like hackerspaces routinely sponsoring their own artist? I am very excited to be the first […]
Sharing Hi-Res 3D Fossil Models Online
Interesting item from Dallas’s Southern Methodist University, where paleontologist Thomas L. Adams and co-workers Christopher Strganac, Michael J. Polcyn, and Louis L. Jacobs have used a laser 3D scanner to produce a high-resolution model of a large outdoor dinosaur track which is a landmark in downtown Glen Rose, Texas. Exposed to the elements in the town square, the track is (very slowly) eroding, and the team’s freely downloadable 3D model is intended to both preserve it for posterity and to facilitate its study by fossil buffs all over the world. Their results are published online in Paleontologica Electronica. [Thanks, Alan Dove!]
30 Minute RepRap Clone
Mark Ganter and his team at the University of Washington Mechanical Engineering Department’s Solheim Rapid Prototyping Laboratory just cut the time it takes to make a RepRap Prusa Mendel 3D printer. Instead of the usual week it takes to output all of the printable parts that comprise a Prusa Mendel, Ganter and students, Scott Tandoi and Travis Nicholes, created a set of silicon RTV molds to produce the parts in a mere fraction of the time.
10-Year-Old Explains Import Of 3D Printing At Ignite
10-year-old Schulyer loves his MakerBot! So much so, he was willing to get up in front of an audience of 850 people at Ignite Phoenix to tell everybody about it, explain 3D printing, and the import of the technology. Way to go, Schulyer! I love how he’s a lab coat with feet. They gotta start […]
Thingiverse 3D Catan Pieces: Legal?
But my general policy on 3D models is that I don’t cover them until there’s at least one real physical prototype. In this case, however, I probably should have trusted my instincts, because it turns out, besides the cool factor, Sublime’s design is creating quite a buzz with the legal questions it raises.