Digital Fabrication

Digital fabrication tools have revolutionized the way designers, engineers, and artisans express their creativity. With the right resources, you can learn to use these powerful instruments in no time! Whether it’s 3D printing or laser cutting that interests you, these articles will provide useful tutorials and inspiration for makers of all levels. Discover how digital fabrication can open up new possibilities so that your craftsmanship is truly extraordinary!

MakerBot vs the Easter Bunny at MakerBot UG NY

MakerBot vs the Easter Bunny at MakerBot UG NY

This past Tuesday, April 3, MUGNY held their “MakerBot vs the Easter Bunny” meetup, which featured chocolate molds, a demo of some printed artifacts scanned from originals using Autodesk’s free 123D Catch, an intro to MakerBot’s newly launched Design Studio team, and overview of home pewtering and casting, and a talk from Annelise, producer and […]

Print-and-Fold Robot Parts

Print-and-Fold Robot Parts

This video has been released to promote a new university research initiative between MIT, Harvard, and the University of Pennsylvania aiming to develop a rapid manufacturing system for one-off problem-solving robots. Seems like an ambitious program, to me, but I like the idea of using fold-up papercraft chassis parts for prototyping or short operational life designs.

Cast Cement CNC Chassis

Cast Cement CNC Chassis

Those of you who click through to read more about this very cool project from grad student Kenny Cheung of MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms may be a bit disappointed: The page is not really complete yet and a bunch of the resources, including the physibles, are still “coming soon!” But it’s so cool, I didn’t want to wait. Looks like the molds are laser cut and, I would expect, reusable. [Thanks, thatcherc!]

Rainbow Fused-Filament 3D Apple Logo

Rainbow Fused-Filament 3D Apple Logo

Very cool stunt from Thingiverse user acen, using a technique he credits to “zeq.” In fact, this fully 3D version of the original Apple logo is a bit specialized, because the method would be much harder to use on a color object that wasn’t divided into clear horizontal bands of color. Basically, it involves calculating exactly how much of each filament color will go into making your model, cutting those colors to accurate lengths, arranging them in order, and fusing them together.