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!

GRBLShield CNC Mill Conversion

GRBLShield CNC Mill Conversion

Bay Area maker John Knoll (of ILM and PhotoShop fame) just finished converting his old manual milling machine to CNC with a GRBLshield and took the time to thoroughly document the process. If you’ve ever thought about attempting this conversion, you won’t want to miss this informative overview. In it John runs through the entire process from start to finish, beginning with converting a model using a Python script, sending G-code to the board using a Processing sketch, and ending with cutting the part.

Maker Wedding Enlightenment

Maker Wedding Enlightenment

Earlier this summer, Brett was working on a nifty 3 LED and 2 AAA battery holder design at the Boston Area Makerbot meetup. We get together when enough people feel the need, generally at Sprout in Somerville. When we got together again this week, he was able to happily report on the project and the role his making played in the big day.

The initial plan was to use throwies, but I felt they wouldn’t give as much light as a commercial 3 LED solution. This led me to a fun, albeit time consuming project.

Stung Love

Stung Love

Responding to criticisms that their new no-trolling-allowed policy lacks teeth, Hack a Day writer Jack Buffington threw down the gauntlet Monday, announcing that, henceforth, anyone leaving a nasty comment about one of Jeri Ellsworth’s projects will receive a visit from the Pain Fairy.

Wooden FN P90 Rubber Band Gun

Wooden FN P90 Rubber Band Gun

Although I believe this impressive, apparently working wooden rubber band gun and the page that presents it originate in Japan, I’m not having any luck with machine translations of the accompanying text. So unfortunately I have no other information. If you can identify the maker or other details, and can spare the time, I’d appreciate your comment, below.