If you can endure the relentless puns, the tag aggregator page for MakerBot’s Project Shellter is a fun read. There are cool pics of the denizens of MakerBot’s official “crabitat” sporting their fused-filament homes (such as “Paris Shelton,” above, in a lovely little daffodil yellow number) as well as oddly touching night-time videos of each […]
Veteran Thingiverse user Tony Buser has printed a model (intended to be an approximation of the fractal Hilbert curve) using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as a support material. Once everything is printed and cooled, the PVA is dissolved away in a glass of water, leaving only the polylactic acid (PLA) model. This technique, when perfected, should […]
Maker Shed Product Development Mucky-Muck, Marc de Vinck, sent us these phone snaps today of the MAKE team at the MakerBot Industries booth at CES. Tonight, our team found itself at the MakerBot Industries party, too. It was all pizza, PBR, cups o’ quarters, and vintage pinball. Let’s just hope that Bre didn’t get them all drunk and had them make 3D prints they’re going to regret in the morning (the 21st century version of the Xerox machine at the Christmas party).
If you’re planning on getting a 3D printer for yourself, the decisions about what to buy, and who to buy it from, can be daunting. If you’re trying to buy a gift for a 3D printing enthusiast, and don’t necessarily share his or her passion for the subject, they can be downright overwhelming, not to mention expensive. Fortunately, there are quality gift options short of buying a whole printer, and we’ve listed some great ones, below, from lowest to highest price. On the other hand, if you’re ready to take the plunge and buy a whole printer, our preferred makes and models are listed at the end of the guide, again in order of increasing price.
Among MAKE readers, we’re nearly unanimous in agreeing that the rise of digital fabrication is a complete game-changer for crafters, hackers, and tinkerers of all stripes. Laser cutters, CNC mills, and 3D printers have altered the way we think about design, and raised the bar for quality and precision in our work. I’m a passionate adopter of these technologies, but am also wary of the cultural shift they represent as they become more ubiquitous.
Rich was curious about printing with polycarbonate (PC), but couldn’t find any definitive answers to his questions online. So he bought a roll of 1.6mm PC filament and started experimenting, and his reports are fairly glowing. PC melts hotter than ABS or PLA, is more rigid, and comes out of the printer cloudy, which some have suggested may be due to atmospheric moisture.
At this weekend’s Maker Faire, one of the exciting announcements came from MakerBot Industries, with their release of a new Stepstruder MK7 extruder head and their demoing of the experimental use of the MK7 in a dual-head, two-color in a MakerBot. I asked Noah Levy, one of the developers at MakerBot whose working on the “dualstrusion” project, a few questions.
