We recently acquired a MakerBot Replicator 2 here at Truth Labs. He is affectionately known as Arnold of Villanova II (Arnold for short). In the maker spirit, we rolled our own chrome extension to let us know what Arnold is up to. We used some cool tech – s3g Protocol, Raspberry Pi, Node.js and of course, Google Chrome Extensions. Here’s how we did it.
Today Ladyada and I visited the new MakerBot store in NYC. Video above, (photos here). Great location, and it was packed in waves, even on a Sunday. MakerBot has MakerBot-made designs for sale in the store, as well as community-made models. All the designers were contacted and compensated for their participation. If you’re keeping score […]
In the wake of MakerBot’s Replicator 2 announcement, there has been a lot of discussion and questioning about the open source status of the company’s offerings. The MakerWare software used to control both the new printer and the original Replicator is available for download now. It is clearly closed source, even though it contains some open source software, and instead of being open source, they are offering a developer program.
MAKE’s Matt Richardson gives us a little peek inside the new MakerBot store, announced today at 3pm Eastern at the MakerBot press event.
A new player on the field by the name of Tangibot recently arrived, not with a new printer or even an innovative new derivative, but with a near-exact clone of arguably the most prominent printer in the market: the MakerBot Replicator. Will MakerBot close their products in an attempt to protect themselves from future cloning?
The Makerbot Replicator 2 is just that, a second generation of MakerBot’s wildly popular Replicator 3D printer, now faster, quieter, and more rigid than the original. “Hand assembled in Brooklyn, NY,” the Replicator 2 sports a sleek black metal and PVC case, oil-impregnated bronze linear bearings, a larger build volume, and faster printing times. The upgrades make what was already a fantastic machine, even butter. But the improvements do come at an increased cost that could be a deal breaker for some buyers.
As part of MAKE’s research for our upcoming special issue, Make: Ultimate Guide to the 3D Printers (on newsstands Nov 20, 2012), we had an opportunity to take the new MakerBot Replicator 2 for a test drive. Here’s a tour of the new machine.
