If you’ve used a desktop music application, you’ve probably discovered some type of hypnotic visualization feature that renders patterns and colors that are synchronized to your tunes. But how many of those visualizations create a 3D model viable for 3D printing? My bet is probably zero. Blair Neal, a Brooklyn-based artist and creative technologist, developed […]
Thingiverse is a robot lover’s dream with its wonderful collection of both decorative but also functional mechanical masterpieces. I have collected a few of my favorites to help you round out your Robot month. Some of these little guys will require you to break out your soldering iron and practice your programming skills, but don’t […]
For a long time now, two major questions have come up around Thingiverse: How can I print things from Thingiverse if I don’t own a printer? How — as a designer — can I get paid for my designs on Thingiverse? Yesterday, MakerBot took a big step forward on both of these questions by teaming up […]
This gorgeous bird feeder was created by Rebecca Nickols using a recycled glass water bottle, some decorative copper wire, and a product made by Gadjit. It is a simple concept, a plastic feeder base that screws onto a standard two liter bottle neck. It will fit plastic soda or glass water bottles, but not wine bottles. As soon […]
It’s immediately obvious upon unpacking the MakerBot Replicator that substantial engineering resources went into this fifth-generation machine’s consumer-focused hardware and software. It sports a large, bright, color LCD interface, mobile or PC app-controlled LAN / wi-fi printing, an internal print-watching camera and a magnetically attached, sensor-packed Smart Extruder. The onboard LCD interface was by far […]
This is the lower receiver of an AR-15 rifle, printed in fused plastic filament from a digital model that was, until this week, freely available for download on Thingiverse. This component is significant because all other parts of the common rifle can be readily purchased in the open market. A person who builds a working lower receiver has, in the eyes of the state, essentially built a working AR-15.
Putting together the MAKE Ultimate Guide to 3D Printing was great fun, for a lot of reasons, but one of my personal favorites was getting to kick around Thingiverse researching some of the amazing things that people are already making with hobby-class 3D printers. At first, the idea of printing useful hand tools in fused plastic filament seemed unlikely to me (and indeed, many of the standouts in the T-verse Tools category include metal bits, blades, or other embedments that take the heavy wear), but, as usual, the creativity of the Thingiverse community surprised me. Here I’ve collected just a few of my standout favorites for your enjoyment.
