MakerBot found early inspiration in the RepRap project. A RepRap is a self replicating, rapid prototyper. Adrian Bowyer, it’s founder, supported MakerBot as an early investor, giving us money to put stuff on the shelves at MakerBot when we were just beginning. Zach designed the Generation 3 Electronics to be modular enough to work for MakerBot and RepRaps.
The RepRap, like MakerBot, is open source and the RepRap team is super smart, resourceful, and sharing which makes them superstars in the 3D printing world.
Zach, Adam and I got into 3D printing a few years ago hacking on it in our free time and just trying to make a machine that would work. Zach’s RepRap Darwin machine broke a few minutes after he had spent 3 years building it and my McWire machine actually caught on fire in Austria and started emitting the magic smoke of burnt up electronics.
A few years later, it is still not trivial to put a RepRap together, it requires a lot of enthusiasm, a healthy dose of bravery, and the ability to navigate a project that is growing and changing every day. There aren’t step by step instructions which makes it a very challenging project.
To make a RepRap requires having a 3D printer, a classic chicken and egg problem solved by having a MakerBot! You still need to buy the nuts and bolts and motors and belts, and rods and plastic and wood and so on, but the plastic parts are totally MakerBottable!
There is a great demand for these parts such that creating them and selling them on ebay is like 3D printing money! Adrian Bowyer recently sold a set of Mendel parts on eBay for 420 Pounds ($630 US Dollars). Adrian encourages folks to make them and sell them too.
The mendel is a big machine and it takes a lot of time to create all the parts, but if you’re looking for something easier with smaller printed parts, there is a new mini-mendel.
There’s no knowing how long the RepRap gold rush will last, but for now, if you’ve got a MakerBot, you can put it into service making RepRap parts, sell them on eBay and make money with your machine by making parts for RepRap machines! Here are all the things tagged with Mendel on Thingiverse which should point you in the right direction so you can start printing parts!
Update: One of the MakerBots (#170) that made a ton of the pulleys for batch 7-9 MakerBots has an ebay auction for Mendel parts up right now! Go check it out!
Photo by Batist!
Michael Curry didn’t want to spend centuries building a cathedral the old fashioned way, so he made his own Makerbottable cathedral! I was curious about it and asked him some questions.
How did you design this? What program did you use and what was your strategy for breaking it into parts?
The Cathedral is modeled in the free version of Google Sketchup, and exported using a free stl plugin. Inspiration comes from the gothic cathedrals of Europe, with Leon Cathedral in northwest Spain serving as the primary source for the front and transept façades. But the Gothic Cathedral Play Set is intended to be a generic model of the style, not a representation of any one building.
The size of the blocks is dictated by two things, the proportions of the cathedral and the maximum print size of the Makerbot.
To make the proportions work with the module, each part for the Nave includes one full window and two half windows. This way the parts fit together properly and form the correct shape. The Nave dictates the proportions for all the other blocks. The parts will fit together in any configuration, because each part has at least one face that will match any other in the set.
As for the size, the limiting factor is the height of the Makerbot build chamber. Most of the prints end just before the z-stage runs into the top of the machine.
How long did it take? What was the hardest part?
Printing took about four weeks, and had its frustrating moments.
I designed and printed one part at time, which sounds more arduous than it was. There are only 7 parts, 3 of which get mirrored to make their partner. That cut down on modeling and simplifies the digital end of the project.
When printing something tall in the Makerbot the extruder puts a lot of torque on the top layers of the part. It has a tendency to knock the build platform off its base. I lowered the travel speed and used rubber bands to jury-rig a securing system, this way when the part got knocked off I had a chance to grab it an put it back on. There were some white knuckle moments, but we made it through. To everyone hoping to make their own cathedral, remember, failed prints are cheap, but the final result is worth it.
What was your motivation for this?
My background is in architecture, not technology. So this is my contribution to the Makerbot effort. I want people to realize what is possible with the equipment we have now, before they start dreaming about what we can’t do yet.
This is what is possible without a support material. Gothic architecture is driven by the limitations of unreinforced masonry construction. Each stone in a cathedral is supported only by the stones below it. The style is defined not by a desire for a certain look, but by the limitations of the 12th century construction technology. It is the perfect analogue for what an unsupported 3d printer can do. We can achieve incredible results even with basic limitations.
What’s next?
Right now, I’m baking a key lime pie. After that… Well I’ve got a few things I’m working on. I don’t like to share until I know they’re ready. I will say I recently acquired a big box of springs… Just keep watching Thingiverse.
Thanks Michael! We can’t wait to see what you do next!
It’s on our agenda to someday make MakerBots that will be able to print you furniture and houses. These folks are pushing forward on that!
Layers of sand are bound together to create a marble-like material, in effect turning it back into solid stone. The process includes internal curves, ducting and interior partitions. Here, hollow columns are being constructed from the base up.
via Blueprint Magazine – Architecture & Design.
MakerBot is one of the 20 Hot New York City Startups You Need To Watch! Cool!
via The 20 Hot New York City Startups You Need To Watch.
We’ve received our long awaited shipment of electronics and are busy shipping your Batch #11 CupCakes! We’ve put a lot of work into creating a new assembly line to be able to keep up with the huge demand for bots. Ian and Marisol are working hard to get you your CupCakes as fast as possible.
Marisol & Ian hard at work shipping CupCakes
Zurich MakerBot Meetup!
Bre is in Zurich, Switzerland tonight and if you’re in town, feel free to meet him for a beer around 9PM at Total Bar. He’ll have some Makerbot stuff to giveaway!
If you organize your own MakerBot Meetup make sure to drop a note and we’ll do our best to blog about it!
UPDATE: It was awesome hanging out with the Swiss MakerBot Crew!
Hard at work programming
Today we received a partial shipment of electronics at the BotCave! Unfortunately, we only received the extruder controllers so we’re still waiting on the RepRap motherboards. Widget and Matt are seen here programming the extruders to be ready to ship as soon as we receive the motherboards. Ahhh, the sweet smell of progress!
Mark Ganter is fun-u-facturing glass beads with a play doh like concoction of glass dust and methol cellulose jelly. Check it out!
Buttons with 3 holes! Very cool!
via Fun-u-facturing (to answer a DorkBot’r question) « Open3DP (Open 3D Printing).
James Husum writes:
NASA is currently taking ideas from the public for about the next week or so at http://opennasa.ideascale.com. People can submit their ideas and vote on the ideas of others.
I submitted an idea for NASA to get involved with the desktop manufacturing / 3d printing movement. It can be seen here.
Desktop manufacturing and 3D printers are beginning to emerge as a growing industry. See RepRap – http://www.reprap.org/ and Cupcake CNC – http://www.makerbot.com/ for two examples. The technology allows you to design a model and have it manufactured in a device about the size of a large inkjet / laser printer. Instead of ink it extrudes plastic onto a platform. By layering the plastic objects can be created.
NASA could work with the desktop manufacturing community to design models for use in 3D printers. There are any number of items that could be modeled – rockets, satellites, the Shuttles, the International Space Station. The designs could be released into the public domain for anyone to use.
NASA engineers could also look into helping to develop the technology behind the 3D printers to make them better.
