3D Printing Tidbit – About Face

If done well the place where a print starts and ends on a layer should be invisible. Of course if that were the case I wouldn’t have anything to tidbit. In reality there is often a “seem” running up the print, and usually it’s running up the front right through all the detail which can really ruin minitures or objects …

Adventures in selling designs part 2

A challenger appears! I haven’t sold any models yet, but there has been a few alternatives to Ponoko that I may throw my hand in. Maker6 allows you to sell models, physical prints, and eventually print time on your machine. So basically it’s  a little bit of Ponoko, Etsy, and MakeXYZ rolled into one, more focused on 3D printing. If …

Fixed again, mea maxima culpa

So it turns out my Makerbot is just fine. Remember that build platform upgrade I did a few weeks back? The removable glass platforms that BottleWorks made are longer on one side, I have no idea why, because the only thing that happens with that is if you put it on wrong it blocks the Y-gantry, which is what I …

And it’s broke again.

When I can finally afford to replace this Makerbot, either because 3D printers have gotten cheap or I’ve become independently wealthy, I hope that the machines that replace them will be slightly more reliable. But that’s not what I have. What I have is a few days of printing between problems. At least it feels that way right now. A …

Adventures in Selling Designs

I should be promoting my book, but for a while now I’ve been exploring options for selling 3D designs. The way I figure it 3D printers are only going to get cheaper, and people who aren’t designers or creators are going to want something to print. To that end whoever has an established library of 3D printable objects already for …

3D Printing Blueprints is now for sale

My book, 3D Print Blueprints is available for sale now on Packt, Amazon, Amazon UK, and soon to come at Barnes and Nobles. Looks like the eBook option is only available Packt right now, and Amazon appears to sell the physical copies a little cheaper. And on a personal and entirely unprofessional note… squeeee. It looks like things are still …

MakerWare’s failings

First I was all “MakerWare, meh.” Then I was all “MakerWare, yeah.” Then I was all “Heck yeah MakerWare.” This post is going to bring the excitement back a notch because I’ve found a few places Makerware fails. Printing a batch of TARDIS rings I was surprised to see these little gaps in some of the rings, especially after the …

Hairspray on Glass

I think I’ve got this figured out. Since upgrading the build platform I’ve been trying to figure out how to stick prints to it. My goal is to have something that will stick as well with ABS or PLA so I don’t have to relevel the build platform if I switch materials. Mind you it’s still a problem because I …

Joe’s Makerbot on MakeXYZ

I don’t know why it took me so long to actually sign up with MakeXYZ. I guess I was worried I’d get so much business I wouldn’t be able to print my own things. Maybe I was worried my printer would break down and I’d let people down. Either way it was mostly silly. Anyways, I’ve finally put Joe’s Makerbot …

How to use your soap stamp

For those wondering what the best way to use your custom soap stamp or custom soap stamp with logo my soap making sister has found an excellent tutorial. They aren’t written for my stamps specifically but they work the same: http://www.amathiasoapworks.com/stamping-soap-with-a-custom-soap-stamp/