Alright, the design isn’t mine. It was actually created by Ellindsey on Thingiverse so at least 90% of this thing’s coolness need to be attributed back to him. Every joint on this thing is 3D printed. In fact the only non-3D printed parts are the pieces of paper that make the windows look white which are totally optional. But I’ve still …
Stress test? Pshaw
TurnRock’s Super Stress Test is designed to push the limits of what home 3D printing can do… theoretically. In reality this was hardly a test at all for my Makerbot. I know I keep lauding it here, but I am really impress with the small details that MakerWare handles so well. So to really stress the test I reprinted the …
Making a glasses holster for Gabe
My second son, Gabe, recently had to get glasses, just like his Dad. But, like any child, he has a hard time keeping track of them. So I build a case for them that he can keep with him wherever he goes, clipped to his hip. The files can be downloaded on Thingiverse, but if your glasses are a different …
3DHacker Update
In case you missed my announcement, I have moved my 3D Printing commentary to Andrew Mazzotta’s 3DHacker site. In case you haven’t been following it here’s what you’ve missed: 3D Printing is more than a Gimmick or I don’t think so Mr UogHow much is a design for 3D printers worth?First step to 3D printed eletronics, or the birth of …
Book Update – Makerbot Project Blueprints needs YOU
Makerbot Project Blueprints is close to finishing but is in dire need of a technical reviewer or two to help review the last few chapters for technical accuracy, meaning you will actually do the activities and report if anything is missing. Since you’re coming in at the end the ideal candidate will know the basics of Blender at least a …
3D Printing Tidbit – Don’t tightly spool PLA
Got some clear PLA a little while back. Spooled it in my usual way around a spool from Makerbot. Turns out the spool I used was too tight, or maybe I spooled it too tight, and it resulted in the spool cracking into smaller and smaller segments near the end. Lots of air prints resulting from this. In the future …
A second shot at a Modibot
After my last go Wayne Loosey actually contacted me and asked if I’d like to test a few accessories for modibots on my next go. Well that motivated me to give this another shot. Did a couple of things different this time: Scaled everything to 130%. This was to hopefully increase wall thickness and fudge the tolerances. Mostly successful, except …
Soap Stamp in Etsy Store
My sister makes her own soap. When I mentioned the properties of ABS and PLA, that PLA will disolve in a lye solution but ABS won’t her eyes got big. She asked if ABS could be used to make a stamp for soap, since soap has lye in it until it hardens. I told her it should work. So I …
Makeware makes a superior Pick of Destiny
Both prints were made with the same model. The one of the left was made with RepG and the one on the right with MakerWare. For some reason RepG got all the details backwards. It raised the recessed portions, the recessed the raised portions, I don’t know what is going on. To be sure the original model is far from …
PLA can’t finish a print
Having some trouble with PLA this week. Almost caused me to give up on the nice things I’ve said about it. So far it’s worked fine for the Modibot experiments, but when I tried making something taller like the Angular Dice Tower it would get to about 60-80% and start air printing. As I went on it got worse. Then …