Talking on your cell phone can be a dangerous affair. Better arm yourself with some kind of defence in case someone tried to tangle with you while you’re gabbing away. What better way than to combine a knuckleduster with a phone case! You may have seen these neat “knuckle” iPhone cases, which is an iPhone case within a knuckleduster. However I wasn’t a fan of the $99 price tag, so I decided to make my own.
I have zero experience with any type of 3D modeling software. So, you can understand my apprehension when I wanted to make my own custom 3D printed object. Luckily there was a very detailed Instructable already written on how to make your own action figure that outlined the process, showing that mashing up existing 3D models is easy. Making my own custom 3D model was so simple I was able to make my model in about an hour on the computer.
This project uses the free modelling tools Netfabb, and MeshMixer. I printed my model through another service, but there’s currently an offer through Instructables to print a model for free! You could make your own for almost nothing! How great is that?!
Right from the beginning I wanted the B9Creator to be different. Anodized aluminum construction, stainless steel hardware, many thoughtful features that enhance normal operation… all these things set the B9Creator apart from the DIY 3D Printer herd. But when it comes to printing complex, detailed and fragile objects, this is where the B9Creator really shines bright!
DIY 3D Printers based upon the Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) concept simply can not match the higher resolution capability of the B9Creator. We utilize a powerful Deformable Mirror Device (DMD) projector to shine a 1024 x 768 pixel image onto a layer of photo-initiated polymer resin. The result is a quick solid cure of the entire layer in one operation. The layer thickness is typically 100 microns but your model can be sliced even thinner if you need even higher resolution. Note that 100 microns is .1 mm or about 0.004″
Last year I bought a Canon PowerShot SX200 on ebay. I wanted to play a bit with CHDK, the Canon Hack Development Kit to make some timelapse things. Problem was, the battery would hold only up for 2 hours or so. Even worse, the camera has no power jack to attach a power supply. The solution is to buy a battery dummy that has a jack on its back. That costs like 30 euros!
3D printing to the rescue!
This is exactly what makes home 3D printers so wonderful. Why spend $40 for an adapter, when you can make one for just a few dollars. Make sure to read the full article, as he has lots of great information and pictures.
Another great episode of MakerBot TV, wherein you’ll get a preview of the robots in the DIY Robot Petting Zoo MakerBot’s got planned for this weekend’s Maker Faire in San Mateo, California.
The 123D family of apps continues to grow, and we’re exciting to announce a new set of web and mobile apps, including 123D Catch for the iPad, as well as the new connection through the cloud, so you can share your models with each other across devices and 123D apps. Enjoy! Learn more at http://www.123dapp.com .
Pettis boasts about bringing some manufacturing chops back to Brooklyn. “These streets used to be lined with manufacturing companies,” he says. “Show me another one now besides us.” Fair enough. But Pettis does not exactly ooze “titan of industry.” “We like what we are doing and are having a good time,” he says. “We treat our customers as our friends. They are the coolest people in the world, and we’re supporting them being creative.” Meanwhile, the manufacturing floor at the BotCave seems more reminiscent of a college dorm room than a Toyota production line, with its barely controlled chaos and super-funky startup aesthetic.
Make sure to check out the slideshow in the left sidebar.
MakerBot Industries’ 3-D printers can create everything from jewelry to bottle openers seemingly out of thin air. Now developers are hoping the hip tech company will work similar magic on dowdy Downtown Brooklyn.
MakerBot, a start-up with offices now in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, that has grown to more than 125 employees, will move into the full 21st floor of One Metrotech, a massive pink-and-gray tower also occupied by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley.
MakerBot is the first technology company to move offices into Downtown Brooklyn, according to officials.
“We’re going to put the tech in Metrotech, literally,” said Bre Pettis, one of the founders.
Downtown Brooklyn has been pegged, along with Dumbo and the Brooklyn Navy Yard, as a leg of Brooklyn’s burgeoning tech triangle. But thus far the district, which is dominated by back offices for the financial-services industry, has lagged behind in attracting tech talent.
Mr. Pettis conceded the move will still require some growing up. The landlord at 87 Third Ave. included a lease clause requiring that MakerBot comply with science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov’s “three laws of robotics,” which require that robots follow orders, not injure humans and protect their own existence.
This is my current fascination: it’s this whole idea about keeping companies entrepreneurial and innovative and cutting-edge. The thing that I worry about a lot is how companies measure themselves. The analogy is that you can see light from a star that burned out a long time ago — it’s 100 light years away, and three years ago that star died.
The same thing is true in companies. We measure ourselves around revenue and profits and financial metrics that perform long after a spark is gone. You have this funny feedback mechanism in which you’re getting the results from something that happened a while ago. Maybe the thing that generates all the revenue was a great idea that happened in a dorm room. There’s a lot of stuff that’s gone on since then, but do you know whether you’ve had another spark?
Given the schematic for a simple circuit, make it a real circuit with the base components, some conductive thread, and a 3D printer. No solder, no etching chemicals, no sending away for anything.
This Instructable is to serve as the how-to guide for a 3D-printed electronic circuit library implemented in OpenSCAD, 3D-PCB. I recreate the full replication process of a simple analog circuit of a blinking LED made from a few transistors, capacitors, and resistors, a single LED, and a AAA battery. I will review how to import the library, and use it to place components in OpenSCAD in a grid, and teach you the basic wrapping techniques for all the included features.
Also included is a more useful example of an LED flashlight.
In recent years, 3D rapid prototyping machines have gone mainstream. And we’ve been excited to see 3D printers spreading beyond businesses to individuals, with the aid of a little DIY ingenuity (e.g., Makerbots, RepRap, etc.). All these machines work on the same principal – to create a form, they split a volume into thin slices, and build up the form by printing a layer of material and bonding it to the next. The main difference between the build technologies (SLA, SLS, FDM and others) is the material and the bonding methods.
But there are times when we need to output lines in space rather than volumes. Most 3D printing technologies are not well suited for printing thin lines because the materials are weak, the machine uses a lot of 3D-print support material, and the process is slow. The closest thing to a machine that can output lines is a CNC wire bender, but these machines are used almost exclusively for mass production in factories. They are not used for rapid prototyping because the equipment is large, expensive and takes trained personnel to run. So, we decided to make the DIWire Bender.
The DIWire Bender is a rapid prototype machine that bends metal wire to produce 2D or 3D shapes.
This 3d printed light acts as a vertical axis wind turbine. The form of the light applies aerodynamics in order to behave in a similar way to a propeller, in principal inspired by the Ropatec wind rotor.
The Air Turbine light comprises of the following main components:
- A propeller mounted on a shaft, in this case the outer shell attached to the axis via an rotor arm.
- An Alternator or Generator for producing the electricity when the shaft is rotated, in this instance a dynamo which lights the LED.
The body of the light is attached to a vertical axis which turns a diode rotor that transforms the movement into light.
The 3d printed shell traps wind which rotates the axis in turn generating and transforming this energy into light.
The digital model simulates the dynamic qualities of the design by working out and applying the physics of wind speeds and direction which has influenced the design and the aerodynamics of the form. I have uploaded a video of the piece spinning in the wind.
The material used in this case is a white ceramic. This material is lightweight yet strong enough to be turned by wind.
Ever wondered why the surface of a MakerBotted object has tiny ridges on it? Ever wondered how to smooth those ridges out? Find out how what techniques we’re trying on this week’s episode of MakerBot TV!
I made a mount for my iPhone to record video while riding on your skateboard or longboard. The mount pivots 360 degrees horizontally. I printed a prototype with the Objet printer in the Fabrication lab at the University of Florida.This is an ongoing project and I still have a few kinks to work out with the design. I have taken this project to several different stages overcoming obstacles in the design in order to come up with a working printed model.
The Faculty of Information (iSchool) at the University of Toronto seeks to employ a postdoctoral researcher for a funded project in Inclusive Design as part of Project AEGIS. The goal of the AEGIS research project is to radically improve ICT user experience for people with functional limitations, people lacking digital competence, and marginalized older and younger populations.
The Project AEGIS postdoctoral position to be located in the IDI Mobile and Pervasive Computing Cluster at the University of Toronto will focus on the role of ‘participatory material culture’ in serving these needs. Research questions to be addressed may include: How can rapid prototyping and “3-d printing” technologies and smart sensors be used to empower individuals to personalize, customize, and experience their environments in new ways? What is the status of places and objects in a participatory material culture? What tools and interfaces are necessary to open up the possibilities of new ICT for a variety of populations? What are the economically sustainable infrastructure models necessary for supporting participatory material culture?
The Tribeca Film Festival, in association with renowned Harvard Business School Professor Clay Christensen and the Disruptor Foundation, is proud to announce the recipients of the third annualTribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards, hosted by NYU Stern School of Business, on April 27.
Pettis is receiving the Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Award for MakerBot’s work creating an entire ecosystem for 3D printing, including a cutting-edge consumer brand, and a flourishing open source design community on Thingiverse.com.
Printable catalog (PDF)
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