17th and 18th century Dutch furniture design inspired this contemporary table:

The Cinderella Table is an exploration of the possibilities of CAD-CAM (computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing). Objects are increasingly designed digitally, on screen, and the files that describe them in two dimensions on the computer are the same files that are used to control the machines that make the objects too. Because human intervention, interpretation of a design and handcraft are omitted, fault-free three-dimensional versions of digitally designed objects are possible. CAD-CAM would appear to negate the individualism of craft objects. But Verhoeven wanted to use CAD-CAM as (in his words) a ‘new modern craft’ because he felt it was ‘hiding a craft’ within it.

This process took three months to perfect. The virtual design was ‘sliced’ and each of the 57 slices, each 80mm thick (a total of 741 layers of plywood), was fabricated by CNC (computer numerically controlled) cutting machines, working on three, and sometimes five axes. Each slice was cut from the front and from the back to perfect the curves and undercuts, pushing the boundaries of the technology. All the slices were assembled and the entire object, which is a hollow plywood form, was finished by hand.

Read more at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

NEW PRODUCT – Aluminum Extrusion Double Corner Brace Support (for 20×20) – Brace yourself! You’ll definitely want to pick up a couple of these double corner brace supports when working on a project with 20×20 extrusion. They’re nice and solid, made of cast aluminum so they are stronger than extruded corner supports. Four holes, two in each corner allow you to easily connect two pieces at a 90 degree angle.

Comes as just one piece, you’ll also need T-nuts and 10mm long screws (8mm will also work).

In stock and shipping now!

NEW PRODUCT – Slotted Aluminum Extrusion – 20mm x 40mm – 610mm long – Oh boy, now you have no excuse for not building that robot! Nothing is easier or faster than building with extrusion and we’ve added dual-20mm square aluminum extrusion and components to our catalog. This product is the extrusion itself. Made of aluminum, it’s exactly 40x20mm and has slots on all four sides. You can use T-nuts that slide into the slots to connect plates, couplers, PCBs, cut-outs, etc. It’s sort of like a big-sized Erector set.

We like the 40x20mm for being slim yet incredibly strong. Great for sturdy DIY projects and robots, but not too clunky and heavy. Each piece here is 610mm long (2 feet), and is easily cut down with a hacksaw or bandsaw. Grab some T-nuts, screws and plates to build a frame, then finish off with end-caps.

In stock and shipping now!

NEW PRODUCTS – Stepper Motor Mount with Hardware – NEMA-17 Sized – You have a stepper motor, but you need to attach it to your CNC project, eh? Not so easy if you don’t have a stepper motor mount just like this fine one one here! This mount will fit any NEMA-17 motor (with 31mm hole spacing) with four screws. There’s two 30mm long slots, 30mm apart so you can easily attach it. Made of steel with welded 90-degree support triangles, it’s got a solid construction.

Comes with one mount and a bag of hardware for attachment:

• 4 x 34mm long M4 Pan head
• 4 x M4 washer + lock (spring) washer + hexnut
• 4 x 9mm long M4 Pan head
• 4 x 8mm long M3 Pan head
• 4 x M3 washer and lock (spring) washer

In stock and shipping now!

Here’s a combined and sorted list of all the G-Code and M-Code commands for (as many of) the Free Software G-Code interpreters (that I could find) relevant to DIY 3D printing. With any luck, I now know:

What a given command does
What other interpreters do with that command
The short descriptions come from tables on the original source pages, perhaps with a bit of massaging to make things more uniform; I did as little rearranging and editing as possible.

If you see anything wrong or have another G-Code interpreter I should include, let me know…

Click here to read the entire (massive) list!

Every Thursday is #3dthursday here at Adafruit! The DIY 3D printing community has passion and dedication for making solid objects from digital models. Recently, we have noticed electronics projects integrated with 3D printed enclosures, brackets, and sculptures, so each Thursday we celebrate and highlight these bold pioneers!

Have you considered building a 3D project around an Arduino or other microcontroller? How about printing a bracket to mount your Raspberry Pi to the back of your HD monitor? And don’t forget the countless LED projects that are possible when you are modeling your projects in 3D!

The Adafruit Learning System has dozens of great tools to get you well on your way to creating incredible works of engineering, interactive art, and design with your 3D printer! If you’ve made a cool project that combines 3D printing and electronics, be sure to let us know, and we’ll feature it here!

NEW PRODUCT – OpenBeam Advanced Precut Kit – Silver Aluminum – Get cracking on your robot, fixture or gantry with this luxurious extruded aluminum kit. This is the ultimate Open-Beam kit, for machine builders! You get tons of stuff, so you won’t end up frustrated and missing a component. The pieces are also pre-cut so for many projects you won’t even need to get out your hacksaw. All extrusions are 15mm by 15mm square.

NEW PRODUCT – OpenBeam Advanced Precut Kit – Black Aluminum

Comes with:

• 8 pieces of 300mm long extrusion
• 4 pieces of 280mm long extrusion
• 4 pieces of 210mm long extrusion
• 8 pieces of 150mm long extrusion
• 4 pieces of 120mm long extrusion
• 8 pieces of 90mm long extrusion
• 8 pieces of 60mm long extrusion
• 4 pieces of 45mm long extrusion
• 4 pieces of 30mm long extrusion
• 8 pieces of T bracket
• 32 pieces of L bracket
• 8 foot brackets
• Hex screwdriver
• 200 pack of zinc nuts + 200 pack of bolts

NEW PRODUCTS – OpenBeam Advanced Precut Kits – Silver and Black Aluminum

In stock and shipping now!

In stock and pulleying:


Aluminum GT2 Timing Pulley – 6mm Belt – 20 Tooth – 5mm Bore.

Aluminum GT2 Timing Pulley – 6mm Belt – 20 Tooth – 8mm Bore.

Aluminum GT2 Timing Pulley – 6mm Belt – 36 Tooth – 5mm Bore.

Aluminum GT2 Timing Pulley – 6mm Belt – 36 Tooth – 8mm Bore.

This belt is 1162mm long (581 teeth on a 2mm tooth pitch) and is 6mm wide. It comes in a loop but you can of course cut it down if you need a shorter length.

In stock and shipping now!

NEW PRODUCT – Adjustable Angle Support for 2020 Aluminum Extrusion – This is an interesting hardware piece addition for 20×20 aluminum extrusion. Rather than being a 90 degree type plate, it’s a hinged piece that connects the end of one extrusion to the side of another, but with any angle you wish. You can loosen/tighten the angle with the screw on the side. Given it’s just a bolt, it’s not incredibly strong so while you can use it for structure, it’s not a load-bearing connector: make sure there isn’t a lot of torque on the joint. You can use thread-lock to make it stronger.

The half that connects to the side one an extrusion simply uses a single M4 or M5 x 8mm long screw + T-nut as you’d use with any other plate. For the half that connects to the end of an extrusion, you’ll need to tap the 5mm diameter center-hole of the extrusion and screw directly in. We don’t include a tap or matching screw so you’ll want to pick those up from a hardware store.

In stock and shipping now!

NEW PRODUCT – Linear Bearing Platform (Large) – 8mm Diameter [SC8LUU]. Make your robot or CNC move on rails super fast with a linear bearing platform. The platform is 34mm x 58mm and has four holes tapped for M4 machine screws so you can attach pretty much anything you want. All you need to get started is two 8mm supports and a precision-ground 8mm rod. Often times, CNC projects will have two of these on opposite sides to support a larger platform.

Comes as a single bearing. We have a bunch of bearings, supports and platforms that you may want to use with an 8mm based rail system so check out our CNC category.

In stock and shipping!

NEW PRODUCT – Linear Ball Bearing – 8mm diameter [LM8UU]. This linear ball bearing is sort of the opposite of the radial ball bearings you may be familiar with. Its intended to slide along an 8mm linear shaft, rather than rotate around it. These are very slim, and good for when you want to attach a motion carriage onto a railing without adding a lot of weight

Comes as a single bearing. We have a bunch of bearings, supports and platforms that you may want to use with an 8mm based rail system so check out our CNC category.

In stock and shipping.

Comes as a single bearing. We have a bunch of bearings, supports and platforms that you may want to use with an 8mm based rail system so check out our CNC category.

In stock and shipping now.

Usable with any 8mm linear guide, you can simply slide the rail through, then tighten the clamp screw at the top to fix it in place. Then use up to 6mm diameter bolts to attach them. If you need to disassemble or otherwise repair your robot or machine, its easy to open up the clamp and remove the rail.

Each item comes with one support, so chances are you’ll want to buy two of these to support a single railing. We have a bunch of bearings and platforms that you may want to use with an 8mm based rail system so check out our CNC category.

In stock and shipping now.

NEW PRODUCT – Aluminum Flex Shaft Coupler – 5mm to 5mm. Connect this to that with a set-screw coupler. These couplers are made of machined aluminum and have a spiral cut that makes them slightly flexible so they can be fit to two shafts even if they are not perfectly co-linear and will help reduce binding effects. The way they’re cut, they’re a little springy in the X Y & Z linear axis but not in the rotational axis. That means that you won’t get increased backlash – so they’re suitable for precision CNC work.

This coupler will connect two shafts of 5mm diameter. A perfect add on for our stepper motors. Comes with two sets of double set-screws (two per side) for secure attachment. You’ll need a 2mm allen wrench to tighten/loosen the set-screws.

• Measures 1″ x 0.7″ diameter / 25mm x 18mm diameter
• 5mm inner diameter on both ends
• 15 grams

In stock and shipping now! We also have 8mm or 10mm holes on the other end versions.

NEW PRODUCT – Vibrating Mini Motor Disc – *BZZZZZZZZZZ* Feel that? That’s your little buzzing motor, and for any haptic feedback project you’ll want to pick up a few of them. These vibe motors are tiny discs, completely sealed up so they’re easy to use and embed.

Two wires are used to control/power the vibe. Simply provide power from a battery or microcontroller pin (red is positive, blue is negative) and it will buzz away. Works from 2V up to 5V, higher voltages result in more current draw but also a stronger vibration.

If you want to reduce the current draw/strength (for example, to control it directly from an Arduino pin) try putting a resistor (100 to 1000 ohms) in series. For full power control, a small PN2222 transistor can control a motor easily, some experimentation may be required!

In stock and BZZZZing.

NEW PRODUCT – Radial Ball Bearing 608ZZ – Set of 4. Rollin’ rollin’ rollin’, you can now roll around smooth as silk with these radial bearings. Often referred to as “skate bearings” They’re good for supporting a rotating rod or as a wheel hub. However, these are higher quality, meant for continuous use so they’ll last longer than cheap skateboard bearings. Ideal for use in your CNC project or robot.

Standard 608ZZ sizing, which means they’re 22mm outer diameter, 8mm inner diameter, and 7mm wide. They’re pre-greased and shielded so they wont get clogged easily. 11.5 grams per. Comes in a set of 4!

In stock and rolling now.

NEW PRODUCT – Slotted Aluminum Extrusion – 20mm x 20mm – 610mm long – Oh boy, now you have no excuse for not building that robot! Nothing is easier or faster than building with extrusion and we’ve added 20mm square aluminum extrusion and components to our catalog. This product is the extrusion itself. Made of aluminum, its exactly 20x20mm square and has slots on all four sides. You can use T-nuts that slide into the slots to connect plates, couplers, PCBs, cut-outs, etc. Its sort of like a big-sized Erector set.

We like the 20mm for being just large enough for sturdy DIY projects and robots, but not too clunky and heavy. Each piece here is 610mm long (2 feet), and is easily cut down with a hacksaw or bandsaw. Grab some T-nuts, screws and plates to build a frame, then finish off with end-caps.

NEW PRODUCT – Aluminum Extrusion End Cap (for 20×20) – pack of 10 – Finish your project in style with these snap-on caps. Made of a soft plastic, they’ll make your project look more professional. Comes in a pack of 10 and fits onto the ends of our 20×20 aluminum extrusion.

NEW PRODUCT – Plastic Hinge for 20×20 Aluminum Extrusion – Get swinging with this handy plastic hinge, attach it to your 20mm extrusion and you can have parts that swing open 180 degrees. Using our button screws, the bumpy heads make it close around ~170 degrees, you can substitute countersink screws if you want a full 180.

You’ll also want to get some 10mm long screws to attach it!

NEW PRODUCT – Aluminum Extrusion Slim T-Nut for 20×20 – M4 Thread – pack of 50 – An essential for working with slotted aluminum extrusion, these slim metal nuts slide into the side-slot of the extrusion. The slightly oval shape means that as they screwed-into the nut jams against the slot.

This product comes as a bag of 50 slim T-nuts, with M4 threads. If you don’t need to be able to insert them from the side, check out our “oval” T-nuts that be dropped into the slot from the end. Works with any of our M4 screws.

NEW PRODUCT – Aluminum Extrusion Oval T-Nut for 20×20 – M4 Thread – pack of 50 – An essential for working with slotted aluminum extrusion, these slim metal nuts slide into the ends of the extrusion. The oval shape means that as they screwed-into the nut jams against the slot.

This product comes as a bag of 50 T-nuts, with M4 threads. If you want to be a little more lux, check out our “slim” T-nuts that be dropped into the slot from the side rather than from the end. Works with any of our M4 screws.

NEW PRODUCT – Button Hex Machine Screw – M4 thread – 10mm long – pack of 50 – Cute as a button, these button-head hex screws are what we suggest for putting together a project with our slotted extruded aluminum. Use a 2.5mm hex wrench to attach/detach. This length is good for attaching something about 4mm/0.15″ thick to 20×20 extrusion.

Comes in a pack of 50. M4-20 threads, 10mm threaded body.

NEW PRODUCT – Button Hex Machine Screw – M4 thread – 8mm long – pack of 50 – Cute as a button, these button-head hex screws are what we suggest for putting together a project with our slotted extruded aluminum. Use a 2.5mm hex wrench to attach/detach. This length is good for attaching something about 2mm/0.08″ thick to 20×20 extrusion.

Comes in a pack of 50. M4-20 threads, 8mm threaded body.

NEW PRODUCT – Coupling Plate – 2 Holes – 20×20 Aluminum Extrusion – Attach various pieces of 20mm slotted aluminum extrusion together with this 3-hole plate.

Measures 40mm long, 18mm wide, 4mm thick. 5.3m drill holes 20mm apart so you can use M4 or M5 screws. You’ll want to use 10mm long screws to attach this to 20mm extrusion.

NEW PRODUCT – Coupling Plate – 3 Holes – 20×20 Aluminum Extrusion – Attach various pieces of 20mm slotted aluminum extrusion together with this 3-hole plate.

Measures 60mm long, 18mm wide, 4mm thick. 5.3m drill holes 20mm apart so you can use M4 or M5 screws. You’ll want to use 10mm long screws to attach this to 20mm extrusion.

NEW PRODUCT – Cross-Plate for 2020 Aluminum Extrusion – Attach various pieces of 20mm slotted aluminum extrusion together with this 7-hole cross joining plate.

Measures 120mm long x 60mm wide, 4mm thick. 5.3m drill holes 20mm apart so you can use M4 or M5 screws. You’ll want to use 10mm long screws to attach this to 20mm extrusion.

NEW PRODUCT – L-Plate for 2020 Aluminum Extrusion – Attach various pieces of 20mm slotted aluminum extrusion together with this 5-hole corner plate.

Measures 60mm long x 60mm wide, 4mm thick. 5.3m drill holes 20mm apart so you can use M4 or M5 screws. You’ll want to use 10mm long screws to attach this to 20mm extrusion.

NEW PRODUCT – T-Plate for 2020 Aluminum Extrusion – Attach various pieces of 20mm slotted aluminum extrusion together with this 5-hole T-shaped plate.

Measures 60mm long x 60mm wide, 4mm thick. 5.3m drill holes 20mm apart so you can use M4 or M5 screws. You’ll want to use 10mm long screws to attach this to 20mm extrusion.

NEW PRODUCT – Aluminum Extrusion Corner Brace Support (for 20×20) – Brace yourself! You’ll definitely want to pick up a couple of these corner brace supports when working on a project with 20×20 extrusion. They’re nice and solid, made of cast aluminum so they are stronger than extruded corner supports. Two holes, one in each corner allow you to easily connect two pieces at a 90 degree angle.

Comes as just one piece, you’ll also need T-nuts and 8mm long screws (10mm are too long!)