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May 10 2012
Where You MakerBot
Sorry folks. We’ve been getting some great pictures of MakerBot habitats in our inbox, but I have now acquired a backlog. Fixing that! But please do keep sending.
Here’s Ben’s TOM home. Looks like a busy workspace! What is that board attached to, Ben? It looks like it’s wrapped up in bubble wrap, making it doubly interesting.
Ben's Thing-O-Matic
May 04 2012
Where You MakerBot
I’m really digging this Where You MakerBot from Brian. He’s got his TOM on the left side of his workstation, and a soldering station on the right. “This way I can be printing on my makerbot and programming my arduino at the same time.”
Never missing a chance to Make. That’s a MakerBotter for ya.
Want to show the world where your MakerBot lives? Send me a picture of the full habitat here.
May 01 2012
Where You MakerBot
Earnest's cozy home, in Lou's workspace
Meet Earnest, the fully customized TOM #6419 belonging to LouFlemal. This is one pimped-out Bot:
- A couple Shower Bar Supports by Carmiac (Thing #7770) let Lou quickly switch among 8 spools of filament.
- Quick Change Build Platform by tomlombardi (Thing #14747)
- A pair of Thing-O-Matic Arms (Thing #21776, LouFlemal’s own scaled down version of MakerBot Arms)
- MakerBot Text Logo by Tinkerer (Thing #10849), lest Earnest’s Bot Cave lineage be forgotten behind that Gen 4 interface
Lou’s Thing-O-Matic lives in a 16″ wide bookshelf, which limits visibility from the side. But there’s a fix for that, too: a mirrored plexi panel on the back, attached, of course, with Jag’s Window Clip (Thing #14727).
Looks like an awesome work space.
A Tip From Westport Mini Maker Faire
A few colleagues and I had a truly great time up in Westport, Connecticut last weekend, where we were part of that state’s first ever Maker Faire event. This Mini Maker Faire was held on the giant lawn outside the Westport Public Library. The only downside there was that a bunch of the guests and makers at Saturday’s event probably didn’t get a chance to go inside that gorgeous facility.
Anyway, I just wanted to thank everyone for stopping by to see us. I learned a lot from all the visitors to our table. For example, Dr. Raimund Herzog stopped by to discuss some challenges he was facing with his Thing-O-Matic extruder. He didn’t realize it, but he was giving me an education in the history of extruders.
Ray also shared a really helpful tip that I think bears re-mentioning on the blog: when assembling your TOM, it’s always a good idea to have a magnetic wand on hand, such as the one he received along with his Weller soldering station.
If you’re about to embark on an assembly adventure, get one of these. I assembled a Replicator the other day and found myself wishing I had one on hand. The guys and girls in the Bot Cave use them a lot, in case you’re wondering about the tools of the trade.
Here’s a shot of Ray showing us how useful this tool was in putting together his Filament Spindle Box, and another shot below it from our Support pages showing another angle.
Thanks, Ray!
April 30 2012
Where You MakerBot
A Thing-O-Matic station, from Herón et al.
We set it up next to our work table, we have plastic boxes to contain our failed prints, hoping that some day we’ll be able to recycle all that PLA. The ToM is pretty pimped out, with a LED ring light in the extruder, JAG’s filament drive, active cooling for the extruder, feet to easily get to the electronics, and the LM8UU X-carriage, all from Thingiverse.
And in case you were wondering, “that’s a robotic arm on the top shelve with an unfinished Prusa Air and Darth Vader guarding the ToM.”
What’s guarding your TOM?
April 27 2012
Where You MakerBot
Where Kat's Thing-O-Matic lives
Kat writes:
You wanted to see people’s Makerbot’s in their home environments, so here is mine! I recently bought my first flat so the study is still pretty bare, but I got a 2m long desk to accommodate all my techie/crafty stuff and of course my Thing-O-Matic has pride of placeYou can see it here hanging out with some of my other robotic helpers…
Not a very exciting pic right now, but soon as I get time I’ll be printing out a clock for the wall (got my kit waiting), and designing a bespoke plastic spool holder to go on the wall.
April 24 2012
Virginia School Library Teaches Kids MakerBotting
“I think it’s really cool how you can actually hold something that you printed out in your hand other than it just being a piece of paper.”
Such a simple thing, but it really is a thrill you don’t understand until you’ve skeined and printed. Am I right?
Thanks for this fun window into your MakerBotting, Collegiate School!
Just Look At All Those Thing-O-Matics!
In the it’s-happy-hour-somewhere vein:
I love how these guys print their bottle opener in order to have that emergency beer at the office.
April 17 2012
MakerBot Thing-O-Matics: Where We Are Now
A couple of comments have come in through the blog, our twitter, and our Facebook channels to the same effect: does MakerBot still sell the Thing-O-Matic?
Let’s clear this up!
Kits
Since The Replicator launched in January, we have continued to ship Thing-O-Matic kits. We are, however, now completely out of stock of the Thing-O-Matics. We will no longer be offering the Thing-O-Matic for sale.
Support
For those who already own Thing-O-Matics, we absolutely plan to continue our support efforts for the foreseeable future. Please feel free to contact Support at the email address above with your needs.
If you’d like to get some insights from other community members, check out the forums on Support pages, or for the more advance user, dig into the MakerBot Operators Google Group.
Parts
We do still have several relevant replacement parts in stock that you may be interested in. If there’s something that you need, and you don’t see it on the store, drop us an email tosupport@makerbot.com. We’ll do our best to find what you need to get you up and running.
Feeback From You
No matter what MakerBot 3D printer you are using, we value your input and participation on this blog and in all community outlets. Got a question about an event? Want to chime in with an idea for a blog post? Feel free to drop a line to tips@makerbot.com.
April 13 2012
Digital Fabrication Workshop In Upstate New York, Tomorrow!
Sorry for the late notice on this one, but if you’re anywhere near Ithaca, NY tomorrow, Saturday the 14th, stop by the collaborative entrepreneurship space just founded called PopShop. I particularly like their domain name: http://popright.in/.
Tomorrow afternoon, our friend and associate Jeremy Blum will be giving a seminar on digital fabrication, including, of course, 3D printing. It’s an intro to the concepts of 3D printing, and there will be a MakerBot Thing-O-Matic and Replicator on hand to look at. Jeremy really knows what he’s talking about, so it should be a great talk!
While PopShop is really geared toward students, the talk tomorrow is open to the public.
Big Arduino Shout Out From Pompano Beach
I love the title that these guys at South Florida Hack and Tell have given themselves! Looks like they’re doing great work with their Thing-O-Matic. Check out the video from MiamiHerald.com.
April 12 2012
It’s Like MakerBot Show And Tell!
The exhibit is open to the public, and runs from 9 AM to 6 PM, Monday through Friday.
View Larger Map
Material ConneXion
60 Madison Avenue
2nd floor
New York, NY
March 29 2012
Prototyping A Lunar Mining Robot On A MakerBot
NYU-Poly's Lunabotics Team shows off MakerBots at MakerDay
NASA’s third annual Lunabotics Mining Competition is a mere 52 days away. I know that because the NYU-Poly Lunabotics team has a countdown clock on their page. That team is working its way toward a submission for the contest using Thing-O-Matics and Cupcake CNCs to prototype the robot parts!
That is exciting in itself, but we were happy to receive a quick update yesterday — we lurve updates — and find out these guys are spreading the knowledge to other entrepreneurs in the NYC area. Team member Jack Poon posted that the group brought TOMs and a Cupcake over to NYU’s MakerDay last week.
…we were showing entrepreneurs a tool that can really help their businesses jump off the ground. A lot of them had a lot of ideas sparking. Instead of waiting forever for something or contracting out prototyping to machinists, now they could do it all themselves cheaply after a initial investment of $1999. There are even free tools online to help them get started with designing such as Google Sketchup.
It was also nice to hear that the obvious evolution from Cupcake to Thing-O-Matic was inspiring for the entrepreneurs. In case you missed it, there was a cool picture up this week showing those two next to our latest darling, The Replicator.
For more info on the NASA competition, look here. We cannot wait to see what the NYU-Poly team comes up with!
March 26 2012
You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby!
Check out @schmarty‘s photo of his three generations of MakerBot. Left to right: Cupcake CNC #131, Thing-O-Matic #5564, and Replicator #7516. What a handsome family!
You can check out the evolution of Schmarty’s Things on Thingiverse, too.
March 24 2012
The Intersection of Art and Robotics
Laura Greig's XY Plotter
If you haven’t seen the work of artist, roboticist, and art-robotics speaker Laura Greig, you’re really missing out. She’s used her MakerBot Thing-O-Matic to build this XY plotter for recreating images of the Gutenberg 42-Line Bible. 1 Especially interesting is her description of the evolution of her XY plotter:
My favorite thing about this XY Plotter prototype is how the colors of plastic hold its history. I’d only change spools when they were expended, and only print new parts when they were redesigned. The next iteration will scrap everything to make way for gear trains.
I had never before considered how the plastic parts in a project could be seen as stratified sedimentary layers, pointing out the evolutionary progress of a design. With big changes in a project signified by entirely redesigned assemblies, different plastics, different colors – perhaps even better printing configurations. It makes me wonder about my own projects – how much of a given design is now vestigial DNA? 2 What advances resulted from the fortuitous mashup of other designs? Will my project ever go through a dramatic sea change requiring everything be scrapped and started anew?
- If you haven’t heard, it’s the answer to life, the universe, and everything.
- Once important to the operation of a machine, but now little more than a pinkie toe?
March 13 2012
MakerBot Used by College Students to Prototype Water Purifier
If there is one thing we love, it’s hearing about amazing students doing great things with a MakerBot! There is a student-led organization at Auburn University using MakerBot to solve the potable water crisis in the developing world.
Our support team here in the BotLair got a service request yesterday, and after digging around, we’re intrigued. The Innovative Humanitarian Products Organization is a group born out of a project by Grant Moore, who was a student in the Business Engineering Technology program at Auburn. In the video below from September, 2010, we see Grant sitting next to his Thing-o-Matic, which he used to prototype his group’s Advanced Liquid Purification System (ALPS).
As Grant says, having a MakerBot on hand meant he could print a box to hold all the parts of the system he envisioned. Looking at some Facebook pictures, it seems IHPO may have used their 3D printer for more parts than just the box.
Here’s a slideshow to give you some more background on the group.
March 12 2012
Danville, Virginia Ready for the Revolution
File under unexpected-but-awesome! The Institute for Advanced Learning and Research hosted a talk on the glories of additive personal manufacturing last week, and who showed up to bring home the message? That’s right, our friend the Thing-O-Matic!
Christopher Williams, assistant professor of Chemical Engineering and DREAMS Lab Director at Virginia Tech (an IALR partner), told the crowd,
There are no more constraints…There are no more rules about what can and can’t be made.
Preach on, Dr. Williams! We’re thrilled MakerBot was part of your evening.
March 09 2012
MakerBot Replicators Out Into The Wild
todbot with Cupcake #0002 and Replicator #7523
The Replicators are among us. And one way you can keep up with this unfolding story is by following the #MyMakerBot project on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, a way for MakerBot Operators to share their MakerBot Numbers and first prints with the world.
The serial on the back of our bots is not a set of random digits. Each new bot joins a continuity of unique MakerBot numbers that carry forward from the handwriting on the first CupCake, to the laser-etches on the back of The Replicator. MakerBot Operators can often be seen proclaiming their MakerBot Number with pride when their bot accomplishes a print they are excited about.
Check out maker Tod Kurt of ThingM pictured above, better known as todbot, proud owner of both the first CupCake purchased by the public, CupCake #0002, and recipient of the first Replicator shipped out from our facility, Replicator #7523. Talk about early adopter! He has been sharing images of his bot and first prints via flickr and has also introduced his new bot over to the Los Angeles-based hackerspace, Crash Space. His first set of prints is below!
Todbot's first things printed on his new MakerBot Replicator!
Getting a New MakerBot? Here’s How You Can Participate!
Claim your spot in MakerBot history by snapping a photo of yourself next to your MakerBot and upload it to MakerBot Flickr group. You don’t have to have a Replicator to play along — all MakerBots are welcome! After your photo is up on Flickr, share your photo with the rest of the world via Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook with hashtag “#MyMakerBot” and your MakerBot Number!
Once you’ve got your MakerBot calibrated, you’re going to want to start making things. We created Thingiverse.com to be a place where you can share digital designs. Scroll through the thousands of projects and consider the infinite possibilities suggested by your own design imagination — what will be the first thing you make with your MakerBot?
Take a picture of your first thing — tag it with “#MyMakerBot” so we can follow along!
Recent #MyMakerBot Photos!
Here are a few of the dozens of photos that have been going up — where is yours?
February 17 2012
CBS News Visits the BotFarm
The folks from CBS News came by the BotFarm last week and took some photos for this awesome slideshow! Scroll through to see a collection of some of our favorite MakerBotted objects and the Replicators and Thing-O-Matics in action.
February 07 2012
X Buckteeth Leader by timmytool
X Buckteeth Leader parametric by timmytool
If you’re rockin’ a Thing-O-Matic, consider installing this clever upgrade from timmytool. This little plastic part allows you to customize the belt height in your X axis to the height where your X belt naturally rides. If the place where the belt is held in place on the X carriage is too high or low, it can create additional vibration and noise.
Plus, it kinda looks like a wacky robot face.
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