Daniel and the Portabee team inform us of their new 3D printer, the Portabee GO. Paving the way in the ‘laptop class’ of 3D printer, the new Portabee is foldable and robust. Improvements in accuracy and usability accompany our radical new form factor. We are extremely pleased to present our next step on the road […]
Category Archives: 3D fabrication
ProfTweak app tweaks Makerware settings
Rich Olson of Nothing Labs writes: I’m a Makerbot Replicator 2 user – and I generally like MakerWare – but it pains me that they don’t expose about 95% of the slicer settings in the GUI. To get good results with filaments besides PLA – I often need to do things not in MakerWare’s interface […]
3D printing in alternative filaments
Rich Olson of Nothing Labs has posted a presentation on 3d printing in “alternative” filaments besides PLA. He writes, “I specifically cover soft PLA, Taulman Nylon 618, PET, Taulman “T-glase” (PETT), Layoo-d3, Laybrick and bri-tech PLA 45. The presentation gets into optimal print settings / tips for each filament. I also briefly touch on casting […]
DIMBODY 3d desktop scanner
We previously covered Alessandro Grossi’s DIY 3d scanner. Now this project is becoming a start-up known as the DIMBODY. He describes, “DIMBODY is a 3d scanner, a digitalizer that allows you to take a physical object, and turn it into a digital 3D model on your computer. DIMBODY is based of triangulation between laser plane […]
BotQueue open source 3d printer over web control software
Developer Zach Hoeken and his friends at BotQueue have released the code for their software which allows 3D printer conrol over the internet. They call it BotQueue. BotQueue lets you control multiple 3D printers through the Internet and turn them into your own manufacturing center. Think cloud-based computing, but for making things in the real […]
The Turbo Entabulator – a 3D-printable, fully mechanical computer
Chris Fenton has released the files allowing you to build your own 3D printable mechanical computer. This is is a simple, 3D-printable (caveat: It requires some springs, bearings, rubber bands, and nuts/bolts), fully-mechanical computer. It has 3, single-digit base-10 counters for memory, and processes a chain of 10-position punch cards. With the included program, it […]
MIT’s silkworm-powered, fantastical, biological “3D printer”
MIT’s silkworm-powered, fantastical, biological “3D printer” : The primary structure was created of 26 polygonal panels made of silk threads laid down by a CNC (Computer-Numerically Controlled) machine. Inspired by the silkworm’s ability to generate a 3D cocoon out of a single multi-property silk thread (1km in length), the overall geometry of the pavilion was […]
DIY 3d laser scanner
Alessandro Grossi developed this DIY 3d scanner. The primary ingredients in this project are readily available and include a line laser, an Arduino, stepper motor, stepper motor driver (up to 12800 steps), 12V power supply, IR LED and a digital SLR camera. While he wrote the image processing script for Matlab, he notes that it […]
The Liberator: 3D-printed pistol
Cody R. Wilson is a 25-year-old University of Texas law student working to build semiautomatic weapons using 3D printers. As depicted in this video, his efforts thusfar have concentrated on the part of an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle known as the lower receiver (the part whose sale and possession is regulated federally in the USA.) Recently […]
A new driver board for the 3Drag 3D printer
A new board for the 3Drag 3D printer – there’s more than Sanguinololu Let’s improve the 3Drag with this new board that allows to control a fan and (thanks to the ATmega2560 processor) add some code and accessory devices such as a display or an SD Card When we first released our 3D printer, we tried to use […]
Raspberry Pi 3D printer demonstration
Jon Wise demonstrates his Raspberry Pi 3D Printer, he is using a pen in the demo but it can use an extrude to print items. The mechanical movements leek very complex when compared to a standard XY table that is controlled using 2 stepper motors. The Pi has enough number crunching ability to get the […]
LaserOrigami: Laser-cutting 3D objects
Researchers at Germany’s Hasso Plattner Institute have developed an amazing new Laser cutting 3D objects, the LaserOrigami: LaserOrigami is a rapid prototyping system that produces 3D objects using a laser cutter. LaserOrigami is substantially faster than traditional 3D fabrication techniques such as 3D printing and unlike traditional laser cutting the resulting 3D objects require no […]
3Drag: the Open electronics way to RepRap
3Drag: the Open electronics way to RepRap Few months ago, after long months of testing, assembling and disassembling, print trials,and countless sleepless nights we finally decided to give birth our interpretation of the RepRap project.
Flexible 3D printing material from Shapeways
Shapeways sent an email blast about new flexible 3D printing materials: We just launched our first fully flexible material for 3D printing. This is our only material that is made to bend, and from what we can tell, the only highly flexible 3D printed material accessible for everyone. Elasto Plastic is still experimental, so put […]
Instructables is having a huge 3D printer giveaway
Instructables is having a huge 3D printer giveaway. Enter until 6th of June for the chance to win an Objet desktop 3D printer with a 6 month printing material supply, an UP! 3D printer, or free 3D printing services: This is your chance to win an Objet 3D Printer with a 6 month supply of […]
3D printed circuitry
Rhys Jones has been working on 3D printing circuits using a RepRap printer. He has recently made enough progress to have a working circuit. One of the main problems I previously had was solubility. Running molten metals were acting as solvents for my heated nozzle – resulting in the nozzle slowly dissolving during a print. […]
Print nanometer precision 3D objects at high speed
Researchers at the Vienna University of Technology developed a process to speed up high precision 3D printing. A focused laser beam cures resin and develops a hard object just a few hundred nanometers wide. This method is well known, but what sets this printer apart is the new control mechanisms for the mirrors that focus […]
MakiBox A6 $300 Desktop 3D Printer
Drone writes about a new 3d printer project he’s found: MakiBox A6 is a new crowd-funded project by Jon Buford in Honk Kong. Price is $300USD each plus $50USD International shipping. The basic kit includes all MakiBox parts with electronics and power supply and 1 kg of plastic (2 x 1/2kg spools of ABS). No […]
MakerBot announces The Replicator
Bre Pettis from MakerBot Industries reveals their latest product offering, The Replicator! The MakerBot Replicator is the ultimate personal 3D printer, with dual extrusion (2-color printing)–and a bigger printing footprint, giving you the superpower to print things BIG! Assembled in Brooklyn by skilled technicians, the MakerBot Replicator™ is ready within minutes to start printing right […]
OpenSCAD – the programmers solid 3D CAD modeler
If you’ve looking for open source 3D modeling software that focuses more on the CAD and less on the artistic/game dev aspects, consider Openscad. Think design of machine parts, not movie animation. It takes a different approach than other 3D modeling software. OpenSCAD is not an interactive modeler. Instead it is something like a 3D-compiler […]