If you’re a maker, 3d printing is an incredibly useful tool to have in your arsenal. Not only can it help bring your projects to life faster, but it can also offer unique results that would be difficult (or impossible!) to achieve with traditional methods. In these blog posts, we’ll provide you with some essential information and tips regarding 3D printing for makers—including the basics of how to get started, plus creative tutorials for spicing up your projects. Whether you’re already familiar with 3d printing or are just starting out, these resources will help take your game-making skills even further!
This week at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. there was a happy merging of hundreds of people in the 3D scanning world and museum world. We gathered to see presentations from so many experts in these fields, including folks from Autodesk, 3D Systems, the Smithsonian and many other museums. We learned about the Wright Flyer, ancient weapons, whale and dolphin fossils, a CT scan of an Embreea orchid and Eulaema bee, and a killer whale hat.
Today I had the pleasure of speaking with Shanen Boettcher, General Manager of Product Management at Microsoft about their 3D Builder graphical touchscreen application for Windows 8.1, slotted for release at midnight GMT today, Nov. 15. 3D Builder incorporates a combination of slicer and client software plus integrated Windows drivers for several popular 3D printers to provide a easy-to-use desktop manufacturing experience that aims to make it simple for the average consumer to get into 3D printing quickly.
MAKE recently conducted a survey on consumer 3D printing of MAKE and Maker newsletter subscribers. It offers a snapshot of the current state of desktop 3D printing.
Mad props to NPR’s All Tech Considered blog for namechecking MAKE (and yours truly) yesterday in this n00b-friendly piece about the prospect of building one’s own 3D printer. MC Rae Bichell quotes me on my favorite four-word description of fused-filament printers as “robot hot glue guns,” and drops a link to our new Ultimate Guide to 3D Printing. Respect, Rae!
Large print volume for less than a grand equals a big value.
MAKE is celebrating its just-released Ultimate Guide to 3D printing with an international maker meetup tonight at 6pm PT and you’re invited.
The first deltabot in our tests printed well but it’s still a machine for the hands-on tinkerer.
