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!
Tony Buser’s F-Bomb packs soil and flower seeds into a bomb-shaped and biodegradable PLA shell. Sure, there are cheaper and more efficient ways to do this… but… pfft… The idea is to stuff it with some compost and seeds and then throw it somewhere that you think could use some color, but you either can’t […]
Jeffrey Lipton of Fab@Home demonstrates their 3D printing system at Maker Faire Bay Area 2011. This open source personal manufacturing machine can print with many different materials from plastic to cookie dough. When used in a classroom, Fab@Home furthers STEM education by making students comfortable with the software, hardware, fabrication, and materials.
If I were six years old today, I would owe a huge debt of gratitude to Thingiverse user Thomas Lombardi, who created this 3D printable Lucky Charms sorter. There’s no doubt that we’re in the midst of a 3D printing revolution, but nothing has made me happier about it than this incredible invention. It’s an absolutely brilliant idea, it has been brought to fruition, and now it has been shared with the masses. This, ladies and gentlemen, is what the 3D printing revolution is all about.
When I started this Zero to Maker journey, I was inspired by the idea that I could become a self-made industrial designer – that I could bypass an expensive education by learning only what I really needed to get started. Now that I’ve started down the road, I’ve realized that it’s a very long road. The good news is that I remain committed to my initial belief that there’s a less expensive (and faster) way to learn: through a strategic blend of internet resources, access to the right tools, and involvement in a community of like-minded makers. Most important for me, however, has been the commitment to trying to figure out and examine more of what I don’t know.
Folks on Thingiverse are talking about possibly banning uploads which could be used as, or relate to, weapons. In particular, a bunch of different builders have started to upload parts of an AR-15 rifle, including Crank’s 5-shot magazine, pictured above. Where is this trend going? Should Thingiverse ban anything that could be used as a […]
Using a cheap-o desk lamp from IKEA and a custom MakerBot-printed bracket, Illinois maker Chris Krueger built a desktop arm stand for his webcam. Stands like this are great for getting in close to the action without having to deal with a tripod getting in your way.
Rich was curious about printing with polycarbonate (PC), but couldn’t find any definitive answers to his questions online. So he bought a roll of 1.6mm PC filament and started experimenting, and his reports are fairly glowing. PC melts hotter than ABS or PLA, is more rigid, and comes out of the printer cloudy, which some have suggested may be due to atmospheric moisture.
