Digital fabrication tools have revolutionized the way designers, engineers, and artisans express their creativity. With the right resources, you can learn to use these powerful instruments in no time! Whether it’s 3D printing or laser cutting that interests you, these articles will provide useful tutorials and inspiration for makers of all levels. Discover how digital fabrication can open up new possibilities so that your craftsmanship is truly extraordinary!
The Inside 3D Printing Conference in NYC gave us a clear look at the business side of 3D printing. Usual suspects, like 3D Systems, MakerBot and Stratasys, attended in full force. So did some up-and-comers like FormLabs, ZoomRP, Sculpteo, Mbot, and MakerGear. Shapeways (based in New York) was noticeably absent, though CEO Peter Weijmarshausen gave a keynote speech and announced that the company would receive $30 million in new investments.
Kansas City programmer Michael Overstreet wanted his own high-performance humanoid robot to experiment with, but was deterred by the $12,000 pricetag of an off-the-shelf DARwin-OP. Though a significant fraction of the cost is tied up in the top-of-the-line servo actuators the design requires to perform at spec, Michael believed he could build his own “clone” of the fully open-source design, at substantial savings, by 3D printing as many pieces as he could in fused filament, on home equipment.
Youtube user QueticoChris uses an old cast-iron flywheel and vintage building techniques to design and make an efficient foot-powered wood lathe.
Nick Normal and I attended the first Inside 3D Printing Conference & Expo recently. Here’s a collection of our pictures and recollections.
Located inside Metrix Create:Space at the heart of Seattle, Metrix Open Hardware Lab features a pick and place machine and a reflow soldering line for manufacturing various open source electronics. Its first product, the Brainwave, purports to be the lowest-cost alzl-in-one 3D printer control board solution on the market.
Sure, your 3D Printer runs reliably as long as it sits safely at home, but what would happen if dozens of college students used it each week? Georgia Tech Mechanical Engineering student Jeff Landrum discusses the challenges behind building, managing, and automating a “printer farm” at one of the largest student-run makerspaces in the country.
On a recent visit to Manchester to attend the Future Everything summit, I couldn’t pass up the chance to visit the UK’s first fab lab, housed in a striking, slab-like building in the waterside district of one of Britain’s great industrial cities. I spoke to Eddie Kirkby (of the Manufacturing Institute) and Haydn Insley (fab lab manager) to find out how the fab lab movement is spreading into the UK.
