Digital Fabrication

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!

How-To: Your Home in a Snow Globe

Visual effects artist Karl Stiefvater takes us through the steps he used to build a 3D model of his home (SketchUp and its handy “Photo Match” function), apply the textures (Maya), and produce the X3D file Shapeways requires for full-color 3D printing (MeshLab). He also covers such useful, decidedly non-virtual details as how to seal the model to prevent the color from bleeding, how to treat the water to prevent algae growth, and how to assemble the snowglobe kit itself.

Continue Reading January 4th, 2012 Sean Michael Ragan4

How-To: Rifle Shell Pen Body

I have before identified Instructables user Mrballeng as a craftsman’s craftsman, and this latest offering only serves to reinforce that opinion. His work is not flashy or complex, but it’s always thought out with exacting detail and does amazing things with everyday materials. Here, he uses a mini-lathe to bore, swage, and align two .30-06 cartridge cases before soldering them together, at the joint, and fitting the guts of a refillable plastic click-pen inside. Cool stuff.

Continue Reading January 3rd, 2012 Sean Michael Ragan10

The Zombie Hammer, Now with Skull Ejector

Slingshot artificer Jörge Sprave is at it again. This time he’s made a vicious slingshot (no surprise there), but with a second business end — a deadly counter-weighted spike, aka the Zombie Hammer.

Continue Reading January 2nd, 2012 Gareth Branwyn8

Printable Robotic Hand

Version three of Thingiverse user armjunkie’s Robotic Hand improves over the original with fewer non-printable parts, less plastic to print, less sanding, and requires less pull force to move.

Continue Reading January 2nd, 2012 John Baichtal

3D Printable Exact Change Holder

Inspired by this Instructable, Thingiverse user patchorang created a 3D-printable plastic card that fits in your wallet and can hold the right amount of coins so that you can pay with exact change.

Continue Reading December 31st, 2011 Matt Richardson

The First Citizen of My Personal Robot Nation Has Arrived

Back in November at AnDevCon II, I met Jonathan Hirshon of Horizon Communications, who hooked me up with a complimentary robot from My Robot Nation. This had nothing to do with Android; it probably came up because we had a MakerBot running in O’Reilly’s booth printing out little Androids (using casainho’s Android magnet design from Thingiverse). Enough about androids and robots. As ST:TNG’s Lt. Commander Data is so fond of reminding us, there is a difference between the two!

Continue Reading December 30th, 2011 Brian Jepson10

Teleporting Yourself to Dinner

Maybe we finally DO live in the future. I had to call my mother-in-law a few days ago to deliver the bad news that we wouldn’t be able to make it up to New York/New Jersey for our annual post-Christmas dinner. “Hey, maybe you could send 3D print-outs of your heads,” she responded

Continue Reading December 23rd, 2011 Gareth Branwyn10

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