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!

Polite houseguests print and repair

Polite houseguests print and repair

Last night I was out on an adventure. In the morning, the shower curtain fell down because the pole was a bit too short. After I pulled the paper towel tube shim out, I tried to twist the rod to lengthen it. Since it was maxed out, it needed a little something special to help make ends meet.

When I went downstairs, I took a few extra steps out to the car, got the Makerbot and returned to fire up the computer with Sketchup. It took two iterations to get the dimensions right. The new part came out sized to fit over the end of the curtain rod and take up a bit of the gap.

A Möbius Gear?

A Möbius Gear?

I love this Möbius Gear design, made by Aaron Hoover for a Procedural Solid Modeling class back in 2009. It looks impossible at first glance, but the trick is that the inside gear is actually made from a flexible material, so it can deform as it spins around the fixed outer gear. There’s also a […]

Giant Machete-Shooting Slingshot

Giant Machete-Shooting Slingshot

I love Cory Doctorow’s droll description of this creation almost as much as I love the thing itself:

This handy gentleman has built an (arguably ill-conceived, but nevertheless impressive) rifle-cum-slingshot that fires machetes, should you find yourself with the need to fire machetes.

The handy gentleman in question is YouTuber Jörg Sprave, slingshot enthusiast par excellence. He blogs about it here. [via Boing Boing]