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!

Sharing Hi-Res 3D Fossil Models Online

Interesting item from Dallas’s Southern Methodist University, where paleontologist Thomas L. Adams and co-workers Christopher Strganac, Michael J. Polcyn, and Louis L. Jacobs have used a laser 3D scanner to produce a high-resolution model of a large outdoor dinosaur track which is a landmark in downtown Glen Rose, Texas. Exposed to the elements in the town square, the track is (very slowly) eroding, and the team’s freely downloadable 3D model is intended to both preserve it for posterity and to facilitate its study by fossil buffs all over the world. Their results are published online in Paleontologica Electronica. [Thanks, Alan Dove!]

Continue Reading February 17th, 2011 Sean Michael Ragan4

30 Minute RepRap Clone

Mark Ganter and his team at the University of Washington Mechanical Engineering Department’s Solheim Rapid Prototyping Laboratory just cut the time it takes to make a RepRap Prusa Mendel 3D printer. Instead of the usual week it takes to output all of the printable parts that comprise a Prusa Mendel, Ganter and students, Scott Tandoi and Travis Nicholes, created a set of silicon RTV molds to produce the parts in a mere fraction of the time.

Continue Reading February 15th, 2011 Adam Flaherty30

10-Year-Old Explains Import Of 3D Printing At Ignite

10-year-old Schulyer loves his MakerBot! So much so, he was willing to get up in front of an audience of 850 people at Ignite Phoenix to tell everybody about it, explain 3D printing, and the import of the technology. Way to go, Schulyer! I love how he’s a lab coat with feet. They gotta start […]

Continue Reading February 14th, 2011 Gareth Branwyn4

Homemade Revolving Shotgun

From Home Gunsmith Forum user rhmc24: Using chambers cut off 12 ga. scrap barrels and a new $10 bbl for an Italian auto shotgun, the only other gun part is a scrapped hammer from a 1857 Remington perc revolver. Loads like a SAA Colt but underlever rotates and cocks it. Blow-by is negligible, hardly noticeable […]

Continue Reading February 10th, 2011 Sean Michael Ragan14

Thingiverse 3D Catan Pieces: Legal?

But my general policy on 3D models is that I don’t cover them until there’s at least one real physical prototype. In this case, however, I probably should have trusted my instincts, because it turns out, besides the cool factor, Sublime’s design is creating quite a buzz with the legal questions it raises.

Continue Reading February 10th, 2011 Sean Michael Ragan2

Printed Modular Buckyball Lamp

Michael Rule of Providence, Rhode Island, printed the 12 pentagonal and 20 hexagonal modules of his Atomic Sun lamp on a MakerBot. I have to say, it looks more like a viral capsid to me, but I can see why one might want to avoid that as a name. The models are available on Thingiverse.

Continue Reading February 9th, 2011 Sean Michael Ragan8

3D-Printed Robot Snake

Via i.materialise: This robot is nothing we haven’t seen before, but it intrigues me. It was apparently built as a promotion by the folks who make Objet 3D printers. I’d love to see what each module looks like — room for a servo, PCB and battery pack, maybe. Someone needs to put a robot snake […]

Continue Reading February 9th, 2011 John Baichtal10

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