Halloween costume

My WordPress/gravatar avatar is basically a small picture of David Tennant as Doctor Who.  I started using that picture because I’m a big fan of Doctor Who and have been for a long time. 1  In actually, no one with any visual degree of acuity would ever confuse me with David Tennant. 2 That’s why I thought Bre’s drawing of MakerBlock as a posterized black-and-red rendering of David Tennant was particularly hilarious.  When my wife saw that she couldn’t stop laughing – that picture is just so much cooler than I really am.

That said, I think it would be really cool to dress up as MakerBlock for Halloween.  The idea really only occurred to me today, otherwise I would give it an actual shot.  I don’t think I have time between now and Sunday to source a red and black suit with matching black and red shirt and tie.

  1. I liked Doctor Who before it was cool, man.  Oh, wait, it’s still not cool?  Crap. []
  2. Our only similarity is that he wears glasses sometimes and neither one of us can properly coordinate shoes with suits.  I’m sure his manner of dress is more of a fashion statement.  My inability is better described as a crippling form of fashion Tourette’s syndrome. []

Missing Isaac

I took a few photos at the Mini-MakerFaire on Sunday, most of which will be posted over at the MakerBot blog.  I was looking forward to seeing an Egg-bot, other MakerBot operators (Ace Monster Toys), and an Isaac.  Unfortunately, the table labeled “Isaac” only had a kid doing his homework. 1

The Egg-bot was cool2 , it was great to meet other MakerBot operators, but I was really looking forward to seeing an Isaac.

  1. I asked him where the Isaac was.   He said, “I don’t know.  I’m just sitting here doing my homework.” []
  2. They had quite a display []

Glowing Logo Cube by Domonoky

Red glowing logo box!

Red glowing logo box!

Domonoky uploaded his “Glowing Logo Cube.”  I’m loving this thing.  The second I saw it, I thought of The Pandorica from the season finale of this last season of Doctor Who.  Here’s a papercraft version of the Pandorica from AFT Downloads, a website devoted to Doctor Who papercraft:

Papercraft Pandorica

Papercraft Pandorica

That image below is from Peter McKinstry’s online gallery of amazing work he’s done for Doctor Who and other super cool things.

The Pandorica

The Pandorica

All I would need to do in order to create a printable Pandorica would be to make a 3D printable version of the Pandorica faces, slot them into the glowing logo cube frame, and drop it into the base.

Would you be interested in some free MakerBot prints?

I have this pile of printed PLA pawns I’m not going to be using any time soon.  They’re of varying quality and interesting-ness.  If you’ve always wanted a MakerBot printed part but thought they were just too unattainable, now’s your chance!

I’m going to be at the East Bay Mini-MakerFaire this Sunday just walking around with my family.  If you’re going to be there too, drop me a line or leave a comment and I’ll bring a spare piece for you.  I’ll have at least nine pieces to give away.  (More if I try a few new settings.)  If you’re the only one to respond, you get all nine.  :)

Botacon talks!

So, hey, there’s going to be this whole Botacon thing.  Basically it’s about awesome robots and people talking about robots and people showing off their robots. 1  What would you like to see and hear at Botacon?  Help us make it awesome by taking a super short survey, sending an e-mail, or leaving a comment on the MakerBot blog.  Also, you can even submit your own ideas for a talk!

At the risk of sounding narcissist, would you want to hear from me? 2  If so, about what?

  1. Next on a very special Oprah – Robots and the people that care for them []
  2. I’m pretty darn sure some of you read enough of what I write that you don’t need to actually hear my say things too… []

Mini-MakerFaire East Bay this Sunday 10/24/10!

I’m really excited about this weekend’s Mini-MakerFaire taking place at Park Day in Oakland!  There’s going to be at least 100 different exhibits and things going on.  I can’t wait!!!  (Just bought my tix)

Are you going?  Are you an exhibitor?  If so, leave a comment so I can be sure and stop by your booth and say hello!

MakerBlock, he’s just this guy, you know?

So, I am just a guy.  Prior to assembling my Cupcake 3D printer I had never fiddled much with electronics, let alone attempted something as audacious as building a robot.  I don’t have a tech degree, I don’t work in a tech field, basically I’m a glorified cubicle plant.  With what little spare time I get, I spend it fiddling with my robot making awesome things and writing about the awesome things people do with their robots.

But, it occurred to me today…  By virtue of building one robot from a kit and writing about robots…  and given my total and complete lack of knowledge and training1 is it fair to call myself a roboticist?

  1. As well as my ample surplus of ignorance and chutzpah []

WordPress developer job posting

A friend of mine is a small business owner in the Sacramento area.  He has seen the light and is finally developing his stuff in WordPress.  (Sorry Drupal guys, he gave that a whirl)  However, he needs a good WordPress developer to help him out.  I’m not positive, but I’m pretty sure he’d be okay with telecommuting.  He’s got several online publications and website based businesses, so he’ll definitely keep you busy.  If you’re interested, shoot me an e-mail through the contact form and I’ll forward your e-mail to him.

Chess set: 1/4 complete

I’ve been working on printing a chess set today.

Yesterday I was troubleshooting my automated build platform.  I could use it reasonably well as a heated build platform, but the automated part was not working so well.  The main issues I was having were the thermistor only registered 255, the automated build platform only ran backwards1 , and the extrusion would not stick to the conveyor belt.

Believe me, some of these issues were incredibly dumb.  No worries, I’ll fill you in on the extent of my ignorance soon enough.  It’s not like I’ve got a finite supply, right?

I took out the automated build platform conveyor belt – and lost one of the little plastic bushings in the process.  I’m pretty sure I can rig a serviceable facsimile, but my printer has been down so much lately that I just want to actually PRINT things.  I’ll work on fixing up the automated build platform and troubleshooting it later.

So far I have, in black ABS, 8x pawns, 2x knights, 2x rooks, and am in the process of printing a bishop right now.  (I know that’s more than 1/4 of the way done – but I was 1/4 of the way when I started this post).

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  1. WTF? []