Month: April 2010

I actually felt sorry for that bastard

Edit: Jeff – Just in case you read this – I do not really think you are a bastard.  I follow your blog and am very appreciative of your in depth posts and analysis on all things MakerBot/RepRap.  The title is more about me feeling like a sucker than a commentary about you.

Jeff posted about totally abandoning his dreams of building a RepRap Mendel.  He said what pushed him over the edge was the constant question, “So, what are you going to build with it?”  Of course, the guy had to post this on 4/1.

I actually felt sad at the thought of him turning his parts into a “melted sculpture of failure.”

I suppose it’s not his fault.  I traded my MakerBot for some magic beans yesterday.

Full RepRap for sale

A complete1 Mendel for sale?  That’s incredible!

There has been a truly amazing progression2 in RepRap parts lately.  While I’m not crazy about eBay as a way of selling3 , it’s a very democratic4 way of disseminating RepRap parts.  The first few parts and sets of parts were all printed, then molded, now MOLDS are for sale?!

Yes, the Platonic ideal of RepRap is that a machine makes the components of the next machine.  But, is it not also part of the RepRap ideal that these machines be disseminated as far and as widely as possible?  It’s really great you can use a RepRap to build another – but that doesn’t mean it’s the best/most economical way.

These RepRap mold are advertised to be good for roughly 50 pourings.  It is advertised to create 9 vertexes at once, but they all appear to be 1/2 vertexes.  The posting also suggests it takes 12 vertexes for a full RepRap.  So:

  • 12 vertexes per RepRap / 0.5 vertexes halves = 24 vertex halves required
  • 24 vertex halves required /9 vertex halves per sheet = 2.67 sheet uses per RepRap
  • 50 uses per sheet / 2.67 uses per sheet = 18.75 sets of RepRap vertexes

Admittedly, this is only a set of molds for the frame vertexes, not the entire set of parts.  However, it’s really only a matter of time before a set is up for grabs.

This makes me wonder – is there a different market value to printed parts rather than molded parts?

  1. ish [↩]
  2. transmission?? [↩]
  3. having sold things on eBay myself [↩]
  4. fair? capitalistic? [↩]

New cell phone!

So, I finally got over my fear of commitment and bought a new cell phone.  I had my prior cell for about 4 years, my cell before that for 3 years, and my cell before that for 3 years.  I keep them well beyond the point where people make fun of my old beat up cell.

I just picked up the Motorola Droid and I’m pretty happy with it so far.  A site that I use regularly that’s almost totally powered by Javascript and AJAX works beautifully with this phone where Windows IE on cells freaks out, Opera Mini does a reasonable job, and the iPhone does a fairly good job.  Web browsing is fast, rendered quickly, connects to e-mail, and all sorts of good stuff.

The thing I’m perhaps the most pleased about is that I can tether the phone to my laptop to use it as 16G extra storage OR as a broadband modem – for no extra fee. 1 2  I wouldn’t often use my laptop away from WiFi, but when I do a little Droid powered broadband love is going to be sweet.

Now back to your regularly scheduled nonsense.

  1. Full disclosure:  You have to download and install a free app called PDANet to be able to connect through the phone.  Not a big deal for me. [↩]
  2. I’m already paying for broadband to the phone, why should I pay for it again in the form of a broadband card for my laptop? [↩]