[This was an entire blog. I changed one grammatical fix, but it’s otherwise the same exact post I wrote 16 years ago and abandoned. While I’m still very nostalgic for the days of the MakerBot-that-was, I’m probably even more glad that 3D printing went so mainstream that every farmer’s market across America has multiple stalls selling 3D printed flexi-dragons and keychains. We’re well past the days of 3D printing operators creating makeshift nozzles from drilling out nuts and wrapping nichrome wire by hand and more into being able to pick up a roll of filament somewhere in your neighborhood. Yes, it means more 3D printed garbage sitting on shelves, but it also means regular people have a chance to actually innovate and iterate things without significant tooling and manufacturing barriers.]
In case you missed it, here’s the CBS piece on MakerBot and a “web extra” that didn’t make it to air during the televised interview.
I didn’t realize this, but apparently all the press from MakerBot hitting CBS evening news was enough to crush their website. As best as I can tell at least some portions of their website are hosted on the Amazon cloud. That’s a LOT of traffic. As they say, success is a good problem to have.
As a purely self-interested person I really like the idea of more and more people having access to a MakerBot or RepRap. The more these technologies are available, the easier it will be to get replacement parts and extra plastic. Perhaps more importantly, the more people using personal fabrication technology the more designs and upgrades and developments we’ll see.
Just imagine – someone who watched that CBS episode or those video clips has an amazing idea right now and the only thing holding them back is getting their paws on a MakerBot. Did you notice the little poll box on one of those CBS pages? When asked, “Do you plan to buy a 3-D printer within the next year?” 82% of respondents “Yes”, 12% were undecided.
Did you also notice NO ONE voted for “Screw this, I don’t want to live in the future!”
Drafts Zero - The Lost Blog Posts- The Lost Blog Posts
- Plastruder! [Draft 12/25/2009]
- UNTITLED [Draft 12/25/2009]
- Preparing to print [Draft 12/27/2009]
- More prints [Draft 01/04/2010]
- Prototype Pricing [Draft 01/19/2010]
- MakerBot tuning [Draft 01/20/2010]
- Plastic Screw Anchor [Draft 02/02/2010]
- Magic [Draft 02/03/2010]
- How are you printing with PLA? [Draft 02/16/2010]
- Rebuilding my extruder [Draft 02/16/2010]
- MY robot [Draft 02/18/2010]
- more things i learned [Draft 02/20/2010]
- First commissioned piece! [Draft 02/22/2010]
- MakerBot: Toy or Tool? [02/25/2010]
- Idea for Skeinforge settings… [Draft 03/27/2010]
- RepRap and MakerBot alternatives [Draft 04/05/2010]
- RepRap Parts for Sale [Draft 04/07/2010]
- Where is the Othercutter? [Draft 06/08/2015]
- Mendel Parts – Printed, Cast, CNC’d, Lasercut or Injection Molded? [Draft 04/12/2010]
- MakerBot Operator’s Manual [06/04/20210]
- MakerBot on CBS! [07/07/2010]