Author: Maker Block

Vincent

Wheat Field with Crows - Vincent Van Gogh
Wheat Field with Crows - Vincent Van Gogh

I had kept a few choice episodes of Doctor Who on my DVR, including several from this most recent season.  When working late, I like to have something playing in the background.  Unfortunately, my wife deleted the second1 half of the Season 5 finale.  Shortly after our DVR started to go and the whole thing had to be replaced.  We got the new one, but they don’t offer a “comes with all the episodes of Doctor Who you were saving” option. 2

Well, it took a while but BBC America re-ran all of Season 5, which I’ve been recording.

The one episode that just gets me every time is “Vincent and the Doctor.”  The guy who played Vincent was pretty damn good.  If nothing else, that episode also included some of my favorite pieces of art of all time, including the one above.

  1. And arguably better [↩]
  2. Guys, we can put a man on the moon.  What about a pre-loaded with BBC sci-fi option on DVR’s?  Huh?  Can we do this? [↩]

Bearings

I’m working on designs for MakerBot printable bearings.  The proof of concept tests so far have been very promising.  I’ve printed one that’s a little larger than a 608 bearing and turns quite well.

The secret is that I’m not using printed ball bearings, just the printed casing.  :)

My final proof of this part will be to install it in place of one of the bearings holding the Z axis in place.

Worse than his usual rubbish

This last season of Doctor Who has been really great.  You have probably gleaned from this blog that I’m a big fan of the show.1

I just re-watched one of my favorite episodes from this season (there were many great episodes this season) – the one with Vincent Van Gogh.

A great bittersweet episode for a melancholy day.  :)

  1. Bonus points if you can name the episode from which I borrowed the title of this post [↩]

I’d rather be blogging

I’m stuck at work.

I read a Penny Arcade post this morning that made me smile.

Humans are always asking us if we ever get tired of doing “Penny Arcade,” which is a reasonable question, but from here inside the mechanism it doesn’t all hook up conceptually. It would be like asking if we get tired of eating “food.” The one thing you may rely upon when it comes to our work is that it will be

1. self-indulgent,

though it may also be gruesome or oblivious, or gruesome and oblivious, depending on the day. “Penny Arcade” doesn’t have a firm definition, it’s a container object that represents our generalized creative output. We make whatever we want to make, which (luckily for us) generally means .jpegs about videogames, but it can also be morality plays about imps and businesscats, samurai with paper tubes, technoir, or any other Goddamned thing. I don’t entirely know how it works, and I don’t entirely know why you stay, but this arrangement appears to work for both of us. And, as I have suggested on many other occasions, you can’t beat the price.

You have to love that.  Every day these guys get up at the crack of noon (or whatever time they’ve chosen to brave the new day), do what they love all day long, and then begin anew.  I mean, can you imagine?  They do what they want, what they would do anyhow, and people love it!1

Now, I consider myself a lucky guy, don’t get me wrong.  I have a great family, good friends, everyone is healthy, good job working with people I like, I can pay my bills, and I have some free time to devote to doing whatever random things occur to me.  I’m probably the happiest and luckiest guy you’ve ever met.2   :)

However, I think my existence is more like Cicero from Gladiator than like Tycho and Gave from Penny Arcade.3

Sorry for the wistful/melancholy post.

Long day (and going to be a lOnNnNnNg night) at work.  :)

  1. It must be like being Tom Green. [↩]
  2. And most modest. [↩]

  3. Maximus: You don’t find it hard to do your duty?

    Cicero: Sometimes I do what I want to do. The rest of the time, I do what I have to.

    [↩]

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… [↩]