Category: Tips

Tips learned from experience building a MakerBot

New Google Groups to Discusss 3D Design Marketplaces

Looking towards the 3D future...
Looking towards the 3D future…

If you read this blog, I think you would be interested in joining a new Google Group for discussing emerging 3D design marketplaces.1 It was started a few days ago by the illustrious 3D designer and artist Emmett Lalish to start a dialog about designing in the brave new world of digital things.

I generally share my 3D designs freely on Thingiverse.  Some designs I don’t care much about, I share them in case someone else might fight them interesting or useful.  Some I don’t have much of a right to – a very slight variation / derivative of someone else’s work or a derivative of a work that walks the fine line that is “fair use” such as my OpenSCAD Voltron.  Some of my designs are things which I think I might be able to turn into something I could sell or be the start of a little business.

And some of my designs I want to share and am particularly proud of – such as my sushi set, pirate ship, and the printed parts for my PlotterBot.  For these very few designs, I choose a “non-commercial” license.  I’m so proud of these designs that I want to share them, and yet I feel that my creativity and hard work merits reward – especially if someone makes a profit off of them.

  1. Photo courtesy of David [↩]

Who is tracking you? Collusion plugin for FireFox

If you want to see something that is simultaneously disturbing and ego-inflating, check out the Collusion plugin for FireFox. 1 A friend of mine e-mailed me the link to the LifeHacker post discussing it.  If you want to cut to the chase, the link to the Collusion plugin is right here.  After web surfing and blogging for about an hour, the little web it’s drawn so far is a little scary.

 

  1. In a perverse way, it is slightly ego-inflating because I’m clearly so very important to ALL these companies! [↩]

Oh, OpenSCAD…

One of things I really like about OpenSCAD is how anything I make in it is guaranteed to be manifold.  It’s a solid modeler and by manipulating, adding, and subtracting solids – I should always end up with another solid.  I exported two of the parts necessary for a Pez Powered Disc Shooter only to discover that OpenSCAD refused to compile one of the parts – because that part had some polygons with an incorrect winding order.  Mind, I had no problems exporting the part in the first place – but importing it back?  Nope.

Oh, OpenSCAD, is our love affair over so soon?

Design idea – printable calipers

There are plenty of lasercut calipers on Thingiverse.  I suppose the problem with a 3D printable caliper is getting the accuracy down.

However, why not take the accuracy out of the equation?  It should be simple enough to create a printable little caliper that has a thin slot for inserting a printable paper ruler.  The easiest way to achieve the thin slot would be to make the calipers out of two separate pieces that fit together.   Then the calipers could be designed to have a little window for viewing the sliding edge of the calipers against the paper ruler.

Yes, you could print one of the business card ones on cardstock, but why not just print a durable plastic one if you can?

I’m so giddy!

I can’t wait for OpenSCAD to finish rendering this new object I’ve fashioned out of a DXF file!

Toolpath was basically:

  • Inkscape importing PNG image
  • Convert image to SVG, reduce colors, simplify lines
  • Export to DXF
  • Incorporate extruded DXF into design

It will be mine.  Oh, yes, it will be mine. 12

 

  1. The precious. [↩]
  2. That’s a red herring.  It’s clearly a Doctor Who themed object. [↩]

What’s the best toolpath for SVG to OpenSCAD?

While I have one selfish motive for wanting a reliable toolpath for going from an SVG to OpenSCAD, I’d also like to do a tutorial on this. 1 2.

  • I can export an SVG from Inkscape to a DXF.
  • I can import that same DXF into OpenSCAD.
  • I can’t render the DXF or extrude it into a solid.

I just can’t seem to make OpenSCAD make heads or tails of that DXF.  Is this a problem with the DXF files produced by Inkscape?  A little bit of Googling tells me that Inkscape v0.48 (the one I’m using) exports in DXF R13 format which includes features that are not well supported by OpenSCAD.  My attempts at finding plugins that will successfully allow Inkscape to expert to DXF R12 format have not been fruitful.

  1. 3D Models with OpenSCAD on Make uses a toolpath that isn’t available in my version of Inkscape
  2. DXF R12 exporter, didn’t work for me
  3. DXF R12 exporter, didn’t work for me either
  4. Yet another DXF R12 exporter that did not work for me
  5. Link suggesting that something called “pstoedit” might be helpful in converting SVG’s to DXF R12’s.
  6. From Photo to Inkscape to DXF to OpenSCAD to MakerBot to Costume Jewelry is an excellent tutorial on the exact toolpath I would like to get working

After MUCH fiddling around I have discovered that the only DXF exporting plugin I can get to work is the one called “Better DXF Output”, NOT to be confused with “Better Better DXF Output.”  Unfortunately, I’ve installed so many of these little plugins I no longer recall exactly which combination of them might actually be working for me.  I’ll do a little investigation and post a short tutorial on how it’s worked for me.

Edit: I’m 85% certain this is the plugin that worked for me.  http://www.bobcookdev.com/inkscape/inkscape-dxf.html

  1. Selfish as in I already have an idea for how I would use this knowledge to make something cool. [↩]
  2. What could it be?  Hint:  It’s related to something that rhymes with “Doctor Who” [↩]

Pick me! Pick me!

Okay, I’ve gotten the clearance from Pattywac to join in the United We Stand team design challenge.  Although I voluntarily take myself out of the running from every challenge, I love participating.  They’re just too much damn fun.  :)

I never participate in the judging on these things – but it would look a little odd to have me be both someone who blogs about something and a guy who is the subject of the blog post.  Blogging here at MakerBlock.com, I happily post about anything that comes to mind, even if it is ridiculously self-indulgent.  However, I really don’t want the posts at MakerBot to be about me – I want them to be about the awesome stuff people are doing in the DIY 3D printing community.

The potentially ethical problem I faced with this most recent challenge is that as a team design challenge, I wouldn’t want to disqualify an entire team of people just because I was on it. 1  So, my proposal to MakerBot and Pattywac was that as part of any team, I would agree to forgo any winnings of any kind. 2  This was acceptable to both.

So, are you interested in collaborating on this design challenge?  I’d be especially interested in getting collaborative help on any of my existing projects, going from my highest interest3 to lower interest4 :

  1. Clockwork spider5
  2. Open source disc shooter
  3. A printable clock that actually keeps time
  4. A sonic screwdriver
  5. A dalek that can rotate it’s head, roll, and move it’s gun, eyestalk, and plunger6
  6. A better Voltron
  7. A puzzle box
  1. And, really, having me on your team is hindrance enough. [↩]
  2. I just want to feel included! [↩]
  3. #1 [↩]
  4. #7 [↩]
  5. I’ve already had input and help from Dna on this [↩]
  6. Mad props to innovationbylayers for the existing dalek on Thingiverse [↩]