MakerBot Cupcake CNC print resolution

Some people have asked me about the MakerBot’s print resolution.  Although this information can be found on the MakerBot wiki, there’s no harm in disseminating this data. 1  Before I get into some of the technical stuff, let me just say this – the print resolution is pretty freaking good for a $750 DIY robot and it will give a $15,000 commercial printer a run for it’s money.

As a printer that can create objects in three dimensions the normal two-dimensional printer resolution jargon of “DPI” or “dots per inch” doesn’t mean much.  The printing resolution for the X/Y axes is 0.085mm and the resolution for the Z axis is 3.125 microns.  Most of the time you’re going to have a Z axis resolution of about 1/3 of a millimeter.  If you print with layers much smaller than that it will take forever to print without a huge increase in quality.

Or, to put it another way…  if you were to hand me two objects one printed on a MakerBot and one printed on a commercial printer, I’m going to ask you why the heck one of them costs $14,000 more than the other.  I’ve printed some pretty intricate and detailed stuff on my MakerBot.  As I tune it I hope to improve it even more.

  1. If you haven’t poked around the website, I highly recommend it.  There’s a lot of information about the Cupcake CNC, RepRap, fused deposition modeling, robots, and all sorts of stuff. [↩]

Blind reading the blind…

I just noticed there’s a Twitter feed ( http://twitter.com/CanMakeIt ) following this blog.  Since my post titles tend to be more whimsical and self-referential than informative, I feel kinda bad for anyone mislead into clicking on the titles.

If you’re one of those who came to this blog wondering what the hell I’m babbling about…  um, sorry.  I’m frequently off topic.  Sorry for clogging up your RepRap aggregated feed!

Repairing ABS parts

The spout on the black teapot on the left snapped off as I was trying to clean the model.  I don’t have any ABS glue lying around so I tried white glue – which didn’t work at all.  Later I held up the broken piece and the body of the teapot to my hot extruder barrel and melted them back together.  Clearly not a recommended way to repair a part – but it’s been pretty effective.

Funny AND sad!

We’ll call it a traumedy!  (Or comma?)

I have several websites, but only blog on two.  This one, of course, which is really only about two and a half months old.  And the other which is a little over two and a half years old. 1  75 days versus 900 days.

After 75 days, this site has significantly more actual followers.

Oh jeez – was this another post about posting?

  1. It has nothing whatsoever to do with MakerBot, RepRap, or anything interesting. [↩]

New thing idea

I want to design a printable plastic wall anchor.  I’m posting the thought here in case I get hit by a bus and don’t get around to modeling one of these.

Like my zip tie (seriously, it was totally worthless – don’t bother to print it), I like the idea of having a library of every day stuff I could print if I suddenly have the need.  For instance, remember that day last week when you were wandering around your place wishing you had an extra SD chip blank?

Anyhow, it reminds me of the matter compilers from Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age.

I failed in convincing someone to buy a MakerBot

It was going pretty well, actually.

  • MakerBlock: “Yeah, listen, I’ve got no technical skills – it was basically a bolt together system.”
  • Dude: “Seriously?!  So, what, when you’re ready to print you just send it an STL file?”
  • MB: “Um, well, not quite.  I have to take the STL, make sure it’s printable, convert it to GCode, and then convert it into an S3G file, and for maximum resolution/quality save it to an SD chip which I then put in the ‘bot and then…  Hey, where’d you go?”

The fact that it’s not yet a USB plug-n-play system kinda scared him off. 1  I’m confident we’ll get there some day.  And, even if we don’t, I’m still having a hell of a time.

  1. Well, that and I heavily suggested my ‘bot could violate any of the three laws at any moment… [↩]