Did I ever mention I have already printed up a MakerBot version of a Stargate SG-1 “Replicator” cell? Well, I did. I basically “borrowed” someone’s Sketchup file from the google 3D warehouse, saved to STL, and printed it up!
In any case, it made me think of a cool T-shirt idea. The back side of the shirt would have a Stargate Replicator with a red circle slash over it, labeled “Bad Replicator.” The front could have a picture of a ‘bot saying “Good Replicator.”
I’d wear it.
Over at the RepRap blog Vic has posted a picture and a link to the files for a mini-Mendel. He suggests that since the reprapped parts are 30% of the full-size Mendel, it should replicate at three times the speed!
A loooong time ago I was at a friend’s place when we were discussing how best to send files. This was back when I had saved up for a 14.4 modem. (A modem? What’s that?) I suggested we just keep using PKZip to zip the files, then zip the zip files, until the resulting files were so small they could fit on a single floppy disk. For those of you youngin’s out there, this is called “sneakernet” – as in you walk the files from place to place.
The idea that the smaller we make RepRap machines the faster replicate is simultaneously amazing, silly, and scary. Amazing because it means we really only need to produce a modest sized RepRap which could then print up the parts for a larger cousin or many of its similar sized brethren. Silly because it makes me think of zipping zipped files – let’s keep making RepRaps infinitely small so that they are infinitely quick to replicate! Scary (well, not really scary, but you get the point) because it reminds me of the gray-goo problem – where the world is taken over by machines that turn the planet into copies of the machines.
I also use FileZilla. What a great program!
The ideal is obviously using a totally open source environment to develop things with a RepRap/MakerBot. For the most part I use open source software – FireFox, Thunderbird, OpenOffice, Pigin, PHP, MySQL, WordPress.
However, I’m still tied to certain closed source proprietary software. I still use Windows and haven’t made the leap of faith to Linux/Ubuntu. I really like the ease of use and intuitive nature of Google’s Sketchup. But, I can’t help feel like a little bit of a sham – still clinging to Windows and Sketchup because they’re easy and familiar. All the while cranking out wonderful plastic goodness with my open source hardware ‘bot.
I have a feeling I could get used to Linux/Ubuntu if I gave them a shot, but the alternatives to Sketchup I’ve seen and tried are nearly unintelligible. Does this mean I try to run Wine or break down and spend the time to learn something else?
Putting together my original spring loaded retractable tape measure taught me a few things. I’ve made a few changes/revisions to this thing.
Woo hoo!!! My spring loaded retractable measuring tape thing was featured on Thingiverse!!!
It’s the little things in life. :)
Oh, see, I was going to ask you!
I’m more of a web application/software guy. PHP, MySQL, javascript, AJAX, and WordPress are my stock and trade. Every once in a while I get the itch to learn about electronics so I can build stuff out of other stuff. I haven’t opened
Posted on Categories MakerBot
I suppose the title is a bit of misnomer. There was no actual exploding involved. What you see to the right are most of the interior parts from my retractable measuring tape. It had a spring that kept the little red button pushed out – but that disappeared as soon as I opened the plastic shell. I’ve already said how much I appreciate Zaggo’s designs. Watching his treasure chest being built on my ‘bot was really really cool. The hinge pins were printed already inside of the hinge – something made possible by the nature of fused deposition modeling. While this toy car by kparanya was probably the first captive breakaway multipart print I’ve seen on Thingiverse, I was more inspired by Zaggo’s treasure chest. :) It should be possible to print entire geared assemblies using this kind of system. Admittedly, you’re probably not going to get precision geared parts, but you could probably make a decent toy or rough tool. Once you start using the piece it should essentially grind out any extra plastic threads. Anyhow, something to think about. It’s hard to pick a favorite design from Zaggo. Some are fantastic upgrades – such as the Z axis crank. Some are functional – such as his whistle. But, his treasure chest is a special case. This design contains two parts which are printed simultaneously – with the hinged lid being printed with the pins inside the hinge. Just print, pop the lid off of its support pieces, and close the model. One truly amazing thing about Zaggo’s models are his gcode files. A gcode file is created when you take the digital image file as an STL (which basically describes the exterior volumes of the model) and feed it into Skeinforge (which creates instructions for the printer to operate the extruder and move the 3 axes). Although Skeinforge settings are typically considered to be unique to a ‘bot, everything I’ve ever printed using Zaggo’s gcodes has turned out perfectly.Retractable Measuring Tape – Exploded View
Breakaway multipart prints
New Print: Zaggo’s Treasure Chest
