Makerbot Spools and Rack are in Effect

Image of the spool holder filled with spools of plastic

A while back, Pete and I had discussed making spools for the ABS plastic that the Makerbot uses.  The stop-gap solution until now has involved painters’ tape and coils of filament laying all over the table.

After Matt had a print job interrupted due to a kinked filament, I decided I had better hurry up and make this thing.

Full step-by-step instructions are available on Instructables here: The Spools and The Spool Rack

I’ve decided that it’s worth it to pick one random project now and then that addresses a need that the ‘Space has.

Next up: a fully functioning version of ED-209 to guard the doors to the ‘Space.

A Tribute to Steve

Apple][+

If you haven’t noticed, I’ve been spending a lot of time with the MakerBot at the space lately. (And yes, it’s now much quieter and doesn’t force you to yell in the lab when it’s running.)

Last night Dustin stopped by to work on calibrating it a bit more. (He maintains one of the MakerBot Thing-O-Matics at Discovery World.)

We made a bit of progress by tweaking things in Skeinforge, and after much calibration test printing I thought we should print one “fun” thing before the night ended.

We chose the 1:9 scale model Apple II+ from Thingiverse. It seemed a fitting tribute to Steve Jobs.

MakerBot Octopus

MakerBot Octopus

Drew did a great MakerBot demo last week, and one of the things he printed was this octopus.

Over on Thingiverse there are a number of octopuses (yes, it’s a real word) so I’m not sure exactly which one he printed, but I think it might be the Bucket O’ Octopi version. (In the fine tradition of the “Barrel of Monkeys” some of us remember from childhood.)

MakerBot Octopus (close-up)

Here’s a close-up showing the layers of plastic, which if you ask me, is as close to an octopus as I’ll probably ever get.

A big thanks goes out to Drew for the demo. Learning from other members is one more reason I love the Makerspace. And if you aren’t a member yet, come on down to one of the Thursday night demos, learn something new, take a tour, and meet some makers.

This week we’ve got a welding demo, so mark your calendars for Thursday, September 8th, 2011 at 7:30 PM.

Fun with 3D

Milwaukee Makerspace 3D Egg

Here’s a recent Egg-Bot experiment, putting the Milwaukee Makerspace logo on an egg… in 3D!!!

Well, it’s not really 3D exactly, as I just plotted with blue, then again with red, and the fact that registration isn’t perfect makes it look like 3D printing. But you know, we do have a box full of 3D glasses at the space, so maybe we should test it out.

BarCampEgg

I also made this egg for BarCampMadison, which happened this passed weekend. The Sector67 guys were there, and gave a session on 3D printers which included the RepRap, and the MakerBot. Speaking of the MakerBot, we’ll be doing a demo of it this week Thursday, September 1st, 2011 at the space. The demo will start around 7:30, and it’s open to the public, so come on down. You can also RSVP on Facebook if you like.