It’s been a week since Maker Faire Atlanta ended, and I’ve finally had a chance to sit down and go through my stack of business cards, brochures, and photos and ponder what I saw, the people I met, and the fun hands-on activities that were available.
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Rapid design and 3D printing custom yo-yo with kids was a fun way to spend the afternoon. The kids learned basic basic 3D design skills, prototyping workflow, and building mechanical assemblies. In the end, they had a working yo-yo of their own making.
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From Kickstarter to reality, the GeckoTek 3D printer build plate works very well and has changed how I use my printer.
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HP has built an all-in-one with something special: the ability to interact with the physical world. Cool, or gimmick?
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When people learn that I’ve built a couple 3D printers one of the first questions I hear is: “What do you print with it?”
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I haven’t used my 3D printers much since February, so most of my filament has been sitting on the shelf since. This has not been an issue in recent years as this part of Texas is reasonably dry, and unusually so the last 5 years. This winter and spring, however, have conspired to teach me a lesson about the proper treatment and storage of PLA printer filament.
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The custom 3D printed miniature market is in its infancy, and projects like the Mounted Heroes – Customizable 3D Printed Miniatures Kickstarter are trailblazing a brave new path.
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Ingocraft has released its model-design software for free, allowing you to make models on your iOS device and then build them with their parts or 3d-printed ones.
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The Robox 3D printer is an attempt to reduce the finicky nature of the 3D printing process with a number of innovations. Some of these I’ve seen before, but Robox may be one of the first to compile them into one reasonably priced plug-and-print machine.
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As part of Acer’s Seize The Idea contest I’ve continued looking around the house for a good project, and my eyes once again came back to my 3D printer table. It is cluttered, messy, and much too small for the number of things I use it for. Soon after printing the stand for the Switch 11 and changing to Octoprint for printer control a new soldering station arrived. With its placement on the table here is little room left to actually solder anything, so something else has to go.
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Here’s what happens when Ben from Sparkfun Education, a PhD psychologist, and a 3rd grade teacher talk about technology and innovation in education.
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As part of Acer’s Seize The Idea contest I’ve been looking around the house at my half finished DIY projects and thinking of innovative ways to use one of the Acer products to finally wrap a few of them up. Since nearly of all my recent projects involve one or both of my 3D printers, it seems fitting that I should take this opportunity to solve a little control issue I’ve been having.
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A Georgia boy gets the coolest, 3-D printed arm a kid could ever get.
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If you’ve got a child that has the maker bug, you’re sure to enjoy this one — a new Kickstarter called Ingocraft is offering up a two new tools that combine to give young kids an amazing opportunity to stretch their creativity skills. The Kickstarter combines both a digital tool and physical elements to encourage kids to experiment, test, and build objects.
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I’ve built a number of 3D printers over the last few years, and I’ve had a chance to sit down and actually use even more of them… all mix of brands and models. One of the questions I hear most often from friends and colleagues about 3D printers is “how hard are they to setup and use?”
The answer to that question depends on the printer, of course, but the amazing thing about 3D printers over the last few years is just how out-of-the-box simple some of these things have become. I thought it might be fun to actually document the unboxing and setup of a 3D printer for GeekDad readers, so that’s what I’m going to do here with the new Metal Simple from Printrbot. I’m going to shoot some photos as I unbox, unpack, setup and begin printing… and hopefully convince anyone nervous about purchasing a 3D printer (or at least the Simple) that they needn’t worry.
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Company is Kickstarting an app to let people design their own mech figures, and then either print them at home, or through a service.
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Today, one of the biggest names in toys, the Pawtucket, RI-based Hasbro, announced a new partnership with 3D Systems, one of the few companies in the business of selling 3D printers to consumers and businesses.
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Check out the best of the geeky cookie cutters posted on Thingiverse, the home of shared 3D printer files.
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A geeklet gets to test out a Makie Doll — a custom designed, 3D printed doll that is a refreshing change from all of the “girly” dolls out there at the moment.
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If you have an interest in 3D printing, Maker Faire has the power to turn that interest into an obsession.
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A Kickstarter campaign that’s ending soon looks to make some of the world’s great sculpture available for 3D printing.
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I’m one of those people who is obsessed with technology and gadgets, so it may be somewhat of a surprise that up until a month ago, I hadn’t yet dabbled in the world of 3D printers. I’m not sure why it took so long to cross paths, but I finally took the leap and spent a few weeks playing with one of the first mass-market 3D printers, 3D Systems’ Cube, a device that’s now available on store shelves at retailers like Staples. It’s easy to see 3D Systems is laser focused on the home and small business market with this device — the printer itself is designed to look like a colorful small kitchen appliance (in other words both chic and non-threatening), it’s compact, relatively easy to use and carries a $1,299 price tag. After two weeks, I believe that 3D printing is an interesting technology, but it’s still largely at the hobbyist level. The combination of cost and limitations in the technology mean 3D printing isn’t ready for prime time — yet.
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An exclusive look at a 3D Skylanders printing of Arbo.
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I’m sitting at a table with two friends, playing a full-color game that is seriously evoking memories of Space Trader. It’s called Xia: Legends of a Drift System, and it’s going live on Kickstarter today.
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So, what is it going to take to get the world to the 3D printer/scanner/fax combination that is so ubiquitous in home and professional offices? Enter the 3D scanner and a Indiegogo project called the Photon.
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Eric Weinhoffer has put together a great little summary article over at makezine.com that cover alternatives to TinkerCad. If you’re not familiar with TinkerCad, it’s a browser-based CAD application that lets you design 3D items right in your web browser that can be printed on a 3D printer.
Continue ReadingRegardless of your love or hate for the game, there is no denying that Minecraft is an indy game success story. They recently topped 4.3 million sales and 18 million registered users. They’ve got a couple merchandise deals going with …
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