In the quest for 3D printed liquid containers, the okay just got okay-er!

While working on a different project, I needed to make a part that fit to a disposable flask's threaded opening. So I designed the neck of the opening and printed it to check the compatibility with the existing cap. It worked great so I was able to design that project and move along. But I was left with a threaded tube with nothing to do!

The PhLAsk is just a simple hip flash with a threaded cap. I printed it in black PLA at 220 micron layer height, three shells and 20% in-fill.

I filled it with water and left it in a dish overnight and it looks like there is no seeping. The cap doesn't seal 100% but it does so well enough to keep water from dripping out with gravity. A little pressure will cause a seep though. A gasket will fix this.

VIDEO: youtu.be/PK_BjZQtTRw

I have not tested other liquids with different surface tensions but for casual liquid portability, I will be using this little guy!

Bottom's up!

"For the Maker who has everything..."

I present the R. Maker Special Edition - MakerBot Thing-O-Matic.

During the fall of last year, I was commissioned to bring to life an idea I had following the arrival of my original MakerBot Replicator.

This idea was to take a totally stock MakerBot Thing-O-Matic (with MK7 Stepstruder and LCD Control Panel), dismantle it and using ONLY the parts from the original machine and new parts printed on a MakerBot Replicator, re-assemble the printer in a new, stylized enclosure.

This is the result.

This project was kept under wraps during development and was delivered to MakerBot HQ in late November. Its home was to be on display at the new MakerBot HQ and now that they have moved most of their operations to the new place, it is there for all to see!

Over the next week I will be uploading all of the parts (there are over 100 right now), then an assembly guide and following that, the source files.

As you can imagine, this took a bit of time. The modeling took a couple weeks assuming 6 hours of work every weekday. The printing took even longer due to prints failing, running out of plastic and the nature of ABS plastic.

As I upload the parts, I will be committing to the design some last-minute manual modifications I had to do to get things to line-up after printing so the new prints should be alright.

Here is a video of the first-run and the z-axis cable arm articulation.

VIDEO: youtu.be/vDVkBUTwUZY

Here's an animated exploded view!

VIDEO: youtu.be/XnzJYecA2cs

In the end, it was able to print pretty well (at least as well as the Thing-O-Matic it was). It is VERY study. The corners of the box are each one three-sided part and there is a "spine" that holds it all in-line. The mainboard and extruder controller have been moved up front inside the console along with the control panel so the USB, SD Card and reset button are easy to access. The stepper drivers can be accessed from the side-panels and all of the belt tensioners can be adjusted without disassembling anything.

This is my most complex design yet and while I don't think many people will be printing this plastic-hungry beast, I hope some of the parts or design queues could be useful to others, inspire improvements or inspire new things!

I will be adding files in batches over the next week so if you "watch" this thing, you will know when I have updated it. This will forever be flagged as a "work-in-progress" but if at least one person makes a successful copy, I will be very glad.

Thanks for all your follows, likes, collects and watches on this and my other designs. For a designer, this kind of support keeps my fire hot and the plastic flowing!

Respectfully,
Brent J. Rosenburgh
A.K.A. - ErikJDurwoodII

Here is my Magnum Opus for the week!

VEND is a totally 3D Printed candy dispenser that accepts quarters and rejects other coins.

VIDEO: youtu.be/IWuvwcfnGFE

Not only that, it has been designed so that once the loops in the back are secured with a padlock or whatever, it can't come apart (without damage). The back hatch secures the money and access to the coin mechanism's locking pins. The collar around the jar keeps the jar from being removed.

The hole on the top will take a preserving lid ring for a standard "medium" Mason jar. That lets you thread the jar to the top, and the collar will secure it in place. Or you can go totally legit and print the provided jar file. (not .JAR file).

Also, this version is EXTREMELY generous. For a quarter, it will give you about a dollar's worth of M&Ms, Skittles, Mike and/or Ikes, Chiclets or glass marbles.

I don't recommend the marbles.

I'll provide a few different drums to adjust the generosity of the machine soon.

UPDATE: I've uploaded all the STL files. My prototype is still printing so I'll hold off on the source files until a legitimate test.

Stay tuned!

Is friction giving you the blues? BB King is here to help!

This is a proof-of-concept print to evaluate using standard BB bullets as the rolly bits in a 3D printed bearing. I'll be using what I learned from this in some projects I have coming up!

VIDEO: youtu.be/3pl6-AXtWZY

I'm using 6 mm plastic BB bullets and I printed my prototype in ABS at .1 mm layer height, 10% in-fill and with 3 shells on my original Replicator.

I had to scale the model up a hair and that is reflected in my THING file. The STL files are original scale.

ENJOY!

Are you looking for a fairer faucet? Let me be your angel, Charlie!

This is the first revision of a shower head intended to screw on to a standard 1/2" threaded shower pipe.

Pressurized water is a tricky thing to deal with; especially with 3D prints. The nozzles on this are designed to keep turbulence low and under adequate pressure, the taper on the business end of the hole should keep the water stream solid. They are pretty small holes so they will likely close up a bit when printing but when you use a pushpin or paperclip to check them, they should be just the right size in the end.

UPDATE! I just installed my prototype and D'OH! I had the thread going the wrong direction! Still, I muscled it on and it sealed alright. The holes were closed shut after the print and once the plastic cooled, they were hard to open with a pin. Still, It works pretty darn well! There was some water that seeped through the layers and I'm certain water will become trapped inside the head but if you print at .2 or even .1 mm layer height, print it pretty much solid and maybe dunk it in acetone for a second or two, it should be nice and watertight!

I updated the file with the correct thread and fewer/larger holes.

Spray away!

Has the art of storing become boring? Are you struggling to identify the general contents of your drawers and having to resort to the exhausting task of pulling them open to glance inside?

Well enough of that!

Print this little guy then slide a label in the track to showcase a brief description of the drawer's contents!

...that's it.

WOOOO!

Hit things in style with THWACK! A 3D-printed plastic hammer.

This lean, mean, ball-peen is ready for your general clobbering needs! And while it won't drive a galvanized nail into a pressure-treated fence-post, it will dutifully bludgeon interior nails, bang tight-fitting objects together, annoy individuals with experimental jazz percussion and acceptably intimidate others when held menacingly.

UPDATE(s)!

V2 - The peen has facets now to promote better printing at smaller scales and in general.

sudo THWACK - a request from Vik, this is useful for executing "bash" commands.

This fully 3D printable ukulele (save for bolts and strings) uses an acoustic transducer to carry the lower frequency sound created by the strings to a very thin membrane on the bottom of the body. The sound is focused and projected out of channels in the body to (hopefully) create a fuller tone with reasonable amplitude.

I am still working on the design of the head and tuners. Right now, to have a good gear ratio for the prototype, I made the gears almost comically large.

UPDATE!!
I'm refining the design of the geared tuner head but I wanted to test the tonality to see if I was getting somewhere so I quickly designed a test friction head and tuning knobs to try it out.

I have uploaded all the current parts for everyone to TEST this EXPERIMENTAL design! Have fun!

VIDEO: youtu.be/4xRkysNNRc4

A couple of notes: I am tweaking the body design. The bridge is a little wonky and the transducer pops right off! I have to think that one over a bit. The bottom membrane is only two layers thin. It is tricky to print and even trickier to remove from the platform. BE SUPER-CAREFUL TO NOT TEAR THE MEMBRANE OFF!

The sound the first prototype makes is bright as expected but it is pretty loud. A good sign!

NOTE: This friction head is for testing only, it will no longer hold a tune after a while without shims or other "friction-enhancers." The geared tuner is the solution to this, I'm just working to make it a better, more reliable print.

Stay tuned!

This is the nick-knack "Caddyrack" give your keys a home.

A key hook for your car! ... or a Car-hook for your keys... I'm not sure which yet.

I modeled this to generally resemble a 1972 Cadillac Eldorado but I only spent about 4 hours on it so it is a little sloppy.

This is the low-profile version. I'm still working on a deeper one that has a compartment for charging a cell phone or putting mail or something. I even may make the lights print separate so I can rig up some LEDs!

hmmmmmmm...

ENJOY!

The R. Maker Shaker: For all of your granulated substance dispensing needs! It's a head! It's a shaker! ...and that's about it...

Woooo!

This is probably only large enough to take a sandwich and a Capri-Sun, or a Lunchable... but hey! You can store other things in it too! I'll upload a lid without the "Lunchbox" line a bit later after my print of this completes and then the source files.

Enjoy!

UPDATE: After printing the lid, it's obvious the hinge and the lid are a bit flimsy for the task at hand so if you print the files that are up right now, do so at 100% infill for the best strength.

I'll update this with a re-thought snap and hinge shortly.

Thanks!

Bric-a-brac-a-lacking-locking?

Print and attach this to whatever to add a slightly secure latch!

Oh Yeah!

This was designed and printed for my friend's birthday party as a trophy for a video game competition he is hosting.

Print and enjoy!

Here we go!

This is the first experimental part for my Makerlele project!

The Makerlele is a 3d printable Ukulele! This is very much a hypothetical project and there is no telling if it will hold a tune long enough to play a song. BUT! The fun is in the try and who knows, there may be a way to make it work! ;)

This is a worm gear string tuner. The parts are supposed to print to maximize strength and smoothness of rotation. On the stem, there is a square core which prints laterally to give it flex strength when the string is under tension.

I just made a test block for it all to mount to to experiment with the design before I incorporate it into the head of the Makerlele.

I tried to design it to be totally printed but I'm not sure how the tolerances are or the overhangs on the worm. I will print this when I get home from work!

Stay Tuned!

youtu.be/IIEtNb_Vo9Q

VIDEO!

The idea is sound but the implementation needs work...

I'm glad it printed though but yeah...I gotta re-think this design a bit.

As a gift for two friends of mine who's wedding I am officiating, I slightly modified and printed these two owls based (almost completely) on the excellent model by Cushwa.

I just added the top hat and flower head-band.

Enjoy!

Have you been envious of ever-dimensionally-increasing build platforms? Well now you can claim to be able to print ONE FOOT* OF PLASTIC!

* Warning: Claim may be pun.

But seriously though, this was a test print while I continually try to get my printer to meet my unrealistically high quality expectations.

Hope you get a kick out of this!

UPDATE:
I added an approximately "full-size" model of just the top half of the foot.

I'm satisfied with the quality.

Very much a work in progress! This is an odometer for filament! It should measure filament by the centimeter so you can have a real measurement for filament used! The base it attaches to slides on to the counter assembly, so you can chose different mounts for it, but the first mount is for a ToM endcap.

I'm currently printing the first set of parts to validate the design, after some tweaks, I'll upload the first working design to share and build from!

The next version will have a second resettable counter. I will also provide just the counter mechanism as a separate "thing" once I make sure everything works okay.

Is your roll of super-wide Kapton tape lounging around, taking up space? Put it to work!

This is the first design of my KaptonCaddy! Just place your roll of tape on the base, and slide in the caddy core. It snaps together and becomes a handy carrying-case for your allen wrenches, nuts, bolts and other sundries. It has two swivel drawers, holes for tools and a basin up-top for bigger stuff.

UPDATE V1.1!

The base is now part of the body. The tape roll now acts as a sleeve to hide the drawers. If you store any over-sized things in the top (like calipers) you may need to remove them to lift the roll off.

Test print #2 on its way!

Enjoy!

So I got this problem... Ya see, I moved the guts of my computer from its cheap, cramped chassis to an older but more spacious 4U rack-mount enclosure. My computer is happy but I'm not. WHY!?! Because it has no front panel for USB!!! Not a problem. I'll just take one of my extra headers and bring it up front through the 3.5" bay that I don't use. WAIT!!! Now it's ugly.

OH, WHAT AM I TO DO!?!... Oh yeah. That's right.

I designed this specifically to fit my spare I/O header from a LianLi mid-tower case. It has holes for FireWire, USB and Audio. I don't know if it will be of use to anybody else, but I've included the part file as well.

Enjoy!

Autodesk Inventor Pro 2012
Design 25 Minutes
Print Time ~26 Minutes

The successor to the first R. Maker Ornament.

This one is less of a silhouette and has more detail to show of R. Maker.

ENJOY!

For the holidays or any time of year!

An ornament of the MakerBot Mascot R. Maker

I made this from a logo I designed for it.

I will be adding some more details to the model soon. but this can be considered the "2-sided" version. ^__^

This is the first custom part for my MakerBot Thing-O-Matic #5801 dubbed "MiracleMaker." These are the rod end-caps for the front of my bot. As can be seen in the artist's rendering, I'll be doing a few aesthetic mods and as I learn more about this machine, some functional mods as well.

Even though these are meant to bring character to my personal machine, I figured I'll share them for others to enjoy too!

Stay tuned for more awesome! ^__^

This is my submission to the MakerBot Robot Mascot Challenge!

A few comments:

Although I am no stranger to 3D modeling, this is my very first model intended to be 3D printed. I do not own a 3D printer of any sort and I have never 3D printed anything. That being said, I tried my best to research good design practices for FDM printing and I sure hope I did all-right!

Anyhoo, this little guy is customizable by having different parts printed in different colors. Also, he was designed to be able to be personalized by the producer being able to place his or her own model in the body to add personal flair. The feet articulate as do the head, arms and claws. Everything should snap together. The spool on his back is Mr. Maker's fuel supply! Take some 1.75mm filament and wind it on the spool (you may have to warm it to be more pliant) then thread the end through the top of his head.

Now he's ready to go!

I designed this in about 10 hours with Autodesk Inventor 2012.

(Many thanks to "techknight" for the advice on re-orienting the models in ReplicatorG!)

Also, I would LOVE to know how well this prints. I tried very hard to be mindful of the vertical slopes and tolerances but this being my first design for print, I don't really know for sure. If anybody prints this, I would GREATLY appreciate it if you could explain any issues. THANKS! :)

UPDATE!
I'm working on the Mark II version as well as an Experimental Mark III body that acts as a stylish enclosure for the Gen 4 electronics guts. I don't own the parts so it's a lot of guesswork at the moment...Along with a new segmented head so it can be wired up with lights or cameras or whatever you can fit in there! (The FOO and BAR lights on the console for example!)

The Mark II I'll be uploading soon. Unfortunately not soon enough for the contest, but it was always my goal to create a neat little gizmo that was hackable and modular for ultimate customization!

More to come!

Update: Name Change! As a nod to robotic lore, this little guy will now be known as R. Maker!