This tentacle was generated using processing and the tocixlibs volumetric library. It's the result of a
short howto i have posted on my blog

local-guru.net/blog/2011/02/23/how-to-make-a-tentacle-using-processing-and-toxiclibs

This is an experimental replacement for the larger of my two silent Rapman extruder gears.

After extensive printing with the silent gears, some 'click-clack' noises started to reappear, probably due to friction wear.

This gear attempts to solve this problem once and for all by incorporating a spring into the gear which itself is about 1.5mm larger in diameter. The spring provides constant pressure between the extruder gears, removing the tolerance and therefore the noise.

The big unknown of course is whether it will be durable and effective in the long term!

Update 22/2: The test gear survived a 5-hour torture test that contained a lot of reversals. The noises are gone, but this is most likely due to the gear simply being bigger - the teeth ring isn't flexing around the hub like I wanted. Basically, it's too strong. I think a new design with 6 (rather than 8) spring units is next on the todo list!

!! New version penrose5.stl with a couple of wayward vertices fixed !!

This is a 3D-printable version of the Penrose Triangle illusion, based solely on the 1934 design painted by Swedish artist Oscar Reutersvärd. The design also appeared on Swedish postage stamps in the early 1980s.

I created this 3D design entirely from scratch using the process outlined in the "Instructions" section below. This work is based solely on Oscar Reutersvärd's design, although some elements are inspired by the Hollow-Face illusion discovered many decades (if not centuries) ago.

This model contains a number of notable improvements over previous 3D representations:

1) It is parallax-corrected for a viewing distance of 40cm, i.e. it will look exactly like Oscar Reutersvärd's design, with cubes lining up on all 3 sides simultaneously. This is a great visual improvement over previous versions, which only lined up on 2 sides simultaneously.

2) It has been resized (to 99.43 x 99.65mm) to make maximum use of the Makerbot build envelope.

3) The top edges are now tapered so as to make the most of your printer's capabilities. The better your printer, the sharper the edges will be.

4) I own the copyright to this 3D design, and hereby distribute it under the "Attribution/Non-Commercial/Share-Alike" licence for all non-profit parties to print, improve and share.

This bowl is big enough for dip or salsa to enjoy during the super bowl. It is a super bowl!

Most soap in the world is provided in the form of bars. Bars, that are deployed on grids or basins, that inevitably turn into a rather filthy, slimy affair.

This soap bar dispenser works differently. The soap bar is never in contact with water. Using the sled, you shave off flakes of soap from the bar.

(Note - the dispenser in my picture was aborted in mid-print, because I ran out of ABS and changing the spool did not work as expected. The model dispenser is higher, and the scad file is parametric anyway.)

This thing is public domain, because caring is sharing and I am counting on the thingiverse hivemind to make this more awesome. Feel free to flattr me or any derivatives if this is useful for you.

The Automated Build Platform is a totally new way of printing your 3D objects. For the first time ever multiple objects can be printed in succession without the need for human intervention.

Up until now, the 3D printing industry has been focused on making one part at a time. You had to manually remove your object from the build surface and prepare your machine for the next build. This is true for all other 3D printers on the planet. MakerBot is the first to bring to you a truly automated 3D printing experience. That era is over and the new dawn of personal manufacturing has truly begun.

Designed by MakerBot Industries own enemy of entropy, Charles Pax, the Automated Build Platform is the latest upgrade to the MakerBot Personal Manufacturing line of products. In development for over a year, it is a heated build platform combined with an automatic conveyor belt. The conveyor rolls forward after completing a print, wipes the boogers off the nozzle, resets itself, and prints again!

Let me say that in another way- you can print part after part, hands free!

The build surface is essentially a conveyor belt upon which each object is printed. Once an object is complete the belt turns over and and the machine begins the next print. It's that simple! There's even a brush to clean your nozzle between objects.

It's an awesome addition to the CupCake, and it has all the printing advantages of the MakerBot Heated Build Platform built in. Optimized to work with the beautiful and reliable MK5 MakerBot Extruder, you can look forward to watching your desktop factory auto-eject your dreams into a parts bucket of unending awesomeness!

The ABP is compatible with all versions of ReplicatorG as long as you use the modified start.txt and end.txt. You should use ReplicatorG 19 because it has these files integrated in a Skeinforge profile.

At the very beginning of a print the nozzle tip must be centered on the build platform just above the surface. This initial state is assumed in the start.txt file. One of the first commands given in start.txt tells the machine to assume the nozzle position as x=0, y=0, z=0. After printing an object the nozzle tip must be returned to this same spot to be ready for the next print. The end.txt file takes care of this. One of the last commands in end.txt makes the machine move the nozzle to x=0, y=0, z=0. The result is that one print ends in the same spot where a second print must begin. This allows us to take any two print files (gcode files) generated in this way and stick them end to end to make one print file that will print two objects in a row. Awesome!

My brother called up one day with a dilemma. He needed to mount his Xbox Kinect on his plasma TV, but didn't want to spend $40 on a cheap looking commercial mount. Knowing that I have an awesome 3d printing bot (which he usually says i'm wasting my time with), he gave me a few measurements of the TV to design a mount.

I already saw the trik tripod adapter and liked the design a lot, so I took the original STL file and started taking point geometry from it to create a new solid model. I then printed it and went to his house. Every thing fit well! Now it's mounted and has been in service for about a month.

***I'll get some pictures up after next week when I go and visit.

The power of open source !

Fusion between the famous whistle of Zaggo already edited by zignig and the almost famous coin opener of hoeken. thingiverse.com/thing:1763

I use both of them design to create a new one. That's open source !


Design for Le_Garage by thingiverse.com/LeoM

MAJ 13/10/10 : New version of the Whistle part.
MAJ 14/10 : Whistle still don't work (don't respect the 45° rule), 2.1 incoming
MAJ 16/10 : 2.1 update, no try yet but respect the 45° rule now ! ^^

I had a spring loaded retractable measuring tape which stopped working. After trying to get it to work I figured I might as well take it apart. After all, a spring loaded retractable measuring tape that doesn't retract is just a bulky measuring tape. It turned out several small plastic components inside had broken and were now either so destroyed I couldn't measure/replicate them or were just plain missing.

Version 1: Uploaded 2010-02-02
makerblock.com/2010/02/retractable-tape-measure-reloaded/

Version 0: Uploaded 2010-01-30
makerblock.com/2010/01/new-print-retractable-measuring-tape/

For a larger picture and a little more detail, visit my blog at makerblock.com

First I designed a small flat open ended cylinder which would hold the metal spring. It had to have two notches - one notch to hold the end of the tape measure and another to hold the outer-most end of the metal spring.

Then I designed a plastic holder for the small flat cylinder to fit into. It has a small spindle/axle in the center with a notch for the interior end of the metal spring.

FAIR WARNING: The interior spindle snapped right off when I tried to assemble this. Thus, I had to improvise a little to put it together. If you look closely, you\'ll notice both the spindle and the interior edge of the larger part have a slight overhang to help keep the other parts in. I built these features in hoping that it would just hold itself together. In the end I just put two bolts through it to make it more permanent. That\'s why the picture you see has two M3x16 bolts/M3 nuts holding the interior part in place. It doesn\'t spin quite as freely as I\'d like - but it does work.

This was really just a way for me to fritter away some time and over-engineer something that wouldn\'t have even cost me $2 to replace entirely. If I were to design this from scratch I would build it to use a skate bearing inside, captive nut, and short bolt.

I've included the Sketchup files in case someone wants to take this further.