This is one of the original dualstrusion files for the experimental dual MK7, modified from Belakor's design by MakerBot intern Will Langford.

The Internet is a fascinating place, providing the creative, industrious and entrepreneurial with an equal and open platform from which to be heard.

Our elected Representatives have been misled to believe that the needs of a few increasingly irrelevant corporate entities outweigh all the great things a free and open Internet has brought to the world.

Join us in reminding our congressional delegations that by altering the rules to protect the few, they will close the door on so many infinite possibilities the future may have held.

The rule of thumb is that a letter is 100X the value of a phone call. If a 2D action gets a 100X multiplier, then a 3D action could get 1000X the multiplier.

Please print this coin, and mail it to your Senator and Congressman contactingthecongress.org/

Introducing: The MakerBot Dynamo!

Ever wish you could convert some of that youthful energy into something a bit more useful? Well using the MakerBot Dynamo kit, store.makerbot.com/makerbot-dynamo.html now you can!

The MakerBot Dynamo is worlds first opens-source, human powered, energy creation device!

Just crank the handle to create real, honest, hardworking electricity.

How do you know its working? Well there's an LED that lights up or course! See your effort in action as it's converted from motion to electricity to light!

And if a LED not exciting enough for you, just think of all the other wonderful things you can power, one hand crank at a time.

See Video of the Dynamo in action: youtu.be/8Brkd5BL_gU

Order the Botmobile Kit from the MakerBot Store at store.makerbot.com/makerbot-botmobile.html and you'll have all the parts you need to get your printed Dune Buggy going in no time!

The wind in your hair... The sun on your face... The sand in your teeth... Everyone loves a day out cruising the dunes in their trusty Botmobile Dune Buggy!

The Botmobile Dune Buggy is an open source 3d printed remote control car that you can build at home. Using the Botmobile chassis the Dune Buggy was built from the ground up as a completely new type of remote control car

See video of the Botmobile Dune Buggy in action: youtu.be/tQIfChZZTog

Make your creations scurry around with these handy little windup walkers, store.makerbot.com/makerbot-windup-walkers.html

One day Bre walked into the Workshop and declared "everything on Thingiverse should be able to walk". And now it can!

With the Windup Walker 5 pack you will have your ideas scurrying off into the sunset before you can say sarsaparilla.

To help get you started we've created charming walking derivatives of R. Maker and his friend the TARDIS.

See them in action: youtu.be/O5dVQayw9Nc

R. Maker is a derivative of: thingiverse.com/thing:11654

TARDIS is a derivative of: thingiverse.com/thing:13109

MakerBot® is offering our first dedicated 1.75mm filament extruder! It's a huge leap forward for personal manufacturing- you will be amazed by the improvement in your print quality, and the reliability of use obtained with the MakerBot® StepStruder MK7.

Designed from scratch, the StepStruder® MK7 contains a number of newly created custom manufactured parts. The MK7 redesign rolls in all the innovations and user experience from the MakerBot® Plastruder MK5, StepStruder® MK6, and StepStruder® MK6 Plus into one cutting edge, pint size device! The StepStruder® MK7 is compatible for use with MakerBot® Generation 4 Electronics and the MakerBot Thing-O-Matic® 3D Printer.

BOLD

Smaller format, lighter, more gumption! The MK7 uses our tried and true NEMA 17 motor to drive it- a lighter extruder with tons of torque and reliable stepper performance. The extruder design has been carefully refined, and the assembly process is faster and requires fewer pieces than ever. The StepStruder® MK7 represents major advances in the design, functionality, reliability, ease of use, and print quality for desktop 3D Printer extruders. We've trimmed as much from the design as we could, and what's left is a tightly functioning device that has only one reason to exist- to extrude endlessly!

LITTLE

Our most compact extruder yet, the StepStruder® MK7 is less than half the weight of our previous extruder. The MK6 Plus extruder was a sturdy 1.8lbs, and the MK7 is only 0.8 lbs! The inside of your MakerBot® Thing-O-Matic® will feel positively spacious with an MK7 in place- spacious enough you could mount a second MK7 right next to it!

We've also shrunk the filament as well, and the StepStruder® MK7 is exclusively for use with our 1.75mm stock from the MakerBot® plastics selection. No more big 3mm filament here! All MakerBot® ABS colors and PLA are available in 1.75mm- now is the time to switch filament sizes if you haven't. Do you want cleaner prints, with less stringing, finer detail, and faster start-up? Drop in the MK7 extruder and you're off and running with 1.75mm. Really easy!

FAST

We're proud of what we can offer you with the StepStruder® MK7- the shortest build time of any of our extruders. Our assembler Colin, who has built more MK7's than anyone, reports that it takes less than half of the time to build a MK7 than any of our previous extruders.

The MK7 is still fully modular, and any component can be replaced or worked on without replacing the entire unit. We're trading up for easier, faster assembly so you can get back to the business at hand- printing! The lasercut acrylic pieces from previous designs have been removed in favor of precision-milled aluminum and high strength injection-molded plastic components.The extruder heats up faster too- knocking minutes off start up time, and saving hours of your time throughout it's use.

SCIENCE

The MakerBot Stepstruder® MK7 is an all-new extruder which was designed from the ground up exclusively for 1.75 mm filament. We have eliminated all PTFE tube components from the design, allowing the extruder to work with higher-temperature materials, and dissipate heat more effectively than ever. A custom aluminum heat sink and fan keep heat from spreading from the cartridge heater.

It's our most compact and reliable extruder to date, and the simplest to assemble! The stock 0.4 mm nozzle allows printing at a layer height of between 0.32 and 0.27 mm right out of the box, for the most detailed prints you've ever seen from your MakerBot®. Even better, the compact design allows us to stack two complete extruders next to each other for an EXPERIMENTAL dual-extruder setup! The design and software for the MK7 are fully open source, so get involved and become a leader in Dualstrusion™! Keep in mind Dualstrusion™ is strictly experimental and not for the faint of heart! It's an open source challenge to our users to take EXPERIMENTAL dual extrusion to the next level!

Buy it: store.makerbot.com/stepstruder-mk7-complete-stepper.html

Stepstruder MK7 is tracked on Github: github.com/makerbot/Stepstruder-MK7.

The MakerBot Stepstruder MK6+ is just what you'd think -- all the direct-driven, controllable, torquey goodness of the MK6, with an added plus!
That plus is a new, quicker-heating aluminum heater core, powered by a custom-made cartridge heater. In addition to faster heating performance, the MK6 Plus is easier to put together and has fewer points of potential failure.

This is a simple kit to be used with cartridge-based hot ends, which can get much, much hotter than our previous heater systems. This board sits between the extruder board and the heater, and takes a normally-closed thermostat input. It also has an E-stop port if you're running with a Gen4 Motherboard.

The MakerBot Gen4 Interface board is a DIY addition to your MakerBot that will allow you to interact directly with the machine. It has multiple buttons, multiple LEDs, and a 16x4 character LCD screen to provide feedback directly to you. Using this board, it is possible to run your MakerBot completely independently with no computer attached. You can set and read the temperature, view the progress of a build, and even start a new build from a file stored on the SD card. Of course you can also hack the firmware to make it anything else you might want as well.

This kit is DIY, and soldering is required. All the components are through-hole so it is a great kit for beginners.

The Stepstruder MK6 is a huge leap forward for stepper driven extrusion. We've searched high and low to find a high torque NEMA17 stepper motor that is capable of direct driving 3mm filament. Using a direct drive extruder means that there is absolutely no backlash from gears. Not only that, but this spells an end to the days of DC gearmotors that are unreliable and have short lifetimes. Stepper motors effectively last forever, and these motors will provide you with thousands of hours of 3D printing awesomeness.

The Magnetic Linear Encoder v1.2 is a fantastic building block for positioning systems. The core of this board is the AS5306 chip. This chip is what is commonly called an encoder. What is does is measure and report its location. It does this by reading the changes in the magnetic field as the chip changes position. What this means is that when properly assembled, this board will allow you to detect the the position of something like a linear axis. If you combine this with a motor and a microcontroller, then you can build a closed-loop positioning system whose speed and position can be precisely determined and controlled, even if something unexpected happens.

The Magnetic Rotary Encoder v1.2 is a fantastic building block for positioning systems. The core of this board is the AS5040 chip. This chip is what is commonly called an encoder. What is does is measure and report its location. It does this by reading the changes in the magnetic field surrounding the chip. This chip measures rotational motion like that of a motor shaft. What this means is that when properly assembled, this board will allow you to detect the the position and speed of a motor. If you combine this with a motor and a microcontroller, then you can build a closed-loop positioning system whose speed and position can be precisely determined and controlled, even if something unexpected happens.

The DC Servo Controller is a specialized Arduino designed to control a DC motor in with feedback from an encoder. This is what is called a 'closed-loop' system and more commonly a 'servo' motor. When most people think servo motor, an image of the hobby servo comes to mind. Hobby servos are special motors with a motor, gearbox, and control electronics built into one single package. These motors are cheap and easy to control. This board is more flexible, and is the big brother to that type of setup. With the MakerBot DC Servo Controller, you have the freedom to fully program your servo, and is is also designed to work with our Magnetic Linear Encoders or Magnetic Rotary Encoders which give you an amazing amount of accuracy and flexibility in your design. You can also use much stronger motors that can draw up to 2.8A! With this board you can build awesome, accurate, and easily programmed robots.

A big Lego chest with a MakerBot Logo! This was crafted by MakerBot intern Taylor Goodman

Fully Automatic

With the automated build platform it will keep printing and printing.

The automated build platform is truly a revolution in 3D printing. It allows you to have a print queue where your machine will clear the build surface between builds and print objects one after another. This turns your MakerBot into a little factory that sits on your desktop. Best of all, this is completely automated: you hit print, and the machine does all the work. Want to print 100 butterflies? Easy. Want to print an entire chess set? No problem. Want to start a business selling printed things that you've designed? Awesome. Have the bot do all the work while you design new things.

Extremely Reliable

The MK5 plastruder will give you thousands of hours of trouble-free printing.

We've invested many hours into designing, testing, and tweaking the MK5 plastruder. The result is an extruder that is extremely reliable, and very simple to maintain. The hot end on this extruder is essentially unbreakable and the filament drive system is one of the strongest on the market. We've run these things for thousands of hours with minimal problems. Changing the filament is a breeze with the filament pressure thumb screw. You can even swap the filament while the extruder is running if you're fast enough.

Higher Quality

The layer alignment is much better which results in nicer prints and higher resolution.

We've completely overhauled the drive system to give the optimum positioning accuracy. The entire system has been upgraded to sturdy 3/8" diameter linear shafting. This is probably overkill, but you can trust that the axes will be sturdy. We've also switched to self-aligning, sintered brass bearings. These are very forgiving to DIY assembly and provide a nice, smooth motion on the steel shafts. Last, but not least we've completely replaced the Z axis with a stepper driven, cantilevered stage. Guided by two of the linear shafts, this completely eliminates any Z wobble and results in nicely aligned layers. Using a high-angle lead screw, we were able to increase the speed of the Z axis from 150mm/minute to 1000mm/minute. This means the layer changes are almost completely imperceptible and reduces blobbing significantly.

Easier to Use

Connect over USB and hit print - the machine will detect its position and start printing.

The new electronics have been designed to make the printing experience even easier than ever. The motherboard now sports an integrated USB port, so you simply plug the MakerBot in with a standard USB cable. We've also added full endstop support so that you never need to touch the XYZ axes ever again. When you hit print, the machine will automatically home itself, heat up, and begin printing. All you have to do is sit back and relax while your MakerBot does all the work. Living in the future is awesome. Oh yeah, and the electronics are all inside, so you don't have wires dangling everywhere.
Technical Specifications

* Interface: Serial over USB or print from SD card.
* Size: 12" W x 12" D x 16" H (roughly 300mm x 300mm x 400mm)
* Usable Build Area:
* With Automated Build Platform: 100mm x 100mm x 100mm
* With Acrylic Build Platform: 110mm x 110mm x 120mm
* Generation 4 Electronics
* Supports up to 5 stepper drivers (XYZ + A/B)
* Connect over USB
* Optional LCD interface support
* Full endstop support
* High current mosfets to drive heated build platform and extruder heater
* Thermocouple support for accurate temperature sensing
* Power Usage: XX watts, standard ATX power supply.
* Works with both 110v and 220v power.
* Theoretical XY Positioning resolution of 0.02mm (20 microns or 0.0008")
* Theoretical XY Maximum Feedrate of up to 5000mm/minute (roughly 200 IPM)
* Theoretical Z Positioning resolution of 0.005mm (5 microns / or 0.0002")
* Theoretical Z Positioning Feedrate of up to 1000mm/minutes (roughly 40 IPM)
* Accepts 3mm polymer filament
* Capable of printing with ABS and PLA

The MakerBot Motherboard is a shield for the Arduino MEGA. This board is the heart of your MakerBot and controls all the other boards. Its all about connectivity. The Arduino MEGA provides the USB interface, and the motherboard has an SD card slot for storage. For motion control, it has headers for 5 stepper drivers, so it can drive your XYZ positioning system and have room left over for controlling 2 extra stepper motors. Along with steppers, it has headers for 6 endstop cables (X+/-, Y+/-, Z+/-) and an e-stop switch. The interface connector is can be connected to an interface board for controlling the machine without a computer. To control the extruders, it comes with 2 rs485 ports and can support up to 5 rs485 ports. It accepts a standard ATX header for power.

The extruder controller is a compact little board based on the Arduino Diecimila. This board contains all the electronics required to drive one extruder, as well as extra electronics to drive a heated/automated build platform. It has built-in USB, so you can talk to it and program it with a normal USB cable. It has been redesigned with much higher power needs, so it has an ATX power header to provide the power. This means power is not coming over the RS485 cable which has the side effect of reducing noise.

Microstepping for great justice

These new stepper drivers are capable of doing 1/8 stepping which means that instead of jerking from one position to the next, the stepper motor will gradually move between them. This results in lower vibrations, lower noise, and better precision. Your machine will be quieter, print better, and create world peace.

Highly configurable and tunable

While this driver works great out of the box, we've added a bunch of configuration options to this board if you want to get into the nitty gritty of stepper driver operation. There is a dip switch selector to change the stepping mode between full, half, 1/4, and 1/8 step. The current control is also completely configurable with four potentiometers with large test points so that you can set the current, decay mode, and RC constants. With this you can tune the stepper driver to perfectly suit your stepper motor.

High power output

The chip we're using is capable of handling up to 2.8A per phase, so you can easily control motors up to NEMA23 size. The provided power connector allows you to easily power it off a standard ATX power supply, but if you're feeling adventurous, the chip can handle up to 35V for the drive voltage. You'll have to wire up your own connector though.

Integrated heat, temperature sensting, and motor control

The Thingomatic Heater Board is mashup of innovative 3D printing techniques. The heater board fulfils a number of roles in the Thingomatic. First, it provides a nice, flat printing surface with mounting holes. Second, the PCB itself is one large, flat heater which provides very even heating across the surface. Third, the PCB includes an on-board thermistor which allows the board to measure its own temperature. Last, but not least, the PCB includes a header for connecting it to the rest of the MakerBot electronics so that you can easily wire it up.

Simple, repeatable, reliable

The mechanical endstop is a simple solution to a simple problem. We want to be able to detect when an X/Y/Z stage has reached its minimum or maximum. Instead of messing with flags or complicated light beam interruptors, we use a mechanical switch. If we place the switch in the path of the stage, then the stage itself will simply close the switch when it moves against it. Other than properly positioning the switch, we do not need to modify the stage at all. If you're worried about reliability, you can sleep well at night. The switches we use are rated for 1 million operations before failure. Since we only use the switches once per print, that means you'll be able to do one million prints before having to replace the switch.

If you have one of the awesome MakerBot Teflon-coated nozzles you'll want to use a nozzle wiper that keeps your Teflon surface looking good.

Introducing the latest toolhead for your Makerbot!

The Unicorn extends the capabilities of your Makerbot into the 2D realm. You can make unique stickers, diagrams, UPC or QR codes. Sudoku puzzles, digital photographs, logos, you can even mark up PCBs for etching!

Pick your favorite pens, markers or drawing implements, load your raster or vector art files, and watch your machine draw! It works by holding a pen, marker, swivel blade, or something roughly cylidrical and then uses a hobby servo to lift the implement up and down as your xy stage moves around. It turns out it’s perfect for drawing on sticky notes.

This new toolhead for your MakerBot that can bring a breathe of fresh air into your 3D printer by transforming it into a machine that can make 2D art and more!

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!

Plastruder MK5, Do or Die!

After strenuous testing which logged hundreds of hours of continuous extrusion, we are supremely excited to offer the all-new Plastruder MK5.

Designed for reliablity, low maintenance, and ease of use, the next-generation MK5 revolutionizes the MakerBot's extrusion mechanism.

Hot End Reinvention:

This story begins with the complete redesign of the extruders' heating element, barrel, and nozzle. Our goal was to take user feedback and our experiences the MK4, and return with the most robust, most reliable, and longest lasting extruder possible.

In close consultation with our manufacturers, we opted for precision machined stainless steel throughout the hot end. Every part was totally redesigned and pushed to the limit before we included it in the final product.

Each component screws tightly together, creating rigid connections and no room for leaks or loosening over time. The result is an all-stainless hot end that feels heavy and strong, and extrudes smoothly for hours and days without issue.

The heating element has been reinvented too: Nichrome wire has been replaced by two matching power resistors that screw-mount directly to the stainless steel MK5 Thermal Core. The resistors receive current straight from the Relay Board, and they heat evenly to produce a consistent temperature perfect for reliable extrusion.

Sayonara Idler Wheel:

You may notice the reduced footprint and profile of the MK5 Plastruder. It's thinner, sleeker, and the motor housing is smaller. The reason for this is the complete "Paxtruder" inspired redesign of the filament guide mechanism. Now simply twist the thumbscrew to push the Delrin plunger into place, and your filament guide is set. No moving components, and the low coefficient of friction and high strength of Delrin means that the filament will slide over it smoothly and meet with the MK5 Drive Gear with no variation. It's a simple design, and it's simply effective.

The Gear that Drives It:

The MK5 Drive gear, released earlier this year, has become the defacto standard drive gear for MakerBots around the world. It's custom machined stainless steel, lasts ages, and is easy to clean without removing from the plastruder body. The MK5 Drive Gear grabs filament with 100% greater push strength than the MK4 Extruder Pulley. The proof is in the pudding for this item- it's already in successful use around the world.

Power Play:

With the larger surface of the MK5 Thermal Core to heat, the extruder needed more juice to get hot. For this reason the MK5 is powered by our Relay Board Kit, already in steady use with our Heated Build Platforms.

The Relay Board comes standard with enough outputs to run the Plastruder MK5 and the HBP simultaneously. By using the relay, the MK5 doesn't draw the power load through the Extruder Controller. Translated- Steady power, without wearing on sensitive circuits or microcontrollers.

The combined effect of our innovative new components, redesigned filament guide, and stainless steel construction is tremendous. It's a totally reinvented extruder that mounts easily to existing CupCake CNC Z-stage, and makes your machine better instantly.

This is a filament spindle for your MakerBot, RepRap, or other filament based 3D printer out there. We've spent quite a bit of time getting the design just right, and this spindle / box combo is very reliable.

This is a new and improved drive gear for the upcoming Plastruder MK5. It is backwards compatible with the MK3/MK4 plastruder designs and provides 200% increased push force.

For more information, see the blog post: blog.makerbot.com/2010/05/21/mk5-drive-gear-now-with-science

To purchase one for yourself, visit the MakerBot Store: store.makerbot.com/mk5-drive-gear.html

This is a test rig for measuring the maximum drive force before failure. It was designed to be lasercut and will fit a Plastruder MK4.

For more information on how we used this, check out this blog post: blog.makerbot.com/2010/05/21/mk5-drive-gear-now-with-science

These files were published on the Open Prosthetics Project website: openprosthetics.org/concepts/55/the-trautman-hook and all credit goes to the folks who created and put them there. They have been released into the public domain to keep the innovation cycle open. Very cool.

We've put them on Thingiverse to make it easy for folks to make derivatives, share pictures, and explore improvements.

This is a new and improved heated build platform. It is lightweight, compact, lower cost, and sexier than the old heated platform. It is also easier to put together and simpler in construction.

The major breakthrough on this board is twofold:

1. We use a PCB for both the heater element and the support circuitry.
2. We use a lasercut aluminum heat spreader for uniform temperature.

After a bit of trial and error, we came up with an optimum trace resistance of about 4.5 ohms which gives us a 30 watt heater at 12v. This allows us to get up to 100C pretty easily (under 10 minutes).

The ultimate spare parts kit to keep your extruder printing day in and day out. Enough parts to make a complete heater barrel assembly, or replace replace other key components.