This is a desktop-size, open-source milling machine in kitform, built from lasercut parts.
We know several people have tried to put a Dremel inside a Makerbot, but we don't think this makes much sense. You'll have a high center of gravity and a light frame. We love our Makerbots, but we think if we put a Dremel toolhead in them, they'll just vibrate apart :)

We designed something from the ground up to be stable, rugged and still light-weight enough to be carried around. (actually, the one I'm showing in Paris this weekend now features a suitcase handle on the steel frame)

The machine has an open floor, allowing it to do a milling operation on a large object.

The machine was specifically developed to have a low center of gravity and be a portable, yet stable platform.

The machine uses a microATX 12V power supply and Makerbot electronics

The current version has a 175x175 mm cutting area.

The machine can easily be enlarged along the X-axis, as the machine is built from a number of modular parts.

There's a short video of the working machine on repairablemachines.com/updates.html
You'll also find some stuff we made with it there.

The plans are uploaded here and on repairablemachines.com.
We also make kits for this machine, we can provide you with all the parts you need to assemble this into a fully working milling machine

UPDATE SEPTEMBER 2011: we published version 1.08 of this machine
It now has:
-improved accuracy, better than 0.2mm
-version numbering engraved on all parts
-a more rigid Z-axis

A parametric version of "A Nest for Bees" implemented in Openscad.

You can chang the variable "use_hexagons" to 0 for Cylindrical or 1 for Hexagonal structures.

This is the 5th version of my printable linear rail, I've gotten everything to finally work correctly. This can be used as a drop in replacement for a 3d printer's X or Y axis. It's rail system is designed to connect together to form any needed length.

This machine hopefully will be my entry for the Gada prize.


Update 06/16/2011:
I worked out a few modifications to the shuttle. Now the lower half of the shuttle can be printed as well, this removes:
4x 5/16(8mm) nuts
2x 5/16(8mm) bolts
2x 5/16 washers

-The next to go is going to be replacing the front 5/16(8mm) hardware with all printed parts. I'm trying to pare this down just the motor and the printed parts.

-I also redesigned the Large helical gear to incorporate the 608 bearing embedded inside of it. think this is an advantage of trying to use 2 bearings in the pillow block. The large helical gear is also now held in place by a printed 8mm bolt 40mm long. This removes one additional piece of hardware.

-The shuttle top now has 4 mounting holes, although I'm just securing the motor with 2 at this point.

-I printed 2 new 3-segment rails, redesigned lower half of shuttle to be printed.
-I also added 2 new pics of the x/y gantry system and uploaded all new parts - I should have another video.


Here is a youtube video of it in action:
youtube.com/watch?v=ScJMPw6UPtw

Comments and feedback are welcome.

Here's a more polished, production-ready update to the domekit 3d-printable geodesic connector system. We refactored the central hub to feature a rounded edge and use less material. The strutcaps are shorter while being more durable, and include an integrated thumbscrew (with captive nut) that locks the strut to the node. This makes the structure easier to assemble, because you're not trying to snap the balls into the sockets — just slide the strut into the shaft and turn the screw.

+ + +

please visit domekit.cc for more details

Based on the Coreystruder. My MK5 filament drive cracked and blew (see images), so I needed a printable replacement filament drive on the double. So I patched up the filament drive and printed this, a variation on the Coreystruder which was almost exactly what I needed. Changes include:

- Ribs on the motor side for better support
- Reduced vertex count on holes/edges to print better
- M5 screw/nut combo for tensioning the plunger, same as MK5 drive
- MK5 compatible screwholes and tongues on bottom
- A cover to hold the plunger in

The goal of this project was to develop a low cost, open source inkjet printer utilizing standard inkjet technology, for personal use. This project was partly in response to the fact that there are no DIY inkjet kits available. There was a kit available from Parallax parallax.com/dl/docs/prod/robo/InkjetKitDocs-v1.0.pdf. This kit is no longer made and the book amazon.com/Inkjet-Applications-Matt-Gilliland/dp/0972015930 that was written to use that kit is now out of print.
The prototype design used a carriage assembly constructed from steel rods that were assembled using connectors that can be printed on an FDM machine. The entire carriage system is driven along the x-axis by a belt attached to a stepper motor. The print cartridge, taken from an HP point of sale printer, is driven along the y-axis by another stepper motor belt drive. The electronic controls use an Arduino Mega to run all of the printing systems.
The design resulted in a working prototype that fulfills all of the design constraints. The rod frame carriage design is lightweight, easy to assemble and easy to integrate with the other systems. The Arduino used in the electronics has a large library of resources available to perform things like LCD, SD card, and stepper control.
Areas where future work should be focused include making molds and casting printable parts to bring down the overall cost, developing host side software, and optimizing the speed.

There is a video of this working here: youtube.com/watch?v=fYeYeTGkvJM
There are additional pictures here: flickr.com/photos/nicholasclewis/sets/72157626730985822/

This was a group project involving:
Patrick Hannan
Jared Knutzen
Nicholas C Lewis
Joy Markham

Eastern is coming and I'll be visited by dear friends and their children.
So I need some Easter attraction for them :)

The SphereBot can plot images on spherical objects like table tennis balls, golf balls, eggs etc.
It is inspired by the original EggBot by EvilMadScientist, but built from 2 old stepper motors and some steel rods (all cannibalized from old flatbed scanners), some MDF and plywood and a few 3d printed parts (printed with my MakerBot Cupcake).

The electronics are simply an Arduino and two Polulu A4983 stepper motor drivers (on the bread board).

The custom Arduino firmware directly interprets GCode sent over the serial port. So it’s no problem to print GCode from MakerBot Unicorn designs directly on the SphereBot.
Thanks to the excellent Inkscape plugin from Marty McGuire (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5986), it’s easily possible to convert all kinds of vector drawings (eps, svg, etc) to printable GCode.

The firmware is open source and can be found here:
pleasantsoftware.com/developer/3d/spherebot/

A video of the SphereBot in action is available on YouTube:
youtube.com/watch?v=v8KnW9AQ10E

[Update 04/09/2011]
Meanwhile I drew plans for the wooden parts (left & right side and the X-axis stepper motor retainer plate). See
SphereBotWoodenParts.pdf below.

[Update 04/10/2011]
I just uploaded STL and SCad files for the printed parts.

[Update 04/11/2011]
The SphereBotSender GUI is now also available in a Processing implementation, i.e. it runs on Mac OS X, Windows and Linux.
See 'SphereBotSenderBinaries.zip' below.

The Sources are available on GitHub,
see pleasantsoftware.com/developer/3d/spherebot/ for the links.

This is my take on a smaller reprapable version of the Ultimaker. I was going to wait until I had it 100% working but there have been a few gantry systems posted and I wanted to get it out there. Here's a list of the current inspirations, I'll add links later: Ultimaker, brutestruder, bowden cable, mendel bearing setup and Makerbot.

The printer's external dimensions are currently 8.5inx8.5inx10in and the build area is 100x100x175mm.

The main reason I started working on this is most printer designs that have been coming recently have been getting larger in footprint. I want something that'll easily and conveniently fit on my desk, I also have no problem with the 100mm square cupcake build envelope.

Where I'm at: I have had problems with friction in the gantry and am in the process of redesigning all of the moving components. I would upload files, but I just trashed them all as not good enough. So, you'll have to wait until they are good enough. That being said the printer in the photos can easily do around 30mm/s. I just want better.

Here's a couple answers to questions that I know I'm going to get:

Yes, all of the parts fit on a makerbot.

Yes, there are diagonal supports that are not in the photo.

No, it's not a fab at home derivative, I haven't seen the workings of that until yesterday. (Has anyone else actually read the Stratasys patent from 1992?)

I attached an edrawing if people want to look at it. I'll post an stl of the full assembly later.
edrawingsviewer.com/index.html

Yes, that's a Makergear compact plastruder head. It's just so small, it fits perfectly. The new version will have two heads whose nozzle tips will be 18mm apart.


About timeframe, looking back on the last 3 months, I've (spent way too much time screwing around with the Makerbot) wife's quote. Now I have to get some real work done since screwing around on the makerbot doesn't pay the bills. I would expect something in a couple weeks.

Update: Here's a link to a video showing the new center gantry unit for the MiniMaker.
flickr.com/photos/48982649@N07/5659332598/in/photostream

Update: Working on minimaker2 right now, here's a video of the X-Y gantry running a calibration cube at 400mm/s!: flickr.com/photos/48982649@N07/6550391991/in/photostream

Inspired by Ulrich Schwanitz's 'challenge' about the "Impossible Penrose Triangle"
I thought I'd give it a try.
Looks pretty neat.

This is an alternative extruder hot-end design for the makerbot, though it may work for other 3d printers as well.

The big advantage is that it does not require an insulator (usually PTFE or PEEK), which causes problems for some (or perhaps many). Instead, a stack of washers and nuts is used as a heatsink to reduce the temperature.

It worked really, really well for me, no more stalled extruders, stuck filaments, half-way prints. It heats up rapidly less than 1 minute from 25 to 220 degC), and I haven't had any problems with it (yet..).
I've only printed ABS so far, so I have no idea if it will work with other materials.

My original version used an aluminum heatsink (bottom image), but I thought that might be a bit hard for others to duplicate, so I built this one. Works just as well, just looks a little less fancy.

You'll need a small fan, stainless steel M6 bolt as well as a stack of M6 nuts and 25mm M6 fender washers in addition to asome components from a standard makerbot extruder.

The MakerScanner is a completely open source 3D-scanner and the perfect complement to a MakerBot or other 3D printer. Every one of the scanner's plastic parts can be printed on a MakerBot or other 3D printer!

Update: I've added parts with slightly different tolerances for printing on the Stratasys 3D printers.

Yet another implementation of H.B.P. controller.
ex) thingiverse.com/thing:3538

If you want to work continuously to keep warm platform. This board holds platform temperature without extruder.

The board operates at 12V, H.B.P. Ver2 (and compatible one) to keep the 110 degree.Temperature can be set 40-130 degree.

prototype (in my blog):
fumi2kick.com/komekame/archives/805
fumi2kick.com/komekame/archives/824

cut in parts of 3mm wood

This is a little tiny vase, about 50mm or 2 inches long. It happens to mechanically fit into the side USB port of my monitor. Of course this use is not recommended since it might cause damage, and I don't know how long it will "hold water".

This version has the mounting holes spaced for the standard Plastruder. The mount hole spacing is now configurable in OpenSCAD so you can easily make one for the Printruder II if you want. Also, I've made a few other tweaks to make it easier to fit the insulator, but might still need some cleanup to widen the slot so that it slides on for good alignment. (or you might need to play with the settings to increase/decrease the sizes) The space around the clamp bolt holes has also been strengthened a little since it had a tendency to break and split open.

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

In biological sciences, we use 6 different sizes of tubes for samples. This two part block, is the only block I know of that can accept all 6 types of tubes. I designed it so that I could split into 2 halves to be used as 2 separate racks. I'm really excited about scientists and hobbyists being able to produce useful equipment at home... provided they have access to a 3D printer.

Tube sizes that it holds include: 0.2mL, 0.5mL, 1.5/2mL, 5.0mL, 15mL, 50mL

The photograph is of other tube holders that are not as versatile. (You wouldn't hold tubes in all sides, just in a vertical orientation. Horizontal tubes are displayed for demonstration purposes.)

The most recent edition of Otyp's open source PCR machine block, Thermotyp.

My new Mini Mendel Production file. I printed this off in 1 shot in 19 hours with 2 reprints at 25mm/s. So this can likely be printed in less than 17 hours. It's all the parts that you saw in Erik's legendary build, with none of the filler.

Added
Nopheads Motor pulleys thingiverse.com/thing:2079
Whosawhatsis m6 pinch blocks thingiverse.com/thing:3437
Erik's Standing Vertexes (4 with feet, 2 with not) thingiverse.com/thing:2200
Erik's Z axis Pulleys thingiverse.com/thing:2165

Removed.
All parts associated with the spool on the bottom
The extruder (use Wades or Prinstruder)
All replaced parts

A simple conveyor belt build platform for the MakerBot. It enables the MakerBot to do multiple prints without user intervention.

This is an initial prototype that does not support a heated build platform. I intend to add HBP support at a later time. I'm also still playing with conveyor belt materials. I've started with some Duralar I picked up for an art supply store. It has held up ok so far but more experimentation is required.

The intent here is to get the design out so people can play with it.

A small, battery-powered gyroscope.

Update (6/29/10): Here's a video of one in action. Note that I used 4 button cells instead of 2. youtube.com/watch?v=Ov5WVhhIdWo

Update (6/30/10): Added a DXF file for lasercutting. If you use 5mm stock, the result should be about the same. You'll need to drill out the pivot holes, though.

This is an OpenSCAD object based on Zach's Solid Wing v2 model. I took the STL, imported it into Art of Illusion, exported it as Povray and used the Povray source to create the polyhedron command in OpenSCAD.

This is a pocket watch housing for the highly programmable Makerbot Watch. ( wiki.makerbot.com/makerbot-watch ) Designed to protect the circuit board when not in use, while being able to hinge open for easy tinkering.

Inspired by the feedstock hinge ( thingiverse.com/thing:1358 ) , I tried to use the least amount of hardware as possible. The ABS filament acts as the hinge pin, and the clamshell parts have built-in bumpers that keep all the components well constrained. Adding 3mm magnets will really give the whole thing a robust feel.

There are two versions posted:

1. watch top.stl, watch bottom.stl; -These are pictured and have a more finished looking aesthetic, and more refined bumpers.
2. (rev4).stl; -These are an ultra light weight ribbed version that have a consistent material thickness, however requires a well tuned 3d printer.

For anyone who wants to make something similar, there is a dxf quantifying(1:1) the critical features of the parts.

Yet another overwhelming silly weapon-wannabe. These banana nunchucks let you bring your favorite carb/proteins to the gym while flexing biceps at your fellow Kickboxercisers.

Please note that these Banana Nunchucks work better with straighter* bananas.

*non-gender, -as-a-ruler

After the success of my first printable extruder design (the Printruder, see thingiverse.com/thing:958 ), I wondered, if there would be an even simpler and better design for a Printruder.

This is what I came up with.

Please note, that there are two flavors of the main part ("Motor Block"):

Motorblock_v7_TimerBeltPulley.stl
This design is for use with the standard timer belt pulley, which comes with the MakerBot Extruder MK3/MK4.
Motorblock_v7_WormGearPulley.stl
This design is for use with a 10mm worm-gear style pulley

You only need one of both. Be sure to print the correct one!

The PCB holder parts are optional.

There's a post on my blog on this with more detailed information and step-by-step build instructions:
pleasantsoftware.com/developer/3d/2010/03/08/printruder-ii/

In order to mount the Printruder II in a MakerBot, you might want to print also a pair of Printable Extruder Holders: thingiverse.com/thing:1912

I have been having trouble with the plastruder motor stripping out the
filament. Here i\'s my take on an upgrade.

There are three points of contact between the gearing and the
filament, so no one spot should strip. All of the gearing is moving in
sync.
I did try holding the filament in some pliers while the motor was
running and the filament broke by the pliers. I am slightly concerned
that if for any reason my heater stops and the motor is still running,
it will break my heater.

Currently this is setup to move slower than the standard printruder
mark 4 (I am trying to print really thin layers and the other one was
too fast) but I can reformulate it to go faster.
Next steps:

Make mounting supports:
thingiverse.com/thing:2435

Test pull force of gearbox (I just ordered a 110lb fish scale, dumb
thing is not supposed to get here until the 21st. If anyone has a fish
scale in Boston and they would like to loan it to me, please give me a
shout!)

I am also thinking of putting in a spring powered emergency disconnect
in the gearing right by the motor that I can dial in how much force
this will exert.

Anybody have any advice?

Thanks,
Aaron Double


UPDATE:

It is done now :D

I got my fish scale and ran two pull tests with ABS. In both tests the filament broke where it was tied, not at the motor.

First test: 48lbf 213.5N
Second test: 47lbf 209N

I have done one test with PLA, it went to 62lbf - 275.8N! then the filament snapped by where it was tied to the scale. The filament still has not stripped out yet! The image of the PLA running through the gearing was taken after the filament snapped where it was tied, same for the detail shot of the PLA.


This was tested with 2.8mm diameter filament that was purchased by MakerBot. Rick over at Makergear mentioned that he has been seeing filament as large as 3.1mm diameter going around. I don not have any, so I can not test that. I do not think it would be a problem, it just means that the filament will have larger teeth marks.

One of the nice things about this design is that you do not have to set the pressure on anything, just drop the shafts with the gearing and bearings in and you are done. The spacing is set in the stl file.

Does anyone know a better way to attach the filament to the fish scale? I still do not know how strong this is.

All and all I am happy. Stl files are updated.

Update 2:

I went down to visit the Botcave and met the makerbot folks (they are pretty cool and mellow, the only thing that I did not expect was how tall Bre is.) The important thing is they happily let me play with their force test rig! thingiverse.com/thing:3198

I only did ABS because of time constraints, and after the sixth test I decided to change how the drive was mounted to the rig. After remounting the drive and cleaning it, I ran 22 tests without cleaning it in between!

Here are the 22 results in Newtons:

290.2N
272N
263N
278N
292.4N
268.8N
298.8N
288.6N
281.8N
267.8N
244N
281.8N
286.6N
238.2N
257.8N
287.8N
288.4N
280.2N
289.4N
283.2N
262.4N
276.4N

Which gives it an average of 276.5N WITHOUT CLEANING! I added an image of the drive taken apart after stripping it 22 times.

To put it lightly, I was very happy!