It seems like the world of making is undergoing a quite revolution. Every now and then there is a new 3D printer or manufacturing machine being launched! Here is the Ultimaker – The project aims to “designing/developing an easy to build low cost 3D printer with a small form factor but large build envelope”. Read more at ultimaker.com.
Do you get some strange gut feeling whenever you buy a new print head cartridge for your printer at home? Some say that the industry has us customers wrapped into a clever market scheme. ;) At the RepRap web page you can now read about the spin-off project Scratchbuilt Piezo Printhead that aims to design an open source ink-jet print head!
Maybe you have just scanned an object and want to print it on a 3D printer. The model has to be water-tight and most 3D programs don’t have “the right tools” to heal 3D meshes easily. In this tutorial from Shapeways you can learn how to use the open source 3D software Meshlab and the German 3D program netfabb to fix a mesh before 3D printing it. Both software packages work perfectly under Linux OS.
Even though this seems just to be a simple technology test this maker has managed to demonstrate the concept behind the ZPrinter 3D printers from Z Corporation by hacking a common inkjet printer.
ReplicatorG 0018, the popular and continuously evolving 3D print preparation software for the RepRap and Makerbot open source 3D printers is now available for download.
There probably isn’t a better place to be than the Maker Faire to see what cool stuff people are doing. In this video you can learn more about the Makerbot and Fab@Home 3D printers as well as Alibre new hobby-version of their well known CAD software – but for just 99 Dollars!
The Open Source 3D printer Makerbot seems to be popular in more than just one way! :)