Overview
The makerbot is a 3d printer from Makerbot Industries. It prints 3D objects out of plastic. We have
* ABS, black and natural (beige).
* HDPE, white
* PLA, clear
3d printing is an additive process, if you are not interested in the raw look of the plastic, it is advisable to make your object slightly larger to allow for sanding and surface treatment.
HOWTO
Creation of a 3d print requires 3d model files. You can get pre-made models all over the Internet, and makerbot/reprap specific files at http://thingiverse.com/
We are building a 3d laser scanner, but we're not at the physical-copy-machine stage yet. (yet)
File Format
The makerbot takes gcode directly, but you can bring us a STL and we will convert it to gcode using our skeinforge preferences. Once we have a stable skeinforge preference file, it will be available here, and you can generate your own gcode files for speedier service.
If you're using Google Sketchup, you can export STL by installing this plugin in your Plugins directory.
http://www.crai.archi.fr/rubylibrarydepot/ruby/su2stl.rb
If you have an issue exporting (it sees no faces or triangles), it may be that you have nested components in your model. Select all, explode, select all, explode again, and export. rinse and repeat.
Here is another STL import/export plugin (recently released)
http://sourceforge.net/downloads/stl4su/
Workflow
A quick primer is at [Makerbot wiki]
The basic STL->print goes like this.
Open STL in blender, check size (optional)
Open STL in Skeinforge, create gcode. (takes a while)
open gcode in ReplicatorG
Simulate build to get time estimate
Upload to SD Card (can take a while)
Print from SD Card (usually happens within time estimate)
Classes
We will have a class on makerbot essentials soon.
Cost Structure
Makerbot is $0.50/min materials inclusive. Cost is estimated on ReplicatorG estimated build time; actual build time may differ. Price is calculated with actual build time.
Discounts
Discounts are available with membership.
We have also introduced a Thingiverse discount. See the blog for details.
