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Monday, May 16, 2011

Life / Visual Art Is There A Plastic Object You Want Right Now?

Posted by Jen Graves on Mon, May 16, 2011 at 8:55 AM

This Moineau pump is a popular item on Thingiverse, the open-source site for MakerBot designs.

I'm kind of obsessed with the MakerBot. If I had a MakerBot right now, I could print out a new salt shaker to replace the one I keep upside down because it leaks. There are lots of other things I could make myself: a bike part, a hair pick, a birthday gift of a little sculpture for a friend, a cookie cutter in a shape that nobody sells. In order to get the Makerbot, all I'd have to do is put out the same amount of money I put out to pay for my Mac: $1300.

The MakerBot is a 3D printer. It takes in a piece of plastic, the way a regular printer takes in a piece of paper. It melts down that plastic, then uses it like 3D ink, building it back up into a 3D object based on a computer file that tells it what the object should be, like a Word doc printing into a paper essay. People are already sharing their files for designs, free, on the Thingiverse. This is where I could download my new salt shaker. I could have this salt shaker in five minutes or so, from what I can gather by watching video of how the thing works. The machine itself looks like one of those hook carnival games that you can never win, except with this one you always win.

Until now, 3D printers have been like early computers—gigantic, affordable only for institutions and corporations. But now that a desktop version is out, invented in part by a former Seattle guy named Bre Pettis, you only pay $1299 and you can make objects up to five inches per side.

An arts collective in New York hosted a MakerBot Make-A-Thon this weekend, which prompted a story in the New York Times that asked a good question: How will artists use MakerBot? "Art is not traditionally an open-source practice," says MakerBot Make-A-Thon artist-in-residence Marius Watz. Let the old Benjaminian debates begin.

I'll be over here thinking up what I want to see built up out of a skein of melted plastic pumping out of a nozzle.

Update: There's a place on Broadway that has a MakerBot. Here in the office we can't think of the name of the place, but it's the building that used to hold the mysteries museum. Leave the name of the place in comments if you know it.

Comments (19) RSS

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We have one at home. It was my partner's one wish for his birthday.

I don't think anything of value has been produced, yet, because a) you have to put the thing together first, and b) there is a shitload of tweaking and fussing about to do before you get things working smoothly. He's been having a great time, tinkering and running down from upstairs to show me one of the many plastic objects that are slowly beginning to look like the things they were designed to be. And I nod and get back to Slog.

Posted by boyasunder on May 16, 2011 at 9:05 AM

The nice fellows up at Metrix will rent you theirs.

Posted by Nicholas on May 16, 2011 at 9:06 AM

wait... how does keeping your salt shaker upside down make it stop leaking?

Posted by furburger on May 16, 2011 at 9:23 AM

Damn it, now all I want is plastic objects right now!

Posted by six shooter on May 16, 2011 at 9:23 AM

@3: I'll guess that it's a breech-loading model, and its bottom port isn't working well.

(The Vow of the Comedy Bodhisattva: 'I will not complete a joke until every sentient being has got a good straight line.')

Posted by Gerald Fnord on May 16, 2011 at 9:32 AM

Note: the next _real_ milestone in home fabricators will be when they can build more fabricators.

Then we need a dependable source of raw materials; I want to make a {"Diamond Age"}-referencing joke here but it would be a massive spoiler.

Posted by Gerald Fnord on May 16, 2011 at 9:35 AM

Jen - you're thinking of Metrix Create:Space...

And, yes, you can rent time on their Makerbot (and other stuff, like their laser cutters and who knows what else) if you don't want to pony up the $1300 :)

Posted by Eric Arrr on May 16, 2011 at 9:47 AM

@6,

We're already there (kinda) -- the project is called RepRap (as in Replicating Rapid prototyping machine). Coincidentally, I helped assemble an early version with Bre & co. in Brooklyn in 2008.

Posted by Eric Arrr on May 16, 2011 at 9:49 AM

Given another generation or two, I expect the Makerbot will revive my childhood hobby of radio controlled cars in a big way. Just think how much fun it'll be to design & manufacture custom parts and entire kits... and if I crash two of them head-on at full speed, won't that be awesome, as opposed to completely tragic, if I can just print all the replacement parts?

Posted by Eric Arrr on May 16, 2011 at 9:52 AM

@3 Salt *shaker*. Unless the holes are ginormous the squarish crystals will block them up and no more salt comes out.

Posted by viiless on May 16, 2011 at 9:53 AM

@5 aren't there usually holes in the top of salt shakers? I appreciate the consideration though.

Posted by furburger on May 16, 2011 at 9:54 AM

@10 damn that must be a "ginormous" leak then. ahhhh fuck it never mind.

Posted by furburger on May 16, 2011 at 9:56 AM

oh hooray - I can't wait to see all the crap rejects at Value Village.

Posted by bpia on May 16, 2011 at 10:54 AM

or, I suppose you can re-melt the plastic..but still..

Posted by bpia on May 16, 2011 at 10:55 AM

As neat as 3D printers are, RepRap-level ones just aren't very useful yet. Give it another 10 years. But the laser cutter they have at Metrix is *great*.

Posted by gfish

on May 16, 2011 at 12:20 PM

If you just want to repair your salt shaker instead of replacing it with a new one you should get sugru.

Posted by wombatistan on May 16, 2011 at 2:04 PM

Uh, 'scuse me, but doesn't anybody read the NY Times? And do we have to suffer a bad derivative rehash of it by none other than "Miss Pretentioso" herself? Been there, done that, only by someone else, no gracias.
FYI-could somebody pick her up a new salt shaker at Goodwill and shut her up?

Note: More local diversity in this column, please!

Posted by sucka69 on May 16, 2011 at 4:50 PM

Yay!! A DIY dildo is on the horizon!

Posted by julie russell

on May 16, 2011 at 6:18 PM

If you're interested in Makerbots and Repraps, you might want to join the Seattle Makerbot/Mendel meetup:

http://groups.google.com/group/seattlema…

I've been building a Reprap and it can be done for $400-800. It's a bit trickier to build than the Makerbot but you'll learn a lot about how they're put together.

Posted by LawrenceSeattle on May 18, 2011 at 11:33 PM