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To celebrate the release of Modio, the iPad app that lets you design and customize your own characters for 3D printing, for the iPhone MakerBot has partnered with Modio to present the MakerBot Modio Challenge. For the challenge, they want you to remix and reimagine Modio designs. Build, modify, invent, paint – anything goes!
Download source files from the Modio app and upload modified versions to Thingiverse with the tag #ModioChallenge before Wednesday, October 8, 2014 at 11:59PM EST. Entries must be tagged with hashtag ModioChallenge to be considered and will be judged by a panel of MakerBot and Modio employees on creativity and printability. Android users can also participate by signing up for the Android beta.
First prize is an iPhone 6 Plus, yes the one that bends a lot, unless you print a nice and study case for it. Three winners will receive spools of MakerBot Filament (Three spools for first place, two for second, and one for third) and have their designs featured on Thingiverse.
Print Your Own 3D Printer Upgrades
14 Sep2014
One of the best things about 3D printers is that once you get one, you are able to start printing modifications and upgrades for your own device using the printer itself. Regardless of how good or expensive the 3D printer is there are usually some things that you can further improve or just make your life easier by printing some additional parts that might extend the device’s functionality. You don’t need to even design the parts yourself as many of them are already available for direct printing, at least for the Makerbot Replicator 2 printer (including many compatible models) that we use.
In fact we have already printed some upgrades for our Replicator 2 3D printer that we are using and are very happy with, apart from the upgrades that cannot be directly printed, but need to be bough separately or to be made using different hardware. Upgrades like a holder for the filament guide tube, or a better spool holder for non-standard spools with filament can save you from unsuccessful prints. Other upgrades such as upgrading the extruder filament feed mechanism or adding build plate holders can result in better quality prints. There are other upgrades that you can also find useful such as SD card or tool holders, camera holders for recoding the build process and so on and so on. Not to mention that you can also print upgrades that are purely for visual tuning and upgrades that can also be fun as they will allow you to personalize the 3D printer.
– Check for some 3D printer upgrades already available for download on Thingiverse…
Our 3D printer, the MakerBot Replicator 2 as well as many other models do come with a plexiglass (acrylic) build plate and while you might have no serious trouble printing smaller 3D models on it, you may experience some issues when you start using more of the available build volume. The problem with the plexiglass build plate is that it is not that even as it may appear and every millimeter and even a part of the millimeter may be important when 3D printing something. In our case the Replicator 2 did have about 1 millimeter difference between the printing nozzle and the print bed at the edges as compared to the gap near the center of the build plate. This is easy to notice when you level the build plate using the three closer to the center points and then the print nozzle moves at the left and right edge of the build plate.
What we did was to look around for an option for a glass build plate for the MakerBot 2, there are quite a few options available. Even Makerbot offers a glass build plate upgrade for the Replicator 2, however it comes at a pretty high price of $250 USD. So we have opted out to go for an alternative solution that should provide the same results at a much affordable price. After checking a few alternatives we have selected to use the Performance 3D GLASS BUILD PLATE for Makerbot Replicator 2. This upgrade is available for just $50 USD without shipping and does provide much better results. We’ve received it and have already installed the new glass plate and the results are really great – the new plate is really even across the whole surface when leveling it. So we can definitely recommend this glass build plate as a great and much more affordable alternative to the original glass upgrade from Makerbot. We have ordered some other of the Replicator 2 upgrades offered by Performance 3D, so we are going to be installing them as well and trying them out very soon as well.
- In: Makerbot Replicator 2 Upgrades
- Tags: acrylic build plate, glass build plate, glass build plate upgrade, Makerbot Replicator 2 build plate, Makerbot Replicator 2 glass plate, Makerbot Replicator 2 upgrade, Performance 3D, plexiglass build plate, Replicator 2 build plate, Replicator 2 glass build plate, Replicator 2 upgrade