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Posts Tagged ‘Thingiverse’
MakerBot Thingiverse FirstBuild Icebox Challenge
7, Nov 2014
The FirstBuild Thingiverse Icebox Challenge is aimed at designing solutions that can be placed inside of the refrigerator. Ideas could range from purely 3D printed pieces to battery-operated electromechanical devices. FirstBuild’s engineers have already gotten inspired about this Ice Box Challenge and have designed test prints that include a 3D printed pizza box holder, customizable to the size of the box and the shelves in the refrigerator, and a motorized 3D printed wine chiller.
To qualify, designs must be uploaded to firstbuild.com between November 3 and November 23, 2014, at 11:59 p.m. EST. Entrants are also encouraged to upload their entries to thingiverse.com using the tag #IceBoxChallenge for a chance to be featured on the Thingiverse site. 3D print testing, online community voting and judging will occur from November 27 to December 2, with the winner announced December 15.
First place winner will choose between a MakerBot Replicator Desktop 3D Printer or a MakerBot Replicator 2X Experimental 3D Printer. Second place winner will receive a MakerBot Replicator Mini Compact 3D Printer and third place will receive three spools of MakerBot Filament, a Thingiverse T-shirt, a FirstBuild T-shirt. The participants that get the first to third place will also get their creation featured on Thingiverse and displayed in MakerBot Retail Stores.
So far there are 19 entries into the contest already sent with a little over 15 days left for everyone to join in by submitting his or hers entry.
– For more information about the MakerBot Thingiverse FirstBuild Icebox Challenge…
3D Print The GoPro HERO Camera Accessories You Need
23, Oct 2014
GoPro continues to release new and better Hero action cameras each year, and they get better picture quality and more and more new features – the latest GoPro HERO4 Black edition for example, however the price also increases with that. You also need to buy additional extra accessories such as various mounts and other accessories in order to make the best of your GoPro action camera. It is good that most of the accessories are backwards compatible and the more specific ones are compatible with the latest generation of GoPro HERO4 as well as with the previous GoPro HERO3+ and HERO3 cameras. If you have a 3D printer however you are already able to 3D print many of the accessories and mounts being sold by GoPro yourself and there are also quite a few others that you cannot actually buy.
The user community that uses both 3D printers and GoPro action cameras is actually quite big and there are already a lot of contributed designs for various camera mounts and accessories that you can print yourself. There is no need to design something, the 3D models ready for printing are already available for free, and should you need something more specific that is not yet available you can use some of the readily available mounts or accessories and modify them to better suit your needs. This all saves a lot of time and actually the 3D printed mounts and accessories for GoPro action cameras can turn out to be not only significantly cheaper, but also better in some ways as you are able to use various printing settings and materials. So why not give it a try the next time you need something for your GoPro HERO action camera, just print it and test, we have done so and are really happy with the results we are getting.
– To see the user contributed 3D models of GoPro mounts and accessories at Thingiverse…
Print Your Own 3D Printer Upgrades
14, Sep 2014
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…