Stanley shows off his Arduino project to another curious camper at at the White Plains Library’s Maker Camp this summer.
In this edition of Finding Starter Projects, we take a look at resources that guide maker leaders in focusing on a single domain, tool, or material. Using these, maker clubs and making classrooms can take a deep dive into one kind of making.
This is another approach to narrowing down The Wide World of Whatever You Want that I mentioned in my last post. An open field can be intimidating to new makers. Establishing a shared focus gently welcomes new makers into this vast landscape. “Deadline-driven design” doesn’t work for all makers. Our teachers with maker clubs and classes have reported that for the girls in particular, competitions can often be a turn-off. Even when there’s no prize in sight, a shared experience is valuable.
MaKey MaKey projects
Working with a common set of tools or materials builds trust and confidence as new makers get used to making together. Another convenient consequence of this approach is that you can focus your spending at the same time that you focus your students. For example, if you buy a few MaKey MaKeys, you could keep you and all your students busily creating the several dozen suggested projects that JoyLabz share on their site.
There are so many great choices, we share today’s links alphabetically.
Arduino.In many ways, the Arduino is a keystone of the Maker movement, and teachers are often looking for good ways to introduce their students to using this powerful microcontroller. We’re happy to report that Arduino’s own materials for getting started are actually quite well done. Also check out the Make: book Getting Started with Arduino by Arduino co-creator Massimo Banzi.
DIY Girls get clever and crafty with soft circuits during Maker Camp.
Circuits. One of our teachers turned us onto Circuit-Projects.com and DIY Electronics Projects. This is a good time to mention again Make:Projects and Instructables, both full of circuit projects and learning aids. In an earlier post I mentioned High-Low Tech’s projects (especially Getting Hands-On with Soft Circuits). In a future post we’ll look at retail outlets like SparkFun and Adafruit (and MakerShed, of course!) that are perennial favorites with our teachers, full of circuit-building projects.
Green. Let’s get practical! You could spend a whole school year focused on making that revolves around “the four Rs” (reduce, reuse, recycle, and rot), transforming your school into a K12 version of Maker Faire’s Homegrown Village and saving bucks in the budget as you do. The number of educational resources out there are nearly limitless (unlike our natural resources!), but here are a few sites from Maker Media’s neighborhood in Berkeley to get you started: the Green Schools Initiative, StopWaste, California Regional Environmental Education Community, and the Edible Schoolyard Project.
littleBits. This powerful set of reconfigurable modules introduces kids to creating all kinds of circuits. The team has backed their kits up with a set of Project Lessons (including everything from a Tickle Machine to a Unihorn Helmet) and a helpful workshop guide.
MaKey MaKey. We can’t say enough wonderful things about this ingenious interface between the digital and physical world. Part of the magic of this joyful tool is the diverse set of 18 delightful projects its creators and most avid users have dreamed up and described in step-by-step instructions. Club leader Kurt suggests to make sure you have at least two MaKey MaKeys in the room, especially if you have both boys and girls in your maker club, so that everyone gets some time with it.
The Math Projects Journal. One of our teachers has used Princess Dido and the Ox Skin in their making classroom.
NEED: National Energy Education Development. Some of the schools we work with have directed their students to thinking about energy use, production, and conservation in many new ways, often because they use this to find support for their school-based makerspaces and their students’ projects. One resource these teachers consult is the NEED (National Energy Education Development) Project Curriculum Resources. It focuses on projects related to all kinds of energy, like Biomass, Geothermal, and Uranium!
Nerdy Derby. Makers create their own creative, innovative race-car to launch down an undulating, 30-foot track. The folks behind Nerdy Derby have developed a set of lesson plans and different car designs that could keep your class or club happily busy for weeks!
Notebooks and Circuit Stickers. We know kids love stickers, and what better way to get your young artists (and writers) excited about electronics? Check out the templates available at nexmap 21st Century Notebooking (created with the National Writing Project) and on the Chibitronics site.
Soldering is Easy. Mitch Altman has taught tens of thousands to solder around the world. He teamed up with Andie Nordgren to create a one-page cartoon. The cartoon has been translated into French, Czech, Romanian, Portuguese, German, Spanish (see left), Italian, and, mysteriously, Morse Code! Mitch and Andie also worked with Jeff Keyser to make a multi-page comic book on soldering too!
Swap-O-Rama-Rama. Screenprinting, sewing & textile hacking. Pick some material or some clothes from the used clothing pile and then make a costume, sew a dress, hack a blazer into a purse, silkscreen rad designs onto your sweatshirt!; t-shirt appliques with adhesive interface, using sewing machines, bag from a t-shirt, hacked fashion
Thematic explorations. When I visited Brightworks last year, I was impressed by their approach to studying one theme in depth at a time. They call it the Arc. In the past they’ve had Arcs like salt or cities. Now they are pursuing three: photograph, book, and movie.
Thingiverse. Teachers go here to find models their students can hack and print out on your 3D printer.
WikiSeat. Use furniture design to introduce your students to materials and skills of construction, collaboration, and community. Students build their seats atop a Catalyst (the structural support for a chair.) Note that applications for 2015 WikiSeat Scholarship Application are due November 15.
What did we miss? Tell us!
There are so many other project-focus possibilities like this! We know we haven’t captured everything here. Check out our earlier posts in this series:
What’s your favorite resource for making projects? What have you used with kids? Where do you get inspired, and what projects and sites inspire them? Tell us what you like and why you like it. Add to our list by commenting below.
I’m writing this article because I couldn’t easily find any information on the web prior to my departure to Tuscany. I’ve been flying multirotors for some time now and I have encountered a few elements not mentioned anywhere else — to my knowledge. I hope you will find that this info makes filming nice video the primary thing, and fighting with technology secondary.
To create this movie I was flying Phantom 2 with Zenmuse H3-3D, GoPro 3 black and an FPV of my choice (details below).
TRANSPORTATION
(get there, and from there)
Pack Yourself
To make the puppet-of-mine survive the heavy-duty tossing at the airport I bought a special case for traveling. It came with the foam pre-cut to fit the Phantom 2 with everything included, so I only needed to make a small extra hole for the monitor handle to fit it in without disassembling. You can also buy such cases without pre-cut holes and fit whatever UAV you own. All of the components from the below list fit into the case and survived flights and travel without damage. However — the case’s airplane-ready configuration makes your UAV pre-filming procedure longer than it needs to be. To fit everything you have to unscrew the monitor, antennas, and take all the batteries out. I suggest unpacking it when you get to your destination, and repack it for short trips, leaving chargers and assembling antennas and such. My experience also made me keep the RC controller with the monitor and antennas as a second piece (for trips I had a case with the Phantom, and tools, batteries, and a RC controller in a separate bag, this is due to the unexpected situation I had — read below).
Check List:
– Multirotor with gimbal, and FPV transmitter installed (in my case Zenmuse H3-3D, ImmersionRC 600mw)
– RC controller with handle for monitor (if you use monitor)
– Monitor and FPV receiver (Black Pearl 7″ in my case), or FPV goggles
– Necessary antennas
– Laptop with external drive for storing and backup of your footage
– Spare props for your drone
– Zip-ties and tape for emergency fixing
– Batteries for: your multirotor 2 pcs, your RC controller 3 sets or more, your FPV ground station 2 pcs
– Chargers for: UAV batteries, monitor batteries, laptop
– Multitool
– Traveling case
– GoPro sun shade
– Case lock
– Mini USB — USB cable and micro USB — USB cable (for plugging the Phantom and GoPro to your laptop)
Insurance
The drone with camera, gimbal, monitor, and FPV becomes a pretty expensive thing. You would be upset if you got it stolen on the plane or lost during flights, so — buy insurance. I did, and it cost me around 25€. The one thing to know is that there is different insurance for professional equipment versus amateur. I purchased the amateur since I wasn’t going to make the video as a professional job. (Fortunately I didn’t use it.:)
Law
Always check the latest laws and regulations regarding flying UAVs in the country of your destination before you go. Please bear in mind also that we are living in a time where those regulations are being written as we speak, so — you need the most current information. The easiest way is to check on some local UAV amateur forum — just start a topic and ask in English. From my experience, you will not wait long for the response.
Airplane
This is the tricky part. If you start reading about how you should pack your UAV for taking it on the airplane you will get a headache. Some regulations (UE) say that you should have your LiPo batteries with your carry-on but on the other hand it’s hard to translate to a non-English speaking guard what you carry these double 5200mha batteries for if you leave your drone as the registered luggage — I suggest you call your airlines prior to the flight and just ask them how you should pack. I did and they said to go with everything packed in the registered luggage with batteries included. All of the batteries were discharged and disassembled from the equipment. I found out that easyJet (that was the company I was flying with) allows for some oversized carry-on luggage and my case would fit the dimensions, but since I had a multitool and other sharp things I decided not to go this way. My case with everything inside was 9 kilograms. Rest assured that you will be checked with special attention. I had to go to the luggage checking room, open the case, tell security what it was and let the case go through a scanner several times. Security was very nice but they just didn’t know what it was and so … better safe than sorry, go to the airport with some extra time ahead knowing that you might get special treatment.
UNEXPECTED SITUATIONS
(and some ways I’ve come around them)
Tourist Attraction
UAVs are VERY interesting to people. Whenever you pop open that black case, YOU will become the greatest tourist attraction around (I was more interesting to some than the leaning Pisa tower). This is understandable and you should not fear those guys – if you saw it for the first time, wouldn’t you come closer? Just remember that anybody closer to the starting/landing place than 3m when the UAV is on, is in danger — it is a flying lawnmower in the end! Kids will come and touch it so before you land tell them that it’s dangerous and that you will let them come closer when the engines are off. People will try to see what you have on monitor during flight and you will feel them on your back.
When flying you are very much exposed to pickpockets — the best idea is to leave every important tech-gadget with your wallet inside the case before you take off, or ask your friend to watch over you and your belongings — you can’t be here and up there at once! People will try to talk to you when you fly. When it happens instruct them that you will talk, when you land. If anyone has some problems with you flying, ask your colleague to handle him/her until you land: “Sorry sir, but my friend is a pilot right now and it’s dangerous to distract him, please tell me what’s the issue and when he lands you might talk.” One last thing is that phone calls in your pocket are very annoying when your mind is 400 meters away. 🙂
Batteries
You have 4 battery-powered gadgets on, at the same time. This means that in order to fly safely you have to check everything twice before you take off. You should also have spare batteries charged at all occasions. I put extra care into the batteries of my monitor. The shot of the leaning Pisa tower in the short film was done — without FPV. Why? Because when I got up and found the right place to start the real footage — batteries in my monitor said “Sorry dude, we’re out” and the screen went blank. Also I should say that the drone was exactly at the sun position as seen from where I was standing. What saved the day was the Home Lock Intelligent Orientation System — this comes in with NAZA inside Phantom 2 but I think can be implemented into other UAVs. This is a very handy safety switch to have with you for any occasion but remember — if you own a Phantom 2, you have it on your RC controller but it doesn’t mean you actually have it. In order to use it you need to enable it with your PC. The procedure can be found here: http://youtu.be/dILHyp_P9eU
The RC controller uses 4 AA batteries and you don’t want to swap those with rechargeable. The rechargeable batteries have supposedly a lower starting voltage than the disposable ones and so … last much shorter. From my experience you can make about 6-10 flights (15 min each) on the buy-use-throw away batteries and about 2-3 on the rechargeable. I might have mixed something up with those rechargeable but that was my experience anyway.
Vision Loss
Since the FPV system is a live feed from your camera through radio frequencies — you will encounter short video downlink problems. Two factors can make this situation worse. The first is your antenna location. My antenna is mounted in the back of the UAV (behind Zenmuse gimbal), which makes my connection much weaker when the multirotor is facing the home position. It helps to bend the cloverleaf to the ground but just slightly. The second situation in which I face weaker video signal is when the Phantom is directly above home position. I think this must have something to do with the cloverleaf structure but, it’s just a hunch.
My Flight Procedure:
Make the pre-flight procedure as easy as possible: I did a whole battery flight without the cloverleaf antenna attached to the UAV transmitter and it didn’t burn! After this situation I decided that I will not disassemble the thing anymore (except for airline transportation). I decided to carry with me my fully assembled Phantom in a case and the RC controller with monitor and antennas attached as a separate thing. Not handy, but safer since your flight procedure is easier and consists of pushing buttons only and no assembly whatsoever.
RC controller – on
GoPro – on
GoPro – record on
Phantom – on
Monitor – on
Wait for at least 7 satellites
Take off straight into the air (leave the right stick until you gain altitude)
Shoot the goddamn footage
Landing (I land based on eye-sight not the monitor)
Phantom – off
GoPro – record off
GoPro – off
Monitor – off
RC controller – off
If you keep to this procedure you will omit two problems. One is that you will not fight with the gimbal to switch the camera on (you push the button, gimbal tries to stabilize you pushing the button — hilarious, but might bring damage to the gimbal). The second is that you will not have a problem I had often with take-offs: I had a pretty close wall to the place where I had my Phantom on the ground. The obvious stress made me think this way: ” OK, I will take-off and immediately fly far from this wall.” In theory it works but in reality, there is a moment where the Phantom doesn’t start yet but is already weightless. This is in fact the most dangerous moment — wind might blow the Phantom and if you push the right stick in this moment you might make it fall from the platform. If you do start from land you might make the UAV “drift” this way. What I suggest is to start from places in which you actually can start straight up. When you gain the altitude you have the Phantom stabilize itself and so you are safe with the right stick.
Gimbal Flaws
The three-axis gimbals make the footage smooth as can be — period. Unfortunately it also has its own flaws that you should be aware of. One of these problems is the “orbit lag.” This flaw appears when you try to turn your UAV very slowly around its z-axis (z being the up/down axis). The gimbal counteracts moves in three axes up to a max level after which it moves — technical max. This means that when you make a very gentle panorama — the gimbal at first counteracts this move — you see no movement on-screen. If you see no movement the first reaction is “I pushed the handle too gently and the Phantom doesn’t get it, I need to push more.” Then the panorama becomes rapid. To make it smooth, just start gently and keep it that way even though you see no movement on the screen. The gimbal after a second or two will reach its maximum on this axis and the panorama will start on your screen too.
The second glitch that you might encounter is the one connected to high-speed flying. When you try to make a fast fly through to the front it might happen that all of a sudden you will see … The leg of your UAV (if it has one). It looks as if the gimbal needed to find the maximum, like when it is being powered on. One of my friends told me that this might be due to the power drain that the Phantom is putting on the battery. The gimbal just does not have enough power and goes crazy. The way to omit this problem is – don’t fly too fast (the shot in my video where I fly above a tree covered hill is cut in that end due to this glitch).
A very important thing that helped me a lot in doing the final shot was turning the gain on the tilt control of the gimbal waaaaay down. When you set it to 5-10, the gimbal will respond much more liquidly and more soft.
FOOTAGE
(some guides on how to make a decent one)
To be honest, flying modern UAVs like DJI Phantom 2 is so easy that all you need is — imagination to have fun up there. In fact when you get up there and leave all the controls — you get a beautiful picture. Unfortunately a video consists of “moving pictures” and so you’ve got to have a plan on what you will try to do with this picture. The rule of thumb is — if you see action in your picture (the car driving on a road or birds taking off from a tower) you can keep Phantom steady, but when there is no action — make smooth camera movement. Also when you want a good shot based on camera motion, from my experience I would say that the lower/closer you are the more dramatic and interesting the shot will be. You might crash and this is why you see no dramatic shots in my movie but I’m sure when I get to know my Phantom better I will try to do those low flybys.
One thing you should be informed about is that if you face the sun with your GoPro on a Phantom you might encounter flickering effect in your footage. This happens due to the propellers casting shadow onto the lens. You can fight it with a sunshade like I do (I’ve redesigned one available online and printed it on our 3D printer) but be informed that this effect will still happen (just a little less frequently). My sunshade is designed to be used with 2.7K settings on GoPro and in this mode you only get “wide” FOV. If you intend to us as a default 1080p, then you can pick a much longer sunshade designed for “medium” mode, which apparently blocks all of the shadows caused by propellers.
When shooting a video there are some key factors to remember now unless you want to get angry while editing:
1. You shouldn’t cut together two shots with similar camera movement and — make different takes: orbits, side to side, upupandaway, runner perspective low fly, and so on.
2. Try to have in your shot at least two different elements being a foreground and background. This gives much better look to your shot and brings the 3D effect.
3. Make the shot longer than you think. We often watch the thing through an FPV system and you “see” the movie through it. That’s great but don’t make cuts this way. Enable yourself to make that decision during editing and so … make the shot longer than you feel it should be.
4. When shooting footage forget that there is post production available to you. Try to make smooth, stable, and beautiful pictures on the spot. This way further down the line you will be able to focus on polishing the thing up and not fixing mistakes. In most cases you can only do minor bug repairs — in order to not destroy the quality of the footage.
5. Make more than one shot in one place. This is for storytelling in a movie. You need at least three shots from one place to tell the story. And I mean three GOOD shots. Rule of thumb — try to get six nice (thought through) shots at one place that you want to show in your video. I had about 150 minutes of footage to edit from. About 4-5 locations didn’t make it to the edit due to the fact I had too few nice-enough shots.
6. Train your shots. Very helpful thing is something that I call “muscle memory.” When I came with the idea of the shot of my father jumping to the pool and the UAV flying out of the place, the first thing I did was get the Phantom above that pool and try the shot. After about four tries I had a feel of the shot in my hands. Then I invited “the actor” to the stage and focused on the synchronization with him. I made three doubles with him and so … You see the effect in the video.
7. What quality to pick on the GoPro if you use one? I did the whole movie (except the last shot which was in 1080p 50fps) in 2.7K 25fps. Why? I thought that this will help me with stabilizing and still keeping the 1080 after cropping, but … This was not the case. The moment I saw what happens if you apply just a slight sharpening effect on 2.7K and then downgrade the picture to Full HD — it just made the magic happen. Protune on of course.
CONCLUSION
Flying multirotors is a very rewarding thing itself. While doing it you feel like playing a PC game and later on while editing you appreciate the picture quality it gives. On the other hand – you just need to get used to it. There are many minor problems you might encounter that are very easy to resolve but can bring frustration when you face them the first time. I hope that my not-that-short article will help you by taking some of that frustration out of the way, leaving space for pure creativity in movie making. Happy flying and remember — on YouTube the biggest set of videos with “drones” are … crash compilations! Don’t make another one:). Take care.
Chad Ratliff shared with us this video (above, by Trevor Przyuski) of a professional development trip he and his colleagues took to Maker Faire 2013.
Schools are back in session, and we’re getting ready to throw open the gates to Maker Faire, hands-down the best hands-on learning-palooza for teachers everywhere. And it’s nearly here! In just two weeks we’re hosting World Maker Faire, aka The Greatest Show and Tell on Earth, at the New York Hall of Science in Queens, New York. It’s a place to learn, whether you’re a kid or an adult, and we hear from lots of educators that it’s their favorite “professional development” opportunity every year.
Teachers, learn more about the special ways to attend here, including our exclusive Teacher Team, freebies and discounts, and a virtual field trip with Maker Camp: makerfaire.com/new-york-2014/learning
First, the advice that teachers give for strategies for attending Maker Faire: What to see and how to see it …
Keep track of all the fun projects and experiences that draw you in as an attendant, and then think how to reverse-engineer those experiences into a lesson.
Seek out the student projects that are brought to the Faire, from the robotics to even the simpler projects. As a teacher, I know we spend a lot of time emphasizing project-based learning, but having it physically manifest itself in a machine or physical product beyond a poster is a specific challenge I would like to push myself and others to strive for. Tangible projects will always last longer in a student’s mind than tests or facts.
Go to the presentations. They are very informative, and I always get something from them.
Spend time reading the program and studying the map beforehand! That way you can pick what really interests you, and maybe make it to see those if you don’t get too sidetracked like I do seeing something new along the way!
Plan to be there all day.
Wear comfy clothes and shoes.
Join in any chance you get. Just jump in and try out a new activity.
Bring along a student who wouldn’t have had a chance to attend if you didn’t bring them. It is an eye-opening afternoon!
Check out the fabric and clothing swap area (Swap-o-Rama-Rama) for anyone who likes to sew items for their classroom. There are a lot of easy, cheap project ideas that can be duplicated for 20 or 30 students.
Look at everything because you just never know what you are going to see.
The large demonstrations like EepyBird or the human-sized Mousetrap can be reduced on a smaller scale and brought into the classroom as design challenges to an identified problem.
I recommend all of the booths with hands-on activities at which you can build stuff – silkscreen clothing, battery-powered cars with a rolling disposable water bottle for a “wheel,” the “glove-o-phone” made from a finger of a rubber glove stretched over a length of tubing, the PVC pipe marshmallow shooter … You get both a cool thing you can have your students build back in your classroom, and you also get to experience the thrill and frustration of trying to make something yourself.
Visit any exhibit run by maker kids and find out what makes them tick — how they got started, what they’ve learned so far — and let them teach you. There was a girl who had collected hundreds of old pairs of jeans from thrift stores and brought several heavy-duty sewing machines, and she led us through repurposing them into a nifty purse. I could see the wheels spinning in my kids’ heads, “Oh, well, maybe I could host a booth myself next year … what would I do?”
Visit anything that commands your interest and attention and motivates you, because that’s what we want for our kids, and you deserve it, too!
Spend more than one day exploring. There is so much to see and get involved with that you can’t do it all in one day.
Get your hands on something and DO some making.
Try to just take a walking tour so that you can see the overall variety, then spend some time focusing on a few exhibits.
Talk to the makers.
Be prepared to be AMAZED.
Come down! Get out of the classroom and see what really gets students excited about science, math and art!
You have to see the giant mousetrap. That’s worth it all.
Walk around and talk to the makers. (I got a few makers to help in my classroom.)
I would recommend educators attend with a few students. If you want to know what gets a student excited, what interests them, take them to Maker Faire. I love walking around the faire and seeing my students. I tell my students I’ll give them extra credit if they see me and say “Halsey in the House!” You’d think they would. Instead they see me and are either too engaged in doing something or want to share and show me what they’ve seen. I don’t need to give them extra credit, though, going to Maker Faire is the best experience.
If you have time, go both days and take a notebook with you because you will never be able to remember all of what you saw and what inspires you. I personally like to start off with stuff I am familiar with like the homegrown village where you can learn about raising chickens, bee keeping, and making pickled foods at home. Then I like to head to the expo hall to pick up some cool new ideas from any of the hundreds of maker booths. If I still have time that first day I like to visit the bizarre bazaar and pick up a shirt or craft idea for my craft club.
Walk around to get a feel for the range of possibilities that making can offer. You never know what might spark your interest. Then, pick a few workshops or talks where experts or beginners will share their own experiences with making. Then, after the speaker is done, go up and introduce yourself — makers are a very friendly group and love to share. Finally, make another pass through the booths, and this time collect information on tools, projects, people that you will want to follow-up on when you get back to school. That way you have a very focused email list for your homework.
At Maker Media, we love teachers, because they are making the future. But why do educators love making and Maker Faire? Here are some of the best testimonials we’ve heard from teachers over the past year about why they are joining the Maker Movement:
Maker Faire broadens your perspective on what kids are capable of, especially in a time when we make things safe for them. Perhaps too safe … — David
I have been more and more willing to try “risky” projects with my students, telling them I want to see what they’ve learned and then giving them supplies and letting them go to town. I teach first grade, so there is a little bit of scaffolding first. For example, when I had my students make a 3D model of a skeleton with pasta, I provided them with pictures of a skeleton, a model I had made, and all the glue and pasta they would need to make their own. I am always inspired by what I see at Maker Faire, personally and professionally. I love all of the steampunk flavored stuff, and I really enjoyed the “take it, make it” fabric and clothing swap area from last year.—Katherine
Maker Faire began the shift in my teaching paradigm. Where I had once been a very directive teacher I learned and embraced the concept of everyone is a maker and everyone has something to teach. My classroom has been transformed into a place where we all grow and learn together. I first learned about Makey Makey and Scratch at Maker Faire and I jumped in without really knowing much about it. I showed my students what it was and some basic programming I had tried. Now we learn together. My only rule? “You must control your own mouse.” I am inspired by the variety and innovation that sets the stage for learning. It makes me feel both like I am part of a group and that I am a creative individual. Last year I took a picture of all the different modes of transportation. It was amazing to see how so many people can imagine something that gets us from one place to another in so many different ways. I also love the use of light and sound so I always spend a good part of the day in the dark room. — Kelly
The whole Maker Movement has had a profound effect on my teaching. My observation and work at the Maker Faire has helped me to bring back the excitement of tinkering and making to my traditional school that had a very traditional tech program. I have been inspired by watching a lot of makers and tinkerers at the faire using things like hangers, wool, tape, and more high-tech components. The first year I volunteered I also went to the d-school and was struck by how much of their equipment was bins of stuff. This helped form my growing feeling that tech needed to get more physical. That combining robots and computers was just the beginning. —Jenny
I highly recommend everyone — including students, parents and educators — to go check out this year’s Maker Faire. It’s like a Disneyland filled with gadgets that we all can create by simply using our imaginations and creative minds. —Grace
I am now teaching a 3D printing elective class to eighth graders at our STEM academy. Maker Faire inspired me to ask our principal to purchase a 3D printer, and now I am planning a “Maker Technology” class for next year. We practice Design Thinking at our school and I am finding that it is actually a great process to use alongside 3D printer technology. I am also interested in teaching a history of the Maker Movement, and bringing more making to our school. I think that too often teachers rely on pre-scripted learning events with right and wrong answers, because open-ended projects are often very messy and hard to control or grade. Students benefit from principles derived from making, and lead to greater degrees of self motivation in learning. — James
Every year that I attend the faire, it reignites my desire to teach and I get a burst of creativity. It inspires me to help students explore and tinker and, especially, to get young girls involved in making. I see making as a gateway to engineering and other STEM-related fields. I was also inspired by the poised 9-year old boy who helped me with my first soldering project. — Katie
I brought back the idea of starting a Maker’s Club at my school. In this club, students have participated in activities such as Socktopus, Cardboard Challenge, intro to soldering, Lego robots and bubble making. I have also used Make: magazine and Maker Camp on Google+ to create such projects as marshmallow guns, inko-dying T-shirts, robots from trash, and more. I was inspired by the amount of people who think creatively, inspire others to think creatively and generously support those trying to be creative by teaching others. There are so many people who want to teach others. As a teacher it is so important to learn as well as teach and it puts in the forefront that everyone has something to teach. — Kelly
I assign Maker Faire for my students’ first marking period homework. They can attend or write a research paper. We are close to the Hall of Science, so of course 95% of my kids attend. I’ve met so many amazing people. I bring Maker Faire into my classroom and we celebrate it. I was inspired by the creative energy that pulses from the faire. When my students come into my class for the first time I tell them about Maker Faire. Many of them have already attended, but those who haven’t I feel it is my mission to bring them to Maker Faire. I try to describe it to them, and words always fail me. I say it’s like Disney, a candy store, and the world’s greatest toy store all rolled together. Seeing the breadth of making, the art of making, the craft and the joy of making is what inspires me most. I have my students take photos and create photo albums because I know I won’t be able to see everything, but I can see it all through their eyes. —Lori
I was inspired by the creative spirit of all the presenters. I take pictures like crazy so that I can bring some ideas back to my classroom. Our end-of-the-year bubble day has taken on a whole new level of excitement, and the mentos and coke experiment works its way into science every year now, complete with the heightened drama of lab coats and safety goggles. My students experience an innovative spirit in my classroom. It’s an amazing transformation from “tell me what to do” to “let me explain what I did.” This year my students made balloon rockets to learn about air pressure. They designed, tested, redesigned, and finally competed in a rocket race using string tracks spanning the width of the classroom. Most recently my students made an ugly bunny doll. After a basic lesson on sewing, they were free to create with a variety of materials. Each ugly bunny was unique in size, shape, and features. Removing creative restrictions raises the engagement level as every student puts their personal mark on their project. — Susan
I found multiple aspects of Maker Faire to be thrilling, exciting and engaging. I love seeing and hearing how makers brought their ideas to life from conception construction revision all the way to the final product. We ordered our first 3D printer this year and had my students design a phone stand. I was inspired by the diversity of maker projects. Some projects had one part while others had many. Some people built software, hardware, invented a tool, car bike, or just a really cool fashion statement piece of clothing. I really like the breakout sessions. — Charles
I brought back many ideas for how to craft creative, open-ended, and hands-on activities into lessons for my class. Maker Faire is a celebration of science and creativity, and I appreciate getting to take the perspective of a learner and creator while attending the faire. It puts me in a mindset where I can think about how to create those kinds of experiences for my students during class. I was inspired by the food makers area — food has intrinsic engagement value, and I built a food science unit for my middle schoolers around some of the activities I saw at Maker Faire. My students made cheese, bread, butter, jam, soda, and sauerkraut from scratch, all while learning the science behind these foods. One of my students mentioned that she didn’t want to buy any of these at the store anymore now that she knows how to make better versions herself! — Monica
I was inspired by the many people who mentioned THEY were inspired by some kooky crazy teacher or parent or friend who just loved the process of making that got them interested in what they do now, whether it was metal work and robotics or just cooking and knitting. Just showing how much you LOVE doing something in front of someone else is truly an inspiring experience I want to create for my students. — Sarah
I became a lot more open to the variety of making that is possible — it is not just about robots and 3D printers, but also includes building, graphic design, cooking, arts and crafts. The eclectic mixture of what is making was evident from walking around, and really helped to broaden my own ideas for how making can reach a lot of different people and interests. I was also brought back a hope that some of the more expensive tools could be had, with a little creativity. I spoke with teachers about fundraising, sales reps about discounts for schools, and individual vendors about their new products that were half the cost of last year’s version. Simply put — we could do it on our budget. I was inspired by the passionate and energetic students and teachers that stood and talked with me, and hundreds of other strangers, for hours on end about their projects. I was also inspired by the creativity and diversity of ideas I saw — making can be very flexible and individual. I was also inspired by the “not yet finished” aspect of all the makers. This was a process that was ongoing, and I could be a part of it. It was hard not to think about all the times I had an idea, but just hadn’t followed through on it. Here were hundreds of people that had followed through — some with spectacular success, others with spectacular failure — but all having a blast in the process. —Daniel
I brought back a sense of letting kids explore their world and make up questions that can be answered with new research or experimentation. I was inspired by the people who allowed kids to use tools that I had previously deemed out of their age range. I have been pleasantly surprised by how well they can do with supervision. — Jeff
Let’s just put it this way, I never like to leave Sunday afternoon. Lately, I have been loving the robotics and the crafts. I am inspired that I can learn so much and I don’t have to fill in bubbles with #2 pencils. — Susie
Take the step to make something, use a tool in the classroom and you will see an amazing amount of students shine in unique ways that you never would have imagined. I had a boy who was very tough, self conscious completely get absorbed into a sewing project where we made messenger bags and created circuits to illustrate a genetics concept. This boy became the teachers aide of this project, he was so taken with using the machine and creating something that he could use for his sporting clothes. — Maggie
The creativity. There is something for everyone. My girls were afraid they were going to be bored and they had just as much fun as the boys! The discussion in class after was very eye-opening for me as a teacher on what they really remembered and wanted to try and do. Wood is no longer offered in high school! Metals either! Kids need hands-on learning that is outside the box! Like the math that goes with the Mousetrap. Or the electricity with the coil. I turn into A BIG KID EVERY YEAR I GO! PS I have taken over 200 pictures every year I have gone! I keep them in the classroom for the kids to look at. I use them for writing prompts. — Audrey
The variety of creations at the Maker Faire continues to amaze and inspire me. When I describe the faire to people who have never attended or heard of making, I typically tell them that it involves everything from computer programming, to welding, to 3D printing, and steampunk. I even saw an old Chinese man who did not speak English demonstrating how to make noodles by hand. That was one of the most fascinating and inspiring things I’ve seen. I love the fact that the phrase making does not limit itself in any way. There are artists, scientists, crafts people, etc. It is all about being creative and freedom to take risks and express yourself in a supportive environment. I can’t wait for this year’s faire. — Kevin
I went to Maker Faire last year and had no idea how powerfully the experience would impact my teaching and community outreach efforts. I was able to connect with some amazing educators, makers, artists. I have used making projects to bring S.T.E.A.M. to my schools and collaborate with my colleagues which creates an amazing experience for students, families, and the community. — Dijanna
Maker Faire is my professional development for my middle school engineering classes. I run around the event looking for projects that would work well with my class. I find two days at the Maker Faire more helpful than any class I have taken. — Nate
After attending in 2011, I thought that the Faire would be exciting and inspiring to my high school physics students. So I offer them extra credit if they attend and make a short video or write a report about the science behind 3 separate exhibits. This has been very popular and quite a few of my students really get excited. — Scott
I brought back a much greater sense of adventure and possibility in learning! — Candace
Maker Faire is happening all around the world and all through the year. For those of us who plan our year around Maker Faire Bay Area, however, we’re two weeks into 52 weeks of Maker Faire withdrawal. For ourselves and all of you, we’ve put together a small poster with 100 ways to make it through these 365 days, and to keep on making year-round.
These 100 things will keep you making until your next trip to any Maker Faire near you no matter where you live.
Here’s a starter list of fun projects you can do to make every day a Maker day. Print out the PDF of “100+ Ways You Can Make It to Next Year’s Maker Faire”, and add your own ideas for fun, family-friendly projects in the comments section below!
Paint with light at slumber parties with Glow Doodle.
Grow your own food.
Express your freedom on Independence Day by voiding a warranty.
Hang out at Maker Camp this summer, online and in your neighborhood. makercamp.com — millions of campers, 30 days, 6 epic field trips, dozens of projects.
Launch your New Year’s maker resolutions on compressed air rockets.
Add red LEDs (and a coin cell) to your valentines.
Decorate all kinds of round objects, including Easter eggs, with an Eggbot.
Solder pretty pendants for Mother’s Day.
Film a video about projects you made. Record your soundtrack!
Brainstorm the project you’ll exhibit at the next Maker Faire.
Collect easy-to-open, fixable vintage toys & electronics from garage sales & thrift stores. Mutate two different broken toys together.
Give gifts you made yourself, tools & materials, or kits as presents.
Plant some seeds. Train a timelapse camera on your sprouts.
Give friends tickets or memberships to local science/technology or art museums—and print out their event calendars (and then go to the museum’s workshops together!)
Customize your bike. Put PoV LEDs on your spokes.
Post projects & techniques on Make: or to Instructables. Share what you find out in the world with others (and send the most inspiring projects and makers to Make!)
Print personalized books on nice paper and bind them.
Leave toy stores empty-handed, with your head full of ideas for things you can make yourself.
Is 3D printing ready to be adopted by mainstream consumers? The short answer is “we don’t know”. However, Judging by scale of the desktop 3D presence on floor of International CES 2014, huge marketing dollars are now being spent to push desktop additive manufacturing mainstream.
Photoshop options now integrate with Shapeways
With industry giants like Adobe and Microsoft rushing to add integrated 3DP drivers, and Martha Stewart taking a keen interest in both FormLabs and MakerBot (with a rumored partnership with MakerBot for a Martha Stewart collection of 3D printable products) can other large companies be far behind?
The movement to mainstream 3D printing is aggressively pursuing a sea change that replaces “experimental” with “easy”. We’re seeing more auto-leveling build platforms and new extruder designs which address the two biggest desktop 3DP issues: nozzle clogging and print adhesion problems. However, it is apparent that some of the hardware changes that claim to facilitate “ease-of-use” can also result in more closed, priority chip-locked systems; engineered to create cartridge-based filament dependency.
There were a few surprises that were not listed in the directory of published exhibitors, who partnered with those willing to pony up for a pricy CES booth. Members of the Deezmaker crew (Diego Porqueras and Rich Cameron (you know him as “whosawhatsis” and I’ll be referencing his comments through out this post) were also in attendance, printing models from the 3D digital sculpting platform Leopoly. The Hyrel Engine and System machines were on display at filament provider and printer reseller 3DPrintLife. More details to come in the Fused-Filament Fabrication section of this article.
New Trends in FFF: Who’s Doing What?
The Cube 3 at CES
Auto-leveling
One exciting development is that the new machines from Robox (aka CEL Technology), XYZprinting, 3D Systems’ Cube line and MakerBot’s Replicator line all have implemented some type of auto-leveling, joining the ranks of the Up Plus 2, the Mini Kossel and many other RepRap initiatives already in progress that use Marlin firmware. Although not seen at CES, the newly open source Mbot has also announced a newly automatically leveling machine, the Grid II, I have also heard through the Jetty Firmware Google Group grapevine that due Mbot, which uses Sailfish firmware, that auto-leveling implementation in Sailfish may be on it’s way.
Chip Away: Open or Closed?
XYZprinting filament cartridges for the da Vinci 1.0
The new 3DS and XYZprinting machines have filament loading systems that require proprietary filament cartridges. In the current cube line (prior to the new releases), we know that 3D Systems has used a Dallas Semiconductor 1-wire chip in each cartridge that stores the filament color, remaining amount, and ensures the use of their proprietary filament in their machines, although there’s a hack for that. It is unknown, if XYZprinting has chipped their da Vinci 1.0 printer filament, but it seems likely.
There is some debate as to whether MakerBot will begin to chip filament for the new line of Replicators. Their PLA filament page now sports the disclaimer “1KG & 5LB spools are not compatible with MakerBot Replicator Desktop 3D Printer (Fifth Generation Model)”, so there is defiantly some type of filament management system change to come. Rich Cameron reports that “The new Makerbots don’t use enclosed cartridges, but they do appear to … have non-standard dimensions that will ensure that it is as difficult as possible to use third-party spools.”
Disclaimer from MakerBot Industries current spooled PLA page, Screenshot: Wednesday, January 15 @ 10:07 PM ET
As is typically the case, it’s not the technology itself that is problematic, but how it’s applied. Identifying the material properties of the filament to ensure that the correct profile is used during printing is a good thing. We all want better prints and chipping filament can make it easy to physically transfer / recognize filament profiles. However, if the the secondary application of chipping is used for DRM and prevents the user from choosing their own consumables, it stifles experimentation.
Inside the Robox at CES 2014
Unless dramatic price increases occur, a market segment shift to proprietary materials is not necessarily a bad thing for a device target at the mainstream consumer market. For 3D printers to cross the consumer device divide, manufacturers will need to remove as many possible points of failure as possible. Taking “tinkering” out of the equation means they are better able to support the average consumer and that they can control the quality and formulation of the filament supply used, but it makes the tinkers very unhappy.
I was interested to learn that Robox, although chipping filament, is making their chips re-configurable. I ran into them at CES as did Rich Cameron, who had this to say on G+:
One pleasant surprise was the Robox 3d printer. When I first saw their Kickstarter campaign mention chipped filament spools, I assumed the worst, but I discovered at the show that their chips are simple EEPROM chips containing data about the filament to automatically configure certain print parameters. They told me that rather than being used as a DRM scheme to prevent using third-party print materials, the chips are rewritable and reusable, and can be configured with specifications of anyone’s filament. This model provides all of the legitimate benefits of the proprietary cartridge system without the single-supplier lock-in and overpriced materials. I personally started the UFID project to create an open standard with this same goals back in May, and I invited them to collaborate on the project when I spoke to them.
The Universal Filament Identification System (UFID) referenced above is a open source project (here’s the GitHub link) created by Rich for “Developing a method for tagging, tracking, and identifying filament for 3d printing in machine-readable formats to eliminate the guess-work.”
What’s Changed Since 2013?
Matt Richardson was the only member of our MAKE crew who attended last year’s event and I asked him to share his thoughts on what has changed in the CES 3DP presence from 2013 to 2014. Here’s what he had to say:
What struck me about 3D printing at CES 2014 was the huge difference between this year and last. In 2013, there were a few 3D printing companies on the floor, none of which had a huge presence. This year, the 3D printing companies really brought out the big guns. With big, flashy booths and major product announcements, the exhibitors made a huge splash and perhaps solidified CES as a key event for 3D printing companies to reach a mainstream audience.
However, consumer tech is the focus of this event and the expensive industrial printers were completely eclipsed by the latest announcements from 3D Systems and MakerBot whose colossal booths were visible from all points of the 3DP Techzone.
3D Printing Evangelist Michael Curry, formerly of MakerBot Industries and creator of the incredible 3D printable Minifigs, was also present at CES 2014 and shared his thoughts on the event. I’ll be sprinkling in his take at various points during this article. Here’s his summary of 3DS vs MBI:
MakerBot and 3D Systems continued there slugging match in the FDM technology category. Makerbot announced 3 new printers, including the massive Replicator Z18, and a premium service for downloading printable content. 3D Systems launched a newly redesigned product line and a comprehensive strategy focusing on offering printers models for environments ranging from school desk to factory floors, all in one product family.
3D Systems
ChefJet Pro multicolor sugar print
With their focus on owning and delivering “easy” and new materials tech, 3D Systems stole the show at CES 2014. They launched 12 new consumer and professional products, including their radically updated sub-$1,000 auto-leveling, dual-extrusion Cube FFF printer line, CeraJet ceramic printer, the CubeJet full-color power printer, the Touch haptic device, the 3DMe 3D photo booth and my personal favorite, the ChefJet line of sugar and cocoa printers.
Right on the heels of the launch of their Windows only Sense scanner at Engadget Expand, 3D Systems announced their new iSense 3D scanner for the iPad at CES. The iSense will be closed-source and focused on scanning for 3D printing. The iSense was created using IP they licensed from Occipital, the creators of the open and “made to be hacked” Structure Sensor (which I wrote about as my CES “editors pick” here)
ChefJet Pro multicolor sugar print
I have already written extensively about 3DS’ new printers in the following three articles, so I won’t repeat all the details here.
MakerBot released three new printers during Bre Pettis’s CES keynote; the enormous Replicator Z18 (large enough to create the helmet that Pettis donned at the start of the presentation in one piece), a new mid-size version of the new Replicator (not to be confused with the original laser-cut Replicator) and Cupcake build size Replicator Mini Compact. See Bre Pettis on MakerBot’s Three New Printers by our Executive Editor Mike Senese for details.
There were no changes to the MakerBot Digitizer, but a 3D scanning partnership with the computer vision company SoftKinetic, who I also interviewed at CES, was announced.
MakerBot Smart Extruder
All three Fifth Generation MakerBot Replicators feature new swappable “smart extruders” that can detect filament absence and automatically pause failing prints. The Replicator line now also has auto-leveling, full-color LCD displays, built in USB, Ethernet, and Wi-Fi connectivity, onboard cameras for print monitoring and print photo sharing through the forthcoming MakerBot Apps. Also announced was the new MakerBot Digital Store, which will sell printable 3D models in the XG3 format. There’s also a new control dial that “emulates high end stereo equipment”, of which Mr. Pettis seemed particularly proud, as he mentions during the interview we conducted on the show floor.
Resin on the Rise
As expected, desktop resin printing exploded at CES 2014 and orange shields were visible all over the 3D printing Techzone at CES. We saw a steep $2,000 divide between the pricing of $3,000 – $3,500 range of “desktop” SLA machines and their $5,000 “professional” counterparts. In the desktop category we saw the Form1, the Pegasus Touch and the LightForge, with the FABX and OWL Nano in the more expensive “professional” category.
Here’s Michael Curry on the state of SLA:
CES 2014 saw a proliferation of UV resin desktop 3d printers. LightForge, DWS Labs, Old World Laboratories, and Full Spectrum Laser all joined FormLabs exhibiting machines based on stereolithography. Speculation within the industry was that the ongoing litigation between 3D Systems and FormLabs over stereolithography patents would have a chilling effect on development, fortunately that has not been the case.
Pegasus Touch
The Pegasus Touch from FSL3D
FSL3D, the creators of the Full Spectrum laser cutter, are currently Kickstarting their successfully funded Pegasus Touch at a lower price point, but it will retail for an estimated MSRP of $3,499. The Pegasus Touch has a 177 x 177 x 228mm (7″x7″x9″) build area, a minimum layer thickness of ~5 micron, but with “typical layer thickness” 25-100 microns, and a minimum feature size of 250 microns. It also has USB, Ethernet and WiFi connectivity via its on-board color touchscreen Linux computer.
I’m waiting on concrete pricing information from LightForge, but they tell me that it is an “affordable desktop solution”, and that the price range will fall somewhere between $2,000 to $3,000.
The only DLP consumer desktop printer at CES, LightForge has a build volume of 192 x 120 x 228 mm (7.6 x 4.7 x 9.0 in). It’s got a minimum layer thickness of 25 microns, which is same as the Form1 and the smallest “typical layer thickness” of the Pegasus Touch. However, with a minimum feature size of 150 microns, LightForge reportedly bests both the Form1 and the Pegasus touch in the resolution department. The LightForge SLA printer’s estimated availability is currently listed on their site as “coming in 2014”. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to check out the full tech specs for the LightForge and print pics of MAKE’s test objects from our 2014 Ultimate Guide to 3D Printing.
XFab
XFab at 2014 CES
As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, the Italy-based DWS Systems, is already established in the high-end industrial market, but their XFab printer is their first foray into desktop 3D printing as DWS Labs. Currently scheduled for an estimated spring 2014 release, the XFab can print in an exciting range of 9 different materials: standard acrylate amber, ABS-like grey, ABS-like white, polypropylene-like, rigid opaque grey, transparent, ceramic nano-filled light blue, rubber-like black and rubber-like transparent. It’s got a build area of 180 × 180mm (7″ x 7″), a minimum feature size of 80 microns and with a possible minimum layer thickness of 10 microns. That’s the smallest “MFS” I have seen so far and the surface finish on the parts shown at CES was impressive. The XFAB will retail for $5,000, but there is a lower cost consumer model on the way for around $2,500.
Old World Labs released the OWL Nano printer at CES 2014 and their website states that it is already available for order. Old World Labs claims that the OWL Nano is capable of SLA printing at an incredible 0.1 micron layer height and laser focus area. No, that wasn’t a typo – they are claiming point one micron layer height and minimum feature size! Build area is 150L x 150W x 200H mm (6″ x 6″ x 8″).
Single strand laser beam, virtually no distortion: OWL Nano takes traditional stereolithography to a higher level. Unlike other stereolithographic printers, which bounce a laser beam off mirrors before reaching the voxel, the OWL Nano positions its laser source just centimeters from the voxel. This decreases beam distortion and allows the highly tuned, single strand laser to focus on an area as small as 1/10th of a micron.
That’s quite a claim, for as Bacteria World states in their un-related post How Big is a Micron, “for size comparison, a human red blood cell is about 5 microns across. A human hair is about 75 microns across (depending on the person). Bacteria can be between about .2 microns and 3 microns in size”.
Don’t believe the OWL’s specs are possible? I’d love to hear what you think about this dark horse printer, sound off in the comments!
Form 1
The Form1 at CES 2014
The first affordable commercial desktop SLA printer, the Form 1 from FormLabs was successfully Kickstarted in October of 2012 at $2,945,885.00. It is priced at $3,299.00 and is currently available for preorder with an estimated delivery in April of 2014. With an OLED display, a build volume or 125 x 125 x 165mm (4.9 x 4.9 x 6.5 inches), a minimum layer thickness of 25 microns, and a minimum feature size of 300 microns, it has the smallest build volume of the three desktop units. At 300 microns, it has the same minimum feature size as the LightForge, but slightly larger than the reported “MFS” of the Pegasus Touch. Currently, it is currently the only SLA printer shown at CES 2014 that has been “in the wild” and it preformed very well during our 2014 Ultimate Guide to 3D Printing tests.
As printers proliferate and vie for consumer dollars, making 3D printing easy and reliable has become the goal. I’ve already discussed the growing trends toward auto-leveling and proprietary filament cartridges and this section will touch on specific features of individual printers that are currently available / for pre-order.
Robox
Robox Printer at CES 2014
The Robox from CEL Technology features a build volume of 210 x 150 x 100mm (8.3 x 5.9 x 3.9”) an auto-leveling build platform, single or dual replaceable print heads, automatic material recognition and a minimum print resolution of 20 microns.
In addition to the automatic material configuration through chipped filament that I mentioned above, the Robox has a unique extruder with world’s first dual-pinch-wheel extrusion system. Which, according to the Robox tech specs:
… allows for very consistent and reliable extruder operation with excellent resolution and control. The filament is fed to the head by two indexed contra-rotating feed wheels which are powered by a worm & wheel gearbox. This arrangement virtually eliminates the possibility of ‘stripping’ your filament, causing a loss of extrusion and poor print quality.
Robox swappable extruder
The’ve also built in a print pause feature and a unique nozzle valve system that stops the ooze and stringing that occurs from over-extrusion. Instead of retracting the filament, they have implemented a needle-valve system which according to Robox:
… completely closes the nozzles at the point of extrusion, removing all stringing and ‘blobs’ from the part – resulting in an amazing surface finish.
The Robox was successfully Kickstarted on December 20th 2013 and is currently available for preorder / backorder for a sale price of £799.90 or $1,310.72. The “regular” price is listed as £849.90 or $1392.65.
Robox Extruder at CES, side view
Michael Curry’s take on the Robox:
The CEL Robox is an impressive bit of mechanical engineering, With an extruder mechanism like a space shuttle thruster and a clever system for allowing users to chip and track there own spools, i’m excited to see how these machines mature. I also wouldn’t be shocked to see someone acquire Robox to get their hands on all that engineering talent.
Buccaneer
The Buccaneer printing at CES 2014 -Image by Rich Cameron “whosawhatsis”
I met up with Pirate3D, the makers of the Buccaneer 3D printer, to hear more about the status of their company after their phenomenally successful Kickstarter which raised $1,438,765. I learned that they will shipping the first batch of Kickstarted printers in January and the final batch will ship in April.
Michael Curry’s take on the Buccaneer:
The Buccaneer is the first machine to come onto the FDM market that has given any serious thought to the industrial design. Its a beautiful machine that will look right at home on your desk next to your Apple devices.
According to their site, it has a build volume of 145 mm x 125 mm x 155 mm and uses filament cartridges, but according to Rich Cameron who took a good look during CES:
The Pirate3D Buccaneer was originally announced with a non-standard spool system that would have made it difficult (though probably not impossible) to use third-party filament, but the version they were showing appeared to be using a more standard spool.
We’ll have to see what shakes out by the final version. It also comes as no surprise that their “to-good-to-be-true” initial price of $347 was not sustainable and has been raised to $597 for the current batch of pre-orders. In addition, that the price will further increase in May / June to $897 to account for distribution costs.
da Vinci 1.0
The da Vinci 1.0 from XYZprinting
XYZprinting unveiled the da Vinci 1.0 at CES 2014 and where it was awarded a “CES Editors Choice Award”. Retailing at just $499 with a build volume of 200 x 200 x 200mm (7.8″ x 7.8″ x 7.8″), it also has an “auto adjusting build plate” and uses proprietary XYZ printing filament cartridges. XYZprinting’s site also indicates that they have a “XYZ Cloud” website where they will provide free 3D printable models but it doesn’t seem to be live at the time of this writing. Their site also mentions that their free 3D modeling & printing software “XYZware” is coming soon.
Is $499 a sustainable price point for this printer? Time will tell.
Here’s Michael Curry’s take on the da Vinci 1.0:
XYZ Printing came of nowhere and showed up at CES with a $499 machine. Information on the da Vinci’s capabilities was limited, but that machine looks light years ahead of anything else at that $499 price point.
ChocaByte
The ChocaByte
By the time I stopped by the SolidIdea booth at CES to check out the $99 Chocolate Printer, the ChocaByte, their table was empty. I have since caught up with Quinn Karaitiana of the SolidIdea team and he told me a bit about the background of how they design of this syringe-based chocolate extrusion printer.
The SolidIdea crew decided to question all the assumptions that go into a typical 3D printer build and by stripping away all functionality (and expense) that was not necessary for extruding chocolate. Their prototype started out with a Prusa i3 with a Ramps 1.4 shield plus an Arduino, and cut down the build size and part count until they reached the current dimensions of 2” X 2” X 1” high. After reconfiguring Prusa so that the X,Y and Z axes were on the bottom of the machine, they mounted syringe on top, with a stepper pushing the plunger down. After they had an early working prototype, they redesigned the machine to look like a kitchen appliance, as shown in the rendering.
This printer has a resolution of 1.5mm per layer and simple designs without overhangs work best. Currently, there is no heating element within the printer itself and the chocolate must be preheated and then manually loaded into the syringe prior to printing. The chocolate is cooled as it is extruded so the print keeps it’s shape.
Quinn told me that SolidIdea intends to make the Chocabyte open source, sharing all the files on GitHub and actively encouraging modifications. The Chocabyte is currently available for pre-order for $99 from the SolidIdea site as they prepare for a production run of 500 units, with an estimated delivery around March / April. Like most of the other printers mentioned here, there may also be a Kickstarter in their near future.
System / Engine
The Hyrel Engine at 3DPrintLife’s booth at CES 2014
As mentioned above, Hyrel was in the 3DPrintLife booth and I grabbed some shots and vines of their Engine multi-and System 30 material printers. The Hyrel printers don’t have auto-leveling, but they can be configured with multiple types of swappable extruder heads that have the ability to print in the following materials:
Sugru, Clay, Porcelain, Precious Metal Clay (PMC), Silicone RTV, Play-Doh, Plasticines… and coming soon, Wax, Chocolate, Cheese, Peanut Butter… etc.
The Hyrel Engine (retailing for $2,25.00) and System 30 ($3,995.00) are available now through 3DPrintLife.
As they appeared at LeoPoly‘s booth, Deezmaker wasn’t listed in the CES directory and so I was surprised to see them at our Thursday CES “flash maker meetup”. I hadn’t expected to see an open source kit printer on the floor of CES and I was disappointed that I had missed the chance to check out the newest version of their successfully Kickstarted Bukito printer in action (check out our review of their earlier prototype).
Luckily Hak5 captured a demo and you can see Diego Porqueras flipping the Bukito completely upside down as it continues to successfully print.
The Bukito has a build volume of 5″x6″x5″ and is now available for pre-order from the Deezmaker store with an estimated late March delivery.
Solidoodle 4
Solidoodle is back in black with a brand new version of their printer, the Solidoodle 4. Retailing at $999.00, with a build volume of 8″ x 8″ x 8″, it’s a $200 jump up in price from their $799.00 Solidoodle 3. Although their third generation printer didn’t preform well in our 2014 testing, I’m hoping for an improvement in version 4. It’s available now from the Solidoodle site.
Robo 3D
Robo 3D on a Robot at CES 2014
Another successfully funded 3DP Kickstarter, Robo 3D has an interesting look. I didn’t get to meet with them, but I did snap a picture of their robot mounted 3D printer.
The Robo 3D has a 254 x 228.6 x 203.2mm (10″x9″x8″) build area and starts at $599 for the PLA only version. It’s also available with a heated bed for $699. It looks like these machines are currently backordered due to priority Kickstarter orders.
Although I touched on or linked out to all the scanning news from CES (except Matterform and AIO Robotics), 3D scanning really deserve it’s own writeup. Scanners will receive more attention when they are reviewed. In the meantime, here’s the skinny.
Matterform was at CES and I interview their founder Adam Brandejs on his company’s 3D Scanner. The AIO Robotics Zeus “all-in-one” 3D printer. scan, copy, print, fax machine was over in a distant, separate zone and I didn’t get to see it in person. Luckily, Matt Richardson make it over to “Eureka Park” where the non-3D printing startups were located and shared his photo with me. I hope to catch up with them soon.
AIO Robotics Zeus at CES 2014 Photo by Matt Richardson
That’s the state of 3D printing after CES 2014. It’s obvious that push for mainstream adoption has begun both in hardware and software, but will these new consumer (and professional) focused printers live up to their “plug and play” billing? We at MAKE will be testing every unit we can get our hands on, but we want to hear from you. Do any of these new printers appeal to you? Which ones? Are you a maker, an “average consumer” a small business owner or a design professional? Let us know what you buy and how it preforms!
Although I was impressed with the SLA printers, 3D System’s new materials, and the FFF updates, was still holding my breath for something else entirely. I’ll close with a final comment from Michael Curry, which echoes my own sentiment:
More interesting at CES was what we didn’t see. I went to Las Vegas fully expecting to see someone offering a low cost SLS machine. Guess I’ll have to see what shows up at this summer’s Maker Faires.
When I was in school the end of May and September were especially painful times — I’d stare at this blog with envy as it filled with photos and video from the Bay Area and New York Maker Faires. I knew I wouldn’t be able to make it to a show until I graduated, since I was either in school or working elsewhere during those times.
So, instead of waiting for an opportunity to attend a “featured” Faire, I decided to start a Mini Faire myself (and you should, too!). I held the first Atlanta Mini Maker Faire in the parking lot of the one of the Mechanical Engineering buildings at Georgia Tech in September of 2011, and it was a blast. Now, more than two years later, I’m going back for the third annual Faire at Georgia Tech, and I am extremely excited to see how it’s grown.
The lineup of Makers for this year’s show is impressive, and extensive. With 125+ exhibitors and nice weather in the forecast, it’s bound to be a fantastic day. I’m especially excited to see a few:
Georgia Tech Invention Studio: One of the largest and most impressive student-run makerspaces in the country will be out in full-swing, showing off some student projects. Many of the studio members have been an integral part of the Faire production as well.
Maker Joe: Joe is a veteran of the Atlanta Maker Community — his insanely intricate kinetic art sculptures made him one of my favorite makers from the inaugural year, and I’m excited to see what electromechanical projects he’s been working on recently.
Swap-O-Rama-Rama: The international community of clothing swaps comes to Atlanta for the first time this weekend! Swap encourages creative reuse through the recycling of used clothing (so bring a bag of unwanted clothing with you). On top of that, founder Wendy Tremayne will be talking about it and her new book, the Good Life Lab.
Robot Combat: One of the most popular events from last year’s show was the Micro Robot Combat tournament (1 and 3lb bots only). Thanks to the hard work of a few Atlanta-based robot builders, the tournament will take place in a brand new arena this year!
The show is completely free to attend, but tickets are required (pick them up here). So come join me, Maker Faire founder Dale Dougherty and many others on Georgia Tech’s beautiful campus this Saturday! I’ll be bringing a few Maker Shed products to sell and some swag to give away, so please stop by and say “hey”.
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littleBits. This powerful set of reconfigurable modules introduces kids to creating all kinds of circuits. The team has backed their kits up with a set of Project Lessons (including everything from a Tickle Machine to a Unihorn Helmet) and a helpful workshop guide.
Soldering is Easy. Mitch Altman has taught tens of thousands to solder around the world. He teamed up with Andie Nordgren to create a one-page cartoon. The cartoon has been translated into French, Czech, Romanian, Portuguese, German, Spanish (see left), Italian, and, mysteriously, Morse Code! Mitch and Andie also worked with Jeff Keyser to make a multi-page comic book on soldering too!
When I was in school the end of May and September were especially painful times — I’d stare at this blog with envy as it filled with photos and video from the Bay Area and New York Maker Faires. I knew I wouldn’t be able to make it to a show until I graduated, since I was either in school or working elsewhere during those times.
On top of that, founder Wendy Tremayne will be talking about it and her new book, the 
