actress of pakistan

Learn why 3D printing is the superior manufacturing solution. Offering diverse, innovative products, less overall waste, localized production, and a new world of independent designers and brands, 3D printing challenges traditional manufacturing every step of the way. Susan Taing, founder and CEO of bhold, explains how 3D printing is paving the way for a bold new future of production possibilities.

MakerBot's CEO Bre Pettis chats with MAKE Digital Fabrication Editor Anna Kaziunas France about the Replicator Mini, Replicator, and the Replicator Z18 3D printers.

I love 3D printing, so I decided to build my own printer. After playing around with commercial machines like MakerBot’s Cupcake and Thing-O-Matic, it hit me that I could make my own for free, or very near it.

So, off I headed down the long and winding road to design and build a small 3D printer (or as my son likes to call it, the Toy Machine). After a great deal of dumpster diving, I scavenged enough stepper motors, linear rails, and drive belts for the mechanical parts, but I was stumped when it came to the heart of the printer: the extruder. The internet turned up a slew of fancy designs, but all possessed one design flaw: they required 3D printed parts, so you’d need to have a 3D printer to make a 3D printer!

My solution was to build this robust extruder using a handful of tools, one online parts order, and a trip to the auto-parts store. For a heater, it uses a $10 glow plug from a diesel engine, and it performs as well as commercially available extruders.

3D Printing Providence leader Matt Stultz gives the lowdown on a variety of some of the new and exciting advanced 3D printing materials and their uses. The range of filaments covered includes: thermochromic, conductive, Laywood, Laybrick, HIPS, nylon, and TGlass.