Creating With Code

As I said in my last update, I finally upgrade MakerBot #131 with a MK5 extruder because it reportedly works great with the new PLA 4043D. I’ve been having fun printing with the various colors of ABS that MakerBot offers, but have always been somewhat envious of folks that have been printing successfully with PLA. [...]

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Actually, all sorts of new and exciting nonsense has happened to MakerBot #131. I was excited to order get my MK5 Plastruder kit and join all of the cool people who have left the pinch-wheel and nichrome behind.  Unfortunately, I ran into some problems early on, and after buying some cool thermocouple parts to try [...]

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In the previous posts in this series, I hacked up a Canon camera to take pictures with an electronic trigger, built a cable to connect the camera to my MakerBot, and hacked the MakerBot’s firmware to enable it to trigger the camera in response to commands from the controlling computer. The final step was to [...]

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In the previous post in this series, I figured out how to wire up my hacked Canon SD300 with CHDK. I chose to use the “D9″ port on the Extruder controller board, thinking that should make the software as simple as setting pin 9 to “HIGH” for a brief time whenever I wanted to trigger [...]

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It works! Using a Canon SD300 with CHDK, and some firmware hacks, Makerbot #131 has learned how to make time-lapse videos of all of its prints! More details (and a how-to!) coming soon! And thanks to Thingiverse user Starno for the bottle opener model in the video.

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Like many MakerBot owners, I feel compelled to help spread desktop 3D printing throughout the world.  So, for the past several months, MakerBot #131 has been hard at work printing parts in 3D to make another 3D printer! The Mendel is the second (and current) design for the RepRap project, whose goal is to create [...]

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  On Thursday, March 25th, I spoke about desktop fabrication and the MakerBot Cupcake CNC 3D printer at Dorkbot Pittsburgh. After some slides, I gave a printing demo with my Cupcake, Makerbot #131. You can find my slides above. I’ll post the video when it becomes available.

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Recently (thanks to the Internet), I figured out how to remote control a digital camera over USB using CHDK. However, if I wanted my MakerBot to be able to automatically control that camera, I needed a way to wire it up! CHDK’s remote USB trigger functionality works by detecting when it receives power over USB.  [...]

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