MakerBot has introduced a new line of 3D printers for both consumer and business use. Its largest, high-end model could drastically cut the cost to businesses that use 3D printers. WSJ’s Jason Bellini reports.
Every Thursday is #3dthursday here at Adafruit! The DIY 3D printing community has passion and dedication for making solid objects from digital models. Recently, we have noticed electronics projects integrated with 3D printed enclosures, brackets, and sculptures, so each Thursday we celebrate and highlight these bold pioneers!
Have you considered building a 3D project around an Arduino or other microcontroller? How about printing a bracket to mount your Raspberry Pi to the back of your HD monitor? And don’t forget the countless LED projects that are possible when you are modeling your projects in 3D!
The Adafruit Learning System has dozens of great tools to get you well on your way to creating incredible works of engineering, interactive art, and design with your 3D printer! If you’ve made a cool project that combines 3D printing and electronics, be sure to let us know, and we’ll feature it here!
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Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7:30pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat and our Discord!
Python for Microcontrollers – Adafruit Daily — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: The latest on Raspberry Pi RP2350-E9, Bluetooth 6, 4,000 Stars and more! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi
EYE on NPI – Adafruit Daily — EYE on NPI Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey
I love Adafruit and all the work you’ve done to bring Open Source hardware and software to the community – have an order on its way to me right now – and I have many times pointed to you as an example of the right blend of business sense and openness. Which makes it all the more surprising every time you focus on Makerbot, a company that started from the Open Source community and has moved only in the direction of being more closed and proprietary. There are lots of open 3D printer manufacturers out there, including fully open commercial designs like Lulzbot and RepRapPro and ones with only non-commercial restrictions like Ultimaker, Bukobot and Printrbot. And of course the real innovation in 3D printing is happening in the RepRap community. Why continue to focus on Makerbot when their philosophy is so much at odds with all the rest of your activities?
1) can you help us find a 100% open source 3d printer that we can buy that has margins for a reseller like us? we’ve looked, there isn’t one. non-commercial restrictions isn’t open source either 🙁
2) on the blog we focus on what’s new in 3d printing, most/all of it is closed source, for example we feature a lot of 3d systems and formlabs… and of course makerbot.
we will continue to look for a 100% open source 3d printer with margins for a reseller like us, until then we’re evaluating our options and we currently do not have any 3d printers from makerbot in stock.
I appreciate those issues, and recognize that NC != open (though it is a step up from completely closed). And I hadn’t seen your blog post from November discussing the Stratasys lawsuit and your concerns about Stratasys/Makerbot. Hopefully there’s room for both OSHW and a business model that allows for resellers.
the challenge for oshw fans and others is to show 3d printer makers there is value in open source, right now there isn’t many/any people telling anyone why being open source has value for hardware. there are only a few companies out there that do oshw, hopefully we can continue to show it’s worth it 🙂
you supporting us is very helpful, thank you for that bill.
Feel free to contact Aleph Objects, makers of LulzBot for resale opportunities. We have quantity discounts available, and would be happy to work out a deal. We’re definitely Adafruit fans here. Since October, have our own factory which can produce thousands of units/year. You can email [email protected] or call us at +1-970-377-1111.
I love Adafruit and all the work you’ve done to bring Open Source hardware and software to the community – have an order on its way to me right now – and I have many times pointed to you as an example of the right blend of business sense and openness. Which makes it all the more surprising every time you focus on Makerbot, a company that started from the Open Source community and has moved only in the direction of being more closed and proprietary. There are lots of open 3D printer manufacturers out there, including fully open commercial designs like Lulzbot and RepRapPro and ones with only non-commercial restrictions like Ultimaker, Bukobot and Printrbot. And of course the real innovation in 3D printing is happening in the RepRap community. Why continue to focus on Makerbot when their philosophy is so much at odds with all the rest of your activities?
hi bill,
1) can you help us find a 100% open source 3d printer that we can buy that has margins for a reseller like us? we’ve looked, there isn’t one. non-commercial restrictions isn’t open source either 🙁
2) on the blog we focus on what’s new in 3d printing, most/all of it is closed source, for example we feature a lot of 3d systems and formlabs… and of course makerbot.
we will continue to look for a 100% open source 3d printer with margins for a reseller like us, until then we’re evaluating our options and we currently do not have any 3d printers from makerbot in stock.
I appreciate those issues, and recognize that NC != open (though it is a step up from completely closed). And I hadn’t seen your blog post from November discussing the Stratasys lawsuit and your concerns about Stratasys/Makerbot. Hopefully there’s room for both OSHW and a business model that allows for resellers.
thanks bill!
the challenge for oshw fans and others is to show 3d printer makers there is value in open source, right now there isn’t many/any people telling anyone why being open source has value for hardware. there are only a few companies out there that do oshw, hopefully we can continue to show it’s worth it 🙂
you supporting us is very helpful, thank you for that bill.
chris anderson talks about this a bit in our interview with him this week:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=D0LG9MDFQMI#t=1387
Adafruit!
Feel free to contact Aleph Objects, makers of LulzBot for resale opportunities. We have quantity discounts available, and would be happy to work out a deal. We’re definitely Adafruit fans here. Since October, have our own factory which can produce thousands of units/year. You can email [email protected] or call us at +1-970-377-1111.
Thanks!
-Jeff