http://blog.thingiverse.com Exploring the Universe of Things Mon, 15 Mar 2010 08:00:42 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en (Photo: more reprap parts being made on a MakerBot) One point I didn't address in the atoms vs bits debate was transmutation.  In the information domain, transmutation is fundamental, and fundamentally easy: 0 -> 1. Transmutation in the atomic domain is... substantially less so.  Some forms of transmutation are easier than others, ... http://blog.thingiverse.com/2010/03/15/transmutation/ At the turn of the century, the gap between fantasy and reality was already getting narrower.  Computer generated graphics were beginning to merge with traditional film techniques, 3D printing had been invented, if not popularized, and simulations of everything from bridges to molecules were teaching us about their real counterparts. But ... http://blog.thingiverse.com/2010/03/07/the-narrowing-gap/ Printed parts for a new 3D printer.  The repraps are replicating in the wild.  With Thingiverse, the blueprints have a home, and so do the upgrades.  Instead of a single blueprint for a self-making machine, the reprap foundation has sparked a whole new ecosystem of self-making machines, and I can't ... http://blog.thingiverse.com/2010/03/04/the-shape-of-things-to-come/ Cathal Garvey, the man who brought you the makerbottable dremelfuge and micro-lathe needs a mousetrap and he's willing to pay $25 for someone to design it. I have a problem. There lives in my house a tiny mouse, and as I am friend to all animals I wish him no harm. The ... http://blog.thingiverse.com/2010/03/01/cathal-garveys-mousetrap-design-challenge/ In many respects, the recent announcement that Atoms are the New Bits is accurate.  The transition into the information age meant that, in terms of information, we became a post-scarcity society.  There is no want for information anymore.  We all have the ability to reach out into the infosphere and, ... http://blog.thingiverse.com/2010/03/01/atoms-are-not-the-new-bits-yet/ This week has been an AMAZING week for upgrading your 3D printer with Thingiverse. There's heated build platforms, a dremel attachment, Mendel parts, a durability upgrade, and even router-friendly versions of the MakerBot files!  How long before the vitality of open source starts elbowing the big dogs in build quality?  Might ... http://blog.thingiverse.com/2010/02/26/things-of-the-week-holy-upgrades-batman/ Blender has had a sculpt mode for a while now, but with the recent release of the ground-up recode 2.5, a few minor tweaks have made it into a really powerful tool, especially for people looking to interact with their 3D in a more intuitive way than painstakingly dragging vertices ... http://blog.thingiverse.com/2010/02/22/sculpting-with-blender-2-51/ 2-Dominic-Muren-Part-1 - Dorkbot Seattle Feb 3, 2010 from christopher prosser on Vimeo. 3-Dominic-Part-2 Dorkbot Seattle Feb 3, 2010 from christopher prosser on Vimeo. Dominic Muren is an occassional contributor to the Thingiverse blog and he gave a great presentation on personal manufacturing at the Seattle Dorkbot! This is very much worth the ... http://blog.thingiverse.com/2010/02/21/dominic-muren-explains-personal-manufacturing/ At around the midway point of 2008, the RepRap project achieved "replication," a goal which, at the time, meant that all the 3D printed parts they were using to build one machine could be printed on the previous one, resulting in the Darwin model "giving birth" to the first RepRap ... http://blog.thingiverse.com/2010/02/15/2009-a-belated-look-back-at-a-watershed-year-in-3d-printing/ Is your plastic filament a mess?  If you just leave it sitting around you probably have had your fair share of knots and tangles.  Don't despair, Thingiverse has solutions! Check out this laser printed filament spool: [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Filament Spindle v0.4 by builttospec"][/caption] It should be noted that this is a ... http://blog.thingiverse.com/2010/02/04/things-of-the-week-spindles/