Getting Started with MakerBot

Chapter 1. Introduction

In which the reader shall learn about the implications and responsibilities that come with being the Operator and Caretaker for a MakerBot and shall be introduced to robots of great power and promise.

How Does a MakerBot Work?

All MakerBot prints start with a digital design—a 3D model of your object. Software takes that model and slices it up into layers a fraction of a millimeter thick. When it’s time to print, a MakerBot works by laying down layers of plastic. Each layer is precisely drawn by the machine using molten plastic. It cools immediately, and in the process of cooling down transforms from a molten liquid into a solid model! Figure 1-1 shows the original MakerBot Replicator.

MakerBots print in thermoplastics—either ABS (the same stuff Legos are made of) or PLA (a biodegradable substance made from starchy foodstuffs). A thermoplastic is a material that softens and becomes pliable above a certain temperature and then returns to its solid form as it cools. The thermoplastic printing material—also called filament—starts out on a reel like spaghetti or very thick fishing line. When you’re printing, a very precise motor drives that raw filament through an extruder, a very tiny nozzle that gets hot enough to melt it. What comes out the other end is molten plastic that looks like super fine angel hair spaghetti, which quickly cools and turns into whatever it is you’re printing.

As it prints, the MakerBot draws a “picture” in two dimensions with this small bead of plastic. When it’s done drawing each two-dimensional layer, it moves up a fraction of a millimeter and draws another picture right on top of the first one. Just like that, your object gets built, one layer of plastic at a time, until it gets presented to you as a solid finished object.

Figure 1-1. Diagram of a MakerBot

The MakerBot Cupcake CNC, Thing-O-Matic, and Replicator Series

MakerBot Industries has just announced its fourth generation desktop 3D printer, the MakerBot Replicator 2. This printer is a PLA-only printer and can make things that are 11.2 x 6 x 6.1 inches in size. That’s big enough to make a good sized shoe!

MakerBot launched their company with the Cupcake CNC in 2009 which made things that were about 4x4x4 inches and then in 2010 they launched the MakerBot Thing-O-Matic which could make things approximately 5x5x5 inches. In 2012, the MakerBot Replicator was released with the option of having two nozzles so you can make things in two colors. It can make things that are about 6x6x9 inches or roughly the size of a loaf of bread.

MakerBot Plastics: ABS and PLA

ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene) is the same thermoplastic that Legos are made of. It starts to soften around 105° C. It’s the "classic" plastic. If you look around your house, you’ll find lots of products made from ABS, including kids’ toys, sports equipment, and even things like Big Wheels. Most of the interior of cars is made from ABS these days, too. ABS is a wonderful material and when it’s in its goo-like state it flows easily through the extruder’s nozzle, which makes it perfect for injection molding and 3D printing.

PLA stands for polylactic acid and is made from plant starches, usually corn in the USA and potatoes in Europe. Because it’s made from biological materials rather than petroleum, it can decompose in a suitable compost bin or facility, which makes it a more environmentally friendly plastic. It also smells like waffles when you make things with it. PLA melts at a slightly higher temperature than ABS, around 150° C.

The MakerBot Replicator 2 is designed to print in PLA only, but older models (the original Replicator, Thing-O-Matic, and Cupcake CNC) can handle ABS well.

What Can a MakerBot Make?

With a MakerBot, you can make anything. While there is a limitation on the size of things that you can make, if you want to make something bigger than the build volume, you can make it in multiple parts and glue them together.

I find there to be a number of parallels between using a MakerBot desktop 3D printer and one of my other hobbies, origami. A few years ago, Robert Lang, an engineer and modern origami designer, presented a complete algorithm that solves for an origami base that can have any number of desired flaps of any length, that could be then folded into anything from a single square of paper. In essence, Mr. Lang’s research has demonstrated that a sophisticated origami folder could fold absolutely anything from just one single sufficiently large square of paper.

A MakerBot provides an operator with an extra dimension beyond a simple two-dimensional sheet of paper, while removing the skill requirement from the equation. You can make a complicated plastic structure with a MakerBot just as quickly and easily as you can a solid cube—using the same volume of plastic.

It stands to reason that if anything is possible in a single sheet of square paper, at least that much is possible with a machine that can build things in three dimensions.

— MakerBlock

How Did MakerBot begin?

In 2007 Bre Pettis and Zach Smith helped organize the NYC Resistor hackerspace in Brooklyn, NY to create a place for hackers, makers, and like-minded tinkerers. Armed with a great space and a shopful of tools, it wasn’t long before the two friends got involved with the open-source RepRap project.

A RepRap is a self-replicating machine. The RepRap Project is an open source community project intended to spread the idea of home manufacturing to the masses. It was among the first home 3D printers. It’s a machine that’s designed from as many off-the-shelf parts as possible. And it’s also designed to make parts to make more of itself. This may boggle the mind and conjure images from Terminator movies, but the fact is, these robots are cute and thankfully, they don’t have artificial intelligence.

It took a lot of trial and error to get their RepRap to work for even a few minutes. They thought they could design a machine that is more reliable and wouldn’t just be focused on making parts for more 3D printers, but that could make anything.

In January of 2009 Adam Mayer, a programmer and another member of NYC Resistor got involved in the project. The trio quit their jobs, acquired the domain name “makerbot.com” and Makerbot was born. They started prototyping a machine using mainly off the shelf parts and the tools they had at hand, including NYC Resistor’s 35 watt laser cutter.

In those early months, they worked at NYC Resistor and often stayed up for days at a time, creating prototype after prototype. After many late ramen- and caffeine-fueled nights, their first machine, the “Cupcake CNC” came to life. They wanted to launch at SXSW, and got the first prototype actually working at 8am on March 9, 2009 just two hours before their flight. With their "trusty" prototype, they printed dodecahedron-shaped shotglasses at various bars around Austin for as many geeks as possible. It wasn’t long before the orders for CupCake kits started rolling in.