Making Things Move DIY Mechanisms for Inventors, Hobbyists, and Artists

Introduction

What This Book Is

In a conversation I had with Bre Pettis, one of the creators of the CupCake CNC at MakerBot Industries (www.makerbot.com), I asked if any of the creators were mechanical engineers by training. He replied “No, if we were, it would have been impossible.” The CupCake CNC is a miniature 3D printer that uses computer models to create real 3D objects about the size of a cupcake out of melted plastic. The MakerBot team members were able to build it from available materials with the tools they had on hand. A trained engineer would have known how difficult this project would be and might not have attempted it without the proper resources or funding, but the MakerBot team members didn’t have the experience to know what they ...