steven@thorstad.ca

GE is now accepting applications from schools for their GE Additive Education Program (AEP). GE is investing $10 million over the next five years in two educational programs. One part of the AEP is targeted at primary and secondary schools around the world, and the other part is aimed at colleges and universities. Applications to the program will be accepted until Feb 28, 2017 and they aim to get the printers into schools and universities starting in Fall 2017. Full details can be found here: http://www.geadditive.com/press-releases/ge-additive-education-program-accepting-school-applications-for-3d-printers

There are some tricks to get the most out of MakerBot Desktop when you are laying out your files. MakerBot has released a short video and some details on some of the best practices when laying out your files. Check out the video below. Full details can be found on the MakerBot Blog.

After upgrading your MakerBot Replicator 1, 2 or 2X with Sailfish Firmware, you may notice that you are no longer able to set your printer’s onboard settings directly in MakerBot Desktop. Many users just use Replicator G to set these settings as needed, but if you prefer to use MakerBot Desktop to do so, it is possible. You will just need to add some “EEPROM maps” to allow them to work together properly. You can find the details on this process here: http://www.sailfishfirmware.com/doc/install-makerware.html#x36-950006.5 You will want to download the necessary files from the Thingiverse Sailfish page. Follow the directions of the README.txt and only add the files that aren’t already in the specified location for your install. After adding the needed files you should be able to use MakerBot Desktop to control the printer’s onboard settings. We have found some versions of MakerBot Desktop may need these files added, while others may … Read more

Below is a sample of some of the output that can be achieved with a 3D printer. We thought it would be great to highlight one of our customers work in the 3D printing of a model railway car. The above picture is of a 1/32 scale Pullman Heavyweight car printed by David Leech. This 3D printed model is just over 30 inches long. Everything except the trucks, couplers, aluminum floor, window plastic and the interior were 3D printed on a MakerBot Replicator 2.

On the Replicator 2 and Replicator 2X as well as many other printers, there are connectors on the extruder fan wire to make swapping parts easy. The only issue is these connectors are difficult to apply the proper directional pressure to. The means we have seen many connectors damaged because they were taken apart with the wrong tool or left attached when they maybe should have been disconnected. To solve this we have developed a small and easy to 3D print wedge tool that will allow safe and easy separation of this connector. The STL files are available on Thingiverse. To use the tool you overlap the two parts between each side of the connection and then squeeze them together. This will safely separate your connection and requires minimal force to do so. The string is installed between the parts to help prevent losing these tools as they are very small.