DIY BioPrinter
We started out by messing around with an old inkjet printer that we literally saved from a sidewalk somewhere. There's already plenty of interesting things you can do with an low-end off-the-shelf inkjet printer, but they do have some limitations, which we'll get into in the next Step (or skip straight to Step 3 for how we built our own bioprinter from scratch, that you can see in the first picture above). Undressing the Printer We disassembled an abandoned HP 5150 inkjet printer for use as a bioprinter. Just rip off all the plastic covers you can find, but make sure you can still operate the reset buttons etc. on the front panel. There's a little momentary switch that senses whether the cover is open. There's also a momentary switch inside the paper handling mechanism that senses whether paper has been loaded. Once you've got your printer all undressed, and figured out how to activate the cover-closed switch - print something! Cartridges Prep Filling the Cartridges
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Guest Post: Cory Doctorow for Freedom to Read Week | Blog | Raincoast Books
← Back to Blog by Dan Guest Blogger + YA Fiction / February 24, 2013 Freedom to Read Week is an annual event that encourages Canadians to think about and reaffirm their commitment to intellectual freedom, which is guaranteed them under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. To mark this year's Freedom to Read Week, which starts today, we asked author Cory Doctorow to contribute a guest post on libraries and technology. Libraries, Hackspaces and E-waste: how libraries can be the hub of a young maker revolution Every discussion of libraries in the age of austerity always includes at least one blowhard who opines, "What do we need libraries for? Facepalm. The problem is that Mr. Libraries have also served as community hubs, places where the curious, the scholarly, and the intellectually excitable could gather in the company of one another, surrounded by untold information-wealth, presided over by skilled information professionals who could lend technical assistance where needed. Cory Doctorow
Slicer v4.3 20110619
Moved from the 'Roof' thread... matt77 wrote:Excellent Script. Many thanks -- works a treat for me!!!I must commend you also on another of your scripts that I find invaluable at work. A few months ago we started using Slicer.rb for exactly the same thing - to get a rough idea of the floor-space in massing blocks on master-plans [although its original use was for making 3D card models from a Sketchup volume - cheap 3D-printer !] Here's an updated version - there's a more wide-ranging version on the back-burner [making components of slices etc]... but this one fixes some glitches to ensure that if your 3d form is not properly 'solid' at least each slice get made without the tool 'stalling' - even it some slices don't form/face/extrude/etc as hoped... Copyright 2005-2011, TIG Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted, provided the abovecopyright notice appear in all copies. Menu Item : Plugins -> Slicer Author : TIG Slicer.rb
Smoothing 3D prints with acetone and without patent violations
Austin Wilson and Neil Underwood from the North Carolina makerspace Fablocker invented a great, simple process for smoothing out 3D prints using evaporated nail-polish remover in a large jar. The process produces a beautiful finish and sidesteps a bunch of dumb patents for polishing 3D printing output. They're still experimenting with the details, and the fact that the first experiments turned out such great looking pieces is cause for excitement about where this will go when it's fully refined. ABS-based printed parts are placed in the jar with the acetone and heated to 90 degrees Celsius on the hot plate. Acetone has a low evaporation point, but is heavier than air so the process creates a small cloud around the model which melts the surface, slowly smoothing it to a mirror finish. Slick Trick Adds Much-Needed Shine to 3-D Printed Parts [Joseph Flaherty/Wired]
Nicolai Klimaszewski | Lithophanes
Nicolai Klimaszewski 1. Hand-carving original art for the production of lithophanes: The best lithophanes produced in the nineteenth century were hand-carved, even those that have a photographic appearance to them. Skilled artists worked from photographic references while carving a translucent wax slab that mimicked the behavior of translucent porcelain. I highly recommend a wax from the Kindt-Collins Company (800-321-3170) called KC-1767-s. To make a 5x7 inch slab of wax 1/4 inch thick: 2 pieces of 8x10 inch glass, one clean, one with silicone applied. 3 pieces of 1/4 thick wood strips (balsa from a hobby store OK). 6 metal spring clamps. Arrange 3 wood strips on clean glass in a 5-7-5 U-shape. Melt some wax in a double boiler. Carry out the carving over a light source and try to ignore the somewhat unattractive surface that emerges; concentrate instead on the light-dark image being transmitted through the wax. 2. Walter D. The gelatin composition is: Knox Gelatin 100 g. White Sugar 25 g. 3.
Dreambox 3D Printer Vending Machine Creates and Dispenses Designs Before Your Eyes
UC Berkeley’s new Dreambox is a vending machine like no other – it incorporates a 3D printer that makes and dispenses goodies right before your eyes! By connecting to a cloud-based computing system hosted within the machine, customers can upload their designs and set them in the cue for printing. The designers of Dreambox wanted a place for 3D printing enthusiasts to see their designs being created—a treat they don’t get to see if they place an order online or with a print shop. The renderings are processed, printed, and then (like any other vending machine) popped into a drawer for the customer to collect. Should the customer not be present, they can rest easy, knowing that their printed design is safe, as the storage drawers are locked until needed. Each customer is then given an unlock code, which frees their newly printed masterpiece. + Dreambox Via PSFK
Importing Elevation Data into Bryce 6.1
Importing USGS NED and SRTM Elevation Data into Bryce 6.1 This tutorial explains how to import US and world elevation data downloaded from the USGS National Map Seamless Server into Bryce 6.1. Adobe Photoshop serves as an intermediate application for importing the data into Bryce at full 16-bit resolution. The rather involved procedure has three parts: Part I – Getting the Data 1) In your web browser, go to: 2) Use the “Zoom In” tool (the default tool in the upper left) to enlarge your area of interest on the map. 3) To the right of the map, click the “Download” tab and select the type of elevation data that you want. 4) On the left side of the map, click the “Define Rectangular Download Area” tool and draw a rectangle on the map for the area that you want to download. 5) The “National Map Seamless Server Request Summary Page” will appear after a brief wait. 6) Download the elevation data in BIL (Band Interleaved) format. Part II – Preparing the Data 5).
