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3D Printing Services Now Available in Vancouver

Most people get a 3D printer because they want to print things, not because they want the maintenance headache. 3D printers sound cool – and they are – but the hidden cost of maintaining them and supplying them is expensive.

At Marginally Clever we’ve got a lot of experience with these machines. Enough that we’ve been quietly trialling 3D printing as a service for a few months. It’s paid for the equipment so we’ve decided we’re ready expand that offer to the general public on our new sister site mc3dprinting.com as of today. We’re starting with white ABS. You send us an STL file, we send back your printed model.

We’re also looking to connect with other 3D printer owners to create a portal to a resilient network. Think “distributed Ponoko” or “hurricane-proof Shapeways”. If you have a machine and are interested in collaborating, please contact us.

If you’ve done the math and decided that getting a printer is cheaper than leasing printing services, that’s great! Whether is a complete machine or parts and education to build your own 3d printer, we have what you need.

Got kids interested in printing? Worried about the high voltage and hot temperatures? Start them with a Makelangelo and when they’re a little older they can reuse the electronics to build their first 3D printer.

Whatever your decision, we’re here to support you. Together we can make the future more awesome.

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Inverted Stewart Platform DXF files now on Thingiverse

Check out all the hot DXF thingy action here.
I’ll add the code to github as soon as it works.

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Inverted Stewart Platform from three Makelangelos

I’ve been trying the last few days to rebuild my old Stewart/Gough platform. I was stuck with the problem of interfacing parts – attaching two parts that don’t normally want go together. Three days ago I was having a brainstorming session with new VHS member Freddie and he mentioned that they’d been built upside down with cables. It was like lightning striking – I suddenly remembered RoboCrane and I almost screamed “Why didn’t I think of that earlier?!”

The model I’ve come up with is a 3-3 platform. That means the strings at the base meet at three points and the strings at the end effector meet at three points. There are also 3-6 and 6-6 platforms.

To build this I used a few pieces of laser-cut acrylic and three Makelangelo kits.

This is very similar to the method Antonio used to mount his Makelangelo – keep all the motors in one place and run extra long strings.

The rest is software, which I’m writing at this very moment. If I had an extra RAMPS board I could run this machine far more efficiently. As it is I’m maxing out the USB connections on my laptop.

When I release the code the laser cutting templates will come with it so you can make your own. I love that I can add this to my store without having to stock a single extra piece of electronic equipment.

Now let’s see if I can get this thing running by Sunday for the monthly meeting of the Vancouver Robotics Club. Wish me luck!

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What are the best robotics for kids?

I’d say start with LEGO, then LEGO Mindstorms, then VEX contests, then Arduino.
Speaking of which, have you heard about Mindstorms’ EV3? It adds iPhone and Android support out of the box. http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/7/3845222/lego-introduces-android-ios-compatible-ev3-mindstorms-robotics

I wanted to connect my iPhone to my Arduino robots two years ago but Apple wouldn’t give me access.

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Store fixed in time for a great 2013

I think I fixed the shop. It was an obscure setting in a back corner of the sub basement under a box marked “live arachnids”. The box had a hole in it. I’ve been able to create an account, checkout, and add to cart in Chrome, one of the browsers that was giving me trouble. I don’t have IE9 to test it. Please try again and let me know if there are any remaining issues.

For all of you who have been patiently waiting… thank you. I’m always here to respond to your feedback and I’m doing my best to please everyone. If you have suggestions or other feedback, please don’t hesitate to let me know.

If you’re a new reader you might not know that one of my goals for 2013 is to sell 500 Makelangelos. I’m gonna need help to make it happen. Here’s crossing my fingers that I don’t get too many more snags like this.

Edit 2012-01-05 @ 12:55 – Nope! Now it’s broken in other ways. Logins are failing and checkouts still don’t work.
2012-01-05 @ 13:14 – Better?