I thought I would girlie up the blog a little bit with some CLOTHES. [Read more →]

Firstly, Dave Rollins is a US designer who really really likes reading blogs.  It’s probably how he came across Ponoko in the first place.

How did you used to make products before Ponoko?

I have a small shop in my garage.  If I ever wanted to tinker I’d head out there to build stuff by hand.  At my last design consultancy job we had a 3D printer that we used daily.  I think that really got me into the mindset of rapid-prototyping and micro manufacturing. [Read more →]

After the rumours, screenshots and videos we saw a few months ago, it seems that CAD-loving Mac users are in for a treat by the time October rolls around.

Some sixteen years have gone by since AutoCAD last branched outside of those cosy confines on Windows systems. Along with a version for Mac that will be priced at the same level as its Windows conterpart, there will be free iOS viewers for both iPad and iPhone that will enable users to preview designs and make minor changes.

The release of AutoCAD for Mac will make things interesting in the world of digital manufacturing as well, with 3d printing now a part of the AutoCAD export arsenal.

So for many creative types who can’t resist the Apple allure, there will soon be one less reason to dual boot those shiny OSX machines.

via MacRumors with even more info on MacWorld

via Ponoko (RazorLAB is powered by Ponoko and is their UK manufacturing hub)

Following the super incredible awesome news of the Ponoko and SparkFun partnership, I wanted to share the 15 new hardware categories and a selection of the electronics now available in the materials catalog.

All the (spark) fun, after the jump. [Read more →]

It’s official!

Ponoko has teamed up with SparkFun Electronics to help make it easy for you to build custom electronics products using your online personal factory.

This combines the digital making wizardry of the world’s easiest making system with a 1500+ strong electronics catalog from open source electronics supplier SparkFun.

This new service extends Ponoko’s materials catalog to include electronic gadgetry as well as timbers, plastics, fabrics, metals and other sheet materials.

“It’s the first time we’ve offered non-sheet materials,” says Ponoko CEO David ten Have. “Adding hardware to the mix opens up new possibilities on several fronts. Creators can order all the parts they need with one click, rather than needing to go to multiple sources. They also have a single place to describe and store their product design and its components – in this case, the custom parts and the electronics hardware.”

The electronics catalog has been slotted into the existing Ponoko making process so there’s virtually no change from the current making system. Creators upload their designs and select flat sheet materials. Then they have the option to add electronic hardware to their order at the same price as buying direct from SparkFun. They get an instant online price, check out, and all of their items are delivered to their door – custom parts from Ponoko and electronic parts from SparkFun.

“This partnership with Ponoko is more than just business. Rather, it represents another step in our goal of ‘enabling electronic enthusiasts,’” said SparkFun Chief Operating Officer Trevor Zylstra. “SparkFun and Ponoko are working together to create an easy way for our customers to make polished, complete projects. We want the SparkFun community to have the resources to create unique custom enclosures for their projects. Working together with Ponoko, we think we have accomplished that.”

The new service also makes it more practical for creators to sell their custom made electronic products.

“Anyone can sell their custom made goods on Ponoko, including electronic products,” says Mr ten Have. “They just take photos of their finished items and upload them to their free Ponoko showroom along with a description. Customers order online and we take care of the fulfillment process – delivering the custom parts and hardware direct to the customer for self assembly.”

More than 60,000 user generated goods have been made so far using the Ponoko system. Providing easy access to materials is as much a part of its popularity as easy access to making technology and the Ponoko team hopes to continue to expand its material catalog over the coming months.

Give it a go, and let us know what you think in comments below!

via Ponoko (RazorLAB is powered by Ponoko and is their UK manufacturing hub)

Jem Selig Freeman is responsible for this smooth incarnation of the humble articulated lamp. The neat geometry and targeted symmetry of this design results in a friendly retro-robotic feel that is brimming with personality.

We wouldn’t expect anything less from a company that specialises in things that other fabrication businesses won’t touch.

The Light MKI is an example of the offerings from Melbourne-based studio Like Butter, where Jem teams up with Laura Woodward to run a plasma cutter dubbed The Mighty Plasmatron.

Like Butter can also carve up a storm with their CNC router, the very same machine that engraved This is: a trivet for local designer Bonnie So.

Looking at the Light MKI, I wonder whether a swivel base mechanism could be introduced that follows the same structural format being used in the arm joints. Even so, it is great to see that it is still possible for designers to come up with refreshing iterations almost 80 years since George Carwardine first thought up the Anglepoise Lamp.

I’m also fond of the Light Painting technique used in some of Jem’s photography. Be sure to check out the Like Butter website to see what else these guys get up to.

Source: Broadsheet Melbourne (!print link)

via Ponoko (RazorLAB is powered by Ponoko and is their UK manufacturing hub)

Who’d have thought that the GeekDad/Ponoko/Sparkfun competition winning entry would involve beer?!?

The call went out, and the votes are in – with Ross Daly (aka tinyenormous) taking out top honours with a convincing 45% of the vote. That’s him cradling his winning entry in the picture above – and his big idea is the Minifridge Beer Dispenser, soon to be produced for free using the combined might of SparkFun and Ponoko.

Thanks to Nathan Barry over at GeekDad for the following interview with the proud winner.

So Ross, tell our readers a bit more about yourself.

I am a visual effects artist during the day, and a geek at night. I blog at blog.tinyenormous.com about all kinds of photography, microcontroller, and robotics hacks. I live in Boulder, CO and I’m 30.

What was your inspiration for designing the beer dispenser?
I like to think of (relatively) simple solutions to common problems. In this case it really strikes me how many mini fridges are bought and discarded as waves and waves of kids go to college. Hopefully this will either encourage them to keep them for longer, or to give other people a reason to buy them and keep them out of landfills.

How long did it take to build the prototype?
The prototype took a few hours to print and build, but it has taken FOREVER to design. I have been thinking about it for over a year, and trying to keep the electronics part count down while making it reliable has really been a learning process. Along the way I stumbled across 507 mechanical movements, and I have taken a lot of inspiration from that.

What do think will be toughest part of the build?
I have been laying out the design in illustrator, and the toughest part will definitely be getting the tolerances for laser cutting figured out correctly. I have been designing it with captive nut joints but I am certain that there will be a bit of duct tape and grinding involved in the final product!

How do you hope to improve on your prototype?
I hope to get the fit figured out for the prototype, and to do a test to ensure that the pieces that slide well in foamcore still slide well when they are cut out of 3mm acrylic. The programming aspect should be fairly simple. I have done a lot of projects based on the Arduino platform. I’m far from an efficient coder, but I can make it work most of the time. The beer dispensing side of the machine should be easy, while the internet connectivity and stock levels aspect could be more difficult.

Ross has promised to thoroughly document the build and final product at tinyenormous before too long.

Many thanks to all of the tinkerers who submitted entries to this competition, and also to the voting public for making it such a decisive outcome for Ross and his Minifridge Beer Dispenser.

See the original interview at Wired.com’s GeekDad.

via Ponoko (RazorLAB is powered by Ponoko and is their UK manufacturing hub)

Peter from the RepRap Builders blog has come up with a clever way to cut thicker material with a weaker laser. His experimental laser cutter moves the focus of the laser up and down in a saw-like motion.

In a typical laser cutter the laser moves on a flat plane. It can move side to side in any direction, but it does not move up and down. But why would it need to since laser cutters cut flat sheets of material? What you may not know is that the laser is cone-shaped, not straight and cylindrical. This means that there is a particular point, the focal distance, where the laser is the most powerful. Read the How does laser-cutting work? FAQ for more details. [Read more →]

On display at the bridgegallery in Manhattan’s Lower East Side is this colourful laser-cut spectacle conceived and constructed by Softlab. Uniquely shaped panels form a meandering series of tunnels, and it is all held together by everyday bulldog clips.

Not only uniquely shaped; each panel is also printed with its own subtle hue, and the resulting gradation of tone through the tunnels gives this project its name: Chromatex.me

For a month we will fill a small part of the world with one of our favorite things: COLOR!

This installation was able to be produced thanks to a donation program through kickstarter. According to how much people donated to the project, they would have their names or a message laser-etched onto the back of one of the 4,600+ unique panels. Once the exhibition is over, the personalised keepsake will be shipped to the donor’s home.

You can read all about this process as well as see a few pictures of the panels being produced and assembled at an earlier article on Designboom.

All images courtesy of Softlab. Photos by Andrew Manart.

It certainly is quite a mammoth undertaking… but if you head to the Softlab website and have a look at some of their other stuff (there’s a whole lot more laser cutting) it is clear that these guys are no strangers to handling fiddly details. Personally, I’d like to see what would happen if the Softlab team and MWM were locked in the same room for a while. Talk about colourful spectacles!

If you’re in New York, you can see the Chromatex.me installation for yourself at bridgegallery – it will be on display for a month from August 26.

Thanks to Designboom via Makedo

via Ponoko (RazorLAB is powered by Ponoko and is their UK manufacturing hub)

Or how to avoid “smudgy yucky“Burn marks are an inherent part of the laser cutting process – we are cutting things with a highly focused beam of fire after all. There are some tricks to minimizing this issue for different materials, and this post deals with acrylic.

Most of the acrylic sheets we use come with protective paper on both sides. It’s possible for us to leave this paper on when making your design, which we tend to do where it will not interfere with your engraving. The main downside to this is needing to peel paper off both sides of the acrylic, which can be time consuming and tricky if your design is intricate.

Generally our rule is: cut with paper on both sides if there is no raster engraving in the design, or if all raster engraving is of the heavy variety. Heavy raster engraving burns through the paper without any trouble, as does heavy and medium vector engraving. If the file has medium or light raster engraving, however, we will remove the protective paper from the top of the material unless otherwise requested.

It is possible to use medium engraving through the paper, but due to the dot matrix nature of the raster engraving not all the paper is burned away. A slightly sticky residue may be left on the plastic if you ask for this option – which may need to be cleaned off before you use it.

Below are some typical examples of what you get when laser cutting acrylic. It should be noted that it is most obvious on black hence using it as the example material. Also the images have been zoomed in to great detail and emphasizes the effects more than might be obvious to the naked eye.

[Read more →]