Table Of Contento tP IL A C
D NA eC teL HrB etA rA PIot Nso t F HIZA M A GNtA rC DAM etA tIoHsN e MoP ssIeLB . treoM oL oB X
7lug your guitar into light-programmable waveforms with this unique eɈects bo_!
ti—ol o m e r ts’ that pulsing unud lation o f high an d lo w ov luem How Does It work?
that am ek s um sic soun d liek its’ being playe d uned raw ter or Open up the cable that connects your electric guitar to your
through a spinning af n . amplifer, and you’ll fnd two wires—one “ground” and one
held at positive voltage relative to ground. The changing
aM ed af om us by s059 1 guitarists oB iD ld ey hw( o actually electrical potential between these two wires is what carries
use d a af n in rf ont o f his apm ,) uD ane ydE an d iL n k rW ay , the sound signal. If you short-circuit these wires, the sound
the treom lo soun d saturate d s06’ sur f an d garage roc ,k an d goes away, because the charge fnds its way home, without
aw s reiv ev d in the s08’ by players liek oP ison yvI oR rschach bothering to go all the way through your amplifer.
hT( e rC apm s ) an d iJ ym iW lsey hC( ris sI aa .)k oY uev’ hear d
it in hits by iP n k lF oy d oM“( ney ,)” hT e imS ths oH“( w oS on But what if you bridge the two wires with a variable resistor?
sI oN ,)” ? w .M . E . R p( ic k a song on ,)r e t s n o M aR ge gA ainst You have a volume control: turn the resistance way up,
the aM chine uG“( errilla aR id o ,)” rG een aD y oB“( uleav r d o f and the sound stays loud; turn it way down, and the sound
rB oek n rD easm )” an d the lB ac k eK ys oH“( lw in ’ of r oY u.)” vanishes down the short-circuit path. And here’s where
Charles had his clever idea: use a variable resistor that
hW en EKA M contributing eid tor hC arles lP att rw ote about responds to light! If you put a photoresistor behind a spinning
+IY tremolo and fuaa guitar eɈects in 4A2, =olume , transparent disk with opaque bands on it, then the volume
he propose d a yH pothetical rT eom lo hW eel that ow ul d av ry will follow the shadow pattern on the disk, repeating as it
the ov luem base d on ho w um ch light ef ll on a photosensor. spins. And that’s tremolo—a repeating variation in volume.
eW ll , its’ hypothetical no om re . I too k hC arles ’ cue an d built hT e Optical rT eom lo oB x is sipm le to buil d an d sounsd great .
this Optical rT eom lo oB ,x hw ich reasd a patterne d id s k iw th A rheostat controls the treom lo om tor spee ,d hw ile an auid o
a light sensor to create tremolo eɈects that you can custom- potentioem ter controls the treom lo intensity . oY u can custoim ez
progra m iw th any pattern you liek . tI s’ a great proej ct of r the disks with any pattern you want and create tremolo eɈects
anyone hw o liek s um sic , guitars or electronics , an d its’ liek that haev neev r been hear d beof re .
no eɈects bo_ you’ve seen before.
It also looks pretty cool, with its Åe_ible 3,+ light and spinning
id ssk . uB il d it an d I guarantee your rf iensd iw ll aw nt one !
—Sean Ragan, MAKE Technical Editor
oT see uf ll buil d instructions , iw ring id agrasm , id s k art an d
proej ct photos , iv sit the proej ct page of r this buil :d
x o b - o l o m e r t - l a c i t p o / y r e l l a g - t c e j o r p / m o c . y i d k c a h s o i d a r .
Parental supervision is strongly recommended when using power tools and solder. Always wear safety
glasses. Avoid breathing fumes and always work in a well-ventilated area. Wash hands thorou ghly
after use. Follow all safety instructions on solder and soldering equipment packaging. California residents:
WARNING: Soldering products contain, or when used for soldering and similar applications produce,
chemicals known to the state of California to cause cancer and birth defects (or other reproductive harm).
DA V ertorILA
SIP4_CV2-01_RS-Ad_F1.indd 2 10/22/12 9:36 AM
o tP IL A C :witch, +7+T
treoM oL oB X
7lug your guitar into light-programmable waveforms with this unique eɈects bo_!
How Does It work?
Open up the cable that connects your electric guitar to your
amplifer, and you’ll fnd two wires—one “ground” and one
held at positive voltage relative to ground. The changing Audio jack, ¼"
electrical potential between these two wires is what carries
the sound signal. If you short-circuit these wires, the sound
goes away, because the charge fnds its way home, without
Motor,
bothering to go all the way through your amplifer. .=¶=+C
But what if you bridge the two wires with a variable resistor?
You have a volume control: turn the resistance way up,
and the sound stays loud; turn it way down, and the sound Photoresistor,
vanishes down the short-circuit path. And here’s where 6mm
Charles had his clever idea: use a variable resistor that
responds to light! If you put a photoresistor behind a spinning
transparent disk with opaque bands on it, then the volume
will follow the shadow pattern on the disk, repeating as it
spins. And that’s tremolo—a repeating variation in volume.
The Optical Tremolo Box is simple to build and sounds great.
A rheostat controls the tremolo motor speed, while an audio
potentiometer controls the tremolo intensity. You can customize
Potentiometer, 10K
the disks with any pattern you want and create tremolo eɈects
that have never been heard before.
9heostat, £
It also looks pretty cool, with its Åe_ible 3,+ light and spinning
disks. Build it and I guarantee your friends will want one!
—Sean Ragan, MAKE Technical Editor
To see full build instructions, wiring diagrams, disk art and
project photos, visit the project page for this build:
radioshackdiy.com/project-gallery/optical-tremolo-box.
OT IMBUS T OY RU O NW AERC T OI ,N
OLPXE ER O T REH AERG T AERC T OI SN
DNA EG T T EH -DRAH T O DNIF- RA P T S
Parental supervision is strongly recommended when using power tools and solder. Always wear safety
glasses. Avoid breathing fumes and always work in a well-ventilated area. Wash hands thoroughly OY U ,DEN ISIV T R OIDA S OC.KCAH /M YID .
a
WftAeRr uNsINe.G F:o Slloowld earlli nsga feptryo dinusctrtusc ctionsta oinn, soor ldwehr eann du seodld eforirn gs oelqdueirpinmg eannt dp ascimkailgairn ga.p Cplaicliafotironnias rpesroiddeunctes:,
chemicals known to the state of California to cause cancer and birth defects (or other reproductive harm).
SIP4_CV2-01_RS-Ad_F1.indd 1 10/22/12 9:36 AM
Contents
092 038 074
020 010
088 080 018 024
034 086 082
GETTING 022 Plastics for BUYER’S 064 SeeMeCNC MADE
STARTED 3D Printing GUIDE H1.1 IN 3D
006 Welcome: 024 3D Printing Using 038 Buyer’s Guide 066 Solidoodle 2 080 Objects on the
0
00108 A
S
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0
0182 1Ga0 e3 CtDtoi Pnorglie nSsttea Ortbejde cwtsith 036 S&e Rrveiscoeu Prcroevs iders 0524 LMualkzBeroGt eAaOr -M1020 076 3tOhDne eP Fsru itnotut eWrresa: t ocfh 100962 S3Dkcai lSnl cBnauininlgd iOenrgp: t ions
020 10 Most Useful 056 MendelMaxPro 110 Just the Thing I Need
Objects 058 Printrbot LC
060 Printrbot Jr.
062 MakerBot 40 What this oWl’s beak
Replicator 2 Will tell you about youR 3D pRinteR
2
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“It is easier to ship
recipes than cakes foundEr & publishEr
and biscuits.” Dale Dougherty
—John Maynard Keynes
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welcome
Dreaming of
3D Printers
A new wave of affordable machines is democratizing 3D printing.
At A recent tAlk At new York a strong brand and a vibrant community. Getting more people to use 3D printers
UniversitY jUst before world Yet the announcement caused shock waves is not just about getting the hardware right.
MAker fAire 2012, I asked the audience, with its mixed message about the openness Many of our 3D printer testers commented
mostly undergrad and graduate students, of the platform. Built on the contributions that the software needs to be better. The
how many of them had 3D printers. None of the open source hardware community, problem is certainly the lack of a polished
of them raised a hand. Then I asked MakerBot signaled that they needed user interface for many open source soft-
how many wanted a 3D printer, and WRITTEN to “lock down” some of the designs ware tools.
BY
all the hands in the room shot up. Dale and software in order to remain
Immediately. Dougherty competitive and prevent others The challenge for
The market for personal 3D print- from cloning them.
ers is still in its early stages but it’s becom- A new crop of 3D printers, many of them personal 3D printers?
ing very hot. The dream of 3D printers stirs crowdfunded as Kickstarter projects, are To make them practical
our imagination. providing more options for buyers, but the
The challenge for personal 3D printers competition is also confusing. In the early and affordable to do
is to make them practical and affordable to days of a new product category (think MP3 what we dream of doing.
do what we dream of doing. At the same players), many different models compete,
time, the challenge for anyone who justifies offering varied design choices. Each model But there’s another problem. We have to
spending a couple thousand dollars on a introduces new features, testing what users learn to design in 3D. Turning our ideas into
3D printer is to dream of something more want and what they’re willing to pay for. 3D objects that are suited to production on
interesting than duplicating colorful, plastic Eventually the best features will be consoli- a 3D printer demands more of us than just
tchotchkes from Thingiverse. dated into a few surviving models. Yet before clicking the Print button. In this guide, we’ll
Several years ago MakerBot Industries that happens, we can enjoy the variety of show you how to design 3D objects easily
released the Cupcake CNC 3D printer as a prototypes and their experimental nature. in Tinkercad (page 30) and how to prep 3D
kit that makers could build for themselves, To help you choose among these new models captured by Kinect or 123D Catch
starting off the personal 3D printing revolu- machines, we put together a team of experts (page 92). All of us will require training,
tion. Before that, commercial 3D printers to test and review 15 desktop 3D printers on along with the energy and enthusiasm of
were industrial machines for a highly spe- the market today. We learned an enormous makers like Riley Lewis, a high school fresh-
cialized design market. MakerBot founders amount, and we’re confident you will too in man in Santa Clara, Calif., who says he first
Bre Pettis, Adam Mayer, and Zach “Hoeken” our Buyer’s Guide beginning on page 38. picked up 3D printing in sixth grade. Now
Smith adapted and simplified open source I also enjoy learning more about the mak- Riley teaches workshops in 3D printing at
technology developed in the RepRap com- ers of these new models. Diego Porqueras area schools and has been a guest blogger
munity and produced a working model with of Pasadena, Calif., developer of the Bukobot, for 3D Systems, makers of the Cube printer.
a homely laser-cut case. Sure, it might’ve told me he read Volume 21 of MAKE, which Riley reminds me of another dreamer
taken weeks to put this model together, but featured Bre Pettis on the cover, and decided with a practical mind, Ben Franklin, the
makers could realize their dream of owning to build a 3D printer himself, relying on apprentice printer who was the prototype
a 3D printer. general skills he acquired in metal shop American maker. I’d like to know more
Like the first personal computers, 3D and computer science classes. Diego raised about what Riley dreams of doing, and I look
printers were signposts for an unsettled $167,410 on Kickstarter from 290 backers. forward to seeing what makers are actually
territory, awaiting the pioneers to explore Few of these 3D printer makers have doing with 3D printers.
the future. specialized expertise, or vast amounts of
MakerBot is still the leader in personal capital, but they have the determination to
3D printing, announcing the all-black, ready- do something they really believe in — and
to-run Replicator 2 in September. They have their belief is democratizing 3D printing. Dale Dougherty is the founder and publisher of MAKE.
6
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GettING StArteD
The Promise oF
3D Printing
consumer-level 3D printers on the market
Printing the world on your desktop.
has Anderson seeing 1983 all over again —
It’s a vIsIon from a futurIstIc star resin, metal, and other materials, have the so-called “Mac moment” when Apple
trek unIverse: effortlessly creating three- actually been around since 1985 — ironi- gave the masses a computer of their own:
dimensional objects on a machine in your cally the same year the standard-setting HP the Apple II. Apple didn’t invent the com-
home (or starship). And it’s here today. LaserJet printer was introduced. The laser puter, they just democratized it, Anderson
The dam has now burst on the 3D printing printer has become as commonplace as the notes. The same can be said of RepRap and
market and this once out-of-reach personal computer. The same can’t MakerBot, two pioneers in the affordable
WRITTEN
technology is now available to just BY be said of the 3D printer. But that consumer 3D printer market.
about anybody, for less than $1,000. HoSltbertoto k could be about to change. “A new class of users will produce a new
Will being able to print 3D objects Until recently, 3D printers were class of uses,” says Anderson. “I think it’s
on your desktop change the world? prohibitively expensive, less than user friend- historic.”
Spend a few minutes talking to manufac- ly, and hidden behind the doors of factories Will 3D printers become as common in
turers of 3D printers or early adopters and and R&D labs. But thanks to the innovative the home as DVD players and computers?
you’ll quickly hear them drop such heady efforts of makers and the open source Wonky software and documentation are the
adjectives as “game-changer,” “disruptive,” movement (which encourages freely sharing weak links now, but that will surely change.
and “revolutionary.” designs and software among enthusiasts), For now, Anderson tells parents this
An Economist article from April 2012 the price of the machines has reached the is the year to buy their kids a 3D printer
by Paul Markillie declared 3D printing and consumer level. Now, a growing community for Christmas.
associated technologies nothing short of of makers, designers, and artists are embrac- “They’re not going to be quite sure what
the “third industrial revolution.” ing the technology and taking it in new to do with it, but their kids will figure it out.
“As manufacturing goes digital, a third directions. And, you don’t have to own one That’s the way big things start.”
great change is now gathering pace,” he of the machines to use them. There are Dale Dougherty, founder and publisher
writes. “The wheel is almost coming full service providers that will do the printing of MAKE, isn’t ready to pronounce the 3D
circle, turning away from mass manufactur- for you. What you do with all this desktop printer a revolution just yet.
ing and towards much more individualized manufacturing power is up to you. “I think we’re at the very early stages,
production. And that in turn could bring To borrow a line (paraphrased from Karl with hackers and early adopters figuring out
some of the jobs back to rich countries that Marx) from Wired Editor-in-Chief Chris what to do with it,” he says. “It’s opening
long ago lost them to the emerging world.” Anderson’s book, Makers: The New Industrial new avenues for people who are creative and
The personal computer, the printer, Revolution, power belongs to those who con- making things.”
and the internet made us all publishers. trol the means of production. The power to But the transformative potential is plain to
Now with 3D printers, 3D scanners, and manufacture a growing list of objects (toys, see, Dougherty states. “It’s Wal-Mart in the
3D design software, we can all be manu- jewelry, spare parts, even prosthetic limbs) is palm of you hand. That’s the crazy promise
facturers, as well. now available to the masses — and the tech- of it.”
Already companies are jockeying for nology fits on your desktop. Part of the excitement that surrounds
position. High-end 3D printing pioneer 3D “Global manufacturing can now work on 3D printing is the belief that now the barrier
Systems bought competitor Z Corp. Two any scale,“ Anderson states, “from one to to entry has dropped; the genie is out of the
other big players — Objet and Stratasys millions. Customization and small batches bottle. Where this goes, nobody knows.
— are planning to merge. Industry darling are no longer impossible — in fact, they’re “We live in a 3D world, but we currently
MakerBot was named one of the top 20 the future.” create things in 2D,” says Dougherty. What
startups in New York City and was one He too sees revolution in the air: “The will it mean to have the means to live and
of Fast Company’s 2012 Innovation by third industrial revolution is best seen as the create in the same dimension?
Design awardees. combination of digital manufacturing and “We may go to a very different place.”
3D printers, machines that “print” three- personal manufacturing: the industrialization
dimensional, CAD-rendered objects by layer- of the maker movement.”
ing precisely extruded bits of molten plastic, Looking at the growing number of Stett Holbrook is a senior editor at MAKE.
8
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