We have a history with 3D printing since the Rocket Scientist was part of a 3D printing research project 15 years ago -- before he was a rocket scientist. So when I learned MakerBot was opening a retail store in Boston, naturally I wasted no time jumping into long johns and dragging my posse down Newbury St. to check it out.
Inside, several MakerBot Replicator Desktop 3D machines were set up scanning and printing small souvenirs, some of which demonstrated 3D's ability to use different compounds and make already-assembled parts. For example, one machine was printing a plastic, four-inch-high figurine with limbs articulated by ball-and-socket joints; another was making parts for an artificial hand.
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| MakerBot printer, left. MakerBot employee, right. Big plastic jaw with big sharp teeth, center. |
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| Spools of colored filament, upper right. We bought some ornaments. |
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| Yes, Virginia, there is a 3D printed Santa Claus who travels by 3D printed jet engine. |
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| A close-up of 2014's Must-have hood ornament. |
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| 3D printed ornaments hanging in the store windows. |
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| Looking down Newbury St. |
One of the cleverest products offered by the company is its academy classes on designing, programming, and printing your very own original creations. It holds sessions for adults and kids. MakerBot will also print your standard STL files.
The store also features a special booth with a MakerBot 3D Desktop Digitizer Scanner and chair for you to sit in. For $25 it will scan you and produce a bust in your image. Alas, none of us were brave enough to try that out.
Whew! As I was writing these last graphs I had flashbacks to when I was a technical editor writing software and hardware brochures with words like 'features' and 'ability,' and how I was always dodging bulleted lists of what the product 'lets you do.'
Look, this post is not supposed to be a commercial for MakerBot. I'm just saying if you are visiting
* Boston
* New York, or
* Greenwich, Conn.,
I recommend MakerBot as a fun place to visit.
MakerBot has been running a holiday sale, discounting printers and scanners by as much as 25 percent. The sale ends today, but you may still be able to negotiate price.
In fact, a good opening tactic might be to say that you can't decide whether to buy a 3D printer or wait for a 4D printer. What, you weren't aware that 4D, where an item prints and then assembles itself, is the new 3D?? Get with it! It's 2014!
And I do too have a posse.
http://www.makerbot.com/
http://www.thingiverse.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printing
Pass it along and remember, It's all (c)opyrighted (c)2014(c)(c)
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