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Home 3D Printing ‘Just Not There Yet’ Admits MakerBot

MakerBot was going to change the world. It was going to bring 3D-printing, long a product limited to designer offices and workshops, into the home (or at least the garage). But earlier today, under a veil of marketing speak and glitzy videos, the company announced a new focus on commercial—not consumer—products, and in so doing,…

MakerBot Is Stumbling, But Hopes Faster Printing Will Help

MakerBot has seen better days. It’s now cut 20 percent of its staff twice as it struggles to fulfill founder and former CEO Bre Pettis’ vision of a 3D printer in every home. Now, with a software update, MakerBot machines can print 30 percent faster. Hopefully, it will help sway the impatient toward additive manufacturing.…

How I Finally Learned to Love 3D Printing

I started thinking about 3D printing, I mean really started thinking about it, in 2012. I was eking out an existence as a penny-pinching grad student at the time, so a $3,000 machine that squirts out hot plastic and builds frivolous knick-knacks wasn’t exactly fixated in my cerebrum. In September of that year, I picked…

Turn Your Drawings Into 3D-Printable Models With MakerBot’s iPad App

One of the biggest reasons there isn’t a 3D printer in every home—yet—has nothing to do with price or availability. It’s the fact that if you want to design and print your own objects, you need to know how to use relatively complex 3D modelling software. So MakerBot has updated its free PrintShop iPad app…

Our Favorite Android, iOS, and Windows Phone Apps of the Week

A smartphone isn’t much without apps. It’s where the whole “smart” part of the equation comes from. Without them, we’re back in the 1990s again. Nobody wants that—except maybe Dustin Diamond. So exercise some of those smarts and outfit your phone with the best apps of the week. Android Seene Seene has been a neat…

Makerbot Is Letting You 3D Print With Metal, Limestone, and Wood

Makerbot—perhaps the most consumer-friendly of 3D printer manufacturers—is about to go a long way toward turning the tech intosomething consumers can actually use. Starting late this year, MakerBot is going to let you 3D print with a range of new materials, including composites of limestone, iron, and wood. The new PLA filaments are made with…

This $9K Machine Could Usher in the Era of 3D-Printed Electronics

The technology that would enable us to 3D-print electronics along with the circuits that make them work has been around for a while, but a team of Harvard researchers just announced a new 3D-printerthat could change the game. Soon, you could 3D print a drone in your living room—which is insane. The Voxel8 looks a…

You Can Already 3D Print Yourself a Copy of That Star Wars Ball Droid

If you’ve foolishly gotten yourself all excited for Star Wars: The Force Awakens after just the teaser trailer (really? did no one else watch Lost?) you’ll be ecstatic to hear that you can already 3D-print yourself a copy of that adorable rolling ball droid we barely got a glimpse of. The 3D model comes courtesy…

Not Even Martha Stewart Can Take 3D Printing Mainstream

Martha Stewart’s affinity for drones has been well-documented, and now she’s trained her domestic eye on another buzzy emerging technology. Stewart has launched a line of custom designs with 3D printing darling MakerBot. But will the celebrity backing really create an insatiable rush for at-home fabrication? Will a 3D printer suddenly become as indispensable to…

3D-Printable Cookie Monster and Grover Figures Hit the MakerBot Store

The first series of Sesame Street characters to hit the MakerBot Digital Store weren’t exactly its A-list residents. We all love Snuffleupagus, but he can’t hold a candle to Big Bird. So thankfully Series 2 is finally here, just in time for Halloween, bringing with it some bigger Sesame Street stars you can 3D print…

Bold Machines: MakerBot Founder Bets Big on 3D Printing’s Next Wave

When Bre Pettis, the co-founder of MakerBot, began his company in 2009, the mission was clear: make 3D printing accessible. Five years later, the company has sold tens of thousands of printers and joined forces with the industry stalwart Stratasys. Now that these creation machines are (relatively) financially feasible, how are we going to use…

3D Printing Doc: This Is the Future, But What About That Gun Thing?

3D printing is a number of things, depending on who you talk to: It’s the future! It’s dumb! It’s a dangerous tool for psycho gun enthusiasts! Print the Legend, Netflix’s 3D printing documentary, explores all those topics. The movie—out September 26 on Netflix and in theaters—dives into the divisive nature of the space, through the…

Can You Tell Me How To Print, How To 3D Print Sesame Street?

In order to show the average consumer that 3D printers aren’t just for prototyping parts or building a plastic housing for an Arduino project, the MakerBot Digital Store has added a handful of downloadable 3D models of Sesame Street characters that parents can print for their kids. While the initiative helps promote fun, consumer-friendly uses…

Starting today, Home Depot will start selling MakerBot Replicators at 12 locations in LA, SF, NY, and Chicago as part of a national pilot program. Yep, soon you’ll be able to swing by Home Depot to pick up a machine that prints all the things you swing by Home Depot for.

MakerBot has a new iOS app out that lets you track your 3D-printed projects from afar. You can see an image of what’s being built in real-time, you know, so you don’t end up with colossal failures like these.

Start Your Own Private Museum With a 3D Printer and This T-Rex Model

Does waiting in line at a museum just to check out some old dinosaur bones that may or may not be real sound like a terrible way to spend a weekend? If you’ve got a 3D printer at home, MakerBot’s Digital Store is now selling this anatomically correct T-Rex skeleton model that you can print…

Photoshop Is Getting Support For 3D Printing

Adobe is updating Photoshop to let you create 3D-printable files within the program. Hooray! The update is available today for free for existing Creative Cloud subscribers, or for $50 for new sign ups. It converts models into STL, OBJ, 3DS, Collada and KMZ files. These files can then be exported to a MakerBot machine, outsourced…

MakerBot Mini: A Smaller 3D Printer You Can Maybe Actually Afford

If a tiny workshop has prevented you from adding one of MakerBot’s Replicator 3D printers to your toolkit, today is your lucky day. The company has announced a smaller version of its Replicator 3D printer—aptly called the Replicator Mini—with a smaller footprint, easy one-touch printing, and even a networked camera inside allowing you to remotely…

The 3D Printer Who Saved Christmas

What we have here is a warm and fuzzy tale of a man and his gadget. Presents forgotten! Christmas Ruined! Not so fast. Armed with a 3D printer, he manages to stave off being shunned by his family for at least one more year. You may remember Doc North as the guy behind the ReAllocate…