Joe's Makerbot will now be Joe's 3D Workbench

Joe's Makerbot is now Joe's 3D Workbench. http://joes3dworkbench.blogspot.com/

This has been a long time coming. I avoided it for many technical reasons, but I now feel it's time.

Joe's Makerbot (this blog) will remain with it's history and posts, but I will no longer be updating it. From now on all posts related to making, designing, and teaching will be on Joes3dWorkbench.blogspot.com. I hope you'll all visit me there. I will also occasionally post my more editorial thoughts on 3DHacker.com's blog.

http://joes3dworkbench.blogspot.com/

Store is open, Chessbots discounted

The etsy store is back in business. And since this is Black Friday I've dropped the price of my chessbots from $25 to $15. There are only 9 left and when they're gone they're gone.

Shutting down the shop for Thanksgiving break

I'm going to be out of town for Thanksgiving, and what with the problems and maintenance that I haven't had time to do on the 3D printer I've got to shut the shop until December. I wish there was a way I can do a soft shut-down so people can still see what I have to offer.

First thing when I get back I'm going to reopen the shop and do some repairs to my bot so hopefully it will be more reliable than ever. Hopefully I'll be able to do some modeling while I'm out.

So many soap stamps

Ever since I started offering custom soap stamps in my Etsy store I have been lousy with orders for them. Not that I mind. TARDIS ring sales have dropped off lately but these have picked up the slack nicely. Who knew there were so many people making home made soap?

So if things seem a bit slow around here, if it seems like I'm not updating as often or printing as cool a things as I used to, it's just because I've got my hands full, and it's good.

New TARDIS ring

I've put a new style of TARDIS ring in the Etsy store, one that has a plastic gem in it for the light since the print orientation would make that overhang. I like the way it looks and it's subtle enough for daily wear. However I was thinking it might look better in metal with a real gem so I modified it for shapeways. not 100% sure it will work as a setting since I've never done this sort of thing, but I followed Mikhail Rachinskiy's tutorial so I should be okay, right?

Adventures in selling designs part 2

A challenger appears!

I haven't sold any models yet, but there has been a few alternatives to Ponoko that I may throw my hand in.

Maker6 allows you to sell models, physical prints, and eventually print time on your machine. So basically it's  a little bit of Ponoko, Etsy, and MakeXYZ rolled into one, more focused on 3D printing. If it offered me the chance to sell my talents as a designer it'd be all I ever wanted. And it's got a more 3D printerly name that's easier to remember. The cons is that it takes 9% of all sales, including designs, where as Ponoko takes nothing for designs, and it isn't set up for free giveaway items. On the other hand it's still new and in active development so maybe they'll take my feedback and make that possible.

My Mini Factory has been trying so hard to promote themselves that they've bordered on spam. They're paying designers to come up with a number of unique models that I haven't seen anywhere else which has prompted me to check them out, only to discover that when you say you want to download something they respond by e-mailing you the download link. A bit hinky in my opinion, but not too uncommon I guess. They're running a competition with a grand prize of a free Up! mini for a chess set. I've had good luck with chess sets in the past and I've got a couple that I'm working on now so I may throw in my hand. I'd love to check out another 3D printer. Then, who knows, I may run a contest of my own.

By the way, contest there. Design a chess set, win a 3D printer. Enter now!

Adventures in Selling Designs

I should be promoting my book, but for a while now I've been exploring options for selling 3D designs. The way I figure it 3D printers are only going to get cheaper, and people who aren't designers or creators are going to want something to print. To that end whoever has an established library of 3D printable objects already for sale will be ahead of the game. So I've been looking for a place to host a library of 3D printable models. There are already many sites out there where you can buy 3D models, but how are they for selling them? I set out to find out with a collection of small bird egg holders I designed.

Of all the places I've tried Ponoko has proven so far to be the best. It has a clean interface, I can upload my models, edit them myself after upload, and manage my own storefront. 3DBurrito and 3DLT both required an administrator to do anything, it was a pain in the neck. Ponoko doesn't take commission from the models they sell, they make their money when they make it for you, so 100% of the sales price for the model goes to me. Plus Ponoko will sell you the STL, not some DRM laden file format, that you can have them print it, print it yourself, or have someone on MakeXYZ print it for you. The only problem I see is Ponoko is not a very easy name to remember. I think I'm sticking with Ponoko because it just works... until a more compelling reason comes along to try something else. (So if you've got another service I haven't tried, let me know in the comments.)

PROTIP: If you want to sell 3D models be ready before you start making the listing. Have the models made, tested, if you can, and an image ready, either a picture or a render that will really sell the item. Thingiverse may be cool with you being loosey-goosey with the edits, but when selling you need to step up your game.

Part of the problem with this project is now I look at anything I model as a potential sales piece. I'm working on some Doctor Who pawns right now and I'm torn about whether I should upload the lot to thingiverse or keep some of them behind a pay wall on Ponoko. Does that mean I'm turning into a money grubbing jerk? If people want these things am I wrong to want something in return? I've spent hours of my time on it. Warm fuzzes are nice but I'd really love to do this, something to do with 3D printing, making and designing, for a living. That's not going to happen if I don't start asking for compensation. Can I do that without becoming a jerk? I'm going to try. Pointers are welcome.

Joe's Makerbot on MakeXYZ

I don't know why it took me so long to actually sign up with MakeXYZ. I guess I was worried I'd get so much business I wouldn't be able to print my own things. Maybe I was worried my printer would break down and I'd let people down. Either way it was mostly silly.

Anyways, I've finally put Joe's Makerbot on MakeXYZ, so if you need something 3D printed I'm your guy. Joseph Chiu had an experience with them a little while ago that I hear convinced him his asking price was way too low, so we'll see how this works out.

How to use your soap stamp

For those wondering what the best way to use your custom soap stamp or custom soap stamp with logo my soap making sister has found an excellent tutorial. They aren't written for my stamps specifically but they work the same:

http://www.amathiasoapworks.com/stamping-soap-with-a-custom-soap-stamp/

TARDIS Rings at Dragon con again this year

If you're in Atlanta Georga between August 30th and September 2nd hit up DragonCon where the Austin Browncoats will be selling TARDIS rings, as well as other geeky accessories, to raise money for charity. Booth # 2711, 2713 - Floor 2.

Custom Soap Stamp With Logo in Etsy Store

I guess I've already mentioned my sister's soap making thing. Well now I've added graphics to the stamps and put that service in the store. 

This is one of those listings that's a bit odd to put a quantity on. But that's fine. Etsy's got a generally good API so I'll overlook this one little thing.

Robot Poker in California

Roxy ordered a set of poker playing robots to, get this, actually play poker with. The first set I made to sell on etsy never sold. It just sat on my desk and was eventually scattered by my children so this necessitated a custom print. But it was worth it for this picture alone.

Turns out these robots are a pretty tricky print. I've had no problem printing them but I've seen a lot of people try printing them on other rep-rap based printers and have it... not work. that was Roxy's experience here. Of course if these are too tough I have some other prints that I know will work.

Soap Stamp in Etsy Store

My sister makes her own soap. When I mentioned the properties of ABS and PLA, that PLA will disolve in a lye solution but ABS won't her eyes got big. She asked if ABS could be used to make a stamp for soap, since soap has lye in it until it hardens. I told her it should work.

So I made her a stamp. I learned the hard way that stamps need to be in reverse before printing. But that's all right, I had some tolerance issues to fix after the first one as well.

So now I'm offering my expertise to the world on my Etsy store. There are a ton of soap makers on Etsy and I wont stop until every one of them can brand their wares. Who wants to. I'll be offering picture ones as well later.

Do Printing Services Undercut Open Sales?

Joseph Chiu pulled me up in chat to ask if I had put in an order with PrintAThing. PrintAThing and MakeXYZ are services where you can register if you have a 3D printer to print things for other people and where you can request if you don't have a 3D printer a quote for a print you want made. They're great services if you have a 3D printer that you want to keep humming. However, I have no such problems and since I have a 3D printer there's no reason for me to put in an order with PrintAThing.

Joseph C. asked because someone had put in an order and uploaded the STLs from the Chessbot Hero and Monster, the same set I sell on Etsy and that I thought I made pretty clear you can get from me. I would think if you didn't have a 3D printer you'd want to support the person who made the designs if it were possible, but it seems someone was looking for a better deal. Now to be clear I'm selling these at very high quality and pretty close to the lowest I can for the time and effort involved in making and distributing these. Sure it's not much plastic but it ties up my printer for about 8 hours making both sides (which I can double the output of when my right extruder works). Not to mention that I have made a number of little edits that I just don't have time to keep updating the thingiverse pages for. It's safe to say that the chess set you get from me is always better in little ways than the one you get from thingiverse. Joseph suggested I make it harder for people to do this sort of thing by breaking the set into individual pieces but that's just more work for me.


Really, this is just the problem with being open. I made a decision and this is the first thing that really made me call that decision into question. So what now? Maybe I should clam up to protect myself.

 Forget that, I'm opening up wide. I haven't uploaded my lithophane holder yet so here yawl go. Take that desire to clam up. Go make your own lithophanes and don't worry about me. (Yes, I branded it and yes I linked to my etsy store. I'm open, not stupid.)

Ah, more TARDIS rings out the door

There, in the "must have cool page" of cheezburger.com under "TARDIS must haves" is my TARDIS ring. Well, it links to the Shapeways which has a link to my etsy store which links to the ring, so I count 4 clicks before you can buy it, but I'm not sad. In fact I'd just like to remind my loyal followers here that if you enter the coupon code "DEMATERIALIZE" You'll get an additional 10% off. VWORP-VWORP-VWORP.

Lithophanes in the store

So I think I've got the process down. I've sliced and printed a variety so now I'm sure I've got the process down so it'll work every time. So now I'm offering lithophane services in the store. For those curious the light they come with are dollar store night lights but the mounting is pretty universal so they can be switched out. I like the dollar store ones because they are cheap and bright.

I've also restocked my Large Guy Fawkes Mask Keychains, well, I say restocked. I've added two more while I work out the printing process. The last of my black filament isn't cooperating, I may just need to throw it out and start a fresh roll. But it's led to an upcoming post on making dual color printing work.

3 months, 17 chess sets

After running out before Christmas I decided to make a back stock of chess sets. In January I started printed them in earnest, using both extruders at once to double my output and printing just as often as I can and expending at least 4 full rolls of filament to see how far they'll go. Since then the ceramic insulation tape was damaged and the heated build platform gave out leaving me idle for a few weeks. But things are back together and I was finally able to finish the sets I had started. I now have a box filled with 17 completed chess sets with 3 more that have been purchased for a total of 21 completed chess sets.

That's actually pretty good and it's keeping me ahead of sales. However it's about half what I estimated I could be doing. Still, I'm in a position now that I can explore some advertising and try to get them out the door faster and now I know what to expect as far as sales goals.

Buy my junk

A few additions to the store. Restocked the hypnorings, added the PLA TARDIS charms I made to test print temperatures effect on PLA translucence, and finally I've added something new. Since I did the resolution test I've had these chess knights just sitting on my desk feeling like I should do something with them. Finally I had the bright idea that I should let you own a little piece of Joe's Makerbot.

If you would like an example of 3D printing then for little more than the cost of shipping you can buy some junk from my Makerbot. I'll try to keep it stocked with something. I figure this way folks who just want a sample of 3D printing can have just that.

EDIT: Another store change: international shipping has increased considerably. I knew the postal service was increasing their rates but on instate the shipping difference was pennies, not enough for me to worry about. However, international rates doubled. Sucks, but I have to increase my shipping rates accordingly.

Store's open, bot's cold

Now that I'm home and can go back to filling order I've opened the shop back up. I've even added the last 2 chess sets that I finished before I left.

However, now that I'm back home I'm more than a little concerned about the weather. Winter has hit and out here it's a foot deep outside. I'm afraid an enclosure and an uninsulated garage isn't enough to keep the weather out. I'm concerned that's whats causing the cracking I've seen in my prints before I left, and it's gotten even colder since then. I may have to bring the printer inside if I want to print anything taller than a TARDIS ring. But where? I'm still super concerned about fumes and it's too cold to crack a window. Winter is not a friend of the Replicator. I shudder to think that I'll need to consult Punxsutawney Phil to know when I can start printing again...

Shutting down the store, and the bot, for the season

I'll be spending from now till the end of the year with the in-laws. As much as I tried to convince my wife the bot had to stay behind. So I've got a few weeks to plan for my return and work on some other projects, between visiting with family and whatever. So farewell until next year!