My 3D printer is here!

Well, it has been pointed out that having a blog is kind of useless if I don't post to it. Instead I've been using Instagram since it's easy to put up a picture with a short message and then I can reply to the responses:

However, my last photo led to a lot of questions so I think it's better to use this blog since I want to keep track of what I'm doing. I'll probably create a separate page for the work I do in 3D printing, but first, some background...

Why did I get a 3D printer? 

I've always been interested in Legos, especially the military and police sets. Getting enough figures and weapons to build my models was hard and often I would just practice using the Lego Digital Designer software to create scenes. Then in 2010 (when I was eight years old), my Dad showed me an article in Wired Magazine about how BrickArms was building realistic weapons for Legos and how Makerbot was producing a $1000 3D printer suitable for the home user.

We thought that being able to actually create a custom Lego from something I drew would be really cool, but we couldn't afford to make them. 

In 2011 I started hanging out at MIT's Edgerton Center where I could get access to some neat technology, and in February 2012 I saw a demonstration of a 3D printer at Boston's Museum of Science. 

We chatted with one of the printer owners afterwards and got the idea that building one from scratch the way he did would be frustrating. In May 2012 we saw another Wired article on the Solidoodle printer that brought the price of an assembled unit down to $500. The instructors at the Edgerton Center thought this could be a good product, but suggested we wait to see how it turned out, since they had been early adopters of a Makerbot Thing-O-Matic, and had not had much success with it.

Finally, that brings us to 2014: I saw a Makerbot ad for their top of the line model printing a helmet: 

This was the one that I wanted! But when Dad saw the price ($7,000), he pointed out that if I learned to use the software first, then I could print things out at MIT or on-line, or even at our town's public library. I tried to sign up for a printing class at the library, but they were all full. So we went down to the Makerbot store in Boston and paid $25 for a private class where I used Tinkercad software to make my Mom a samurai helmet! (Actually, I only made her a picture frame for her graduation...).

Then I downloaded some design files from Thingiverse and sent one of a chip bag clip to the library to be made. Once I did all this, then Dad was willing to buy a printer!! Well actually, he made a deal with me to get a Printrbot kit if I would assemble it by his birthday (tick,tick, tick) and get something printed out by Father's Day (tock, tock, tock). We'll see how it all turns out...(but I hope he'll give me a hand the same way he helped me out with this post!)