3D printed kinetic sculptures

For Erik Pettersson, learning the ropes on his new eMaker Huxley 3D printer was an opportunity to get creative. Taking inspiration from Thingiverse users producing gears and kinetic objects, Erik set out to create something unique that could spread across the wall in his stairwell (and meet his wife’s approval).

What emerged was a set of six framed pieces, which are connected by mechanical transmissions. A motor in one of the hubs kicks off the motion, which is transferred through some 120 different 3D printed parts across the frames. (more…)

Posted in 3D Printing, Functional Art + Objects, Guy Blashki by Guy Blashki | No Comments

Make your own stuff using: 3D Printing

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Plus Make Your Own Mom Presents with FREE design files!

Mother’s Day is only a couple of weeks away, so we have some creative inspiration and gift ideas to get you on the path to becoming your mother’s favourite child. Few admonitions are as cutting as “I am disappointed in you” coming from your mom. Make sure you make her something wonderful this year, or at least buy her something unique that doesn’t come from a mall.

Personal ornamentation is often a popular option. Gilded Butterflies are a range of one off fluttering pendants that are as individually unique as each butterfly’s wing pattern. The pendants are laser cut out of bamboo plywood and laminated with real butterfly wings. Feisty Elle offers an impressive variety of intricately cut bamboo and 100% wool felt jewellery, with the dahlias being so well recognised that they are now being plagiarised around the world. Plagiarism is not cool. Colleen Jordan’s 3D printed miniature wearable planters are infinitely customisable by whatever is planted inside, and they are also available in different shapes and colours.

Jewelry needs somewhere to be stored. Harbinger Co don’t just make jewellery, but also create beautiful boxes for all that loot. You may be already the apple of your mother’s eye, but chances are that there are some other family members that your mom is fond of. Such as the dog or the goldfish. Familial pride and joy is best displayed photographically, in a picture frame, such as the flower one by BEDA Design Inc. You know you’re not doing your mom proud if the goldfish gets the middle flower. On the topic of furry and scaly friends, Pepper Sprout Designs make animal themed trivets amongst many other home gifts. These are laser cut from 100% wool felt.

Your mom will hopefully be happy to see your smiling face, and should that grimace require additional illumination, a lamp could be very useful. Alienology create different types of lighting, including the Bloom Table Lamp that is laser cut from Eurolite plywood. Jenny Keate’s fluffy Luminant lamp is made from a combination of wool and laser cut plywood. It has the softness of a sheep without any of the annoying bleeting. Another home frienly idea of mum is a Decoy Lab clock made from Earth friendly bamboo and adorned with a forest-full of cute animals.

The best gift is the one made by you, and we’re here to help facilitate the opportunity by providing FREE design files that you can download, customise and make with Ponoko. The Tulip Vase is designed to be flat packed and easily assembled with minimal components. All you need is a glass test tube to put water and flowers in and to give the vase structure, so no glue is required. If made from plywood or MDF, the parts can be painted, waxed or varnished, and there are a few finishing options for both US and NZ materials. The Ball of Stars by Dizingoff is designed as a 3D printed art object that can be made into a light with an addition of an LED. Mother’s Day is usually accompanied by a greeting card, so this is no exception. The Lace Card is designed specifically for cardstock, which is the Ponoko promotional material until the end of April – design something to be laser cut from cardstock and you could win a neat piece of technology. We even have a tutorial on how to use laser cutting to make greeting cards.

Posted in 3D Printing, Downloadable, Functional Art + Objects, Furniture + Lighting, Jewellery, Laser Cutting, Yana Skaler by yana | No Comments

Make your own stuff using: 3D Printing, Laser Cutting

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SF Bay Area – a Design Inspiration for little and big thingsWe’re used to seeing locations and landmarks serving as inspiration for design and art around us. Think how much influence the Eiffel Tower, for example, or anything NY has had on so much of the styling we are exposed to. As a designer you may be particularly influenced by design styles of places you’ve travelled to or your own city that you commute through every day. One US designer has chosen his place of residence – San Francisco as a catalyst for his creative endeavours.

David Nichols of Dotmatrix Design takes major inspiration from various infrastructure and industry around the Bay Area. Conveniently located in same area, Ponoko has helped shape his creative process. David’s first project was a human scale model of SF Sutro Tower, “a local landmark TV tower that pokes through the fog of the city most days of the year”. He had the tower CNC routed out of plywood, and it will be making its way to Maker Faire next month as part of the Ponoko display.

David likes the challenge of using interlocking to produce 3D objects out of 2D shapes, so laser cutting and CNC routing are his ideal precision fabrication methods. He’d made a tiny model of the container cranes in the Port of Oakland and also laser cut maps of the Bay Area. Most of the objects he created are fabricated out of wood, either in plywood or composite form. Hardboard and MDF are some of David’s favourite materials to work with. The material choices allow for minimal finishing and easy assembly that doesn’t require adhesives.A few words from the designer after the jump:

(more…)

Posted in CNC Routing, Functional Art + Objects, Laser Cutting, Maker Stories, Yana Skaler by yana | No Comments

Make your own stuff using: Laser Cutting, CNC Routing

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A little help for those times when MacGyver isn’t around

This neat set of laser cut stainless steel cards will see you through all manner of emergencies. Whether it’s a culinary conundrum, a tricky twist without a tool, or fish ‘n chips too oily for fingers… Robert Rüf and Steffen Kehrle’s Survival Kits have you covered.

It’s not the first time this kind of concept has popped up, but this one is particularly nicely executed. Perfect to slip into a wallet or between the pages of an organiser (there is life beyond the iPhone, after all).

Click through to see Survival Kits in action.   (more…)

Posted in Functional Art + Objects, Guy Blashki, Laser Cutting by Guy Blashki | No Comments

Make your own stuff using: Laser Cutting

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Mini wind turbine light

Architect Margot Krasojevic has created a beautiful shell like 3D printed lamp powered by the force of the wind spinning around it’s vertical axis.

The lamp is functional a propeller that uses the wind’s kinetic energy to turn it. The light is generated by the spinning of wire coils past magnets generating electrical current to power the LED bulbs. Appropriate to its shell form the design has been printed in a ceramic material that is lightweight and durable enough to spin in the wind.
(more…)

Posted in 3D Printing, Art, David McGahan, Functional Art + Objects by David McGahan | 2 Comments

Make your own stuff using: 3D Printing

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Stability of MDF with beauty of natural timber grainMDF is possibly one of my least favourite materials.  It has no soul, although it’s certainly very practical.  There is also something unsavory about the word “veneer”.  The connotation of falseness is ever present and is at odds with my like of material honesty.  But you cannot argue with practicalities of using a wood material that won’t warp or shrink or crack.  Besides, the veneer is a real timber – thinly peeled off a rotating tree trunk and laminated onto the MDF sub straight.   The different grains do look authentic and beautiful, and their surface can also be treated with various waxes and varnishes to both seal the surface and enhance the grain.  Check out the surface treatment options for the US and NZ wood materials.

The practical and aesthetic properties of veneer MDF make is an ideal material choice for display design and furniture.  Colin Francis uses Rimu to make engraved wineracks and similarly planar flat-pack Test Tubed vases.  The Hands shelf is by Studio Wun and is available in various finishes.

Wall art is another common application for this month’s material.  We’ve interviewed MODULA.R.T’s Donald Rattner in the past – MODULA.R.T have designed a whole customisable system of wall ornamentation using a combination of veneer MDF and colour acrylic or felt.  Otto Gunther’s approach to wall art is entirely different – combining digital fabrication with painstaking finishing by hand to produce one off pieces.

Veneer MDF engraves beautifully, and both raster and vector engraving can produce outstanding detail, like in Peppersprouts coasters cut from Cherry.  Blimp Cat Studio create custom cake toppers from Walnut veneer, and Kai Howells offers customised Rimu veneer trophies.

Even little objects like jewelry can be successfully cut from veneer MDF.  Australian designers Little Miso and Nevertheless are big fans of the American Cherry, and Bonnie Poplar uses also uses this material for her brooches, along with the Rimu.

On the topic of jewelry, this month’s free design files are for jewelry trees.  The small Swirl stand is designed for US veneers, while the large tree is designed for the NZ stock.  Of course, the base slots can be adjusted in thickness to accommodate materials from either hub.Ponoko US offers Cherry, Walnut, White Oak

Ponoko NZ offers Rimu, American Cherry, Maple, Tasmanian Ash, White Oak

Get your material samples of US: Cherry, Walnut, White Oak; NZ: Rimu, American Cherry, Maple, Tasmanian Ash, White Oak

Posted in Art, Functional Art + Objects, Jewellery, Laser Cutting, Materials Catalog, Yana Skaler by yana | Comments are off for this post

Make your own stuff using: Laser Cutting

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Gears, gears, and more gears.

Brent Thorne, a San Francisco-based computer scientist and kinetic artist, is working on a mechanical computer with laser cut gears. It “computes continuous self-similar fractals.” I would be lying if I said I have clear idea how it works, but it impressive nonetheless. Apparently the image above is a half-scale prototype of one of three sub-units that will each measure two meters tall (roughly 6′6″) when the computer is finished.

The artist posted a brief explanation of the theory behind the computer for those who may be interested. If you are more inclined to learning how to make mechanisms our recent tutorials on making Gears and Joints with SketchUp (part 1 and part 2) would be a good place to start.
(more…)

Posted in Functional Art + Objects, Laser Cutting, Taylor Gilbert by Taylor Gilbert | Comments are off for this post

Make your own stuff using: Laser Cutting

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A simple principle with a beautiful result.

Christophe Guberan, a student at Ecole Cantonale d’art de Lausanne (ECAL), has made the project Hydro-Fold using a modified inkjet printer. It produces paper objects that automatically fold themselves into specific forms. The ink has been replaced with a specific mixture of ink and water. When paper is printed with a folding pattern, it bends along the wet lines.

One of the major disadvantages of inkjet printers is their tendency to over-saturate the paper with ink and cause bends, distortions, and wrinkles. This project charmingly takes advantage of this principle and puts it to good use. The result is clearly more experimental than functional, but its not hard to imagine the potential of this idea with a bit more technology applied to it.

Watch the video on Dezeen and see some examples after the jump.
(more…)

Posted in Digital Fabrication, Functional Art + Objects, Hardware, Taylor Gilbert by Taylor Gilbert | Comments are off for this post

Make your own stuff using: 3D Printing, Laser Cutting, CNC Routing

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The high tech and the traditional.

I must admit that I have a particular fondness for projects that combine traditional and modern technology. They prove that not everything made with digital fabrication has to look like something from a space adventure movie (not that there’s anything inherently wrong with that).

These small containers by nendo start with a paper-based 3D printer that glues and cuts sheets of regular paper to build the form. This kind of machine is normally considered a relatively cheap and low-quality alternative to the more common plastic extrusion printers, in part because of the terraced look of the models.

Instead of trying to hide the paper texture, nendo used it to its best advantage with a coating of traditional japanese lacquer. The combination looks something like wood grain.
(more…)

Posted in 3D Printing, Functional Art + Objects, Taylor Gilbert by Taylor Gilbert | Comments are off for this post

Make your own stuff using: 3D Printing

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a showcase of garden projects + free downloadable files

Sooner than you know it, summer will be on your door step.  That is unless you’re in the Southern hemisphere, in which case you just had your summer (or some semblance thereof), so it’s time to have other people have their fun. 

Hopefully the upcoming summer will yield something delicious or ornamental from your garden of veggie patch.  But as the saying goes, you reap what you sow, and sowing time is getting near.

In this final week of March, we bring you some garden-friendly designs to inspire green fingers.

Make it yourself with free design files:

For active gardeners, download these elegant Bugceps designed by Ponoko’s own Rich Borrett.  This 3D printed tool is perfect for removing bugs from plants without getting stung, or relocating a valuable insect without accidentally dismembering it. 

Unlike the bugs which seem to know exactly what plants are growing where, some of us would benefit from handy herb markers. Download these customizable garden markers designed by Shopping Zen. 

Ponoko-made projects for inspiration:

Keep annoying bugs in check by enticing some birds into your garden.  Bird houses are quite handy for this.  Jee Bundy provides an elegant solution with her laser-cut barrel bamboo house, and Wood Marvels has a couple of bird feeder designs available for plywood.

Hanging planters are a fantastic addition to indoor and outdoor gardening where space is at a premium.  Pollen’s plywood Endoplasm and acrylic Ectoplasm planters are as decorative as they are functional.  Colleen Jordan’s wearable planters 3D printed from Durable Plastic are possibly the ultimate in miniature gardening.  You can be living in a shoe box and still make some space for one.  How about a wearable nursery with some alpha sprouts?Apparently some people grow stuff not meant for eating – such as flowers.  Some people also like picking this decorative vegetation and displaying it inside their home.  Evidently vases are considered to be more appropriate flower receptacles than say, buckets or jars. Check out Colin Francis’ Boiled Over vase, Dizingof’s 3D printed Gyroid vase and Flatpackables Fin vase.

Posted in 3D Printing, Functional Art + Objects, Laser Cutting, Yana Skaler by yana | Comments are off for this post

Make your own stuff using: 3D Printing, Laser Cutting

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