Hello owners of laser cutters, CNC routers, 3D printers etc

In just a little bit, we’ll be releasing something we think is pretty big. We’ve been working on it for more than 2 years now. And we’re gunning for a launch in Q4 this year.

You could call it Digitalmake – an online Ponoko account designed especially for owners of digital making technology (eg, laser cutters, CNCs, 3D printers).

Digitalmake springs from our desire to create a digital making network that enables products to be made as close to the point of consumption as possible.

With Digitalmake you can manage and download product designs and materials for digital making. You can also offer your fabricator to Ponoko users (and get pre-paid jobs).

But before we launch, we need to make sure we have covered everything.

Can you help us out?

We really want to get this right. So can you let us know what you think about this?

So, if you want access to more making jobs, to grow your making community, or you want an online system to manage all of your design files and materials, or anything else you think would be a cool way to link your fabber to the Internet creative community - please let us know your thoughts - you can find out more here.

A furniture company that saves money and energy.

Whether you attended NeoCon physically or virtually this year, you probably noticed that Green/Eco/Sustainability was crucial. LEED certification has become both a badge of honor and a badge of cool in the world of architecture; so attendees were all looking for environmentally friendly products.

Davies Office Refurbishing started as an eco-conscious company in 1948—about sixty years before today’s Green Scene. As I inspected the giant wooden signs for laser-cutting burns and observed the rotating platforms at Davies booth, company President William Davies offered to give me a bit of background on his products and services.

(above: cool CNC table part of Davies display at NeoCon)

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Innovative use of CNC ‘digital joints’.

Panels 02 & 03 by Paris based sebastien wierinck will be shown at salone Satellite with the 101pct Designed in Brussels selection. The interesting thing about this work that sets it apart from much of the flat pack furniture in the field is the use of CNC specific construction joints, rather than emulating standard joinery or basic slots.
As CNC cabinetry becomes more accessible we will see some otherwise impossible (or at least really really difficult) digital wood joints being shared on the web.
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By Algorithmic Artisans NERVOUS SYSTEM

Inspired by the complex forms of radiolarians (amoeboid protozoa that produce intricate mineral skeletons), where intricate pattern is integral to structure, these shapes derive from a simulation of spring meshes which form mirrored catenoid surfaces. Nervous System have created interactive software to morph, twist, and subdivide each design, transforming a simple mesh to a complex patterned structure.

The final design is built up layer by layer in durable nylon plastic using Selective Laser Sintering, a kind of 3D printing. These forms would be impossible to create by traditional manufacturing methods. The process imparts the pieces with a coral-like texture, while the slight flexibility of nylon and airy design.
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step by step with Aodh O Donnell

Philadelphia University industrial design student Aodh O Donnellwas the winner of the of the 2009 Wilsonart prize with his Armadillo Chair.
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Office dA is a Boston-based firm whose principal partners are Monica Ponce de Leon and Nader Tehrani. The work of Office dA is diverse in scope and scale, ranging from the broader scale of urban design and infrastructure to architecture, interiors and furniture design. Of particular interest to Ponoko users is their use of CNC in the realization of their impressive furniture design, including the Laszlo Files, Vero Dresser and Otto Table.

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Or inhaling carcinogens for your craft

In previous post we have shown you How-To do all manner of things from form acrylic in a domestic oven to how to get a rusty metallic effect on plastic parts. The basic fundamentals of Ponoko alchemy.
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Detail of an ‘Oasis in a Corn Desert’ by Min|Day

The Lake Cabinet by Min|Day is the primary built feature in the master bedroom of a vacation house on a lake in rural Iowa. The Lake Cabinet challenges the modernist notion of the detail as the expression of a joint {between two or more elements}. The piece is essentially an 11’-4” x 6’-0” x 1’-6” storage cabinet lifted 12” above the floor. The architect studied the form of water ripples from several photographs of the lake. From these they developed a range of parameters for a computer animation of the behavior and interference of rippling water. The result is a massive cabinet with a surprisingly supple surface quality.
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3D printing/manufacturing company Materialise has a new 2009 series of products for .MGX : the E-volution Collection. Twelve new designs in accessories, furniture, and lighting were commissioned to seven different designers: Arik Levy, Bathsheba Grossman, Gernot Oberfell and Jan Wertel, Hani Rashid, Jiri Evenhuis, and Luc Merx.

NW: The Shaman pendant designed by Arik Levy was constructed of epoxy with stereolithography (SL) and coated in nickel. A version in black epoxy is available at Unica.

N: Mathematician and sculptor Bathsheba Grossman modeled her Gyroid lamp on a ‘minimal surface‘ structure that is infinitely connected and found in certain copolymers such as ABS plastic, a material often used in 3D printing. You can purchase one of these complex cubes at Generate.

NE & E: Stereolithography and selective laser sintering were used to make the Ubu and Roi vases, designed by Hani Rashid to evoke the motion of whirlpools. The Ubu is on sale at Moss.

SE: Peter Jansen is the mind behind the Tulip lamp. He also designed the floral inspired Julia lamp shown below, also available at Moss.

S: Luc Merx’s Stucco is a multifunctional modular, wall mounted system printed with epoxy. The structure intends to “transform the white emptiness of surrounding walls into a maximised density of form, colour, and material.”

SW: Another design by Bathsheba Grossman, the base form of the Wye table replicates the negative space of the gyroid.

W: A detail of Gernot Oberfell and Jan Wertel’s Fractal table. See the design in all of its arborescent glory in this post by Duann and this one from Roy.

Corrugated, Die Cut and Collapsible.

Gruff by Arno Mathies of Real-Made is mountable and dismountable furniture using 15mm corrugated cardboard.

The project explores uses the inherent properties of the material and the structure is composed of two elements repeated twice, that are assembled using housing joints and require no screws.

Considering the choice of material and the method of fabrication, the user can either consider his table as a disposable object or a permanent piece of furniture for household or office use. Gruff is a response to the paradox of a society focused on increasing consumption while trying to achieve sustainable development.

Personally I am not sure the design can be considered both disposable and sustainable, but perhaps that is the paradox to which Mathies refers?

Keep track of his work on his Real Made Blog

via Dezeen