In this second meeting, lots was discussed about 3D printing, advanced manufacturing, design, etc. at Gotts Roadhouse in San Francisco’s Ferry Building yesterday, but here are the highlights:
Fun
Autodesk TechWomen 2016
Last Friday, September 16th, we had the privilege to meet and share our passion for 3D printing with approximately 100x TechWomen leaders in the Autodesk Gallery at One Market Place in San Francisco. The TechWomen program is organized by the Institute of International Education (IIE)–the same governmental group that is responsible for the Fulbright Scholarship and other programs that embrace their mission “to advance international education and access to education worldwide.” Each year Autodesk hosts these women for an entire day and provides mentorship along with exposure to design, leadership and product-oriented workshops. Autodesk is one of their first stops during their 6 week Silicon Valley trip and these women spend the entire day learning about topics like leadership to product design. You3Dit for the second year has participated with Autodesk and works with their top-employees to help facilitate these workshops–illustrating the power and capability of 3D printing to transform manufacturing with a talk co-founder & CEO Chris McCoy gives entitled “iManufacture” (Download the PDF of the iManufacture talk from TechWomen
And we’re off…SFmototype has begun!
What did you do last Saturday? We kicked off the first of it’s kind, 3D Design and Prototyping challenge for motorcyclists, enthusiasts and pretty much anyone who can sketch their motorcycle ideas on paper. BuildTak–a 3D printer build platform manufacturer and SFmototype Sponsor–made these beautiful custom 3D printing surfaces for our Type A Machines Series 1 Pros and Printrbot Simple Metals that are on display at SF Moto (275 8th Street, San Francisco, 10a-6pm) Last Saturday, September 10th, we had the official kickoff of our first ever SFmototype Design and Prototyping challenge–where for 45 days, err, 40 days now–people have the opportunity to sketch out on paper, napkin, envelope, whatever…a concept related to motorcycles and submit it to our SFmototype competition. If their concept considered to be the best by a panel of expert judges, they can win a number of prizes: A motorcycle 3D printers CAD training Shop Training and much much more… We had an amazing set of panelists
SFmototype – an all-new retail experience for motorcycle enthusiasts
It all started back in June 2016 with a “hey, what if we did this…” Now, we’re giving away motorcycles, 3D printers, CAD software licenses and more to those who enter to win and participate in what we’re calling “SF Mototype”. Why? Because we believe everyone has untapped creativity that can be unleashed through Computer Aided Design (CAD) and 3D printing. On September 10th, we’ll kickoff this all-new retail experience where for 45 days, anyone can become their own motorcycle part / component creator. Yes…anyone. At the end of these 45 days, panels of experts will evaluate each submission and prizes* will be awarded to concepts, designs and fabrications which really engender the spirit of this event: anyone should be able to create and build their own motorcycle parts and components…a.k.a. mototypes. You3Dit and SF Moto have teamed up with a number of industry collaborators to enable people to Make Anything, Anywhere (see partners / sponsors below). HERE’S HOW THE PROCESS WORKS: 1. You have an idea
read more SFmototype – an all-new retail experience for motorcycle enthusiasts
You3Dit Logo Design Competition – Summer 2014
Hello You3Dit Design Team, We have a Design Competition for you! We need your help designing a 3D printable object based on our current logo! We’re looking for this to be easily 3D printable and small enough to give away. Here’s the logo file and creativity will go a long way here!! Winner will get $25 credit to print objects in our network! https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/3646162930/0f55d82c22e501408ca7fc23f78c7af0.jpeg Rules: 1) The design should be easily 3D printed – see our articles relating to design for 3D printing. 2) Should be designed using common 3D printing materials 3) All designs for submission should be submitted by August 15th 2014 @ 17h00 PST in the form of an STL file. 4) Any questions can be directed to: info@You3Dit.com 5) Have fun! We’ll announce the winner in our August 2014: Make Anything, Anywhere Newsletter. Sign up for the newsletter now if you’re not already subscribed: (right on the homepage: http://you3dit.com/) If you have any further questions about the competition, please let us know! We’ll
Slick Rock Trail, Mountain Biking in MOAB, Utah, U.S.A.
It seems we’re all in the game for finding the best camera angle for our GoPros and ContourHD cameras. In our limited experience here, we’ve found that a “fixed reference” with moving scenery in the background really makes for a cool camera angle, but we don’t always have a way to the camera to our mountain bikes, motorcycles, etc. For our mountain bike ride in Moab, Utah, we were looking to get a camera down low enough so we could see the terrain of the trail and also stay out of the way of our rider’s legs while they pedaled. So as you’ll see in the video below, we designed and 3D printed a mount to attach to the universal water bottle mount. It’s a quick set up and made for some cool camera angles. The chest-perspective was filmed with a GoPro and the front wheel perspective was filmed with the 3D printed mount and an old school ContourHD which
read more Slick Rock Trail, Mountain Biking in MOAB, Utah, U.S.A.
HD camera mounts for your skateboard
Although it was some time ago, Chris—our co-founder—had the opportunity to work with Fox News and the founders of Z-Boards electric skateboards to film a news story on their company. As part of that story, action shots were needed of the skateboards and they needed to be made quickly. Utilizing Solidworks 2011 and a Makerbot Replicator 2 from the TechShop in SF, both the design and print were completed within a couple of hours. The design leverages two mechanical clamping springs to pinch the skateboard deck and a through hole to w/a countersink / counterbore hole to accommodate the ¼-20 screw head. The story was covered by Michelle Macaluso from Fox News and we were happy we could assist in some quality news-worthy film. For details on the solid model and photos, check out Chris’s blog. You can watch the Fox News Segment at this link. Also, you can download the Skateboard Clamp from Thingiverse.com Don’t know how to get
Hospitals suck…but one You3Dit Maker found a way to improve them
No one likes to be in a hospital, no one. However, Joan–amidst the pain of her surgery–made the most of her unfortunate situation and came up with this brilliant idea for hospital beds–a cable routing tool! Her request (written from her hospital bed using her smartphone) was: Subject: “Invention Need” Body: “Using a Styrofoam cup to manage my IV lines over the bed rail. There MUST be a better way!” Photo Attachment: (see image to the right) While Joan and husband were particularly clever to MacGyver the Styrofoam cup as a temporary solution, there was still a clear need for something better. Thus, You3Dit and its community accepted the design / print challenge…people jumped at the opportunity to help. Enrique–a You3Dit designer–came first to the rescue and had a series of designs that could potentially improve Joan’s cable situation. We were initially a little concerned with the curved bar not being universal enough so we had Enrique propose some alternative
read more Hospitals suck…but one You3Dit Maker found a way to improve them
You3Dit helped me quit smoking! Seriously!
Well that’s at least our goal with one Maker in our community. Amine–a San Francisco Resident–would like to quit smoking. But as anyone who’s ever tried to kick the habit knows, it’s not easy and for many reasons. One of which is the standard pack of smokes has 20 cigarettes–always begging to be smoked when the urge hits. Well, what if you’re brilliant like our Maker Amine and said, “wait, what if I could make a pack of cigarettes that only holds 15 cigarettes, then 10, and then 8, and then 5…and finally 1 or 2?” If the smoker only has access to a few cigarettes when they’re trying to quit, the assumption is that they’ll be able to kick the craving and NOT fall weak to the temptation–because the cigarettes won’t be in their possession. Currently, we’re still in the design phases but we’re looking for 3D printers who would be interested in helping us bring Amine’s idea to life.
The Wobbly Table Wedge
Update 2020:
Now called the Wedgie(TM), you can buy these online through the You3Dit Shop: https://shop.you3dit.com/collections/am-products/products/the-wedgie-tm
Give the best Wedgie anyone could ever get!
Original Story:
Back in late 2012, Chris designed and printed a solution to one of his largest pet peeves–a wobbly cafe or bar table. The beauty is in its simplicity. Combining a simple wedge with an integrated clip so that the wedge can easily pop off your key ring and be used to make your table stable.
Read more here at http://www.3dgeni.us/six-of-the-best-key-chain-accessories/
Or download the “Wobbly Table Wedge” on Thingiverse.com: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:32289
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