Paper Bits

Aug 1

“When a maker/hacker buys something, it’s an entirely different attitude that a “regular” consumer. For the most part, a “regular” consumer wants to get the best deal on whatever they are buying, and they want it to “just work”. Yeah sure, us makers/hackers want the device to “just work” also, but we also want to know how and why it works. If we have full documentation, schematics, tutorials, and access to forums, we can fully understand what we own. And then once we understand it, we can fix, modify, hack it to our needs.”

A word about open source hardware | The Custom Geek

I’m always uncomfortable with the “oh, regular people want this, but we are special” formula, but still find this (and the rest of the article) spot on.

Jun 25

Folding Unit System - Poster/Shelves by watsdesign - Thingiverse

A scalable, folding shelf system: download the files, adjust them to your intended material and design, and have them laser cut. Elegant.

Nov 22

Z Axis Extender Kit for Makerbot Cupcake by Zydac - Thingiverse

Here we have a hardware upgrade that significantly modifies the capabilities of an open-source robotic 3D printer. Which is designed to be printed on that printer. And is uploaded to a social-software site for sharing fabricatable designs, forking them, and resubmitting improvements.

Let’s say that again: this is a downloadable hardware upgrade for an affordable robot that can fabricate its own components. Which I am linking to, because it’s been shared on a kind of Flickr for fabricatable objects.

If that isn’t mind-blowing, I don’t think I can unpack it in a way that catalogs why it’s amazing.