May is for Makers
Meet new employee Matt!
He recently joined the Proto-pasta team and brings production experience and plenty of enthusiasm. A hands-on, self-learner, he is new to 3D Printing but is already very comfortable with the technology. In joining the Maker Community, he has found his people!!!
Having never been to a Maker Faire, we decided to take a last-minute road trip from Portland, Oregon to San Mateo, CA and introduce Matt to Maker Faire. What a great opportunity to catch up with fans and partners in the 3D Printing community! Eyes wide open and jaw hanging in awe, Matt was overwhelmed by the many amazing 3D printers, CNCs, electronics, robots, weird vehicles and fire.
Yes, this was his utopia…here are a couple highlights from our visit to Bay Area Maker Faire:
Everyone loves big prints! One of the first things we saw in the 3D tent was the Gigabot 3D Printer. Kickstarter funded, this machine has a 24” cube build area! Epic!!!
This may be the future of 3D Printing technology. The pasta-bilities are truly endless with the capability to print with multiple colors and materials from a single extruder printer. Pictured is a dual material print of a transparent gear reinforced with a Proto-pasta Carbon Fiber PLA inner structure. Chris at Mosaic said this gear is a Discovery Channel star! Cheers to another Kickstarter funded project!!!
We couldn’t help but notice the impressive Ultimaker display in the Maker Shed tent. The Ultimaker 2 has a clean look with precise 0.02 mm layer resolution and a highly acclaimed user experience. Special thanks to Ultimaker for letting us test drive one!
Some things at Maker Faire are just plain terrifying. This year, google armed a robot with a knife! Luckily it was contained behind protective glass!!! The arm’s main action was to perform Bishop’s knife between the fingers trick from the 1979 movie, Alien.
At first glance, this is Origami with tape, but the amount of time and effort that went into their Maker Faire display alone must have taken an army of artists. As I could never explain this, see for yourself in this photo.
Now who doesn’t want to have a giant mechanical suit to defend the planet with? Well, thanks to Megabots, we’re getting much closer. This 15-foot tall robot boasts 2 huge air cannons and is completely mobile. Megabots is working to create a new sport where giant robots fight each other, which I hope will dominate our current world of entertainment!
This was an amazing first experience at Maker Faire and it will not be Matt’s last. He sincerely enjoyed chatting with the many passionate Makers and can’t wait to see what’s new next year. As we left the fairgrounds for the day, he couldn't help but look back at what might be the happiest place on Earth.
Cheers to you Matt! Fellow Makers, use the code MAYISFORMAKERS for $10 off any purchase through Monday, June 1st. Happy Making!!!
