[FashionRatty] tag: ponoko

Dinos Getting all Existential at Boston Fablabs

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 08:49:02 +0000

Just had to post this great bit of laser engraving from Danny at Boston Fablabs:

Dr. Egon Spangler famously stated in Ghostbusters, “Print is dead”. Extinct or not, one cannot deny the appeal of a good hardback and with Danny’s enhancements, even more so. Perhaps in the future Ponoko might offer blank books for engraving, or Cafepress might offer engraving on its journals?

If you’re not familiar with Fablabs, Make’s post on Danny’s book includes a good synopsis.
via Make

Laptop Stands Summarised by The Closet Entrepreneur

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 12:08:40 +0000

Tomas Carrillo has published a .pdf source for his cardboard laptop stand along with some great discussion of the pros and cons and comparison with a couple of other designs, both open and proprietary.

Although he missed out Dan’s Ponoko offering:

As every self-respecting maker should, Tomas has put up an Instructable on the design too. It would be great to see this up for sale through Ponoko, given that cardboard cutting has arrived on the scene!

I must say that the desire for a laptop stand is one that has passed me by, but there seems to be a tremendous demand for them. But then I am typing this with my chilled hands reaching awkwardly up to my laptop keyboard…
via Make

Adelaide Thinker in Residence

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 18:36:45 +0000

Adelaide Thinkers in Residence brings world-leading thinkers to live and work in Adelaide to assist in the strategic development and promotion of South Australia.
Last night was the inaugural presentation by Adelaide’s 15th Thinker in Residence Dr. Genevieve Bell. Dr Genevieve Bell is an anthropologist and ethnographer with both an academic and industry background. Her research has provided considerable insight to the importance of culture in the adoption and adaptation of technology. She is currently the Director of User Experience in Intel Corporation’s Digital Home Group in the United States.

Her presentation looked at the ways technology effects culture and some of more unexpected observations of trends of technology use and misuse around the world, especially in regard to mobile, and social networks. In future posts I will try and delve in to get a little more detail and maybe even get Genevieve’s take on the Ponoko network.

Keep an eye on sastories for more.

Fingerhut, Machine Gun Rack

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 06:49:34 +0000

Designer Stuart Fingerhut from the Art Center College of Design has come up with an organizer/rack unit designed to be mounted by the door to hold your keys, mail and coat etc. Features a machine gun with a girl swinging on the barrel and a flock of birds flocking in the distance.

Key’s hang off the birds, gun or girl swinging. Pieces can be arranged for more or less shelf space or to sit closer to the wall. It’s both art and functional design.

Available in black or white acrylic.

$99.99 at his Ponoko Store, bargain.

dimensions: 18″ wide x 10.5″ tall x 1.25″ deep
According to his Ponoko profile his favorite materials are Lead, Uranium, Rhombidium, and Tanzinite.
What about our old friend Mercury?

Check out more of his impressive portfolio on his site.

Kinda Via Designspotter

Ponoko set to launch another world first

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 05:57:39 +0000

Over the past year since we launched, our users have shown the world is ready for a reinvention in the way goods are designed, made and distributed.

They have gone from pure ideas to prototypes (within 5 days) to finished products (within 10 days) to first customers (within 16 days) to major design store retailers within less than 2 months.

And the really amazing thing is that they did this with a few mouse clicks from home. They completely avoided the high risk, high cost, frustrating and time consuming process that brings goods to market traditionally.

The world’s first manufacturing-as-a-service (MaaS) offering?
So in the next part of our evolution we’re launching a new innovation that we’ve named Designmake Prime - an online subscription service to design, make and market your product ideas like never before.

With Prime, we see a world where you can subscribe at a fixed monthly rate to make (and market) the creations of your dreams. It gives users a range of new services not offered by our original Designmake Free service.

Prime goes live in 10 hours: FREE 30-day subscription for the first 100!
You can sign in to get a look at it here. And if you’re fast, the first 100 subscribers will get their first 30-days at no charge.

It’s first steps - and we’re super excited!

Because We Can Make Flat Pack Xmas Trees

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 10:25:44 +0000

Xmas is fast approaching and it is time to start thinking about xmas trees, presents and office parties.

Because We Can may just be able to help out with 2 of 3 with their Tiny Xmas Trees.
Available in four different designs or the complete set the Tiny Wooden Xmas Trees are made of 100% sustainably harvested American Maple. They stand 2 1/2 feet tall. Perfect for your table decoration! These ship and store flat. Each tree has seven pieces that easily slot together. The Bundle pack is U$120 or U$40 each.

Or perhaps you can try for some other xmas treat in the Ponoko Showroom.

Customize Kermit with a Muppet Modifier

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 06:27:18 +0000

FAO Schwartz is offering you the chance to enhance your own Kermit or Miss Piggy, or any other member of the googly-eyed Muppets gang.

For $90 you can create your own Muppet via the online Muppet Whatnot Workshop, and your customized puppet will be delivered to your door within a few weeks (in the US).
This is another case of option configuration rather than sketching/modeling your own muppet, but it may just make a great xmas gift if you cant find anything that tickles your fancy in the Ponoko Showroom.

Found Via Trend Hunter

Articulated CNC Robots are Kinda Scary

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 17:16:29 +0000

It sounds good in theory, a robot with a CNC head, until you see it working.

There is something deeply creepy about the way an insectoid robot moves, especially if it has a routing bit rotating at 22000 rpm as a head.
Matt Denton AKA: Winchy_Matt from MicroMagic Systems using B.F.Hexapod with an additional floating pen attachment, and a utility to convert DXF files into translation commands for the p.Brain controller, has built a walking CNC router!

The implications of this are huge, and a little scary, perhaps it is the fatalist in me but I can just imagine the robot crawling over a human head and inflicting some unwanted neurosurgery, or perhaps a little trepanning? I am sure there are other applications in the mining industry where these little guy’s could crawl in, drill core samples and crawl out. Or perhaps it could be a way to rescue people trapped in an earthquake type situation, but I keep thinking back to the trepanning….

Worse still if this was incorporated with the BigDog robot, previously mentioned on the Ponoko Blog

via Dave via Boing Boing

Reduced Carbon Footprint Christmas

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:37:51 +0000

We are all looking for ways to reduce our carbon footprint, what with hybrid cars, recycled toilet paper and e-mailed then laser sintered souvenirs to friends back home when on international holidays. With Christmas fast approaching, let’s not send gifts that have been designed in America, manufactured in China with materials from Australia, shipped back to New Zealand and then sent sent to Europe? Let’s reduce the global traffic and use local manufacturers to produce a ‘local’ product.

As previously mentioned on the Ponoko Blog Spanish designer Hector Serrano has developed the Reduced Carbon Footprint Souvenirs so you can email your friends back home personalized souvenirs which they then materialize using a 3D Printer (stereolithography rapid prototyping). No transport or standard production methods are required so the object carbon footprint is reduced to the minimum.

The project questions the way objects are manufactured and new technologies are applied to propose alternatives ways of reducing their impact on the environment. The project becomes specially relevant as the 3D printers are getting smaller and more affordable.

For more from Hector check out his site, or the great interview on the Core77 Podcast.

For more ideas on how you can reduce the carbon footprint of your xmas presents, check out The Ponoko Showroom, ZapFab, Shapeways, Fabjectory, Thinglab etc. etc. etc.

Or check out the Treehugger Xmas Carbon Footprint Post if you need more info..

Illustration Friday Hop Onto the Ponoko Zeitgeist

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:11:53 +0000

Brianna Privett over at the illustrator’s blog Illustration Friday has posted a great account of her experience with Ponoko - most interestingly, her inspiration came from a public domain book, Rambles of an Archaeologist Among Old Books and in Old Places by Frederick William Fairholt. Her showroom pitches her jewellery and other bits and bobs thus:

“Designs from public domain literary works - key fobs from the Wizard of Oz, ring designs from a Victorian anthropology collection, an early Celtic buckle, hair sticks from feather engravings from a book on birdwatching from 1881.”

The designs are available for free at her showroom here. A great synergy of public domain artwork and digital manufacturing, thus creating public domain objects!

via Illustration Friday