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MakerBot Cupcake 3d Printer

Before getting into the substance of the post, here is a quick explanation of digital fabrication:

Digital Fabrication is the capability to take a digital representation of a concept (e.g. a picture in Photoshop, a vector illustration in CorelDraw, or a 3D model in Blender) and, use digital fabrication equipment (laser cutters, 3d printers, desktop CNC mills, etc) to translate that concept into a physical object. You could, for example, design a display case in CorelDraw, send the design to a laser cutter and precisely cut the pieces in wood and acrylic. A detailed explanation of Digital Fabrication (aka fabbing, rapid prototyping, desktop manufacturing, personal fabrication, etc) can be found [here]. (Oops. Surprisingly, I was not able to find a solid, detailed explanation of digital fabrication – including Wikipedia – guess I’ll work on that next.) An interesting primer on fabbing is here.
Though Digital Fabrication has been around for years the equipment has been cost prohibitive for the maker community (individuals and small groups of geeks, needs, hackers, crafters, artists, small businesses, etc. – reminds of that line from the office secretary in Ferris Bueller). Fab Labs are great but the laser cutter in a Fab Lab costs over $15,000, the 3D printer costs $30,000 plus (over-priced) materials and the ShopBot is another $15,000. Using open source and low-cost fabrication equipment it is now possible to set up a functional Home or Small Business Fab Lab equivalent for as little as $5,000 (desktop – laser cutter, 3d printer, cnc mill plus computer w/ software) and this price will likely continue to drop in part due to projects like Cupcake .

It is really not possible to overstate the significance of bringing digital fabrication equipment to the desktop (desktop = small & affordable) – you can (or, in the near future, will be able to) take your concept and quickly Design, Test, and Build (DTB) it (short production runs, at least). In other words, if you have an idea for a product and you have the know-how to create your product; lack of capital won’t be your road block or your excuse for not getting it done. Historically if you wanted to create a product you needed to find a design firm with the necessary technology to create your prototype ($$). Then, once you have the prototype you need to find a manufacturer to actually build your product ($$$) – setup fees, minimum quantity requirements, etc. meant significant up-front capital without really knowing whether the product is viable. When all was said and done, you were probably looking at a year or more of preparations, design, manufacturing and out-of-pocket costs. While this process is not going to change overnight, low-cost and open source digital fabrication opens the door to rapid product development for the masses. Once you have an actual – physical, tangible and working – product you can actually determine whether people want to buy it or if it is viable for whatever purpose you have in mind. Once you’ve demonstrated that your product is viable then it may make sense to make the investment to hire a design firm to improve your design or a manufacturer to scale/reduce the cost of your production – but this takes place after you’ve proven product viability. This ‘fail fast, fail cheap’ model is common for web (software) startups – get your product out quickly, find out if people want it, revise/abandon/improve it. Digital fabrication is kind of like the Golden Gate Bridge for product development – it gets you over the early, rough terrain quickly and inexpensively.

Cupcake is an open source CNC 3D Printer – you can source the parts yourself or purchase a complete kit for $750. Cupcake is a variant of the open source RepRap project and utilizes the Sanguino variant of the open source Arduino project. That is probably more detail than necessary but – in other words – Cupcake is at the bleeding edge of open source digital fabrication. Though the current iteration of Cupcake is not ready for industrial use it is important for several reasons:

1. It is a real 3d printer – you can design objects using the 3D modeling program of your choice Sketchup, AutoCad, Blender, etc. and produce tangible 3D objects. The skills learned working with Cupcake are directly transferable to higher end digital fabrication equipment.
2. It is completely open source – you can modify the physical shape, the software, the extruder, any aspect of it, to suit your needs or as an educational exercise. Cupcake can not only print using ABS plastic (the plastic of Lego bricks) it can also print cupcake frosting (hence the name). Here is a recent video of Cupcake performing on the Jimmy Fallon show. (there is a link to the video in the comments section)
3. Because Cupcake is useful, fun, hackable and affordable (but not yet industrial caliber) it is what I’d classify as a social technology. Makers will be drawn to it not only for educational purposes but for social purposes – Maker Parties – where people hang out, drink beer, wine, pop, chat and make stuff. Think Pampered Chef for geeks. In the process an army of makers will get exposed to the possibilities opened though digital fabrication and they will get trained on how to actually use the stuff. Fun plus education = killer app.
4. Within two years Cupcake (or a variant) will be mature enough for industrial use.

In other words, Cupcake is practical, educational and most importantly, fun. Cupcake (or a variant) will be the first killer app and the by-product will be a large contingent of trained fabbers. Though I’m a fan of Fab Labs they are too expensive to have the same type of pervasive impact.  I’ve ordered most of the electronic and mechanical parts and I’m laser cutting the housing using materials of my choice (antique 1/4″ plywood in this case).  I was hoping to have my printer up and running in time for Ingenuity but with parts back-ordered (due to surging popularity) and such, I don’t see it happening. Instead, I’m offering to run a Cupcake “class” where interested parties can gather, learn the essential skills (soldering, installing a bootloader, etc). A complete Cupcake kit costs $750 (if you can get one) and has all the parts needed to build a functional printer. Modeling software to design the objects you want to print is available in commercial, educational and open source flavors, depending on your preference.  The class will be free (to audit) or have a nominal cost (for hands on) – materials and equipment will be provided and you don’t need to buy a Cupcake kit (but bring it if you have it).

Building Cupcake is a fairly involved process including assembling the frame and moving parts, the extruders (one for ABS plastic and one for cake frosting (really)), surface mount soldering, some programming, 3d modeling (to have something to actually print). But if you are interested in digital fabrication, rapid prototyping, 3d printing, etc., this is a great way to get involved. Depending on the level of interest, I will need to find a place for this to take place. Other cities have facilities for projects like this – there is TechShop in SF and Portland, the Resistor hackerspace in NY City, The Fuse Factory in Columbus, OH, Hack Pittburgh in Pittsburgh, AS220 in Providence, and I’ve read that a Techshop may open in Detroit. Cleveland is behind the curve here – one Fab Lab at a community college, an hour away, with restricted lab hours is not enough. A dedicated fabrication center – full of equipment (saws, lasers, 3d printers, CNC, electroplating, metal-forming, etc.) and offering frequent classes – would rock!

The 20th century saw the emergence of low-cost, home-use tools like table saws, band saws, and routers. In the 21st century the list will grow to include laser cutters, 3d printers, desktop CNC mills and yet to be determined precision digital machinery. The means of production is coming soon to your desktop…Get Ready!

A recent Financial Times article covered the DIY (Do It Yourself) culture and Cupcake!

Let me know if you are interested… If there is interest, I will follow-up with a time/date/etc  for the class.

Rick at makergear dot com

Last 5 posts by Rick Pollack

• Open Fabrication - Part III - November 12th, 2009
• Open Source Digital Fabrication - Part II - August 11th, 2009
• The Desktop Manufacturing Revolution (Fast Company) - July 15th, 2009
• Would you like to be able to do this? - July 14th, 2009
• WTF??? - December 11th, 2008

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