Custom 3D Printed Designs With Makerbot’s Customizer

custom

Although having a 3D printer means you can create custom object of your own design, that doesn’t change the fact that most object printed on Makerbots and RepRaps are copies, or slight derivations, of already existing object. If you need a gear, just go grab an OpenSCAD file for a gear, and a custom smart phone case can be easily made by modifying an already existing one. The problem with this approach, though, is you’ll need to learn OpenSCAD or another 3D design tool. Enter the Makerbot Customizer, a web app that allows you to create custom versions of other people’s work right in your browser.

The idea behind Customizer is simple: someone creates an OpenSCAD file with a few variables like the number of teeth on a gear or the number of turns on a screw. Customizer takes this OpenSCAD file, puts sliders and radio buttons on a web page, and allows you to create custom objects based on user-created templates.

Already we’ve seen a lot of Hackaday readers send in some pretty cool customizable things, like [Bryan]’s coil form for DIY inductors and [Greg]’s customizable PVC pipe couplers. If you already know OpenSCAD, it’s easy to create your own objects that are customizable by anyone on the Internet.

14 thoughts on “Custom 3D Printed Designs With Makerbot’s Customizer

  1. I just got started with openscad and its easy to create thing, you have to get used in the logic used (binary add/remove forms to get a certain form). Once you get the hang of it you can create cool things.

    Some guys at our hackerspace tkkrlab made 3D Tube Socket with sketchup. I made a customizable openscad script for this http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:45564

    See also : http://hackaday.com/2013/01/15/3d-printing-vacuum-tube-sockets/

  2. Why even bother posting this Brian? By now we are supposed to believe that the majority of HAD readers will not have anything to do with Makerbot or Thingiverse. ;) Looks interesting, a bookmark added to my workshop bookmark category.

    1. Well, you know about Thingiverse, but you didn’t know about this.

      You like the post, but wouldn’t have known about unless HAD posted it, and then complained it was pointless that they did,

      Fascinating.

  3. Do all of the customisations still show up in the ‘Newest’ list and the RSS feed?

    One new item, and 3254 ‘new’ variations…

    “Oh look, it’s that thing again but with someone else’s name. Marvellous!”

  4. I enjoy MakerBot’s push to help the new masses who prefer not to code their models. It will really bring in many more creative people who don’t have time for OpenSCAD programming.

  5. The fact that this offering got a post and 3D Systems’ more polished and earlier released offering did not does not help the appearance that HaD is turning into more and more of a marketing tool than a place to revel in the innovation of humans in a crunch.

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