Getting Started with MakerBot

Ready to join the personal fabrication movement? This hands-on book shows you how to make a wide variety of physical objects with the amazing MakerBot 3D printer.

It’s handy when you need a replacement for something lost, broken, or no longer made—like a knob on your stove. You can make things instead of buying them, or solve problems with inventions of your own. The possibilities are endless, and MakerBot is the fun, affordable, and inspiring way to go. 

Get started with your own little factory today!

• Set up your MakerBot Replicator 2 and understand how it works
• Learn the basics and print 10 useful objects right away
• Make objects with sturdy yet biodegradable PLA
• Get examples of real-world problem solving, from ceiling hooks to hermit crab shells
• Choose from thousands of free designs on Thingiverse.com—and share your own
• Repurpose disposable products by making them part of your design
• Design your own 3D objects, using SketchUp, Autodesk 123D, OpenSCAD, and other tools
• Use 3D scanning technology to replicate real objects around you

About the Authors

Bre Pettis is a founder of Makerbot, a company that produces robots that make things. Bre is also a founder of NYCResistor, a hacker collective in Brooklyn. Besides being a TV host and Video Podcast producer, he's created new media for Etsy.com, hosted Make: Magazine's Weekend Projects podcast, and has been a schoolteacher, artist, and puppeteer. Bre is passionate about invention, innovation, and all things DIY.

Anna Kaziunas France teaches the "how to make (almost) anything" rapid prototyping course in digital fabrication at the Fab Academy at AS220. She is also the Dean of Students for the Global Fab Academy program. She wears many hats and has worked as an information architect, user experience designer, usability specialist, interaction designer, experimental fabricator, artist and teacher. She loves Providence, Rhode Island and is in the process of scanning and printing it.

Jay Shergill (MakerBlock) is a blogger, maker, and tinkerer who explores 3D printing and design. He's shared his 3D printing knowledge on his own blog, and also posts regularly on the MakerBot blog.