Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
How Did MakerBot begin?
In 2007 Bre Pettis and Zach Smith helped organize the NYC Resistor hack-
erspace in Brooklyn, NY to create a place for hackers, makers, and like-
minded tinkerers. Armed with a great space and a shopful of tools, it wasn't
long before the two friends got involved with the open-source RepRap
project.
A RepRap is a self-replicating machine. The RepRap Project is an open source
community project intended to spread the idea of home manufacturing to
the masses. It was among the first home 3D printers. It's a machine that's
designed from as many off-the-shelf parts as possible. And it's also designed
to make parts to make more of itself. This may boggle the mind and conjure
images from Terminator movies, but the fact is, these robots are cute and
thankfully, they don't have artificial intelligence.
It took a lot of trial and error to get their RepRap to work for even a few mi-
nutes. They thought they could design a machine that is more reliable and
wouldn't just be focused on making parts for more 3D printers, but that could
make anything.
In January of 2009 Adam Mayer, a programmer and another member of NYC
Resistor got involved in the project. The trio quit their jobs, acquired the do-
main name “makerbot.com” and Makerbot was born. They started proto-
typing a machine using mainly off the shelf parts and the tools they had at
hand, including NYC Resistor's 35 watt laser cutter.
In those early months, they worked at NYC Resistor and often stayed up for
days at a time, creating prototype after prototype. After many late ramen-
and caffeine-fueled nights, their first machine, the “Cupcake CNC” came to
life. They wanted to launch at SXSW, and got the first prototype actually
working at 8am on March 9, 2009 just two hours before their flight. With their
“trusty” prototype, they printed dodecahedron-shaped shotglasses at vari-
ous bars around Austin for as many geeks as possible. It wasn't long before
the orders for CupCake kits started rolling in.
