Tag Archives: kids
Top 3D Printing Headlines Last Week: Stocks Up, Baby Spoons, Boot Camp
A roundup of the top news On 3D Printing brought you from November 26 to December 2.
Monday, November 26
Tuesday, November 27
Wednesday, November 28
Thursday, November 29
Sunday, December 2
- Top 3D Printing Stocks Up 10%, Combined Market Cap Now Over $5 Billion
- MIT Team Uses 3D Printing to Invent the Smarter Baby Spoon
This Print Shop photo by tombothetominator used under Creative Commons license.
Pimp My Fisher-Price: 3D Printing Rock Tunes on Vinyl Records
With iPods and iPads today, most kids probably don’t even know what a “record” is. Back in 1971, vinyl was the medium for listening to music, and Fisher-Price naturally sold a kids record player which would produce sound by reading plastic discs. The only songs available on this player were kids’ songs, of course, until a 3D printing enthusiast figured out how to print his own records.
Instructables user Fred27 detailed his method:
A little while ago I stumbled across an old toy record player made by Fisher Price in the 1970s, and decided that what it really needed was some new tunes. I got thinking about it, reverse engineered the way it was encoded, got out my trusty CNC mill and created an Instructable all about it right here.
I was blown away by the response to it, but I only know of one person who had a goat milling their own. Whilst the mill did a great job (and I explained how to convert your own too), a CNC mill is not the sort of thing that everyone has access too.
So as promised, I decided that a 3D printed version would follow to give more people a chance to get creative. More people have a 3D printer or have access to one. And even if you don’t, once you have the STL file there are plenty of places that will bring your creation to life and mail you a physical copy.
I thought about just adding to my previous Instructable, but to be honest it’s only the music editing side of things that’s the same. Everything else from the file creation to the production is very different. I thought a new Instructable would be neater.
Fred27 actually created his own software to map music to vinyl.
Once you have the CAD file, you can either print on your 3D printer or order from a 3D printing marketplace.
Below is a video of the Fisher Price record player using one of the 3D printed records to play Stairway to Heaven and other tunes.
If you want to buy some of Fred’s records, head over to Shapeways to pick up Stairway to Heaven or Star Wars on a 3D printed record.
Top 3D Printing Headlines Last Week: Kids, Stocks, Suitcases, Fab Labs
A roundup of the top news On 3D Printing brought you from August 6 to August 12.
Monday, August 6
Tuesday, August 7
- 3D Printing On the Go: Portable 3D Printer PopFab Fits in a Suitcase
- Finally, an iPhone Case That Does Something Useful (Opens Beers)
Thursday, August 9
Friday, August 10
- Open-Source 3D Printer Pwdr Takes on MakerBot, Offers New Materials
- Setting Up and Running a Fab Lab: Primer, History, and Recommendations
Saturday, August 11
Sunday, August 12
Fab Lab of the Week: Maker Kids Lab in Toronto
This week’s featured Fab Lab is Maker Kids Lab in Toronto. Maker Kids is a non-profit center that gives kids the space and tools to design and build their own creative projects. From 3D printing to robots, the lab has everything you would expect from a makerspace, just with smaller chairs.
In recent years, the Maker movement has grown exponentially through print publications, web sites, events and community spaces. Collective community workshops known as Hackerspaces or Makerspaces have grown worldwide from 124 in 2009 to over 500 in 2011. We are at the leading edge, providing one of the first kids’ Makerspaces, empowering all kids to be Makers.
We started in 2010 with a summer program and school events. In 2011 we obtained a permanent space and renovated it extensively. Our Makerspace has areas and tools for woodworking, electronics, mechanical creations, 3D printing, programming, art, sewing, and all kinds of other crafting and making. It is a centre for ideas, inspiration and implementation – a resource centre for our community.
Our program relies on a strong volunteer base and mentorship by kids themselves. Our adult collaborators are facilitators for the kids, and also encourage them to seek out resources to learn on their own, and to teach each other. Teenage collaborators help the younger kids as a part of their high school volunteer hours, as well as work on their own projects.
Interwoven with everything we do is our philosophy to honour kids’ own creativity and trust their abilities. Kids who are confident in their own abilities are capable of learning and doing anything!
Photo credit to Ponoko, who visited Maker Kids this past week and posted some photos from their trip.
Bring Children’s Books Alive: 3D Printing The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a classic children’s book originally published in 1969 and enjoyed by kids across the world.
3D printing marketplace i.materialise hosted a contest for designers to create their favorite storybook character. The winner was design firm timeRemapper who depicted Carle’s caterpillar laid up on a couch after too much pizza.
The winning design was 3D printed by i.materialise.
