Maker Faire New York: Fueling My 3D Fantasies

I’ve been fantasizing about getting a 3D printer. I don’t think my husband realized how serious I am about wanting one until he saw me (and our 8-year-old daughter) drooling over the entire 3D printing section at Maker Faire New York.

The first question is what printer to get. Maker Faire had booth after booth of 3D printers in tons of different shapes and sizes. MakerBot has evolved into a sleek, beautiful device that looks totally pro. (And did you know there’s a MakerBot store in Manhattan? I must make a field trip downtown.)

There’s something to be said, though, for all of the smaller companies making 3D printers and printer kits. A couple of the preassembled options that caught my eye are the Solidoodle, which starts at $499, and the Litto, which starts at $999 (add $300 for the assembly). Both are open-source and have small desktop footprints. I have to say, though, I was most intrigued by BotBuilder. Making a printer from a kit on my own sounds like pressure, but BotBuilder offers weekend workshops where you walk away with your finished printer. The workshop, including printer, is $999. I love the idea of building with a community of builders, plus the workshop offers the security that you’re doing it right and in a set amount of time. When you’re finished, you’re also better equipped to troubleshoot your printer.

The next question is what I would make with it once I had it. There are three things I fantasize about most:

• Game Pieces: I’m a game designer and I want to inspire my kids to design their own games as well. Making our own game pieces would add a nice level of professionalism.
• Jewelry: Every year at Maker Faire I end up coming home with 3D-printed jewelry. Why not try my own?
• Party supplies: We throw oddball parties and we’d love to make the things that we can’t find, like cake-toppers, or party favors, or what I dream of most, custom cookie cutters. I’d like to be the mom that brings the narwhal cookies to the party.

Of course, Maker Faire New York had no shortage of great ideas for 3D printing. Here are some of my favorites.

Mixee Labs caught my eye with these adorable Mii-like figures that you create at Mixeelabs.com. You customize your figure using their online software, then for $25 you get it mailed to you. 3D printing has a certain low-tech look to it, but these were something different. They look adorable, totally unique in the 3D printing space, and they feel great to hold, too.

Mixee Labs is also making molecule jewelry that I love. You can customize the material (nylon plastic, stainless steel, silver, and gold-plated brass), the size, and the molecule. Some of the molecules include estrogen, adrenaline, nicotine, and Xanax. I have a pink plastic caffeine molecule that I’ve been wearing often.

Another set of portraits caught my eye, from The Great Fredini’s Coney Island Scan-A-Rama. Outside of Maker Faire, you can visit this photo booth on Saturdays in Coney Island. Portraits range from $60-$100 depending on the number of people in them, and the final result is lovely. In fact, while I was at their table, a couple was being scanned to get a portrait that they are planning to use as the cake topper on their wedding cake.

I had read about the maker classes at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and it was cool to see some of the results from those classes in person. The Met enables teens to take scans of the collections and remix them in new and unusual ways. I love this head attached to a Pez dispenser, by far the classiest Pez dispenser I’ve seen.

Minecraft fans will be particularly keen on this next one. Blokify provides kid-friendly software that lets kids build digitally with building blocks. Once they’re satisfied with their creation, they can send it to a digital printer to make a castle, tower, or anything else they can imagine.

I saw a bunch of other inspiring creations, like robot sculptures, handy objects to windup your earbuds or rest your phone in, toys, and household items, even a toilet-paper dispenser! Maker Faire offered a great glimpse into the possibilities of 3D printing at home. I can’t wait to see the leaps and bounds that 3D printing makes at each Maker Faire. And, more than that, I can’t wait to have a 3D printer of my very own.