Thanks to a generous 2013 donation by Makerbot, the Public Lab community received ten (10!) Makerbot 3D printers and distributed them amongst our most active chapters.

We are planning to use the Makerbots primarily for prototyping open source tool designs and printing parts for these tools. We already have designs and prototype prints of many of the following examples.

• Aerial mapping gear:

  • Redstone Rig: A camera rig optimized for balloon mapping with small cameras. Easily configurable for kites and for mapping or oblique photography. Designed for use with Picavet (kites) or pendulum (kite or balloon).
  • Titan 2 rig: A dual camera rig ideal for two-camera NIR/VIS systems. Easily configurable for kites and for mapping or oblique photography. Designed for use with Picavet (kites) or pendulum (kite or balloon).
  • Saturn Rig: A large version of the Redstone for bigger cameras and some control gear or instrument payload.
  • Aerobee Rig: A minimalist rig with no protection for the camera.
  • Picavet: A multi-line suspension system for attaching the camera rig to a kite line.
  • Pendulum: A stiff, hanging suspension for attaching the camera rig to a kite or balloon line. This is not 3D printed, but is designed to attach to the above camera rigs.
  • Hubble Bubble: A lens hood-like housing for any small camera which protects the lens from impacts and lens flare. Ideal for the Aerobee rig.
  • Leg bracket: A bracket for attaching protective legs to camera rigs.
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• Spectrometry gear:

  • Desktop Cuvette: Cuvette holder for the desktop spectrometer. Attaches in front of the slit for absorption or fluorescence spectroscopy.
  • Smartphone spectrometer: Print your own version of the smartphone attachment sold by Public Lab.
  • Mobile Cuvette: Cuvette holder for the smartphone spectrometer. Attaches in front of the slit for absorption or fluorescence spectroscopy.
  • Spectrometer attachment for a digital SLR camera
  • Fluorescence rig: Holds a cuvette and a laser in front of the slit.
  • Ebert 3D: Add a slit, a grating, and a Powershot camera for spectra like you've never seen.
  • Model X: A smartphone spectrometer for a specific phone.
  • Go Big Mobile: Increase the distances between the grating and slit for optimal smartphone spectral resolution.
  • Flare Mount: attaches a desktop spectrometer to a tripod.
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• Thermal flashlight
  • Enclose your thermal flashlight in a housing to protect and enhance.
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• Water Quality

  • Housing component for instrument enclosure (the RIFFLE)
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The model of the Public Lab 3D printers is the MakerBot Replicator 1. This model was released in January 2012, and is completely open source. It has two extruders and a heated 225 mm × 145 mm × 150 mm build plate. They are very capable printers with a high DIY component -- much attention and practice are required to keep them printing well.

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The current locations of the Public Lab printers are below. We hope to make these available to people in these areas working with Public Lab tools. Please get in touch if you are interested in helping with the care and feeding of these bots. Contact information and maintenance logs for each printer are here.

• Public Lab office, Propeller Workspace, 4035 Washington Ave, New Orleans, LA (3 printers)
• Picayune, MS
• Geography Department, University of Kentucky
• Public Lab office, Brooklyn, NY, Former Pfizer building, 630 Flushing Avenue
• Public Lab office, Pirate Ship, Sommerville, MA
• HackrFarm/University of Massachusetts
• LEAFFEST HQ, Salisbury, VT
• Public Lab retail fulfillment center, Portland, OR