Recently I chatted with Shapeways co-founder and CEO Peter Weijmarshausen for the Downtown Podcast. Ultimate fangirl moment for me! We talked factories of the future, entrepreneurship, and shared our own personal 3D printing anecdotes.
My thanks to Peter for making time for us in his busy schedule when he was in Las Vegas.
Q:Why Blender and not Sketchup? Great Blog BTW!
When I attended college I learned Lightwave, but I can’t justify spending a large sum of money to use it for 3D printing. It also has the tendency to leave holes in your meshes if you’re not too careful with modifiers, and I had little success repairing these in Meshlab.
After testing out Sketchup, Blender, Wings3D, Inventor Fusion, 123D Design, Tinkercad, and Rhinoceros (also a favourite of the bunch), in the end Blender ‘clicked’ with me the most. My only gripe is the lack of convenient measuring tools. I’ve tried some plugins to help out with that, but haven’t found anything that handles measurements perfectly in regards to 3D printing. Perhaps I should learn python ;)
I assume Sketchup is your tool of choice?
Thanks for checking out my blog!
Sneak peek of my fangirl interview with Peter Weijmarshausen, co-founder and CEO of Shapeways. He stopped by Las Vegas hackerspace SYN Shop to chat 3D printing for the Downtown Podcast. Thoughtful and inspiring man.
Q:How are you liking your Printrbot?
I am really loving it! I obsessed over the calibration of it for almost three weeks straight. I had such a blast fiddling and fine tuning it. I’m not done but am happy with the general print accuracy for now.
The price of it ($399) definitely lowered my expectations of its capability before it arrived, but honestly I’ve been so pleasantly surprised at what it’s been able to print so far! Exceeded all of my expectations without a doubt. Kick ass.
I have’t printed anything in a week or so, so this long weekend I’m definitely going to be finding some really cool things to print for sure ^__^
I saw that you were thinking of getting one, and creating/printing cool accessories for your chair! Dude if you do be sure to share your creations on your tumblr, I am following you :D
‘belonging’ is a word that means less and less each day
But women were hired as computer programmers in the 1940s because the work seemed to resemble simple clerical tasks. In fact, however, programming demanded complex skills in abstract logic, mathematics, electrical circuitry, and machinery, all of which … women used to perform in their work.
Once programming was recognized as “intellectually demanding,” it became attractive to men. (Donato 1990, 170)
The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories arrived!
(✿ ♥‿♥)
My first pumpkin carving experience!
Hugo came to stay for the weekend again!


