sugru

3D printing + sugru = precision rubber parts [+ free sugru for the best ideas]

Mon, 13 May 2013 19:56:00 +0100

There are loads of exciting developments in digital fabrication and new materials, and 3D printing in particular is laying down the foundations for an exciting future for manufacturing.

So we're super excited to see you engineers and designers in the community starting to use sugru as a desktop manufacturing material for prototyping rubber parts - and making them for final products too!

We really want to support you to explore this, so we made this project to test it out for ourselves and show you how well it works...

How to combine 3D printing and sugru to make the most awesome iphone protection ever.

Watch the tutorial to find out how.

Then head on over to Thingiverse to print the mould, or Shapeways to order the print from them. Then bobs your uncle, follow this tutorial video or our step by step guide and in no time at all you'll be making your own.

The beauty of it is that once you have your mold, you can do all your friends and family's phones too.

Free sugru for the very best 3D printing + sugru ideas.

If you think you can push this technique further, we're giving free sugru to the very best ideas.

What would you like to try?

Get in touch in the comments below, or by email with James!

How sugru helped a top aerobatic pilot.

Mon, 13 May 2013 10:48:00 +0100

How sugru helped Lauren, a top aerobatic pilot, get vibration-free footage at 200mph!

Wow! It's not every day that sugru gets put through it's paces at 200mph! But that's exactly what happened a couple of weeks ago when Lauren Richardson got in touch. At 26, she is one of the youngest aerobatic pilots in Britain and was voted best female aerobatic pilot for the 2012 season!

She is sponsored by awesome camera company GoPro, who supply her with cameras that she mounts on different parts of her plane. The video footage helps her evaluate her flying, so good footage is essential.

Lauren is an engineer by trade, so like most sugru'ers she says 'improvising with whatever comes to hand is one of my core skills', but there was one thing she couldn't fix...

"As a competitive flyer I routinely find myself pulling +8g and pushing -4g in rapid succession, so as you can imagine it's quite a harsh environment. So anything on the aeroplane has to be very securely attached and designed to fit. But one of the cameras I fitted to the plane is on the strut between the two wings (on the outside of the aircraft) and continues to cause problems for me. I tried 5 mounting options before sugru, and was still suffering with vibration issues at particular airflow altitudes"

Lauren got her hands on some sugru, hoping that it might be magic fix number 6! We waited hoping it would stand up to the test...

2 weeks later we received this incredible video. The sugru had worked!!

"This is the first time I've achieved vibration free footage - and believe me this is a big deal - the sugru mod works a treat!!"

Here you can see how Lauren has created a clever little sugru fin to the back of the GoPro camera case that absorbs the vibrations. sugru has excellent dampening properties which keeps the camera perfectly steady while Lauren is doing amazing stunts at crazy speeds. (You can see the shaking in this video)

Check out Lauren's website and catch some of her incredible aerobatic displays on Youtube.

For the more technically minded, you might find these charts pretty interesting - they show sugru's dampening properties, which makes Lauren's clever solution possible.

- David

How 3D printers built a replacement hand for a little boy

Thu, 09 May 2013 11:46:00 +0100

Last year, two men living on opposite sides of the world collaborated to create The Robohand Project - a design for a set of mechanical fingers created almost entirely using 3D printers.

Richard Van As (in South Africa) and Ivan Owen (in Washington) started their project after Richard lost 4 fingers in an accident at work.

Following the donation of two 3D printers by MakerBot in January, the project has quickly grown far beyond it's original goal. The designs are now on Thingyverse and free for anyone to download.

Today Richard is contacted by parents all over the world, looking for a more affordable alternative to traditional prosthetics - which can cost over $3,000 and are outgrown by children in just a few months.

After being born without fingers on his right hand, awesome 5 year old Liam (that's him below!) is one of those benefitting. He has been given a new lease of life and is able to move his wrist, pick up and grasp things with both hands!

But there is still much work to be done, and they need your support to get to the people who need this most.

So share their inspiring story with your friends and check out Robohand's Indiegogo campaign.

Capturing the beauty of making through stop animation

Fri, 03 May 2013 10:10:00 +0100

Frank Howarth is a wood maker and architect from Portland, Oregon, who captures the beauty of making in stop animation films.

This 8 minute video takes you on a journey, creating a wood turned segmented walnut and maple bowl - inspired by traditional tapa cloth patterning.

Watch it - It's worth every minute...

- David

Silly marketing

Thu, 02 May 2013 14:58:00 +0100

I need to put something right.

Recently a statement was put out by a PR associate on our behalf that included this sentence:

"sugru’s ease of use actually makes it very attractive for women looking to do the tasks their men have left undone."

It’s not a very 2013 sentiment, and we would never ordinarily say something like that. However, we’ve addressed the issue now with everyone involved and we won't be saying stuff like this again. A statement like this doesn't come out of thin air - the way we work has always been informed by user behaviours, feedback and insights... But something strange happens when a conversation is about 'marketing' and not individuals - people get grouped, and generalisations get made. And it's a shame that gender roles are still so entrenched in society that things like this still get said.

We at sugru want to change a lot of things, and this is one of them. We pride ourselves in innovating in comms, marketing and indeed everything we do - and I promise you, we can do much better than that!

So from now on we'll be careful to make sure everyone working with us understands and supports our values, and that we remember at all times what we stand for!

Love sugru, hate sexism,

Jane.

5 creative ideas to improve your kitchen

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 12:49:00 +0100

Kitchens are the heart and soul of a home. They're where we cook, work, entertain or just relax after a long day.

So here are some ideas to help you get the most out of the busiest room in your home.

1. Solve those everyday problems

Ever burnt your hand on a metal pan handle? Try making a heatproof grip and say goodbye to burnt fingers!

Keep a look out for those everyday problems you've learned to ignore, get out the sugru and find a solution that works for you.

2. Get organised!

Create hooks and grips to store utensils where you need them.

Or organise your pot lids with sugru hooks! (Thanks for the inspiration @Janmey)

3. Bring the tech

Here's a super handy idea to keep your tablet out of harm's way in the kitchen. Now you're free to browse recipes or catch up on your favourite show while you cook!

Thanks to sugru user Frederik for first thinking up this genius idea :)

4. Make your plugs easier to use

You're hands are probably going to be all messy, what with all that cooking. So make things easier and add some vintage handles to your plugs.

5. Hang plant pots wherever you want them!

Bring the outside inside this Spring, with this fun project dreamt up by our very own James !

But don't stop there! Think of all the possibilities in your kitchen and have fun... :)

Landfill Harmonic - transforming trash into musical instruments

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 16:49:00 +0100

This is the story of how a children’s orchestra was born in one of the most depressed areas in the world...

Cateura, Paraguay is a small town that has grown next to a massive landfill site and is one of the poorest slums in Latin America. For most kids born here life can be hard, but one day something magical happened...

A garbage picker known as 'Cola' (that's him above) found a piece of garbage that looked a bit like a violin. So he took it to his friend Favio Chávez, a local musician. Together, using other objects collected from the landfill, they managed to construct a working violin!

But they didn't stop there!

Using things like bottle caps, rusted cutlery and empty oil drums, they went on to construct a cello, a flute, a guitar, some drums and even a clarinet! And so the idea of Landfill Harmonic children's orchestra was born.

Now a team of filmmakers and photographers are raising money to film a documentary called Landfill Harmonic. If they can raise enough money they plan to take the orchestra on an international tour to inspire other communities - how amazing is that?! So be sure to check out their kickstarter page and help spread the word of this magical project.

We're hiring! Help us find our Head of Business Development, North America.

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 17:58:00 +0100

We're hiring... and this is a biggie!

We manufacture sugru in our factory here in London, and we ship to users in over 130 countries, but our largest single market for sugru has been the US from day one. Having steadily built our team here in London and expanded our manufacturing capacity, we're now ready to build a team on the ground in the US, and we're looking for the first hire now!

Read a full job description here, and apply here through our website, or email us.

Could this be you? Or does it sound like someone you know? It's an incredible opportunity for the right person - they'll basically be driving the growth of sugru and its community in North America. I can't wait to meet them.

Help us find this key hire by sharing this post and the sugru story with your friends, you'll be helping us with a huge milestone in our journey to helping the world get fixing again!

Get to grips with your garden with sugru

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 10:48:00 +0100

Woo Hoo!! Spring has finally arrived and it's time to get pottering in the garden :)

So we've come up with 5 super-handy sugru ideas to help make it all a little easier.

1. Make custom grips for your favourite tools

After an hour of prepping flowerbeds, even the comfiest handle can make your hands ache. That's because handles tend to have a one-size-fits-all design - but with the help of sugru you can make your own customised tools .

2. Fix your watering can

Where would a gardener be without their trusty watering can? Whether yours is metal or plastic, let your watering can age gracefully with a little help from sugru!

3. Create colourful and flexible plant supports

Shoots grow quickly in the spring, so training plants is a great way to keep your garden neat and your plants healthy sugru's springiness makes it flexible and perfect to support your plants without causing them damage. (Thanks to sugruer Paul from Dublin who's the inspiration behind this one.

4. Patch up worn out wellies and rainboots

There are few things more annoying that wet socks! sugru bonds brilliantly to rubber and is waterproof so it's a perfect solution to your leaky boots!

5. Keep your pen handy outside

Label your plants with the right pen for the job - a waterproof one! Keep it close to hand with a simple sugru grip (and don't let that tea go cold!)

Oh and here's a neat idea we found to make your own labels from recycled materials!

Streetbank - sharing in your neighbourhood

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 11:56:00 +0100

Imagine a giant garden shed, toolkit, fancy dress chest, book and DVD library and skills bank that everyone in your neighbourhood can use - that's Streetbank!

Streetbank is a brilliant website that lets neighbours share their things and their skills with each other. It is helping to bring back a sense of community to streets, and 'make the world that little bit nicer' - now what's not to like about that?

I'm sure we can all remember being told ‘it’s good to share’ when we were kids, right? Then why do so many of us seem to grow out of the habit when we are adults?

Sam Stevens, Streetbank's founder (that's him behind the hedge!) realised that loads of people either didn’t know what their neighbours had to offer or were just too embarrassed to ask!

He first got the idea after making friends with his neighbours in the flat below his. He began to realise how useful sharing things could be, from the classic cup of sugar to an extra chair for a dinner party, and even hedge-cutters and a lawnmower - why do we all need to buy things that we only use a few times a year?

So Sam rolled up his sleeves, got thinking and Streetbank was born!

Over to Sam...

“It's one thing to give away something you no longer want, but it's quite another to lend something you value, or to share your skills and time with a neighbour.”

It brings people together, it's good for the environment and it saves people money.

It's free to join and free to use, all you have to do is start sharing!

- David