M. Whiskers Racers

grabcad

I originally wanted to make a train of these little cats, with a big momma cat as the engine, but I've run out of time. Nevertheless, they're still fun and I believe they encourage printing by promoting an assortment of printing projects and MakerBot. The side panels can be swapped out, but in this model the panels on the cats' left spell out MakerBot. The panels on the right generally depict things that can be printed or enriched with 3D printing. The last panel is special. It's a portion of Thomas Jefferson's signature I made by layering an image of it I found on Wikipedia, over top of a custom graph paper pattern I made in GIMP, then I made a grid in sketchup and 9 hours later, it was done. Why take the time to do that and why Thomas Jefferson instead of Tesla or Dr. NakaMats? Two reasons. 1. Jefferson doesn't get enough credit for being an inventor and pre-computer hacker. 2. MakerBot industries is on a mission to democratize personal manufacturing. Jefferson believed that printing and the uninhibited flow of information is inherently liberating and vital to maintaining a free society. Essentially, the last panel symbolizes the liberating power of "useful arts" to democratize and enable free societies through collaborative innovation. p.s. If you don't like cats, other animals have whiskers, but I've run out of time to make them.