I hate to ask for money, since a bunch of you all just donated to the RGB matrix project (thanks!). The plastruder had another break-down tonight and I went ahead and bought a new plastruder for it. If anyone would like to help defer my cost you can do so at this pledgie: http://pledgie.com/campaigns/14118 This pledgie goes to my own PayPal account, not the Hive13 account.
Here’s what I bought. It’s pretty badass: http://store.makerbot.com/plastruder-mk5.html
The whole MakerBot thing is worth having another conversation about. I still somewhat treat it as my own, but I also treat it as property that belongs to the Hive. Way back when we first started, there was a pledgie to reimburse me for the MakerBot. The only got up to $290 out of $750. That money went to the Hive and I said I would just collect the $750 whenever we finally raised all the funds. So, I never got that reimbursement yet. I’m not complaining, I don’t need that money back right now or anything. I’m just explaining, that’s why I kinda still think of it as mine sometimes. And that’s why I buy the upgrades for it with my own money. Come to think of it, other people have paid for other upgrades with their own money too. So if you want to contribute to the original pledgie at all, you can do so at: http://pledgie.com/campaigns/5391 Maybe if we’re doing fine financially, then we can just forget about that pledgie and just cut me the check. It doesn’t matter to me if I get the money now, later, or never. If I never get reimbursed, then it’s just basically on permanent loan. If I do get reimbursed, then it belongs to us all equally. Either way is fine.
Anyway, I don’t want to come across as begging. I know some folks have said they’d chip in for upgrades, so here’s a way to do that. If I don’t recover all the $200, I don’t mind.
Thanks in advance for any contributions. Hopefully the new plastruder will be here and working in time for next week’s MakerBot Monday.
~Dave