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We want your help bringing a GrabCAD Mascot to life! You can base your design on Grabby The Bot, a sketch made by our talented designer, Mikk Olli, or you can come up with something new and creative. We're looking for a CAD model so we can 3D print small GrabCAD Mascots and send them everywhere!
Using Mikk's sketch as inspiration (or not, up to you), we challenge you to model a Mascot for GrabCAD. Here's your chance to get creative, cash in on the $200 prize package and have your design 3D printed and distributed thousands of times-- The winning design just might be featured in future challenges as part of the prize packages.
The winning model will look super professional but still have a creative flair! Sound fun? Get modeling!
Want your very own 3D printed "Grabby" for your desk (or bedside table)? Check back in a few weeks- there will be more opportunities to win (or maybe even buy) your very own Grabby!
Grabby will either be made of
http://www.shapeways.com/materials/strong-flexible
OR
http://www.shapeways.com/materials/sandstone
The absolute maximum size we will consider is 230x180x130mm, but we would recommend smaller to reduce printing costs. Good luck!
Grabby must be easy and inexpensive to 3D print
We'd like it if Grabby could stand alone on a desk
Use a little material as possible to lower 3D printing costs
Great renderings are a plus!
Challenge is open to everyone
Team entries are welcome
You can submit several designs
Only models uploaded through this challenge page will participate in the challenge
Tag your model "GrabbyTheBot"
STL file format must be uploaded
$200 + 3D printed Grabby for your desk!
GrabCAD T-Shirts!
The entire GrabCAD staff
GrabCAD is a community founded by, and for, mechanical engineers. It is a place for engineers to share their talent, expand knowledge, find a dream project and work with tools and features that make life better.
Have an awesome idea for this competition? Want to win cool prizes? Sign-up now to upload your entries.
If you don't receive the email within an hour (and you've checked your Spam folder), email us as confirmation@grabcad.com
121 comments
Fahad Rafi Butt about 13 years ago
size?
Gabe Blanchet about 13 years ago
@Fahad It's up to you. We recommend that the absolute maximum size is 230x180x130mm. The more material, the more expensive to print, which is an important consideration for the winning design. I'm going to add more information to the challenge description now.
HUSSAM KAMEL about 13 years ago
should it be made with the 3D print? i mean could it be made with laser machine?
David about 13 years ago
Is there a Grabcad logo available for download?
HUSSAM KAMEL about 13 years ago
@David http://grabcad.com/library?per_page=20&query=grabcad+logo
David about 13 years ago
@Hussam Thanks for the link, Only wondering if there's a official logo with the right spec. They all look like the logo,but are there just similar?
Hardi Meybaum about 13 years ago
@David right logo is here - GrabCAD logo PDF
Stephen Nyberg about 13 years ago
@ Hardi Meybaum Thanks for the official GrabCAD logo. Do you know what font it is? I want some other lettering to match and I am not fining a good match. there are a lot of fonts to go through.
Mikk Olli about 13 years ago
The font is Pill Gothic
Romano Gaspari about 13 years ago
how many colors allowed?
Gabe Blanchet about 13 years ago
@Romano We have not specified a limit on the number of colors allowed
Romano Gaspari about 13 years ago
sounds good!
Dragan Beljan about 13 years ago
Which material is allowed??
Stephen Nyberg about 13 years ago
@Evil Worker strong-flexible or sandstone from shapeways.com as noted above.
Stephen Nyberg about 13 years ago
who is judging?
Stephen Nyberg about 13 years ago
Why can't Grabby The Bot make his own STL?
Tristin Skinner about 13 years ago
Can it be made out of more than one piece?
Kaspar Kiis about 13 years ago
@Stephen entire GrabCAD staff will be in jury @Tristin it can be made of several pieces- still more simplier, better.
Romano Gaspari about 13 years ago
http://www.shapeways.com/materials/strong-flexible please specify the right way: finishing available are white, black, red and purple. is it right? we're talking about flexible material
JF Brandon about 13 years ago
@romano if that's what Shapeways has, then that's what you have to use. Each printed piece comes in one color - design accordingly.
Sarabpreet Baljinder Singh Isher about 13 years ago
Grabby, limbs (fore arms) will be printed in a single part, or we can add some sort of simple joints, to bring GrabCAD Mascot to life?
Jason Weber about 13 years ago
I have my model in sketchup how do I make it a stl file?
Gabe Blanchet about 13 years ago
@ Jason Weber You can use this plug-in to convert SketchUp files to STL-- http://www.guitar-list.com/download-software/convert-sketchup-skp-files-dxf-or-stl
Jason Weber about 13 years ago
Do I need to provide any kind of dimensions to upload
Muntasir Jishan about 13 years ago
Do I need to upload my part file or only rendering picture are considerable?
Abhijeet about 13 years ago
Can surface models i.e., models with zero thickness be 3D printed?
Kaushal Bhatt about 13 years ago
guys this is my first participation so pleas help me out by liking my model !!!!
Frederik Vollbrecht about 13 years ago
Easy. Just build a nice mascot and you'll get thousands of likes
Ian Cummings about 13 years ago
Is anyone else having trouble submitting their model?
Gabe Blanchet about 13 years ago
@Ian I'd like to help you, but I need a bit more information. Where are you getting stuck? How large is your file and in what format? What browser are you using? Thanks!
Gabe Blanchet about 13 years ago
@Muntasir We need the part file. Thanks!
@Abhijeet No, depending on what program you're using, you should be able to find a way to extrude or 'thicken' your surface to meet the minimum thickness requirements for 3D printing.
Ian Cummings about 13 years ago
@Gabe I was having problems with firefox shockwave add-on but I have fixed it now. Thank you.
Stephen Nyberg about 13 years ago
WOW I just put my model on shapeways to see what it would cost to print. Way more then expected. First prize for this challenge just got a lot nicer.
Romano Gaspari about 13 years ago
hey guys, I suggest to upload yuor file on shapeways to check the cost. I had to scale my model to 0.5 because the price was more then 100 dollars, now under 30 dollars. I can't paint stl file, anyone can help me? does the sandstone full colors need a painted stl? is it possible to paint stl files?
Muntasir Jishan about 13 years ago
How can i estimate production cost of my mascot model??? can anyone pls help me to find the way.
Romano Gaspari about 13 years ago
just create your account on Shapeways and submit model, it automatically calculate volume, and cost for each material
Albertus Putra about 13 years ago
smart moves . .
Stephen Nyberg about 13 years ago
I think I'm out of the running now that I'm out of town and I no longer have solidworks to modify my model to be more economical to print.
teigan about 13 years ago
3D printing is not the best way to manufacture a toy. we're supposedly CAD experts right? so we should be engineering parts that can be reproduced with simple moulds. we could even 3D print the moulds themselves, then do our own small production runs in thermoset resins. a part should only ever be 3D printed once or twice. any more is proof you're a hack with more money than sense.
JF Brandon about 13 years ago
Hint - quick and easy way to calculate price is to multiple your volume by either $1.40/cm3 for strong and flexible plastic or 0.75/cm3 for sandstone. Saves you the time and effort of loadin the design on Shapeways...
Stephen Nyberg about 13 years ago
@JF Brandon as far as cost goes that works but the shapeways page will help to know if a model is even printable. I saw at least one that is not.
Gabe Blanchet about 13 years ago
@Telgan Good point. Initially, we're not planning on mass producing the Mascot so 3D printing remains a viable solution. If we do want hundreds and hundreds of Grabby The Bot's, we will consider a more cost effective solution.
teigan about 13 years ago
i wasn't suggesting we make industrial tooling. but some simple flexible moulds might be in order. something you are overlooking is that printed parts are rough and require hand finishing. by taking a mould, that tedious process only need be done once. also, the proposed 3D printing materials are inherently fragile. it would be best to reproduce our model in something more stable, once we print an approved master. otherwise our grabbybots will break the first time someone picks it up wrong.
trey haney about 13 years ago
I have one question. What is the ideal price / price range Grab is looking for? I priced my design & it has me curious what your idea of low cost is.
Albertus Putra about 13 years ago
below $30 i guess . . .
JF Brandon about 13 years ago
Well a reasonable price. All printing is priced by mesh volume (not bounding box), and it'd be nice to have something that would sit on your desk, be noticed but wouldn't dominate it. $30 is a good price - less is better - we want everyone to be able to get a chance at having one :)
JF Brandon about 13 years ago
@Stephen Nyberg true that - which one was unprintable?
teigan about 13 years ago
maybe we can redo this contest as a papercraft design task. some of the paper models i've seen out there are amazing. and anyone with a common inkjet printer can reproduce these at home. some assembly required.
Albertus Putra about 13 years ago
@teigan
simple mould is ok, but papercraft is not
you can find the unique and aesthetic shape from SLS method
trey haney about 13 years ago
Thanks. I will adjust my design accordingly.
Stephen Nyberg about 13 years ago
@JF Brandon. I don't think meu mascot 2 is printable, ot it would just lay on your desk in a pile of pieces. This assessment is just from observing the rendering.
Muntasir Jishan about 13 years ago
I cant figure out wither my model (Grab The World ) is printable or not.... & what would be the corresponding cost...
Stephen Nyberg about 13 years ago
@Muntasir Jishan. If you go to shapeways.com and upload you file they will do an initial evaluation of the model to know if it is printable. If you order one, the first one printed the check it manually to see if it is printable.
Stephen Nyberg about 13 years ago
A little off topic but at the beginning of this challenge I jokingly asked why Grabby couldn't make his own STL files. Well I was playing with some older models on shapeways and it looks like the STL files Grabby makes are not scaled correctly. Has anyone else noticed this?
Muntasir Jishan about 13 years ago
@Stephen Nyberg:: I was trying that for couple of times but every times its failed(according to specific requirement )... may be any technical problem obstruct the process. so the way is shut off for me :( . Is there any other process.
Albertus Putra about 13 years ago
what is the response from Shapeways?
maybe you must provide escape holes for your model, because Shapeways is using SLS printing method
Stephen Nyberg about 13 years ago
Great point Albertus Putra I saw a few models that were hollow with no way for support material to escape the. Another reason to upload to shapeways.
teigan about 13 years ago
papercraft design is no different from a good sheet metal design. there are no limits to the shapes that can be created. the only limiting factor here is albertus putra's imagination.
Albertus Putra about 13 years ago
@teigan which software you will use to make a papercraft?
Pepakura (http://www.tamasoft.co.jp/pepakura-en/) is great, but it needs a mesh modelling 3D model
if you use a parametric solid based 3D, you will need advanced smart unfold
BUt, both of them can't make the detail as good as 3D printing
so at least, i'll explore my imagination more . . .
julius about 13 years ago
hi, help me. can't load my image and my updated file for grabby. thanks
Stephen Nyberg about 13 years ago
@julius it looks like your file is there. Make sure it is accepting renderings and press the plus button to add your rendering.
Varinder Pal Singh about 13 years ago
files are not uploading . what to do
teigan about 13 years ago
hey albertus. i started making sheet metal parts on catia, but solidworks is much easier in my opinion. most paperwork designers still design by trial and error. i'm not that patient, although i agree nothing beats physical modeling for good design results.
Albertus Putra about 13 years ago
teigan, sheet metal is more geometric i guess?
the results is more segmented than rounded
Prefer to use mesh modelling software like 3D max, or blender (free-ware) . . then just use the pepakura software to unfold your model and make it real . . .
trey haney about 13 years ago
Glad I asked about the price. Now I am at around $25.00 - $30.00 after a 1/2 scale down.
Albertus Putra about 13 years ago
@teigan
I adored papercraft too . . sometimes i make an origami
if you interested on papercraft, just make a visit to this site:
http://mitani.cs.tsukuba.ac.jp/
this guy is amazing . . .
JF Brandon about 13 years ago
@varinder pal singh - if you can't upload your files to GrabCAD, please send them to Kaspar@grabcad.com with details of your problem.... we'll make a note that you tried to upload.
Varinder Pal Singh about 13 years ago
Still not uploading.
@JF Brandon i will mail them.
teigan about 13 years ago
@albertus putra
this is more what i meant by "papercraft". notice the curves possible from a flat pattern. http://paperkraft.blogspot.com/2009/06/pokemon-papercraft-mudkip.html
Romano Gaspari about 13 years ago
to be less then 30$ the wall must be very thin
Chris about 13 years ago
I just uploaded for the second time and it is still not showing up here. Uploaded through this page so I am just hoping I am considered.
Muntasir Jishan about 13 years ago
Its time to Move on.... waiting for the result. which grabby will deserve to climb up.
but when it will Published & where we get it?
Stefanos Stefou about 13 years ago
I have the same problem, I uploaded too but it doesn't show up...
Jay Prasanth about 13 years ago
I also have the same problem, I uploaded 4 times but it doesn't show
JF Brandon about 13 years ago
@Prasanth, @Stefanos and @Chris - email them to jf@grabcad.com and kaspar@grabcad.com and we'll try to get them up there.
JF Brandon about 13 years ago
Also - Thanks for everyone's hard work! Lots of great submissions - we'll get to selecting the winners soon.
Jinx about 13 years ago
I also have the same problem, I uploaded a couple times but it doesn't show
Odysseas Erodotou about 13 years ago
I had the same problem. I uploaded my model one hour before the deadline ,but it doesn't shown yet.
JF Brandon about 13 years ago
@Jinx and @Odysseas please send copies of your work to kaspar@grabcad.com and jf@grabcad.com along with details of your problem and we will do our best to find out what the problem is. Make sure you tagged everything correctly and so forth - and try again a few days from now...maybe it will have resolved itself. Until then we'll try to fix this problem - sit tight!
Michael N. about 13 years ago
I too uploaded my model about 4 hours before the deadline and when I checked now it still doesn't show in the challenge. I read somewhere it may be a bug and as long as I have submitted it though the button on the challenge page it will be found? I'm not sure though as I'm quite new to the GrabCAD community...
JF Brandon about 13 years ago
Email me @Michael and we'll sort it out.
Kaspar Kiis about 13 years ago
Can everybody please make sure their entry is listed in: http://grabcad.com/challenges/grabcad-needs-a-mascot/entries If no, please send me an e-mail to kaspar@grabcad.com We will not miss off any of the entries. So no worries.
Michael N. about 13 years ago
@JF Brandon & @Kaspar, Thanks guys.
Hardi Meybaum about 13 years ago
This is going to be extremely hard for us to pick the winner. Amazing job everyone.
Stephen Nyberg about 13 years ago
Good luck guys! I think I have it narrowed down in my head to about 10-20, we will see how close my guesses are.
Hardi Meybaum about 13 years ago
Stephen Nyberg would be interesting to see ..
Aqil Ghaffar about 13 years ago
is it compulsory to upload stl file,i have not upload it.
JF Brandon about 13 years ago
@Aqil - GrabCAD's computer systems, personified through Grabby The Bot, will turn your files into stls.... look at other models in the library - usually they have an stl uploaded by Grabby.
Stephen Nyberg about 13 years ago
@ aqil and JF. I don't think the original scale is maintained when grabby makes an STL.
JF Brandon about 13 years ago
Mmm I don't think so - I haven't noticed that happening. To my knowledge the conversion doesn't affect scale ... however Ill double-check that one. @Aqil I would add an STL version just in case.
teigan about 13 years ago
an STL file is ambiguous about what units it is in. so most likely, your inches are being interpreted as millimeters or vice versa. no correction on your part is necessary. it is an available option at print time.
Stephen Nyberg about 13 years ago
I uploaded the STL of my grabby to shapeways and the dimensions were correct. I then tried to upload the STL grabby made of one of my wall mount candle holders to see how much it would cost. I uploaded it as an inch file as that is how I made it and it was WAY too big. I then tried to upload it as a mm file and it was way too small. You can change the scale but how do you get the exact detentions intended?
teigan about 13 years ago
shapeways should have specified the necessary units. their costing software is probably assuming centimeters, if millimeters and inches are both wrong. i wonder how many of us got the wrong costs due to unit mixups.
Stephen Nyberg about 13 years ago
I guess grabby my not mess up the scaling of the STL files he makes but it would be nice to know the unit of measure he uses. I made my grabby bot using inches and made the STL file, so when I uploaded it to shapeways I knew it was in inches. If grabby makes the file it is trial and error to find the correct units to use.
Stephen Nyberg about 13 years ago
It would take a few days to download all the parts with the limit but it would be cool to see a single rendering with all of the Grabby contestants to really see how they each standup against each other.
Flaviano Crespi about 13 years ago
@Stepen, You can employ "MeshLab" a free editor/viewer STL and compare different models.
Stephen Nyberg about 13 years ago
I may just try and puy together a rendering of my top 20 and see if the four winners are in it. I can 20 models with little difficulty. If I get it done I will let you all know.
teigan about 13 years ago
the group rendering is such a fun idea. it would make a great large format printed poster to display in the GRABCAD offices. but it would only be good if someone took the time to retexture every model in the chosen rendering program. that would be a huge project.
JF Brandon about 13 years ago
Awesome! Do it Stephen and ill post it!
Stephen Nyberg about 13 years ago
I started working on it but have come across a few hardships. I am using SolidWorks at school and am familuar with PV360 for rendering so that is what I am going to try and use. My first problem is the download limit. This makes things difficult! So I decided to narow it down to my personal favorites and downloaded about 17 models. I took the stl and opened them in solid works saved them as parts to place into an assembly and then deleted the slt files (I didn't think I needed them anymore) Well I imported them as graphics and not solids. So I think I am starting over from scratch. Also keeping track of the files and whos they are is a bit of a challenge or if there is an assembly choosing all the files to download if they are not in a single compressed folder makes things difficult. I have been adressing some of these to GrabCAD with the colaboration tool. I will keep trying and hope of have something soon.
Stephen Nyberg about 13 years ago
I am prepping my files for a second go-a-round. If your part did not make the cut I ran out of downloads with a few of my favorites still not downloaded and some of the files I am having a hard time converting into a usable solidworks format. Hope to post something soon.
Vincent van Hoogdalem about 13 years ago
Please let me know if I can help. I just overclocked my computer, so maybe that helps with rendering. And I can just let it run overnight. Would be nice to see a lot of the nice ones together.
Stephen Nyberg about 13 years ago
I am starting a private project to take suggestions. I have my first pose and am in the process of making a rendering. If anyone wants to join let me know. I will make it public when I am finished with it.
Hardi Meybaum about 13 years ago
Stephen Nyberg this is great idea, I will definitely keep an eye on it.
Stephen Nyberg about 13 years ago
First picture
GrabCAD Group Photo
teigan about 13 years ago
photoview 360 is not very efficient with memory, and the interface is tedious to work with. but if that's what you have, then i fully support your efforts. lighting is a bit tricky and nonintuitive. so do read all the documentation. it will save you time in the long run.
Gabe Blanchet about 13 years ago
We're still crunching through all the excellent submissions here at the GrabCAD office. We're so impressed by the creative and detailed models and will announce the winners as soon as possible... Stay tuned!
Stephen Nyberg about 13 years ago
I'm currious about how the GrabCAD staff is going about choosing? Does each person vote for their top picks and tally votes or do you all discuss the top choices and narrow it down that way? I'm sure it is quite a challeng choosing the winners.
Good luck guys!
Stephen Nyberg about 13 years ago
Congratulations winners!
Selcuk OZMUMCU about 13 years ago
Hi,
Thank you Stephen,
Jatin Sapra about 13 years ago
congrats winners !!!!
Vincent van Hoogdalem about 13 years ago
Congratulations to the four winners :) looking good.
William about 13 years ago
Congrat'z to all the winners and all that took part such an amazing array of Grabby's :P
Flaviano Crespi about 13 years ago
Thanks to all, and congrats to other winners
Romano Gaspari about 13 years ago
congratulations to the winner. how much for 3d printing on shapeways?
Selcuk OZMUMCU about 13 years ago
Congratulations to all winners!
Stephen Nyberg about 13 years ago
Did GrabCAD print any of the models in house to help with their decision?
Kaspar Kiis about 13 years ago
We haven't printed out the models, yet but will do soon and keep you posted.
Hardi Meybaum about 13 years ago
Congrats to winners. All the results were amazing.
Romano Gaspari about 13 years ago
printing cost?
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