[NewsPoster]

Mattel has revealed it is producing a 3D printer, that will allow its users to produce their own plastic toys. The ThingMaker is a modern-day remake of a toy from the 1960s, but instead of asking children to produce objects by melting plastic into moulds, the new version instead is a full app-controlled 3D printer, which will apparently cost $300 when it ships this fall in the United States.

Clad in red and with a clear front window, the ThingMaker uses the plastic extruder model of 3D printing, allowing it to print in just one color, but it is still able to produce multiple parts in one session. In order to be safe for children, the heated print head retracts so it cannot be touched, and during printing, the front door is automatically locked.

The companion app, ThingMaker Design, is already available to download from the App Store and Google Play, and allows users to view premade objects and parts that can then be printed via the 3D printer. Created in partnership with Autodesk, the app offers customization of creations, including selecting different colors for individual parts, adding textures and shapes, and to pose the creation to show what the final item will look like after printing.

The decision to sell a 3D printer to consumers by a major toy producer is a brave step, as it has the potential to take custom away from some of Mattel's existing franchises. Major competitor Hasbro has already taken one step in the same direction, though instead of providing the power of creation to its customers, it is selling 3D printed models of existing properties through Shapeways, created by third parties, but only after receiving approval from Hasbro itself. The 3D printer offers an even bigger opportunity for "off-brand" creations so it remains to be seen how Mattel will police the product's usage.

[chimaera]

From the description, it sounds like you choose from approved designs, and may not be able to load a file of your own. Customizing their design would in theory allow anything to be printed - if you can save & reopen the customized file.

[Mike Wuerthele]

The printer utilizes standard .STL files, and that's what the Thingmaker app spits out. There's no problem sending a .STL generated in another app to the printer. The question that needs to be asked, though, is there a custom filament blend, or will any PLA work? (ABS doesn't)

The Thingmaker app itself is limited by templates, though, by design. I don't see any reason why you can't take a STL that Thingmaker hocks out, and modify it.

[Charles Martin]

I'm so old I remember when a Thingmaker was a toy that took plastic and a hotplate (essentially) and you made creatures with it, then compacted them back into squares when you got bored with them. Now that's cool! You kids today with your 3D printing -- bah!

[coffeetime]

That's a cool toy. Old concept meets modern tech. I also like the new revived View-Master Google Cardbord thingies. Now if they can revive that Atomic Energy Lab back that would be something (it should come with app that detects radiation level).

[Mike Wuerthele]

Thus?

Smartphone radiation detector app tests positive

[Tralthamidor]

Charles Martin: I believe the toy you are thinking about is the Mattel 'Time Machine' where you could heat the dinosaurs up and then compress them back down into cubes. The thingmaker was basically just hot plates that you poured Goop into for spiders and skeletons, etc. The coolest tool ever. Probably created more engineers than any other toy...

[jdonahoe]

The first Mattel 3-D maker was a something called a Vac-u-form. It used a "mold" like a car body, and a sheet of plastic was heated till it was soft and then placed over the item and you sucked the air around the item and let it cool. I remember getting burned a lot on that toy. You still had to cut the formed toy from the plastic sheet. There was no reuse of the plastic.

Was this story from the UK? Mould? Are we going to start using words like colour, realise, boot?

[Mike Wuerthele]

One of our two UK writers, yes.

They do periodically slip by.

[coffeetime]

What?! Radiation detector is already existed!

[Mike Wuerthele]

Yup, ingenious solution too, with the electrical tape over the camera.

[coffeetime]

That's clever. I remember I read something about an X-Ray (or thermal detector) app which is possible because of add-on stuff over the camera lens. Interesting.