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Printrbot's amazingly cheap machines let anyone make anything - China Two Platen Injection Molding by airbru airbru
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Printrbot's amazingly cheap machines let anyone make anything - China Two Platen Injection Molding by AIRBRU AIRBRU
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| Article Posted: 11/29/2013 |
| Article Views: 163 |
| Articles Written: 1137 - MORE ARTICLES FROM THIS AUTHOR |
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Printrbot's amazingly cheap machines let anyone make anything - China Two Platen Injection Molding |
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Business,Business News,Business Opportunities
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Brook Drumm says he was embarrassed to ask for $25,000 on Kickstarter to get his 3D printing company started. He ended up receiving over $830,000. His company, Printrbot, now sells three models ofsuper-straightforward, easy-to-assemble 3D printers. These are machines that build physical objects bit by bit, layer bylayer--sort of like how inkjet printers lay down colors on apiece of paper, but in three dimensions. Commercial 3D printers cost on the order of tens of thousands ofdollars.
Then a company called Makerbot notably offered ascaled-down printer for hobbyists for less than $2,000. ButPrintrbot blows this away–its most affordable printer is only$400. Printrbot recently won two Editor's Choice awards at the New York Maker Faire --one for the Printrbot Jr., the highly portable $400 printer,and one for the Printrbot Go, a larger one that folds up into abriefcase. With Printrbot's unrivaled price points and ease of assembly, it'spoised to shake up the world of 3D printing in a big way.
As Drumm explained to us via email, his printers are "cheaper,smaller, higher resolution, more open-sourced, and way moreexpandable than anyone else's. And arguably, cuter." We got the chance to catch up with Drumm and his wife Margie inperson following the hustle and bustle of Maker Faire. BUSINESS INSIDER: How did this all start? BROOK DRUMM: Margie got me Make Magazine for Christmas one year. I started reading that and the issue with Bre Pettis of Makerbot on the cover came out and I was like, "Man, this isgoing to be big." I read a lot about it and I started saving up mybirthday cash and my Christmas cash, and saved up for the MakerbotCupcake.
I got it in January 2011 and I put it together with my kids. My sonwas six and he actually helped solder. I thought it was awesome butthen I thought, "Wait a minute, I don"t know if every familyis going to hand their six-year-old a soldering iron." I thought itwas all too hard and noticed the design was overly complicated. Andthen I thought, "There"s a market for 3D printing kits thatare simple." I became literally obsessed with it.
BI: Where'd you take it from there? BD: I started a meetup group with the goal of building such a printer.The Cupcake was just too hard and complicated, so I thought we'dtry try a RepRap model. Two guys showed up to the meetup the firstweek. The next week a few more showed up. The next week, a fewmore.
Unlike the RepRap community, I was extremely clear about our goals.I said, "I am here to start a business. If that"s a problemfor you then you may not want to come next week because I"mhere to research and work on a project that will end up in abusiness that I"m going to make money on." If they were intoit, I'd help them get a printer and we'd learn together. Those whowere into it stuck around and it grew to about 40 people inSacramento. And some incredibly smart people who worked for Intel and HP showed up. BI: And then you took it to Kickstarter? BD: Yeah, with solid feedback from 40 people I knew I had somethingthat was viable.
I figured it was 90% there. We started looking atKickstarter and were intrigued by some very simple projects thatwere very successful. I asked my wife if I should take out a loanand go into business with a friend of mine who has money. Margiewas adamant and said, "No. Kickstarter, Kickstarter, Kickstarter." So I did a video and about a day later we were funded.
It changedour lives. I was a little embarrassed to set the goal at $25,000.It seemed like a lot of money. But we ended up raising over$830,000. BI: How did you grow your business to support filling all thoseorders? BD: I always believe that what you're doing should hurt before youexpand. I'm not a guy who went out and hired ten guys so I couldsit back in my office smoking a cigar.
I had to work as hard asanyone because it was overwhelming from the beginning. Growthhappened organically. "Let's buy another shelf. Let's hire anotherguy.
Maybe we"ll go from 20 bots to 30 bots. Let's get anovernight guy. That didn't work out? Let's hire a high-school kid.Let's buy a laser cutter. I'm superstressed, let's hire someoneelse." BI: So it was about getting from Monday to Tuesday instead of gettingfrom Monday to Maker Faire? BD: Absolutely, yes.
BI: What's down the road for Printrbot? BD: The goal is to maintain our focus on keeping everything cheap andportable. We"re going to do another Kickstarter to get thePrintrbot Jr. Two Platen Injection Molding Machine, which makes it easier and moreaffordable to produce. You'll get two kits for one price, the ideabeing that you build one for yourself and give the other one toyour school.
That"s the seed of a community in that schoolfor 3D printing--they don"t have to find the money andgo through the red tape to buy it. It"s going to be a gift.We're targeting maybe $600 or $700 for two printers. We are also developing an iPhone app to save and share 3D printing files. It's a response to siteslike Shapeways and Thingiverse.
This app will come in two or threephases and we intend to allow people to print from their phoneseventually.
For more information, click here to visit my website. My website is a famous b2b platform. We offer a great deal of high quality products, such as China Two Platen Injection Molding Machine , China Two Platen Injection Molding Machine. All these are from top quality suppliers.
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