Today we are chatting with Alex Numann and Evan Malone of NextFab Studio, who are taking a membership approach to the maker-space model, so getting access to top-quality digital fabrication tools like 3D Printers and milling machines is as easy as joining a gym. We asked them to come on because we’re big believers that the maker movement is changing the way people think about the products that people like Josh and I design.
- Enjoy the idea of printing object in the material of your choice? Well, you’ve probably heard of printing chocolate, mashed potatoes and even skin cells, but now… there’s ice. This cool new way of printing is part of a research project at McGill University. The prints are created by a water/methyl ester depositing robot building the piece layer-by-icy layer. It currently takes about 132 hours to build an 11 inch model. Ice sculptors, your job just got easier.
- What do you do after growing an engineering community to 70,000 users and 20,000 3D CAD models? You snag a massive $4 million in series A funding to add to the 1.1 million seed round you already have. The GrabCAD engineer and design community did just that to kick off the new year, with plans to grow the bustling model sharing site to the largest online engineering community in the universe.
- And how is GrabCAD being used? Well, If you’re a fan of Portal or Portal 2, the teleporting escape game from Steam, you could grab some Portal models off the site and recreate them. Logan Siahaan and Stephen Hess are a couple of portal jumping fiends and did just, reverse engineering the handheld Portal device that using everything from CNC and vacuum forming to glow sticks to make it happen. Very cool guys.
- Now, if you’re interested in having your very own desktop 3d printer, you’ll be happy to know the Printrbot kickstarter project is fully funded. They had a goal of $25,000, met that, then proceeded to achieve 830,000 in total. Now, the project will bring a full 3D printing kit to you for under $500. First of its kind at that price and the first Josh will use to print out the first replica of himself.