Popular startup Keyboardio chooses ShopBot Desktop for prototyping

Keyboardio is a startup founded by Jesse Vincent and Kaia Dekker. “We’ve spent the last couple of years designing and prototyping a unique keyboard for uncompromising typists,” said Jesse. “Keyboardio has an advanced ergonomic layout, premium mechanical keyswitches that are a joy to type on, custom-sculpted keycaps that guide your fingers into the right …

Continue reading >>> Popular startup Keyboardio chooses ShopBot Desktop for prototyping

Desktop MAX Project: A Tiny Table for a Tiny House

Think about the tools that you use to make things in your daily life: a toaster, a hammer, a knife. Now place these tools on an imaginary graph where one axis describes the ease of use of the tool and the other describes its capability. I find that most tools in my life that …

Continue reading >>> Desktop MAX Project: A Tiny Table for a Tiny House

A New Design Resource for ShopBotters Doing Collaborative Work: Fusion 360

I’m always on the lookout for resources for small shops doing digital fabrication – resources that will help these shops operate profitably by improving communications with customers and improving collaborations with partners working on the same project. For small shops doing CNC, 3d-printing, laser cutting, and applying other digital fab technologies, I think of …

Continue reading >>> A New Design Resource for ShopBotters Doing Collaborative Work: Fusion 360

Distributed manufacturing as waste management?

Whether you’re a production manufacturer using CNC machines, a cabinet shop cutting panels with a table saw, or a garage hobbyist working on weekends, even the most efficient cutting tools and powerful design sofware don’t let us utilize every square inch of every sheet of material we cut. This often makes us feel wasteful …

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We don’t all need to BE fabbers, but we all NEED fabbers!

 

Max Lobovsky, the founder of Formlabs and creator of the Form 1 3d printer, summed up the future of digital fabrication pretty well for me… “People don’t need the technology, they need the parts.”

We all know that digital tools—CNC machines, 3d printers, laser cutters, etc.—are amazing machines. We need to remember though …

Continue reading >>> We don’t all need to BE fabbers, but we all NEED fabbers!

MakeLocal… distributed local manufacturing at the NY Maker Faire

Opendesk marketplace side-by-side with the 100kGarages fabrication facility outfitted with a ShopBot Desktop MAX.

During the last weekend in Sept, 2015, 100kGarages and Opendesk collaborated on MakeLocal, a demonstration of local manufacturing at the World Maker Faire in New York. It evolved from a conversation at the Bay Area Maker Faire with Josh Worley …

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Production Support Goes West

SB Production Support Matt Schmitz Mexicali Mexico & Pleasant Hill, California

ShopBot owners are increasingly using their tools in production settings, trying to save time and increase output with the power of CNC. ShopBot has a Production Support Team dedicated to helping customers get the most out of their tools. This includes phone …

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Circle Strings custom guitars adds ShopBot to the mix

Adam Buchwald of Circle Strings; photo ©Shem Roose

 

Adam Buchwald is the owner and principal luthier of Circle Strings, a company he first opened in Brooklyn, NY, in 2005, and now operates in Burlington, VT, where he and his family relocated in 2008. Adam focuses on building guitars, mandolins, tenor guitars and double …

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Custom furniture maker finds surprising benefits of CNC

 

Andrew Coholic is the owner of Joe Coholic Custom Furniture Ltd., a custom cabinetry and furniture business. The company operates out of a 6,000 square foot shop in Timmins, Canada. Andrew runs the business that was started by his father Joe back in the early 1970’s. Andrew said, “My family has worked with …

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FabLab Tacoma serves a community of students and entrepreneurs

FabLab Tacoma and Created to Create’s collaborative group

Founded in late 2012 by Stephen Tibbitts, FabLab Tacoma is a community-based prototyping and technology workshop that’s open to the public with a membership business model. I spoke with Stephen recently to learn more. “We opened up the FabLab to provide easy access to cutting-edge design …

Continue reading >>> FabLab Tacoma serves a community of students and entrepreneurs