June 2017 | re:3D | Life-Sized Affordable 3D Printing

3D Printed Patents

Darrel Barnette’s main focus for where he wants to take his company, Digital to Definitive, is towards the realm of producing the products he’s been mentally developing and cataloging over the last several decades.

Among the products he’s used his Gigabot to design: bracketing for a hydraulic two-wheel drive motorcycle, an adapter for hunters to mount devices to a firearm, and a horseshoe-shaped part that helped make his skeet thrower a lot easier to set up.

He also has noticed that beginning to physically prototype a rough idea he’s had in his mind can often allow him to hone in on what exactly makes his product unique and therefore patent-worthy.

And while Darrel has noted before that contract 3D printing work currently takes up about 75% of his time, the ultimate goal is to move the business more towards working on his own products.

As he puts it, his vision is that he “can just open up the door to my shop and there’s my whole factory.”

Morgan Hamel

Blog Post Author

3D Printing for the Government

Darrel Barnette understands that it may seem strange that the US government is paying other people to do their 3D printing.

But what they understand, he says, is that even an entity as large as them is not exempt from the 3D printing learning curve. “It takes a lot more than just having a 3D printer to produce a 3D printed part,” he explains. “The government realizes that, and they don’t have the time to stop what they’re already doing to learn something new.”

It’s in their best interest at the moment to dedicate their time and human resources to other projects and instead pay outside entities to do their 3D printing work for them. And this is where businesses like Darrel’s come in.

Digital to Definitive’s 3-pronged business model relies heavily on this 3D printing government contract work at the moment – about 75% of Darrel’s time is consumed by it, since he worked so hard with a Bid Protest Attorney in order to win the contract. In the future, he’d like to flip this ratio so that most of his time is spent working on his own projects, but he understands that he needs to, as he puts it, “walk before he runs.” It’s this work that will ultimately allow him to make the transition to focusing most of his time on his own 3D printed products.

Come get a glimpse into the first pillar of the business Darrel has built from the ground up: 3D printing for the government.

Morgan Hamel

Blog Post Author

Digital to Definitive: The Genesis

Darrel Barnette was one of the first Kickstarter backers of the original Gigabot four years ago – his bot’s serial number is GB2-028.

He got his Gigabot with no prior 3D printing experience – he had a background in aerospace engineering and a desire to use to use the blossoming technology to create product ideas he had been holding onto in his head.

It took him assembling his bot and starting to use it before he thought of the idea to make a business out of it. Two forces combined to plant the idea in his head.

One, his job at the time had him traveling a lot, which he wasn’t a fan of; and two, he began to see the power of the technology for himself. “Having the 3D printer and the capability of being able to make my own parts for the first time…was just enticing to me,” he explains.

Darrel began to realize that a business opportunity lay in the new Kickstarter product he had gotten for himself.

Entrepreneurs, inventors, tinkerers, dreamers – take note. Darrel’s got a story you’re going to want to hear.

Morgan Hamel

Blog Post Author

This is the first video in a series about Digital to Definitive, a company started by Texas-based Gigabot owner Darrel Barnette.