Global Gigabot Community Rises to the Challenge of COVID-19

As we all face our new normal and adjust to the realities of life during a pandemic, our 3D printing friends and colleagues around the world have stepped up to provide much needed personal protective equipment, filling the supply gap for everyone on the front lines. This isn’t just for doctors and nurses, it’s also for the police, EMTs, grocers, gas station attendants, and every other essential worker who suit up to keep our societies’ services going during this crisis.

More close to home, we couldn’t be more honored to count many of these selfless volunteers as our customers. re:3D’s social mission to democratize manufacturing and 3D print with purpose tends to attract like minded individuals and businesses whose first instincts are to be the problem solvers for their communities.  Featured below are our friends’ efforts in their own words.

Engine-4, Tredé, Parallel18 & Daniel Varela

Bayamón, Puerto Rico

Tell us about the design you are printing.

After learning about a need for PPE, we started printing a derivative of the 3DVerkstan visor design for face shields that could accept pre-cut shields that had been donated. We chose that design because it was the fastest to print. It was nice to see along the way that it got NIH endorsement. Our expanding print farm of Gigabots & Prusa printers is located at Engine-4, and includes local Gigabots that Parallel 18, Daniel Varela, and Atlantic University (once it clears customs!) loaned to help bolster production.
Design Inspiration: https://3dverkstan.se/protective-visor/

PR Variant: Link to .stl file direct download

What material are you printing with?

We are currently printing with PLA.

Who are you printing this design for?

We are donating face shields to health professionals across PR. So far we have donated 1400. We’re also helping a doctor with 3D printed splitters. Just today we got a tightly fitted design and are doing further testing.

This fabulous group of makers who combined forces can be found online:

@engine4cws @trede.pr @p18startups

https://engine-4.com/

http://tredeprinting.com/

https://parallel18.com/

Bill Albertini

New York City, New York, USA

Tell us about the design you are printing.

When I heard about a potential shortfall in PPE supplies at New York area hospitals, my first reaction was to research mask/respirator models but soon realized they were not an ideal candidate for FDM printing. Face shields are also in short supply and there were a couple of designs that looked promising. I downloaded and tested several candidates before I found a design on March 26th by Swedish 3DVerkstan which they had just released in the wild, I soon I discovered that Weill Cornell and several other institutions had adopted this model because of its simplicity and ease of assembly. It consists of two components, a 3D printed head strap and a clear plastic shield which can be easily fabricated using letter size acetate sheet .005 or thicker and a standard 3 hole punch.

Download Site: https://www.youmagine.com/designs/modified-protective-visor-by-3dverkstan
Design Site:https://3dverkstan.se/protective-visor/

What material are you printing with?

I am currently printing with PLA but I am going to switch over to PETG as soon as I can set up better ventilation. This is an old fashioned New York loft work/live situation.

Who are you printing this design for?

Most of this first batch was donated to DIY Shield Project through connections with nycmakesppe.com, and they have been pretty much distributing to (public) hospitals with severe shortages like Elmhurst and Lincoln. I am also giving 50 kits directly to someone I know at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx. I have also been in contact with Jenny Sabin who is running a site for Weill Cornell https://www.sabinlab.com/operation-ppe

Bill Albertini can be found online:

@bill_albertini

billalbertini.com

Efes Bronze | Serdar Erol

Yalova City, Turkey

Tell us about the design you are printing.

It is a simple face shield design that can save lives. The design came from 3BOYUTLUDESTEK.ORG platform. There are thousands of volunteers in this platform with 3D printers. “Sizi seviyoruz” is located on the shield and means that we love and thank you to all struggling with COVID-19.

What material are you printing with?

PLA

Who are you printing this design for?

All sanitarians, policemen, and some other officials that have to contact each other everyday.

Where can people sign up to assist with this effort?

WWW.3BOYUTLUDESTEK.ORG

Efes Bronze can be found online:

@efesbronze

Metabolic Foundation | Christie Mettes & Tony Sevold

Aruba

Tell us about the design you are printing.

We started working with the design from Prusa, which looked like it was carefully researched and tested and approved and it worked well, so we printed about 400 of those in total. We’ve recently moved on to the 3DVerkstan design, which takes half the time to print so it helps us increase our production. In addition to these, we’ve also designed a copy of some safety glasses they use at the hospital, which print even quicker and use less material.

What material are you printing with?

We’re printing mainly with PLA because that’s what we have, and it’s easy to work with. We’ve also used a bit of PETG and some ABS because that’s what we had, and it should work fine according to the Prusa and 3DVerkstan websites.

Who are you printing this design for?

We’re printing for the two main hospitals on the island, Horacio Oduber Hospital, and ImSan (Instituto Medico San Nicolas), as well as the department of health who are doing the testing (DVG, Directie Volksgezondheid), the psychiatric hospital organization (Respaldo), the union of family doctors and dentists, as well as individual health workers including nurses and family doctors who ask us specifically.

Where can people sign up to assist with this effort?

If you’re in Aruba, and have a 3D printer or can sew, you should sign up. Best way is to email us at lab@brenchies.com, or WhatsApp us at +297 630 2475

Metabolic Foundation can be found online:

https://www.facebook.com/brenchieslab/

https://www.instagram.com/brenchies/

Plodes® Studio | John Paul Plauché & Roya Plauché  

Baytown, TX, USA

Tell us about the design you are printing.

We are printing a head banding component of a protective face shield. It is based on a design by Prusa, and had been approved by the Czech Ministry of Health for use to help fill the void of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment). The version we are printing is a redesign by TXRX Labs and part of a volunteer effort that they had organized to help with our own local need for PPE during this worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. We are excited to see local additive manufacturing step up to a shared worldwide call, where intellectual property and design ego take a back seat to provide real time evolving, useful, and needed objects for humanity.

What material are you printing with?

We are printing with PLA from re:3D, always our first choice for on hand reliable material. We are printing 24×7 on our original (but upgraded a little) Gigabot #21! Each part is around 1hr and we are doing at least 6 units at a time.

Who are you printing this design for?

These prints are for our Houston area doctors, nurses, and staff on the front lines of the COVD-19 pandemic in hospitals and stations that are in need of PPE or anticipate a need in the coming days/weeks. Our parts are delivered to TXRX labs in Houston and are assembled with laser cut shields and elastic bands to complete the product and are distributed from there.

Where are you located?

We are located in Baytown, TX in our home office. My wife (Roya Plauché) and I (John Plauché) make up plodes® studio. We are a Texas based multidisciplinary design firm that draws from a coalescence of art, product, and architectural design. Our products are varied, authentic, minimal, and distilled with rigorous process to a balanced purity. Currently our best sellers are fire pits, so check them out and make a backyard escape for yourself while we are in this ‘Great Stay’. Help flatten the curve and please stay home as much as possible! 

Where can people sign up to assist with this effort?

We could use local area volunteers to pickup parts from us and drop to TxRX labs when we get 50-100 units at a time. Please email info@plodes.com with subject “TXRX pickup”. And please everyone visit TXRx’s go fund me at https://www.gofundme.com/f/txrx-manufactures-protective-medical-equipment and give what you can!

plodes® studio can be found online:

http://www.plodes.com/shop

@plodesstudio

CM Welding & Machine | Corey Mays

Midland, TX, USA

Tell us about the design you are printing.

We were printing a prototype ventilator splitter designed by Texas Tech and UT Permian Basin to allow up to 4 patients to use one ventilator. The first run has been sent for testing and we are waiting to hear back on that part. In the meantime we started reaching out to local medical personnel and some of the rural areas to see what needs they might have. We found the biggest need was for face shields. We chose a simple open source design and have been printing these 24/7 to fill these needs.

What material are you printing with?

For the ventilator splitter I chose PETG material and we are printing the face shield headgear out of PLA.

Who are you printing this design for?

Any medical personnel in need of face shields. 

Where can people sign up to assist with this effort?

I encourage anyone with a 3D printer to contact your local medical personnel or local universities of schools to help fill immediate needs there. Also, go to www.matterhackers.com and sign up for the COVID-19 response team. They will send out requests and files.

What has it been like for you working on this project?

It’s been exciting to be able to work on this project. As a manufacturer and mechanical designer I’m a problem solver by nature so being able to have the capability to help has been really fun and exciting! The Gigabot has been absolutely rock solid through this project. The larger print bed allows us more freedom to run different part arrangements so that we do not have to have someone here 24/7 to watch the machine. With the face shield head gear, we start a run of 6 in the morning and that run is ready to be pulled off by 5 pm. We then start a run of 8 that is ready when we come back in the following morning. I don’t think it has been off in almost 2 weeks and still going strong!

CM Welding & Machine can be found online:

Facebook: CM Welding & Machine

Pamton 3D | Pamela Szmara

Youngstown, OH, USA

Tell us about the design you are printing.

The headband design is PRUSA stl file. It is an existing design.

What material are you printing with?

We are using PETG from Village Plastics in Barberton, Ohio.

Who are you printing this design for?

We have supplied masks to Hospice of NY, the Ravenna Fire Dept in Ohio, and doctors at the Cleveland Clinic. 

Pamton 3D can be found online:

http://www.pamton3d.com/

The Kinkaid School | Jeff Diedrich

Houston, TX, USA

Tell us about the design you are printing.

The design is from TX/RX, a non-profit makerspace here in Houston. My first prints were based on a single design where I could fit 9 on the bed. Then Patrick Ferrell @PBFerrell told me about a stacked design with 9 high which meant I could do 81 at a time. This was a 110 hour print.

What material are you printing with?

PLA

Who are you printing this design for?

These are being printed for TX/RX

What has working on this project been like for you?

I am fortunate to work at a school with a Gigabot, and our head of school, Dr. Ed Trusty, was more than happy to allow me to use the school’s equipment and material to give back to the community.

Jeff Diedrich can be found online:

@misterdiedrich

Qrint Studio | Qumar Mirza

Toronto, Canada

Tell us about the design you are printing.

The designs we printed are our own design for non-medical grade face shields for local business and restaurants. Due to this reason, we made it so it could have a minimal cost.

What material are you printing with?

We printed with PETG.

Who are you printing this design for?

A local community non-profit.

What has working on this project been like for you?

We started just to help the community, but we end up applying for a health certificate so we could produce medical grade face shields.

Qrint Studio can be found online:

https://www.facebook.com/qrinting/

@qrintstudio

Doug Mockett & Co | Paul de Leon

Manhattan Beach, CA, USA

Tell us about the design you are printing.

We started printing designs a friend of mine sent to me – all from Thingiverse. After printing for a few days, I realized our two Gigabots weren’t going to be able to catch up with the demand, so Carlos and I played with the settings and got the print time down to 28 mins per visor for open visors, 35 mins for closed top visors (some hospitals preferred closed visors) which still wasn’t enough. I saw a post by a company from another country which did in house casting. That was clever so I thought we should do the same. I contacted our local silicon and plastic supplier for molding instructions and to buy materials to make silicon molds. I designed a closed visor that could work with molding and casting. I printed a few versions using our Gigabot 3+  and used that print to create a silicon mold.

We are also printing ear savers (mask extenders). These seem to be quite popular.

What material are you printing with?

PLA

Who are you printing this design for?

Local hospitals and nursing homes:

  • Torrance Memorial Hospital, CEDARS SINAI & Providence Little Company of Mary (earsavers), Long Beach Memorial Rehab, and other local clinics.
  • Delano Hospital, VA Palo Alto and other smaller clinics in other states

What has working on this project been like for you?

It has been a privilege and an amazing team experience to be able to create something to help in this time of need. It means a lot to our team to be a part of this project and donate to healthcare providers.

Doug Mockett & Co can be found online:

@dougmockett

https://www.facebook.com/dougmockett/

https://www.youtube.com/user/dougmockett

https://twitter.com/dougmockett

https://www.pinterest.cl/dougmockett/

Compendium Federal Technology LLC | Stuart Langford

Lexington Park, MD, USA

Tell us about the design you are printing.

Originally, we were going to make frames and donate them to Makers Unite in Baltimore, MD. At the time, they were asking us to use the Prusa v.RC2 face shield design.  In the meantime our CEO was communicating with local first responders, and Medstar Saint Mary’s communicated that they were running low on face shields. We used the Prusa v.RC2 face shield, but we made some minor changes so they would print faster. The straps are our design. We tried several designs including the strapless, but we received the best feedback from the modified Prusa v.RC2.

What material are you printing with?

PLA for the frame. NinjaFlex TPU 85 for the straps. The clear screens are made from clear acetate or PVC sheets.

Who are you printing this design for?

Medstar Saint Mary’s Hospital, Charlotte Hall VA Clinic, several nursing homes and private practices.

What has working on this project been like for you?

It has been busy, but rewarding. I wasn’t the only person contributing. My CEO John OConnell did the leg work, and my coworker Cedrick La Marca assisted with the CAD designs and resin printing. In addition to the face shields, we also printed spare ventilator parts for Saint Mary’s Hospital. Everything was donated free of charge.

Our story was featured on WJLA-TV Washington DC ABC affiliate.

Compendium Federal Technology LLC can be found online:

https://www.facebook.com/compendiumfederaltechnology.llc/

Are you a re:3D Gigabot customer working on COVID-19 efforts? We’d be happy to add your work to this blog. Email us: info@re3d.org 

Charlotte craff

Blog Post Author

Show Us Your Print!

Customer Badge Campaign

Receive cool swag & recognition for your print milestones!

We’re awarding digital & physical patches to commemorate your 3D printing milestones on Gigabot in 2017! Simply email info@re3d.org with a link to your YouTube and/or Vimeo timelapse or a picture of your Viki & final print!

Winners will be announced on our forum (including the current record holder:)

Happy Printing!

~Samantha

Investment Casting with 3D Printing

The following post was written by Todd Ronan. Todd joined the re:3D sales team after hearing a Co-Founder panel discussion on 3D printing & recyclable material at IEEE. From Michigan, parts Northwest, and now Austin (Portland’s si(hip)ster city) he is a Futurist, passionate about evolving technology, dreamer, and enthusiast of fine meade.

The thousand year old lost wax casting process has been revolutionized by the Human-Scale 3D printing of Gigabot

Several re:3D customers have augmented their foundries with Gigabot 3D printers because of the time savings, cost savings, and ability to convert more jobs into happy customers.

In traditional investment casting, a wax model is dipped into a ceramic slurry which is then allowed to dry. The resulting hard ceramic shell is then heated to melt the wax away, leaving a perfect model negative where the wax used to be.

Modern foundries however, have been making the move to 3D printing as a means of creating models for casting. With the ability to use  PLA prints in place of the wax models of old, 3D printing provides a cost efficient alternative method for producing investment casting patterns.

In layman’s terms: hot melted plastic can be printed in any shape, in any size, and allows for a cost efficient alternative to the traditional technique of lost wax casting.

In the past, 3D printers lacked the size to perform life-sized pieces and large format 3D printers, starting at $100K have been cost prohibitive. Enter re:3D’s Gigabot at 1/10th the price. A 3D printer with an 8 cubic foot build space for super-sized 3D printed parts.

Anyone lucky enough to find themselves outside of Austin in Bastrop will notice the beautiful, large bronze pieces of art around the city. These are courtesy of a high-point on the Austin Cultural Map tour, Clint Howard’s Deep In The Heart Art Foundry. Jamie and Clint Howard purchased the foundry in 1999, and have become the premier statuary design and manufacturing business in the state of Texas.

With demand for large pieces the foundry added a Gigabot FDM printer to their arsenal a couple of years ago. Instead of the long curing process associated with wax models, their Gigabot can make any design using standard CAD program, and print HUGE in PLA. It just so happens that PLA burns out just as clean as wax! The cost savings was almost immediate – cutting months and thousand of dollars off traditional casting allowing for increased bandwidth for contract pieces, and substantial revenue increase. With increased demand for printing, Deep in the Heart ordered a second Gigabot printer to keep up with the demand.

Another re:3D satisfied customer: family owned and operated Firebird 3D, located in Troutdale Oregon, recently participated in the Columbia River Highway centennial celebration.  Parts on this Model A (shown below) were Gigabot printed and cast along with this Rip Caswell piece, Devoted Passion, a re-telling of the exploration and creation of this amazingly scenic Pacific Northwest highway.

At Firebird they still use their traditional processes of wax casting but can use wax filament or PLA to print larger bronze pieces. It burns out, leaving a small amount of ash in the shell mold, which can be removed with washing. 3D printed PLA plastic burns out cleanly and is a more durable and more easily handled than a wax part. Chad Caswell (shown below) checks the layer height of their next print. They are, literally and figuratively burning through filament with a cost savings up to 70% by reducing labor!

We just got word Deep in the Heart purchased a 3rd Gigabot to help with workflow and high demand, and now has three 8 cubic foot 3d printers printing (money) while their workers sleep.

re:3D urges: Try a FREE print on us. Find out if Lost Wax (minus WAX + PLA) works for you! Please contact info@re3D.org for additional info on Gigabot 3D printers and lost wax castings!

Mike Strong

Blog Post Author

Made in America: 3D Printing Prototypes for Stump Armour Molds

Meet Travis: A Texan, father, entrepreneur, warrior, and inventor.

re:3D first met Travis in Austin last winter as he was prototyping his second version of Stump Armour: an affordable, accessible device he pioneered in order to expand mobility options for bilateral amputees.

As a combat-wounded Marine, Travis is uniquely qualified to inspire solutions to increase maneuverability for other double amputees while reducing back strain that traditional prosthetics can create. By using himself as the test subject and leveraging business insights he acquired in the 100 Entrepreneurs Project and the Entrepreneurial Bootcamp for Veterans (EBV), Travis launched Stump Armour on indiegogo this week.

stumparmourdurty
Stump Armour Mod 1

About Stump Armour

Stump Armour is a round design that connects to traditional sockets to allow for constant surface contact from any angle. Pressure can be directly applied to a terrain without changing position, allowing amputees to roll themselves up independently when preforming activities close to the ground.  Since the round shape can grab from nearly any position, it works great on uneven/irregular surfaces, so the amputee doesn’t need to focus as much concentration on limb placement when compared to other devices.  Travis doesn’t feel Stump Armour is intended to replace full leg or knee prosthetics. Rather, it’s meant to increase functionality with specific tasks.

IMG_1546

Keeping Costs Low

A key tenant of the Stump Armor’s mission is to make devices as affordable as possible worldwide. For this reason, Travis contracted Mike Battaglia & I last January to see if we could 3D print his vision for a Stump Armour’s Modification. Using Simplify3D we were able to generate a raft & support that could easily break off. The completed PLA prototypes printed great and we were excited to give them to Travis, who planned to use the prints to create a mold to scale Stump Armor globally.

IMG_1549
3D printed Stump Armour Mods 3 (left) and Mod 4 (right) cast at SureCast

Prints in hand, Travis partnered with local foundries who guided him through the process of making his own custom mold to cast multiple sets of Stump Armour.  This week we interviewed Travis to learn more about the process he used to create a mold from a print by working with Stevens Art. Below are the steps that he described:

stumparmourmold
  • From a 3d printed prototype made on Gigabot, a silicone rubber mold was created.
  • The print was covered in an releasing agent that was then covered in silicone, leaving an inlet for wax to be poured in later.
  • After the silicone cured, a 2 piece plaster shell was made.
  • Once completed, the silicone was carefully cut with a razor along where the plaster shells come together so it would come apart into 2 pieces.
stumparmourpour
  • The shells were clamped together and hot wax was then poured into the inlet.
  • When the wax hardened, the wax casting of the original print was removed.
stumparmourwaxdone
  • The wax cast was then dipped in a a ceramic slurry and power coat until a hard shell formed.
  • This shell was fired in an oven to harden the cast melt the wax out.
  • Metal was poured in and the ceramic shell was broken off after it cooled.
  • A metal replica of the original 3d print was then ready for finishing!
stumparmourstacked
Stump Armour Mod 2

Using lost wax casting, Travis was able to do his first production run of Stump Armour, which is now available to other amputees on the Stump Armour indiegogo campaign. You can support Stump Armour’s next production run and Stump Armour donations at: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/stump-armour#/  until July 1st.

stumparmournewlogo
Want to learn more?
  • Email: info@stumparmour.com
  • Web: http://www.stumparmour.com/
  • YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsObkfi6W6x2B6dpZ89_CGg/videos?sort=dd&view=0&shelf_id=0
  • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Greens-Machines-LLC-716439551739895/
  • Google: https://plus.google.com/u/2/b/106145756742784523319/106145756742784523319/posts
  • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/10602419trk=tyah&trkInfo=clickedVertical%3Acompany%2CclickedEntityId%3A10602419%2Cidx%3A2-1-2%2CtarId%3A1464716547152%2Ctas%3Agreens%20machines

Samantha snabes

Blog Post Author

You’re Invited: 3D Printing @ Sea!

Recently, one of our customers (and owner of Cruise Planners) invited us to support a 3D printing cruise. We are honored to participate and can’t wait to spend three days with you during this exclusive experience!

3datsea

About the Event

3D at Sea is the first of it’s kind 3D Printing Workshop and Seminar at Sea. This Workshop will feature 3D Printing Experts both teaching and speaking on a variety of relevant topics. There will also be opportunities for community impact work in Cozumel, in addition to general fun and networking!

Whose Invited

Anyone with a passion for 3D printing is welcome to join us on the Carnival Liberty out of Galveston on 10/8/16! Pam, the organizer, is also accepting applications to speak or teach a class until May 5th. You can share your interest on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/3datsea/  or email Pam directly at: pam.stewart@cruiseplanners.com.

See you soon?!

Samantha snabes

Blog Post Author

Made in America- Artist Micah Ganske

Over the past three years we’ve had the honor to connect with Micah Ganske, a New York based artist whose work challenges the frontiers of creativity & 3D printing. We first met Micah when he helped bring Gigabot to life in our 2013  Kickstarter campaign and we delivered the first Gigabot in North America to him live from the NYC World Makerfaire that fall.

Over the next several months, Micah blew our minds as he shared his vision for a large-scale art series titled “The Future is Always Tomorrow”, which was displayed during a solo exhibition at 101/Exhibit gallery in Los Angeles.

IMG_2068

Two and a half years later, Micah continues to stun us with his human-scale gallery pieces. Last May, Morgan had the pleasure of witnessing his Augmented Virtual Reality work firsthand in San Francisco, which she described in this blog and is depicted in the video below:

A few months later, Tammie, Mike, and the rest of the team also had the privilege to meet up with Micah in Seattle where we printed his acclaimed wormhole design live at the Seattle Art Faire. Micah was a huge hit and Mike captured some of the highlights in his blog on the event.

We’re not the only fans of Micah’s talent. Recently he was featured in this video by Alex Amoling describing his creative process:

He’s also been highlighted by influencers including Adafruit and in multiple publications such as this feature in Nylon:

https://www.instagram.com/p/-tfWcPJ3Lx/?utm_source=ig_embed

In addition to producing gallery pieces, Micah’s found time to have fun with his Gigabot. This Halloween he spooked our team with the most realistic 3D printed sculpture we’ve witnessed to date, albeit an incredibly creepy siamese head.

https://www.instagram.com/p/9Wfwarp3Ij/?taken-by=micahganske

As for the future, you will have to ask Micah what he has in store.

Last spring he backed our Open Gigabot Campaign which will provide him a second large-scale 3D printer. Whatever he makes next is sure to impress!

https://www.instagram.com/p/9ePMbhJ3J3/?taken-by=micahganske

Want more? You can view Micah’s work and contact him through his website at: http://www.micahganske.com/

Happy Printing!

Samantha snabes

Blog Post Author

re:3D & SXSW 2016!

It’s almost here!  That time of year where Austin embraces global creatives during the two week whirlwind we call SXSW.  We love being so close to the action and can’t wait to see you out and about. If you’re in the area, please stop by any of the events below to say hi!

SXSW Create

  • Dates/times: March 11-13th, 11am-6pm
  • Location: Palmer Events Center
  • Cost: Free!!
  • Website: SX Create, They also have a  SX Create Facebook event as a handy way to share the event.
  • Description: Exciting hands-on pavilion as well as a number of wonderful STEM sessions. Gigabot Generation 3.0 and OpenGb will be printing live for onlookers while the re:3D team gives high-fives.
  •  

News & Schmooze: A SXSW Media Mixer for Startups and Investors

  • Dates/times: March 11, 5:30pm
  • Location: Capital Factory
  • Description: We’re bringing Gigabot to print live at this invite only event hosted by our friends at Own Local! The re:3D gang will be out in full force while Jeric presents our mission and product!

Capital Factory - “Austin Goes Global” Pitch

  • Dates/times: March 11, 3-5pm
  • Location: The Hilton Startup Village
  • Website: http://schedule.sxsw.com/2016/events/event_PP58415
  • Description: Capital Factory will spotlight several startup and early stage companies already having big impact across borders, and several more on the threshold pondering what to do next…where to go…how to do it?  In this conversation Katy will share re:3D’s reach.

IEEE Tech for Humanity Official SXSW Party 2016 

  • Dates/times: March 13th, 8-10 pm
  • Location- The Driskill
  • Website: http://www.cvent.com/events/ieee-tech-for-humanity-official-sxsw-party-2016/event-summary-fcfd9489c2a54a739252ae5356e427ce.aspx
  • Description-Party like an engineer with IEEE and world-renowned technologists & body computing brainiacs! Join us at The Driskill with Gigabot and the re:3D team to let loose with a few drinks at the open bar and enjoy great music!

SXSW Hardware House - Hardware on Kickstarter

  • Dates/times: March 14, 9:30-10:30am
  • Location: Courtyard Marriot
  • Website: http://schedule.sxsw.com/2016/events/event_PP58037
  • Description: The exhilaration of the pitch isn’t just for Venture Capitalists anymore! Consumers, geeks and fans are tuning in each week for shows like Shark Tank (and others). How do inventors take a great idea to the airwaves and stay on task to become a great company? What are the pros and cons? Why are so many people watching and how do you capitalize on it? In this session Katy will explore how hardware innovation and entrepreneurship is being showcased and celebrated on prime time and how to make the most of it if you decide to go on the air.

Hubs/RE:3D / Draught House Pub 3D Printing Meetup

  • Dates/Times: March 14th 12-2pm
  • Location: The Draught House Pub
  • Description: Come meet Hubs, re:3D communities and other 3D printing enthusiasts in a laid back environment on March 14th! This is a great opportunity to share your love of 3D Printing and see 3D Printers live. Feel free to bring your best prints and ideas!
  • Want more? After March 14th Gigabot and the team are super flexible if you’d like to request their presence:)
  • Email: info@re3d.org

Samantha snabes

Blog Post Author

2016: Stories Made in America

Over the past 3 years our company and community have seen a ton of changes. Through a shared vision to make industrial 3D printing more accessible, our team rallied from multiple locations across the US, scaled our idea in Chile, and later established headquarters in Texas. Since launching in Santiago, we’ve opened two offices in Houston & Austin, which is complemented by a remote sales presence in San Francisco.  Although our team is centralizing operations in the USA, re:3D remains thankful to our Chilean roots and the $40K in funding that gave us the opportunity to make an idea a reality.

We also recognize that through our 2 crowdfunding campaigns that Gigabot’s reach has expanded to new frontiers around the world.  We will always attribute our 2013 Kickstarter success to the thoughtful insight, organization, and advertising enabled through the Start-Up Chile program. However, since leaving Santiago after 7 months, customers and suppliers throughout both North America & South America have emerged in Texas and beyond.

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Visiting Mkerstudio MX / Impresión 3D Gigabot & team in Mexico City

With this in mind, we’ve invested considerable effort into analyzing how our community and resources have evolved over three years. For example, you can view a breakdown of where our customers are located in the map on our website. In our examination of where re:3D has impact, we’ve discovered that over 80% of the materials we source for Gigabot, 100% of our labor, and 78% of Gigabots in the field are in North or South America.

In 2014 & 2015 we also sent out surveys to our community, interviewed over 50 customers in person and attended events throughout the US that allowed us to engage with up to 500,000 people to hear your thoughts on human-scale 3D printing. Undeniably the biggest request of all of our road-trips was that we share stories of our personal adventures printing huge and those of the 300+ Gigabots worldwide. We’ve also had a strong demand for a more robust forum, which Mike is hoping to launch next month- more to come!

As we’re still proudly bootstrapping, it struck us that we have an enormous opportunity to immediately leverage the dense community around us to photograph, video, and document the customers we encounter. We’ve devised a list of questions to capture information we’re told you want to hear:

  • Longest print
  • Biggest print
  • Application/ reason for printing huge
  • Materials tested
  • Favorite print
  • Challenges, feedback and requests
  • Cost and Time Savings
  • Your Gigabot Workspace
  • Your workflow

We hope this is only the beginning of building stronger relationships with all of our customers personally. We aspire to eventually meet all our customers, and are focusing first on sharing the stories of those closest to our operations first. We’re hoping to socially engineer affordable ways to ultimately canvas the globe, but for the short term we’d like to intentionally focus locally.

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With this in mind, we’re pleased to announce our Made in America campaign. Each week, beginning next week, you can anticipate a blog, video and photographs that share the experiences of pioneers like you, who #dreambigprinthuge as we hit the road to engage with our American clientele.

To ensure we are fulfilling your requests for more curated content, we’d love your input. What questions would you like us to ask customers? Who would you like us to visit? Are there any National Parks we should check out enroute? We welcome your suggestions at marketing@re3d.org as we embark on an adventure to explore what’s being #madeinamerica on Gigabot.

Happy Printing!
~Samantha & Katy

Gigabot, Wormholes & the Seattle Art Fair

Last week, two Gigabots, Tammie &  I headed over to the Seattle Art Fair to work alongside Micah Ganske and 101/Exhibit gallery from LA. As many of you know, Micah Ganske works with 3d printing in many of his pieces and the Gigabot helped to print one of his largest new works.

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101/Exhibits graciously offered to fly us out to do some live printing of Micah’s famous “Wormhole Pencil Holder.”  A select few attendees were able to take one home for themselves!

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It was really incredible to see the lines forming around Micah’s virtual reality console. We met a lot of artists and non-artists alike who were inspired by the possibilities of 3d printing as an art medium.

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We also were honored to be mentioned in this great blog about Micah and Gigabot.
 
Thanks again to all who stopped by to talk to us!
 
Have additional questions about our experience at the Seattle Art Fair or wormhole printing? You can find me on twitter @MikeBattaglia.

Mike Battaglia

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