The future is here and can be found on Greenwich Avenue. No longer is 3-D printing some far-flung idea of the future, it”™s yours for $2,200.
Earlier this month, MakerBot opened two new stores in Greenwich and Boston to complement its flagship store in Manhattan. The store exclusively sells 3-D printers, 3-D scanners and related printing materials.
For just over the price of a new MacBook Pro, tech enthusiasts will have a new gadget to play with this holiday season. Whereas 3-D printers were previously reserved for engineering labs or for hobbyists who built their own, now anyone with enough spare cash and ingenuity can own one.
“The main goal of this store is to show people how it works, so you can see, touch and even smell 3-D printing,” said Bre Pettis, MakerBot CEO, during the store”™s grand opening Nov. 22. “Smells good.”
Similar to an ink-jet printer, the MakerBot desktop printer “prints” with a corn-based plastic “ink” from the bottom layer up, producing a 3-D product. From bracelets and trinkets to robotic hands, the company offers blueprints for more than 100,000 objects on Thingiverse, an online community for 3-D print hobbyists.
Just five years ago the company was selling build-your-own 3-D printer kits where users had to wear magnifying goggles to place wires together before soldering them in a toaster oven.
Now it takes just minutes to hours to create an object, whereas older printers took days to weeks. Once the plastic ink is heated, it smells like waffles.
“It”™s not science fiction anymore,” Pettis said. “When people hear about 3-D printing, they think, ”˜Okay, that”™s something that space engineers use.”™ And it”™s true. Some of our customers include (NASA and Lockheed Martin) ”¦ but with this machine, it”™s easy and accessible enough that anyone could use it. The hard part is that we have to tell people that.”
In addition to the store opening, the company also recently launched the MakerBot Academy initiative to put a MakerBot printer in every school in the United States. By registering at DonorsChoose.org, donors can purchase a printer at 25 percent off for teachers who have requested one. The donation is tax deductable.
“We”™re creating a whole new industry here,” Pettis said. “This something they can point to and say I made this.”
“Manufacturing is coming back,” he added. “We don”™t want the next generation to get left behind.”
Jenny Lawton, MakerBot president and a longtime Greenwich resident, said she plans to personally fund every Connecticut school that signs up, for as long as she can afford it.
“We”™re leading the next industrial revolution,” Lawton said. “We allow people to take their creativity, ideas and thoughts and actualize them in the physical world.”
“This is a huge goal but it”™s absolutely achievable if everybody comes together and supports their community to make sure we put these in the hands of our kids,” Lawton added. “If kids know how to change the world, the world”™s going to change a lot faster. It”™s just an incredible project.”
