eMaker Increases Capacity in an Unusual Way

You'll recall that 3D printer manufacturer eMaker recently ran an IndieGoGo campaign to raise funds to kickstart their company. The campaign was wildly successful, raising not their intended USD$30K, but instead well over USD$158K! 

 

Today they've announced a change in their manufacturing strategy that permits them to produce not 150 machines as was originally intended, but instead 300 machines. How are they doing this? Evidently they're crowdsourcing the production of some parts by purchasing them from RepRap 3D printer owners. According to eMaker's Managing Director, Jean-Marc Giacalone: 

 

We set up www.emakershop.com to let anyone sell their RepRap-printed parts to others for free.  We have now applied this philosophy to our own RepRap production and bought many of the parts for the machines that we will sell from the same RepRap community.

 

And:

 

Any RepRap owner, including our customers of course, can recoup some of their initial investment by selling printed parts back to us.  We will do a quality check, then use those parts in future machines.  So our customers can become our manufacturers, allowing us to supply more new customers.

 

This is perhaps the second instance of customers becoming suppliers we've seen, the first being MakerBot some two years ago. We haven't heard more from MakerBot on this since, so it should be interesting to see eMaker's results. 

 

Via eMaker

eMAKER Hits The Jackpot

The other week we wrote of eMAKER's crowdsourced fundraising initiative to kick start their production of a low-priced entry-level 3D printer kit. They hoped to raise up to USD$30,000 by July 1st. They kinda did that. And more.

 

They closed out at USD$158,685. 

 

That's 5.2895 times their target!

 

We're amazed at the level of interest shown by all those who purchased kits. This should keep eMAKER busy for the next while producing all the 302 kits purchased. 

 

But what does this mean? Obviously, eMAKER seems to be discovering the sweet spot for 3D printer kit pricing: USD$500. Recently we've seen several manufacturers turn to assembled printers at 3-5X this price level, while eMAKER is taking a different path, at least for now. We expect to see competing kit manufacturers react to this pricing level, and we wonder how this event may affect the pricing of assembled 3D printers. 

 

Congratulations to eMAKER! 

 

Via IndieGoGo

eMAKER Sells The Huxley

Yet another source for RepRap-based hobby 3D printers has emerged: eMAKER. They're producing Huxley kits in several configurations (including one with no printed parts for those who already have a 3D printer and wish to produce as much of their new Huxley as possible themselves.) 

 

The kit isn't quite official. eMAKER is running a beta program by releasing a series of kits under the IndieGoGo service, which is a fundraising service similar to KickStarter. As of this writing, the most popular selection at IndieGoGo is the "eMAKER Huxley FULL kit microSD", selling for USD$500.

 

According to eMAKER's Director Jean-Marc:  

We are running a beta program through indiegogo, and will be selling the kits on our website on completion of this beta program.

 

The IndieGoGo project is wildly successful, and all 150 initial units have now been claimed. Don't fear, however, because eMAKER says: 

 

DUE TO OVERWHELMING DEMAND WE HAVE RE-OPENED THE CAMPAIGN TO OFFER A SECOND ROUND OF PRE-SALE UNITS! THIS SECOND ROUND OF UNITS WILL SHIP AFTER THE INITIAL ROUND OF 150 BETA UNITS HAS BEEN FULFILLED, AND BEFORE THE OFFICIAL PRODUCT RELEASES TO THE PUBLIC IN THE FALL OF 2011.

 

Why the huge demand? Could it be the low price (which is said to be less than the eventual public price)? Could it be that there are simply a great many people interested in 3D printing? We think both!

  

Via IndieGogo and eMAKERShop