Events

TechShop Bankrupt, Maker Community mourns by taking action

It’s taken us some time to process the magnitude and impact of the recent news that TechShop declared chapter 7 bankruptcy.  Many of the fabricators in our network leveraged the tools provided by the TechShop to conduct much of our clients’s fabrication work.  Those users productivity all has since stopped, delayed expected delivery dates for project work and has pushed that fabrication demand originally supplied by TechShop members onto our You3Dit independent laser, CNC machine and 3D Printer owner / operators.   We’ve scrambled a bit internally to reroute the fabrication of several jobs and are back on track for the short term  (HUGE THANKS to our You3Dit fabricators who stepped up).  We want to help others do the same. However as of this writing, TechShop is still bankrupt, closed an leaving many people stranded who need help with getting access to machines.  We have to figure out what we’re going to do next to solve the long-term issues created by

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Autodesk TechWomen 2016

Last Friday, September 16th, we had the privilege to meet and share our passion for 3D printing with approximately 100x TechWomen leaders in the Autodesk Gallery at One Market Place in San Francisco. The TechWomen program is organized by the Institute of International Education (IIE)–the same governmental group that is responsible for the Fulbright Scholarship and other programs that embrace their mission “to advance international education and access to education worldwide.” Each year Autodesk hosts these women for an entire day and provides mentorship along with exposure to design, leadership and product-oriented workshops.  Autodesk is one of their first stops during their 6 week Silicon Valley trip and these women spend the entire day learning about topics like leadership to product design. You3Dit for the second year has participated with Autodesk and works with their top-employees to help facilitate these workshops–illustrating the power and capability of 3D printing to transform manufacturing with a talk co-founder & CEO Chris McCoy gives entitled “iManufacture” (Download the PDF of the iManufacture talk from TechWomen

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And we’re off…SFmototype has begun!

What did you do last Saturday?  We kicked off the first of it’s kind, 3D Design and Prototyping challenge for motorcyclists, enthusiasts and pretty much anyone who can sketch their motorcycle ideas on paper. BuildTak–a 3D printer build platform manufacturer and SFmototype Sponsor–made these beautiful custom 3D printing surfaces for our Type A Machines Series 1 Pros and Printrbot Simple Metals that are on display at SF Moto (275 8th Street, San Francisco, 10a-6pm) Last Saturday, September 10th, we had the official kickoff of our first ever SFmototype Design and Prototyping challenge–where for 45 days, err, 40 days now–people have the opportunity to sketch out on paper, napkin, envelope, whatever…a concept related to motorcycles and submit it to our SFmototype competition.  If their concept considered to be the best by a panel of expert judges, they can win a number of prizes: A motorcycle 3D printers CAD training Shop Training and much much more… We had an amazing set of panelists

read more And we’re off…SFmototype has begun!

SFmototype – an all-new retail experience for motorcycle enthusiasts

It all started back in June 2016 with a “hey, what if we did this…” Now, we’re giving away motorcycles, 3D printers, CAD software licenses and more to those who enter to win and participate in what we’re calling “SF Mototype”. Why?  Because we believe everyone has untapped creativity that can be unleashed through Computer Aided Design (CAD) and 3D printing. On September 10th, we’ll kickoff this all-new retail experience where for 45 days, anyone can become their own motorcycle part / component creator.  Yes…anyone. At the end of these 45 days, panels of experts will evaluate each submission and prizes* will be awarded to concepts, designs and fabrications which really engender the spirit of this event: anyone should be able to create and build their own motorcycle parts and components…a.k.a. mototypes. You3Dit and SF Moto have teamed up with a number of industry collaborators to enable people to Make Anything, Anywhere (see partners / sponsors below). HERE’S HOW THE PROCESS WORKS: 1. You have an idea

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Pre-event Resources: BSB Rapid Innovation Challenge

In concert with Barowski School of Business and the TechShop San Francisco, You3Dit and EO Products will host PROBLEM SOLVED! 3D – a first of it’s kind 3D print-a-thon to challenge business-minded students and public to solve challenges for a thriving local business: EO Products. Over the course of 3 fast-paced days, the participants will learn how to: Use the Rapid Innovation Cycle to identify business opportunities in the context of consumer goods: Specifically Essential Oils.  The Rapid Innovation Cycle is a four-step process where teams:  1) recognize an opportunity (i.e. a problem), 2) define a solution which solves the identified problem (within the team’s constraints) and then design and construct a market test that when put before the “unforgiving marketplace”, can yield real customer data Use Computer Aided Design (CAD) tools to fabricate their market tests on a 3D printer Use a 3D Printer (Printrbot Simple Metal) in order to bring to life their physical prototypes that they’ll use as market tests Just learning how to

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Co-founder Chris McCoy serves as part of an elite team of 3D printer experts!

“It was such an amazing experience being surrounded by so many 3D printing experts” said Chris McCoy in an interview after the shootout.  Chris–one of the co-founders for You3Dit, a web-based community based largely on 3D printing–estimated that he printed for roughly 36 consecutive hours that weekend (minus 6 hours fort sleeping and the drive to Sebastapol, CA for two days).  He had the opportunity to personally test over 7 different 3D printers and witness the glory and failure of many of the common notables in the annual Make Magazine 3D Printer Shootout. In one solid weekend, the team was tasked to evaluate the 22 or so latest 3D printers and comment on some key 3D printer questions: who are they good for? What are the printers’s strengths and weaknesses and what would be the “Pro User” configurations for each machine. The Make Magazine hit shelves on November 12th and You3Dit was so thankful to Make Magazine for providing the

read more Co-founder Chris McCoy serves as part of an elite team of 3D printer experts!