The material we use, PLA, is actually biodegradable! It would take a while naturally, but can be done easily with industrial equipment. We also recycle all of our scrap material back into filament :)
Conclusion: "bio" plastics are not better in any way.
Especially PLA from genetically modified corn is not a good solution, sorry.
To reduce the amount of harm you are doing to the planet with that mass production facility should build a safe recycling chain for your customers until you find some less destructive way to make money.
To the HN techno-blinded crowd: downvoting these facts does not produce a better health for your children.
Growing up and becoming an adult also means being able to take responsibility for the future. But, yeah, Trump on, Amerrica!
We're just doing FDM today, but in the future we plan on expanding to other 3D printing technologies (i.e. SLA, SLS, etc), and eventually even non 3D printing tech like milling or laser cutting.
If you don't want to submit a form on our website, feel free to either email me at jonathan@voodoomfg.com.
Exactly, today's cine we'r eonly manufacturing plastic parts, most hardware companies use us to make enclosures, brackets, and other internal and external components. And then prototypes of course as well.
We definitely do one off projects. If you want, you can just upload files to our website Direct Print service and checkout. Those orders leave our factory next business day: https://voodoomfg.com/direct-print
Oh this is fantastic. I have a few ESP8266s sitting around bare / in tiny ugly plastic containers, I'd love to finally get them nice enclosures. I'll definitely check out the direct print / your site!
The only schematics I have right now are for an external project from years ago with specific slots for sensors/cables. I haven't made anything for my own projects yet since I considered the enclosure part too expensive and not worth the time, I'm going to rethink that now though.
We are definitely cheaper! I don't know if you compared to the Shapeways PLA option, but that's actually us doing the fulfillment ;)
We're cheaper than other 3D printing services because we took a different approach and use lower-end commoditized 3D printers, rather than commercial or industrial machines. The machines we use are cheaper, and use cheaper (open) materials, and require cheaper maintenance and repairs. We're also optimized for volume and cost-reduction as a company, where as Shapeways is more optimized for variety and low-volume orders.
Great question. It was for a few reasons. A lot of YC is still what happens during the batch (Tuesday dinners, office hours, demo day, etc), and we felt those were things that could benefit us. As well, a lot of VCs aren't used to "manufacturing" startups, so we felt that having the YC stamp would provide some nice validation and hopefully make conversations with investors better. Also, YC just naturally pushes you to work so hard for the 3 months your in it that we felt it would also be a net positive. At the end of the day, we determined that if we went through YC and continue to do well, it would be worth it, and if we end up failing, YC won't be the reason.
What do you use the parts for? We'll be introducing medium format printers into our factory this quarter, but they will be more like 300 x 300 x 450mm. Would definitely be interested in what you're doing though, because we're always looking for ways to expand our offering :) Shoot me a message at jonathan@voodoomfg.com if you want to chat more.
We look at object SA, V, and geometry and without slicing estimate print time and material usage. From there we factor in other costs such as machine time, labor, and packing and shipping.
We don't compare to injection molding to calculate price. When we say price competitive between 1 and 10k units, it's based on avg IM mold and units costs. It's pretty hard to find data on that though.
Yeah, good point. We don't yet let users assign different units to different models in the same purchase on our website, but can add that feature!
Oh, I follow now. I was going to mention that your site doesn't advertise PIM at all if that's a service offered! I really wish there were readily accessible data sources with pricing in the manufacturing field. Trying to estimate impact and cost savings is a mess without the data.
What kind of internal fill patterns are you using? What are some of the tests which get run in the machines? Do you have any numbers on how accurate the printers are compared to Joe Schmo who just bought his first $1,000 3d printer?
I agree, but at the end of the day you need some estimate of what's being manufactured to produce a price. Otherwise, we'd only be able to give you some rough prices per g of material, print hr, and labor...
We very our infill depending on the part, but usually just standard hex. We did have some factory-wide precision numbers which I'd have to dig up. If you interested in learning more feel free to shoot me an email at jonathan@voodoomfg.com!
We are able to get more consistent prints than a lot of people using their own printer, mostly because we've been able to build a lot of process around maintain and operation. So, for a given part, we'd make a sample for you to get approval, and then use that as spec. We regularly test printers to make sure they're operating normally.
Great! Sorry I didn't know whether or not to post to the root. I noticed you only had PLA and TPU materials. Is ABS in the works? My project required waterproofing and more strength than PLA.
Quotes are based on the specific model. You can upload a STL or OBJ to our site to see what the price is for our Direct Print service (low volume). For high volume orders, sometimes the price is slightly different since we quote more accurately and can sometimes make optimizations. Generally things can cost as little as $0.25 and pretty much go up from there.
In many cases, when you cut up a model like that you can actually print it faster and cheaper than on a large format machine.