Oct 6, 2015 | By Alec
As the birthplace of MakerBot, it is hardly surprising that New York is home to a lot of 3D printing innovation. While there are plenty of 3D printing service providers to be found there nowadays, a new and very promising provider has just opened its doors and has thereby greatly increased the city’s 3D printing capacity. Called Voodoo Manufacturing, this new business is a high capacity manufacturer that even goes as far as claiming they’re the "fastest and most scalable 3D printing service in the world" – capable of easily manufacturing thousands of parts in a very small amount of time.
While most 3D printing services start out small, Voodoo Manufacturing actually combines a ton of 3D printing experience in a single package and is therefore able to achieve a lot already. Having just been founded by a team of MakerBot engineers, Voodoo Manufacturing seems to know all the ins and outs of the 3D printing business already. ’We are a team of four founders, 3 Engineers and one Wharton business school graduate. Our company was born out of the software we built at MakerBot to run their Innovation Center product. We joined MakerBot in Feb. 2014 when they acquired our last company, Layer By Layer, to power their digital store of printable designs,’ they tell us.
Before going public with Voodoo, the same team has also previously worked on a number of inidivual projects for a variety of companies, including Viacom, Local Motors, Chipotle and recently Intel, working on a dress for their fashion week partnership with the design studio Chromat. They have recently also joined Etsy in the marketplace’s manufacturing program. But as they explain to 3ders.org, they are now raising the stakes with a huge warehouse space in Brooklyn, where more than a hundred 3D printers are now ready for action.
As co-founder and current CEO of Voodoo Manufacturing Max Friefeld explains, this huge scale enables them to be cost effective and efficient right from the start. ‘At Voodoo, we’re all about speed, scale, and price. By using MakerBots, which are 1/10 the cost of traditional 3D printers, we can grow our factory effortlessly to meet additional demand in an instant,’ he says. 'Some people say that desktop 3D printers are not reliable enough to operate at this scale. At Voodoo, we disagree. We have achieved what others thought was impossible. Because we are a factory born from software, we can run our 127 printers with a single person.’
Indeed, that software approach seems to be key in their entire approach. The company’s API capabilities allow businesses or individuals to automatically route orders from their websites and applications directly into Voodoo’s print queue. These orders are then 3D printed, cleaned and shipped directly to the end customer. By optimizing the software side of the equation, they have built a factory that can offer just about anything to its customers. ‘Voodoo’s expertise and knowledge of 3D printing and the software that powers it is introducing an innovative new model for the industry,’ MakerBot’s Business Development VP Gil Maman says. ‘We are thrilled to watch them build out their services and expand their offering of 3D printing and design.’
This approach is also reflected in their services. Voodoo is available for just about anything from small orders of just ten items or so, up to very high volume production as well. On its site, anyone can drag and drop a 3D file (OBJ or STL) into the visualizer to begin the printing process. ‘For high-volume orders, Voodoo works closely to assess and optimize designs for printability and end-quality, and can manufacture up to 10,000 units at a time. Voodoo prides itself on having the quickest turnaround from file upload to shipment, making it the simplest solution for early-stage product production.,’ the team tells us. These large scale projects can cost anywhere from $1000 to $30,000 – everything is possible. And with a team of veteran CAD designers running things, even a mere concept is quickly turned into a 3D printed object.
All 3D prints are handled by one of the following model 3D printers: The MakerBot Replicator, the Z18 or the Replicator 2. All 3D prints are currently done in PLA, though the company is looking to expand into ABS and Ninjaflex filaments as well. What’s more, all orders you or I might place in small numbers, can – if featuring the ‘Print Now’ flow – will ship the next business day. Orders for very large parts obviously take a bit longer, up to three weeks or so. But perhaps most impressive is the price tag attached to all of this: ‘We are up to 70% cheaper than Shapeways and 20-50% cheaper than 3D hubs (not to mention the guaranteed turn-around!). For volume production we’ve made small parts at scale for as little as $0.40 a piece,’ they say.
In short, Voodoo Manufacturing seems to have all the ingredients necessary for success, and are affordable to boot. If you’re interested in their services, head over to their website here.
Posted in 3D Printing Services
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