Production by the masses

Where will goods be produced in the future? In the kitchens, spare bedrooms, cobwebbed basements and garages of people around the world, according to proponents of the mushrooming MIY (make-it-yourself) movement.

During the past 3 years, legions of entrepreneurs have opened businesses and begun making and selling jewelry, toys and other crafts via the Internet. A slew of Web sites have been launched to provide sales channels for these MIYers.

One of the most prominent is 5-year-old Etsy (www.etsy.com). Etsy members, who number more than 5 million, sold $180 million worth of goods through the site in 2009. Sales for the first 6 months of this year to- taled $130 million.

In an online interview, the company’s founder and CEO, Robert Kalin, said Etsy “empowers millions of people to make their living, wherever they are, by giving them access to a global marketplace.”

Another site, www.thingiverse.com[/url], has a considerably smaller online footprint than Etsy and attracts a crowd with a decidedly more-mechanical mindset. Thingiverse is a meeting place for users of MakerBot ([url]www.makerbot.com), a low-cost 3-D printer that fabricates objects up to 100mm × 100mm × 130mm from ABS plastic. Visitors to the site share digital designs and swap fabbing tips.

MakerBot devotees are a “mix of engineers, tinkerers and ordinary folks who want to live in the future,” said Bre Pettis, co-founder and CEO of MakerBot Industries. The company contends that just as computing shifted away from the mainframe to the PC, digital fabrication will one day enter the mainstream.

“Manufacturing is coming to your desktop, your kitchen counter,” said Pettis. He added, “If I had one wish, I would wish to replace every television with a MakerBot so we could bask in a creative revolution.”

Wishful thinking, perhaps, but the company is doing remarkably well. It has sold nearly 2,000 units during its 18-month existence. Part of the reason is the positive press MakerBot Industries has received from major media outlets, including The N.Y. Times, The Wall Street Journal, Popular Science, CNN and CBS News.

Another factor is aff ordability. Th e basic CNC machine costs $750. The deluxe model is $950. Prices for industrial-grade 3-D printers, by comparison, start at around $25,000.

All MakerBots come unassembled, which keeps costs down. And, according to the company, MakerBots “require regular adjustment and tweaking to run well, and the best way to learn about the machine and how to maintain it is to put it together yourself.”

The MakerBot measures 250mm × 300mm × 400mm, weighs 12 lbs. and, reportedly, two people can assemble it in a weekend. It’s accurate to 0.08mm and produces features down to 0.08mm. Th e 0.5mm-dia. extruder nozzle extrudes material at a speed of 33mm/sec.

MakerBot Industries plans to introduce more-advanced models, including ones capable of producing larger parts and those with multiple extruder heads. Th e company has no timetable for bringing the models to market, though.

“Our main R&D focus right now is on reliability and simplicity,” said Pettis.

MakerBot and Etsy suggest a radically different approach to manufacturing small goods. Etsy’s Kalin envisions a world populated by small companies—three or fewer employees—making one-off products for a limited number of customers.

“By focusing on these very, very small businesses,” he said, “you could have millions of local economies around the world, and these economies would be more sustainable for the planet than a small number of huge conglomerates.” µ