THE INVENTABLES WORKSHOP

Today 22,000 librarians came to Chicago for the ALA (American Library Association) annual conference.  One of the hot topics at this years ALA is 3D printing and maker spaces.  Inventables has been working with the folks at the Harold Washington branch of the Chicago Public Library since January 2013 on their new Maker Lab and today we did a preview event for librarians.  This will be the first truly free lab that is open to the public.  Starting July 8th the hours will be:

Monday through Thursday: 10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. Friday and Saturday: 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Sunday: 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
This lab is intended to be a showcase to the world on what the future of libraries could be.  Yesterday I met Tim Carrigan of the Institute of Museums and Library Services or as they say in the industry IMLS.  Tim told me their vision is for libraries to be a place of learning not just a place to store books.  It's a fundamental shift compared to what most people think of the library system…

If you are looking for 3D printer filament Inventables is now the best source on the internet.  We have 24 colors available in ABS and PLA.  They are all in stock in our warehouse in Chicago.  For orders placed in Chicago we are now offering same day delivery.  That means during business hours if you place your order you'll get it a few ours later.  For all other locations we will ship it the same day you place your order via UPS or USPS depending on if you are in the USA or another country.  Below are the colors we have available:



Below is a picture of all the filament in our distribution center.

June 17, 2013, Chicago IL - Inventables, Inc., the leading source for 3d printers for digital manufacturing, today announced a $3 million round of financing bringing total investment in the company to $5M.  This round was led by long-time venture investor Tim Draper through Draper Associates. In addition, Dundee Venture Capital, Richard Yoo, Founder of Rackspace Managed Hosting, Georges Harik, co-developer of the targeting technology behind Google AdSense and existing investor, True Ventures participated in the round.

According to founder and CEO Zach Kaplan, the funding will be used to expand Inventables’ offerings in digital manufacturing, which includes 3D printing, CNC Milling, and the related software tools, material and components needed to design and build beautiful products.  Inventables provides the software, hardware, and materials for makers, designers, and manufacturers to create prototypes and low volume production runs.  Customers create products digitally on a computer a…

My name is Jon Hollander and I’m a guest blogger for Inventables.  I’ve written a free web tool for designing custom project cases – MakerCase.com.


About a year ago, I built a simple electronics project as a gift.  Because it was a gift, I wanted to make a nice enclosure for it instead of handing over a board with a mess of spaghetti wiring.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any simple applications for designing custom cases, and it took me hours of tedious 3D modeling and 2D editing to make a suitable design.  Based on that experience, I decided to create a case design application to make it easier for others to create their own custom project cases.
The goal of MakerCase is simplicity.  Users only need to input the size of the case, the case material thickness, and a few other specifications, and the application automatically generates a 3D model of the case.
Different types of complicated edge joints, such as finger joint edges and t-slot edges (for connecting panels with nuts and b…

Last year Ted Ganchiff came over to Inventables to take a tour and introduce me to SEE a program to give kids experience starting a company in 2nd grade.  SEE stands for The Science and Entrepreneurship Exchange.  With a focus on experiential learning in entrepreneurship and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), SEE’s approach incorporates unique real-world startup and engineering projects into existing curriculum in grades 1 - 8, engaging students with expert mentors and collaborators from universities (Northwestern University is a founding partner) and business at key inflection points. By starting their own businesses, and designing, manufacturing and selling real products, students will get an immersive and sustained education in the power and promise of entrepreneurship and engineering, and reinforcement for their math and science education.

This year they worked closely with Beyond Design on a program called dig-8.  The idea was to solve a problem through de…