THE INVENTABLES WORKSHOP

In nearly every town, there’s that one restaurant that’s a true staple. One that helps enhance its beauty and uniqueness, no matter how big or small. In Dorset, Minnesota that restaurant is the beloved Companeros.
For 30 straight summers, owners Rick and Laura Kempnich opened their family-owned restaurant in the small tourist town of only 27 year-round residents. And every year when the doors were thrown open to let in the warm summer air, the Kempnichs’ loyal (and hungry) customers were there waiting. Companeros even made national news in 2012, when Bobby Tufts was elected as the nation’s youngest mayor at the age of 3 years old, right on the old wooden deck.


But tragedy struck the tiny town in September 2014, when a lightning strike sparked a fire that left the restaurant in ruins. The Kempnichs decided to sell the land in hopes that new owners would rebuild the local Mexican eatery. To keep the tradition alive, former employees Levi and Beth Durgin purchased the land and the family…

Did you hear the big announcement from Inventables CEO, Zach Kaplan? If you missed out on the action, keep reading. You’re going to want to hear this news!



On Tuesday March 29th, Zach Kaplan was the keynote speaker at the maker-themed Technori event in Chicago. Technori is the third largest monthly startup event in the United States, showcasing over 250 companies at 50 events. Technori has raised over $201 million in funding and employs more than 1,000 people. Technori is working to help build the startups of tomorrow by giving them a stage to present their ideas in front of hundreds. By doing so, Technori has been able to assist startups in gaining momentum, and even, helping to obtain their first customer, partnership or investment.
Technori gave Kaplan the chance to explain to the startup community, how students are bored at school and have resorted to snapchatting their face rather than learning. This contagious boredom throughout students is causing The U.S. academic rating to plu…

They’re getting close….a little closer….they’re here!
After three months of anticipation, the wait is coming to an end! Carveys and X-Carves are beginning to appear at the front doors of the 50 winning schools of the Inventables 3D carver contest.
Back in January, Inventables announced the winners of the contest to kickoff our mission of putting a 3D carving machine in every school in the U.S. by the end of the decade.


In Hawaii at Kailua Elementary, Greg Kent and his students built a cozy transparent home for their X-Carve. They have also been busy carving a sign to proudly welcome their guests to the Kailua Elemakery!




Kent recently told Inventables that he feels, “like the X-Carve has taken our makerspace to the next level! We have hit the ground running and are in the middle of ‘Design Thinking in the Garden’ with 2nd and 5th graders. It is a tool that promotes critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity. The 5th graders are working with the 2nd graders to help …

Within the next few decades, an explosion of new technologies is going to once again make the United States the top dog of manufacturing.




Inventables Founder and CEO, Zach Kaplan is just one of the individuals leading the digital manufacturing revolution.



3D carving is used to carve objects out of many different materials like wood, plastic and even metal. You start with a flat piece of material that is clamped down tightly to secure it during the carving process. The project design is created on the computer and then sent to the 3D carving machine.  A part of the machine called the spindle, rotates the bit to remove material from the surface. The spinning bit has sharp edges so it is moved perpendicular to its axis of rotation, which creates cutting on the circumference of the bit rather than the tip.


Kaplan spoke with Chicago Tonight’s reporter, Eddie Arruza about the beginning of the digital manufacturing revolution here in the United States. Kaplan explains that while we are still…