It's officially spring and things are looking up here at Desktop Factory. Since our February newsletter we have been working diligently on our new imager to get it ready for full scale testing. We prototyped the design, made some minor corrections and received the functional model last week. Our initial assessment is very positive and we have ordered a few extra imagers in preparation for extensive printing tests.
While everything appears to fit seamlessly thus far — we know that the characteristics of this imager vary slightly from the prior model. Therefore we need to fully test and understand any potential impacts — negative and/or positive — to make the required adjustments or design changes as may be necessary.
We have simultaneously continued our work on reliability and support removal in an effort to remain on track with our planned product placements later this year. We are making strong progress with our reliability metrics and the support structure improvements are noticeable.
One of our latest 3D objects, the wireframe sphere with floating ball, was designed to generate a fairly significant support structure. Our goal is to 'push' the envelope of our support removal objective of just 10 minutes to a clean part, or less. It's only fair to say that we have not yet hit our 10 minute goal — but we have cut our time in half since the start of the process. This part is now posted on our website!
SUPPORT STRUCTURE EFFORTS
We recognize that our ability to remove our own support structure may be less than an accurate or meaningful measure of success for the rest of you. Therefore, as we continue our development work, we will periodically send out parts to end users to get their opinion on the time and degree of difficulty to remove the support structure. In fact, we sent two parts recently to one of our prospective users and found the process, which he video taped, to be extremely beneficial to us.
This first volunteer, Tom, had no idea what the two parts were going to be and we did not inform him of our goal on the time required to achieve a clean part. The resulting video and sound are providing some terrific insights on the user experience, both positive and negative. It took him about 30 minutes to fully clean the first part and approximately 20 minutes for the second object.
While we know these times have to improve we received very good news from Tom. First of all he is convinced that he learned enough in the process to reduce his time with the next set of parts, and, he is willing to do it again. And, as I noted above, we are making almost weekly improvements in the area of supports so we are looking forward to our next customer test!
GLOBAL RECOGNITION
In February we were hosted in France at the Forum Netxplorateur and garnered some exciting recognition for Desktop Factory. At left, we have included a picture of the trophy we received as one of only 10 global technology winners. The selection process was all about innovation and the impact the selected technologies would have on our society. It was very clear that the French are extremely interested in 3D technologies! We have also included a link to the Netxplorateur website.
Since our visit to France we have been invited back to present at an upcoming technology conference later this month. We believe this is an opportunity to further the knowledge and interest in this exciting technology. One of the best ways to help expand the 3D printing market overall and make these solutions more accessible is to generate better awareness across various industries and end users. While we have the 'bully pulpit' we intend to do just that.
Then in July we have been invited to participate in the 3rd International Rapid Manufacturing Conference in the UK at Loughborough University. Notice that the terminology here is rapid manufacturing — not rapid prototyping. I make this distinction because as the technology and the users in our industry mature there is growing interest in end use parts — not just prototypes. By the time Desktop Factory becomes available to the consumer market we will be providing not just fit and form models — but final objects as well. The applications will vary from home repair items to custom toys and crafts — but the objects will in effect be placed into use. This university has been a leader in RM technology education and application so we are looking forward to a very worthwhile, informative session.
INDUSTRY UPDATE
A fairly new development in our industry has been an influx of analysts beginning to follow 3D printing and rapid prototyping. While the industry has been around for almost 20 years, there have been just a few who have reported on the manufacturers, the placement growth and the applications. These pioneers, like Terry Wohlers, Ed Grenda and Todd Grimm, have been extremely beneficial to the development of the industry due to their deep knowledge of the various technologies. Now that the industry is maturing, having additional sources of information and education will be good news for all of us.
The Gartner Group is one of the largest IT industry analysts and consulting concerns in the world and they have recently issued their first report on 3D printing. They are very bullish on the prospects, in fact, they forecast that 3D printer placements will explode over the next 3 years. Their perspective along with others' view of the market potential will generate greater awareness and result in broader market demand. Over time this should entice new market entrants, create additional applications and drive costs lower for this important technology.
WEBSITES & BLOGS
Thank you all for responding to my request and contributing to our list of websites and blogs. You provided some terrific insights for our target audience — from creative entrepreneurial sites to product and design sites and forums to the amazing work of well known mathematician, Bathsheba Grossman.
AMBerman's blog — the blog of a dedicated educator and CTO from Art Center
SPRING IS A TIME OF RENEWAL
I have to admit that as I prepared our February newsletter I was concerned. I was clearly concerned about our technology challenges but I was also concerned about how to share them with you without losing your confidence. Would honesty and transparency be the best direction just because I know that it's right? Or would our team, our technology and our company ultimately pay a price for doing the right thing by keeping you informed?
You all know the decision we made — the document is posted on our website and was sent to about 8,000 recipients. And I want to thank the hundreds of people who took the time to respond to that newsletter, a missive that has received the most direct feedback of any newsletter to date. I must tell you how much we appreciate your continued interest and support. Your response was overwhelmingly consistent and positive. You told us that you want transparency at all times and that you would rather wait for a product that will perform appropriately versus having us rush our 3D printer to the market.
So with this opportunity for renewal, our Desktop Factory team is committed to full disclosure and we are all working hard to perfect and deliver this exciting product. The progress continues and we are still planning for an expanded beta with a controlled launch in the later part of the year. We thank you for the new order reservations that you continue to place with us and hope that you will take a minute to check out the websites and blog that many of you recommended above.
We will keep you posted every 4 to 6 weeks through these newsletters, but we also welcome your emails and your phone calls. If you do want to contact us directly just write to me at info@desktopfactory.com or call us at 626-229-3190 and we will respond, typically within 24 hours. Wishing you all a wonderful spring!
Cathy Lewis
CEO
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It's officially spring and things are looking up here at Desktop Factory. Since our February newsletter we have been working diligently on our new imager to get it ready for full scale testing. We prototyped the design, made some minor corrections and received the functional model last week. Our initial assessment is very positive and we have ordered a few extra imagers in preparation for extensive printing tests.
We have simultaneously continued our work on reliability and support removal in an effort to remain on track with our planned product placements later this year. We are making strong progress with our reliability metrics and the support structure improvements are noticeable.
In February we were hosted in France at the 
Since our visit to France we have been invited back to present at an upcoming technology conference later this month. We believe this is an opportunity to further the knowledge and interest in this exciting technology. One of the best ways to help expand the 3D printing market overall and make these solutions more accessible is to generate better awareness across various industries and end users. While we have the 'bully pulpit' we intend to do just that.
Then in July we have been invited to participate in the 3rd International Rapid Manufacturing Conference in the UK at Loughborough University. Notice that the terminology here is rapid manufacturing — not rapid prototyping. I make this distinction because as the technology and the users in our industry mature there is growing interest in end use parts — not just prototypes. By the time Desktop Factory becomes available to the consumer market we will be providing not just fit and form models — but final objects as well. The applications will vary from home repair items to custom toys and crafts — but the objects will in effect be placed into use. This university has been a leader in RM technology education and application so we are looking forward to a very worthwhile, informative session.
I have to admit that as I prepared our February newsletter I was concerned. I was clearly concerned about our technology challenges but I was also concerned about how to share them with you without losing your confidence. Would honesty and transparency be the best direction just because I know that it's right? Or would our team, our technology and our company ultimately pay a price for doing the right thing by keeping you informed?