Digital Factory is Coming!

As we have indicated, Kraftwurx is a relatively new business, that was created as a follow on to Digital Reality's public Beta in 2006 for online customization. In 2006 We filed patents and then began freely distributing our business plan. The following year, our first competitor showed up, Shapeways. We're elated that Shapeways has spent so very much effort raising public awareness of 3D Printing. They have absolutely done the industry a great favor promoting it so much. They however have made our lives easier... In September 2012, our first patent was granted allowance for essentially automatically sending files from an online system to a 3D printer or a 3D print queue...essentially blocking API access to a system that queues 3D printing production. We also filed new additional CIP or Continuation in Part applications for 3D printing that cover Facebook stores for 3D printing and other technical issues. We currently have 5 co-pending open applications... In 2013, Kraftwurx purchased the assets of Digital Reality, essentially buying the software and services that Digital Reality had developed prior including the assets and ideas behind Digital Factory. Digital Factory has now been officially merged into Kraftwurx and we will be turning the system on later this year. The 3D printing industry is in for a shock...We believe that we've built the perfect storm to drive growth into this fledgeling industry and look forward to seeing it happen. We also re-incorported in Nevada as a C Corporation and issued shares for investment. Contrary to popular belief, Kraftwurx has been operating adn generating revenue for a long time. We also already have beta testing clients in several continents of our system. We're ready to change 3D printing and looking forward to making it happen. 3D Printing hype...meet reality...

3D Printing will Change the world...eventually

The world is changing at a rate so fast that its hard to even know what all is happening at any given moment. Technology has become so easy to obtain, as has information that anyone with a desire to make or create just about anything has become possible. One area in particular that is seeing tremendous focus is 3D printing. What is 3D printing? Its not magic but it might as well be. Its a printer, much like one at Kinko's but instead of printing paper with color, the printer 3D prints real-3 dimensional objects that you can hold in your hand. It's not a new industry. 3D printing has been around for 25 years but it only recently gained market appeal as the equipment and materials used for 3D printing advanced to the point to make the technology actually useful. For the past 10-15 years, people have been using this technology under the name Rapid Prototyping. It was essentially exactly what the name implies. A method of making a prototype of "something" quickly... In the past 5 or 6 years, several companies have evolved the concept of Rapid Prototyping into Rapid Manufacturing...which means using 3D printing to make products for end use, not just a prototype. Think of it like the Detroit Auto Show cars...pretty to look at but many of the future vehicles are fake. That is what a prototype is, something that resembles what the real thing will look like. What's most interesting today is that the companies pioneering the idea of 3D printing for consumers are moving the technology into the spotlight, something the equipment makers failed to do themselves. Instead of the general public hearing about 3D printing from a company like Xerox, you learn about it from a series of small startup companies all working to position the technology to change the way people make, buy and sell products. Let's get one thing straight. 3D printing will NOT replace traditional manufacturing. It will make custom manufacturing more affordable. It will also reduce pollution, and make manufacturing more sustainable. With 3D printing, waste is radically reduced. The energy and material to make your widget is consumed but not the energy for the scraps that end up in the dumpster at traditional manufacturing companies. Another advantage is print-on-demand manufacturing where the item is not made until the customer orders it. These ideas and early technology adopters are great but the real magic of 3D printing will come as tools and techniques for allowing consumers to personalize products are created. One company pioneering this technology is a Houston, Texas based startup called Digital Reality which develops software for what they call Made-To-Order Digital Manufacturing. Their flaghship product, Digital Factory™ is being use dby sister company www.kraftwurx.com. Kraftwurx is a 3D marketplace where individuals can upload their own designs

www.goflying.co

About a month ago I published a brand new flying community website called www.barnstormerz.com. It did not take long to get myself in trouble with another website called www.barnstormers.com. Apparently, they can just have classifieds and I can have social media, classifieds, forums, blogs, weather and much more and they can still force me to change my domain or fight in court...I chose to not fight. I even asked them if they wanted to collaborate on the site to improve Barnstormerz. They did not respond.

So, without further delay, www.goflying.co is the new home for the most elaborate and fun aviation community website online. Please check it out!

Hot New Website

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The Future of Product Development

In 2003, I was working for Balfour (Actually Artcarved Balfour - a.k.a. Commemorative Brands and now American Achievement Corporation). The company purchased a brand new machine. A 3D Printer from Solid-scape.com. Its called a Rapid Prototyping machine but in reality its much cooler to call it a 3D printer. I was amazed at its ability to print in 3D and the resolution was incredible!


Fast forward a couple of years and I had left Balfour but an idea was brewing in my head. I was watching my middle son play a video game called Midnight club. He spent hours in the "Garage" customizing his cars. Mind you he drove them too but he spent the majority of his time playing with the look of his custom ride.

Being an engineer, with extensive experience in CAD software (Computer Aided Design) it didn't take me long to realize that combining 3D printing with video game-like technology and pushing it through the internet would open up an infinite possibility to customize products.

By the end of 2005 I had a dozen NDA's signed by various "players" and was working on a patent called Made-To-Order Direct Digital Manufacturing. The idea was to allow kids to customize class rings online, let them see the ring in near real time and produce exactly what they designed.

The idea quickly evolved to be called Made To Order Digital Manufacturing Enterprise. Why the name change? I realized in 2005 that this technology was applicable to make just about anything and even if the tech took years to develop, it would be within my lifetime.

By mid 2006 I had a working Demo online of a class ring in 3D but alas no controls to manipulate it. I spent a lot of time learning about configurators but as an engineer, I realized that the average consumer had no business designing most items. How could they? They couldn't understand the stress in a mechanical part. But they could embellish products so long as they did not violate the design intent.

By 2007 version  2 of the website was live and had actually grown to be a working demo with heightfield mapping software to create 3D terrain (topology) on a part using an image. I tried to raise Venture Capital and tried to the Austin Technology Incubator with no success. That did not crush my hopes. I turned to the SBIR program and looked for a federally-backed financial backer. That also failed so I turned to bootstrapping. So far I have managed to continue to prosecute patents and even notified Shapeways of the existence of our patents Pending. We hope to have our patents awarded by 2011.

What's the holdup? There isn't really a major hurdle to using Rapid Prototyping or 3D printing to make products except for the printers themselves. They are slow and their build envelopes are relatively small. This means that making anything of any significant size is very difficult and cost prohibitive. So what s left?

What's left is anything smaller than a breadbox! That is a huge market, a market which I am not ready to divulge but I will say that in 2005 when I was writing my patents, there was absolutely NOTHING online like this. By the end of 2008, a company called Shapeways had emerged in the Netherlands, funded by Phillips Lifestyle Incubator. That company was called Shapeways. They had beat me to the punch. Not with demos or patents but wth a crude but effective website offering a few custom products. Its not perfect but they are generating revenue wile spending time learning more and more about the market. An invaluable experience for sure. Time will tell what will ultimately happen. With the launch of Kraftwurx, maybe we'll see more growth in the 3D printing industry.

Please visit www.digitalrealitycorp.com to read more.