Elixir (Volume 1, Issue 6)
What, No Smokestacks?
Back in our second issue, we discussed the fascinating and extremely useful technology of stereolithography for industrial prototyping. However, the newer technology of 3-D printing is opening up, moving beyond the world of industry and into the consumer realm. One company we know of is using it to create custom models of their customers’ World of Warcraft avatars, but our partners at Desktop Factory™ are really taking the technology into a new realm with a product designed and priced for home and office use.
Desktop Factory™ is just what it says it is – a desktop 3-d printer able to print out entire parts or products from CAD designs in a matter of hours. The entire product, which sells for $4995, sits comfortably on a desk and weighs less than ninety pounds.
In the end, Nectar and Desktop Factory™ were able to come up with a product with a modest 20″x25″ footprint which, in a few hours, can actually do the kind of work that formerly required the use of materials costing hundreds of thousands of dollars or more, and, usually, the involvement of OSHA and an environmental impact report. Desktop Factory™ might fit easily on to a desk, but it’s no small thing.
Notes for Inventors: Of Information and Perspiration
Thomas Edison, the ultimate American inventor, famously said that genius was “one-percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration,” but he left out another “tion” word – “information” is also kind of crucial. Many of our clients who are new to the invention game ask us for our knowledge and advice on this topic, and it often boils down to common sense points like those mentioned in an article we found at Inventor’s Digest – like the fact that too-good-to-be-true invention packaging services offered on late night radio and television ads are not to be trusted, keeping good records is crucial, and that it’s always good to find an unbiased expert to give your invention an unbiased evaluation. (The article suggests the United Inventor’s Association.)
Actually, while we’re plugging Inventor’s Digest , new inventors could also do a lot worse than to take a look at their FAQ page, which answers a number of frequently asked questions that some may, nevertheless, not always remember to ask — such as what is the difference between a patent agent and a patent attorney (and, no, “one’s a lawyer and one isn’t, schmendrick!” is not the answer. Well, not all of it.)
InventBay “a global web community bringing together the needs of inventors with invention industry services” is also worth a look as a way to keep up with the latest industry news, so you don’t find yourself duplicating someone else’s work (a.k.a. “reinventing the wheel.”). And, speaking of InventBay, there’s probably no better source of information, and no more fun way of gathering it, than meeting others who’ve been in the same position. InventBay’s National Inventor’s Expo is going to be held this October in fabulous, expensive, Las Vegas and it looks like it may well be an excellent venue to network with fellow inventors, meet vendors, and generally learn the ins-and-outs of the invention game from a large number of people who really know.
Of course, Nectar stands ready to help new inventors act on all this good information. For example, the fourth item in the Inventor Digest piece suggests building a model – Nectar can build fully working prototypes that more closely simulate the final product than what most inventors are able to put together at home, and we can usually do it lot faster. Also, when it comes to patent searches, and retaining patent agents and patent attorneys, this is a matter we deal with on a regular basis and we can provide first hand counsel and referrals. Actually, Nectar is able to help at all steps of the invention process and can smooth over the areas where inventors may be less experienced. The ninth item on the Digest checklist probably says it best: “Do what you do well and hire pros to do the rest.”