Topic: Pieces Unlimited -- 3D Block Community
http://igg.me/p/311086/x/2091965
Some back ground on myself... I've worked with injection molding and 3D printing since the 1990s. I drifted away, became a welder and did quite well for myself. However, Politics in this region make it impossible to support myself in a "job" anymore. Wages are suppressed by local government consent, certain groups are empowered over others and in general if you can find a job that pays more than minimum that lasts longer than 60 days... you're damn lucky.
I've been collecting Unemployment Insurance since August, sent out 500 resumes and haven't had a single callback. Recently I was told I "may not" qualify for extended UI past the end of March because of... again politics.
In the middle of a spell of severe depression and amidst an anxiety attack I had a moment of clarity: People are not going to buy 3D printers because of the shear amount of work it takes to generate a program.
Further clarity came to me as I pondered this further. The 3D printer market is where the PC market was in 1982. If you bought a computer you either had to write software, or type in programs out of a hobby publication. Certain enterprising individuals started producing ready-to-use software targeted at specific computers... and the industry exploded.
That is where we are today. Many people I talk to say "I would buy one but I don't have time to teach myself." Or they say "But what do I print with it?"
What we need are targeted groups that generate one or two specific products in 3D printable form. These groups would have a "library" of patterns or programs ready to download. Already debugged. Already tweaked and optimized. All you the end-user would have to do is click to download, send the file to the machine and hit start. No need to redo a file that was set up for a Makerbot. Everything you need for your Superprinterdeluxe-220 is in one ZIP file, waiting for you to download.
We have groups like Thingverse and Cubify that attempt to do this, but they are aimed at the POWER user or the MASTER HACKER. Those two groups are well represented right now... it's time to bring this to the next tier of users: The HOME user. The CASUAL user.
Just as computers were once the domain of the rich and nerdy 3D printing is a niche hobby and a small-business tool. In order to get my neighbor to buy one she needs assurance that there is some use for the $2500 machine that eats $60 spools of material. She wants to go online, find "kitchen tools" and print on demand. She wants to sit there and print toys for her children... or puzzle pieces for her hobby.
I chose toys for my initial foray into these waters. Specifically building blocks. Wouldn't it be DAMN cool to download and print an entire building set in an evening? Doesn't have to be Lego... there are plenty of designs out there kicking around that could be adapted OR we could invent ENTIRELY NEW building sets.
Either way, this is a perfect application for this technology. Once people become aware that there is "stuff" waiting for them to download and print... specifically for their machine... they'll open wallets and start buying the hardware.
I have an Indigogo campaign underway at http://igg.me/p/311086/x/2091965. It's off to a rough start as several folks who were supposed to help spread the word and make initial donations... well they proved to be less than reliable.
At this point I am asking for three things. Donations, naturally... for the cost of a cup of designer coffee you can help build this community. Second, I need people to spread the word outside of my social circle and bring in more traffic. And lastly, I need community-builders to roll up their sleeves and get to work.
I set a sky-high goal for my campaign, but realistically speaking this is the breakdown:
$750 gets me the services of a site designer and gets a site hosted for two years. Includes a forum and a back-end that allows me to update.
$1500 would allow me to host programs/designs locally in one place.
$5000 would allow me to do the community as well as acquire several printers beyond my initial solidoodle.
Anything more than that would be put twords approaching several major toy companies (including one local to East Aurora NY) with the intention of acquiring licenses. Why print knockoffs or "compatible" blocks when you can download and print the real thing?
Feel free to ask questions. I'm not the best at making sales pitches. At a very minimum, your feedback in regards to my idea is appreciated!
Thank you for reading.
--Brian "Plastic Nerd" Richard
http://igg.me/p/311086/x/2091965