I just launched a Kickstarter campaign for a modular SLA 3D printer and laser engraver. It can do extremely precise prints since it is of the top-down style, with a feature size even down to 100 microns in some cases. It uses state-space control to operate the galvanometers, which is previously unheard of for this price range. It is almost completely open-source as well. I would be very receptive to any questions or comments. Here is the link:
@Arthur_Matteson yeah - forget about Kickstarter. They take their large portion off of the top, then you’ve gotta pay taxes on that (unless you do some jiggering with the company losing money that year, etc). At the 40k point, you’re not going to be left with much.
Take the backers that have already supported you and see if you can still sell the machines without the huge cash influx. Having a kickstarter on your shoulders sometimes gives you a better chance of failure, than success, especially at the smaller end.
E3D, Lulzbot, MakerBot, Ultimachine, etc all made businesses without a kickstarter. If you’re able, sell the machines with a high enough profit margin for yourself, work on how to get the costs down within your budget (PCBs from dirtypcbs, utilizing panelized production to stuff more into their allowed build area, etc).
Thanks. I was feeling pretty good about the profit margin since I pretty much assemble everything at home, but the main challenge I think is getting people to actually want to buy. I am not sure if Kickstarter is the right crowd, but then I look at things like the B9 Creator, which was not really the “pretty” machine that some others are, but was wildly successful in two different campaigns. I guess being early helps. But I am offering a jewelry printer with a larger build area than theirs, and no peeling nor film replacement, for a third of the cost (and a lot more compact).
@Arthur_Matteson the thing is, those companies hire special kickstarter PR firms to spread as much advertisement around as they can possibly stomach. Guaranteed they spent at least $10k just on their campaigns.
The zesty-nimble extruder had a kickstarter that failed. But they contacted all of the backers and they will continue with production outside of kickstarter. If anything you’ll have an email list of users who are interested in buying and you can continue small with them.
Wish I had the money cause you product seems to be quite a nice SLA solution. Good luck.
Anton, most likely. I pretty much have to sell them as complete units since they need to be calibrated while assembled. Would you mind putting through a pledge? I am still hoping that the KS campaign can work. Either way, thanks!
Sounds great. Thankfully there is still plenty of time. Also, I updated the delivery times to April from August/September, but was unable to change the “Early Printing Large” one due to the fact that people had already pledged. Aug/Sep was worst case and too conservative.
I just wanted to say, really really… really nice work! KS is really fickle, the resin market is much more saturated than it used to be, and people have a hard time spending >$600. I think if your margins are such that you can make small volume initially and be happy it will grow as people slowly stumble across this unit and how excellent it is. Ideally you would want to do a little creative pr and generate an interest list that you can then notify all at once of the KS availability. It takes time for people to stumble across your product in general, so hoping enough do while the KS is running can be frustrating.
Brad, thanks for the comment. I did a slight amount of PR through Thingiverse. I posted some designs that I made (http://www.thingiverse.com/SafFire) and got a couple of people interested. One only gave $10 because his currency (Rand) is not doing so well, but really wants a machine, and one gave nothing because he wanted a machine immediately. My campaign was slightly hurried because I wanted to finish the campaign this year due to tax reasons, and I was getting impatient since it has been two years of work and I need money soon. I can always relaunch, but I think I still have a good chance.
@Anton_Chekhov Hi Anton, any news on the card? I might be able to arrange someone to pledge on your behalf if you still have trouble. Also, I was curious which pledge level you were considering. Thanks so much for the interest!