August 23, 2004
Rapid Prototyping comes to the Web
This is very exciting. A company called eMachineShop.com has free software that allows you to draw and specify mechanical parts using traditional CAD tools and will then quote you a finished part cost which will come shipped to your door in a few weeks.
Programs for computer-aided design, or CAD, have been around for decades, but eMachineShop.com appears to be the first service that checks whether a design can be made, tells the customer how much it will cost and, if the customer wants the item, forwards the design to a "real world" machine shop for manufacturing.
The key to this enterprise is free design software provided by eMachineShop that aims to be simple enough for hobbyists and other non-engineers.
Prices won't be competitive with Wal-Mart, but Wal-Mart won't make ten copper door knobs, then sandblast them for you. EmachineShop charges $143 for that.
The company was created by Jim Lewis, a programmer and self-professed "tinkerer." One previous credit: "the world's hardest sliding block puzzle."
Very, very good idea.