7 ms·

Small iPhone 4 holder raises 100k at Kickstarter and counting

100 points by eande 16y ago

ovi256 16y ago
This is one of the times I wish I had a 3D printer. To make one RIGHT NOW.
- jsz0 16y ago
  Some Styrofoam and an Exacto knife could probably replicate a close approximation. Might not be very durable though.
ugh 16y ago
They will have to 3D print 360 (for those who pledged $50 or more). I don’t know how fast their 3D printer is but that seems like quite the task.
- Construct 16y ago
  Hopefully they'll let one of the larger rapid-prototyping companies handle that task. Typically, when I need more than a handful of 3D rapid prototypes I'll order cast urethane pieces. The rapid prototype shop will take my part, create a two-piece SLA (type of 3D printing) mold, then cast the individual pieces in this 3D-printed mold. Turn-around times are very quick. Lately, though, I've been able to get molds cut and have 20-100 first article pieces (sans final texture) in 4-6 weeks from China. If they've already settled on the design, they may want to just send the $50 contributors a first article and then ship them a final unit again later. Of course, it's not entirely the same feel as a 3D printed part, but it's probably far stronger and still gets them to the front of the line.
- mcav 16y ago
  I'm consistently surprised at the kind of things Kickstarter projects offer to donors. If a project becomes really successful, some projects may get into a bind. One project offered a phone call to donors, which alone would be really difficult with a lot of people. (>1000?)
  - follower 16y ago
    Isn't that the reason why you can set limits at each level of how many thank you "packages" are available at that level?
- jonknee 16y ago
  According to The Economist the 3D printing is outsourced to Shapeways so the load shouldn't be a problem. http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2010/10/small-scale_production http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2010/10/small-scale_p... Shapeways is apparently already doing north of 10k prints a month: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/23/shapeways-and-its-3-d-printing-comes-to-new-york/?src=me http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/23/shapeways-and-its-3...
  - ugh 16y ago
    That’s a great article, thanks for that! The two guys behind the project really seem to be very thoughtful.
- rewind 16y ago
  My understanding of the video is that the first one was 3D-printed, but they need the money so they can use injection molding, and your donation is a pre-order for the injection-molded batch they produce.
  - tlrobinson 16y ago
    PLEDGE $50 OR MORE Not only will you receive a new Glif when they are ready, but we will also mail you a 3D printed Glif immediately after funding ends. 347 BACKERS
    - rewind 16y ago
      Sorry, missed that. I just went by what was said in the video, so I didn't realize there was a separate benefit to the $50 pledge other than what they said you get for the $20 pledge in the video. My bad.
- marknutter 16y ago
  Wait, I thought they said they were going to manufacture them using injection molding, not 3D printing. It looked to me like they use used the 3D printer to make the prototype.
  - ugh 16y ago
    If you pledge $50 or more they will as quickly as possible send you a 3D printed stand, presumably because setting up the injection molding process will take some time.
- replicatorblog 16y ago
  For a part that size, a normal 3D Printer could print out 30-60 a go, depending on the size of the printer. The primary determinant of printing time is the Z-axis I'd estimate it would be a 4-5 hour job, so they could print these in a week. That said, Shapeways has access to much more production capability.
boredguy8 16y ago
Can someone explain what "THIS PROJECT WILL BE FUNDED ON TUESDAY NOV 2, 9:45PM EDT." means? Is it when, if funds keep accruing at the current rate, they'll have made their goal? Or is that when they'll get the money they've raised from Kickstarter? I didn't see anything on the page explaining that bit of information.
- enjo 16y ago
  It's when the funding period ends. At that point the money will actually change hands. They've already done basically 10x their goal ($10k). Note: Kickstarter is not a forum for investment. You don't get equity in return. In this case you are really just pre-ordering one of those stands.
  - blasdel 16y ago
    What's bizarre about the Kickstarter model is that for the most successful projects they end up acting as a blocker — if you reach your goal in a few days and you set your deadline to a month away, there's no way for you to get the funds until it passes — even afterwards it'll take a while for Amazon to let you cash out. There's no way for the creator to say 'we passed the goal, that's enough money, lets get to work' — something that set Diaspora up for a far more epic failure.
    - thewordpainter 16y ago
      blasdel brings up a great point. we actually did a kickstarter project for our startup @ http://gorankem.com http://gorankem.com in august 2009 when kickstarter was still pretty young themselves. we had no clue how it would turn out so we set our threshold at $1,000 to be raised over 30 days. Before we knew it, we had hit our goal in under a week. unfortunately, it became a lot tougher to justify soliciting donations once our goal had been met. in hindsight, i wish we had set our initial goal higher, but at the same time, the kickstarter search in fall '09 didn't exactly net us any donations outside of our network of supporters. this past summer i helped a great band out of nashville put together a successful $10,000 project so they could get a van to tour the country: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/slowmotioncenterfold/slow-motion-centerfold-needs-a-van?ref=search http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/slowmotioncenterfold/slo... needless to say, i'm a big supporter/believer in the crowdfunding model! -adam p.s. a bit embarrassing to look back at our video/project for Rank 'em (we've come a long way since), but here it is for anybody that's interested: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1003234199/help-us-keep-rank-em-rockin?ref=search http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1003234199/help-us-keep-...
edash 16y ago
I contributed a week or so ago. It wasn't charity, though, I simply thought $20 was a fair price to pay for the item and was willing to wait a couple months for it. I want this to exist...
ThomPete 16y ago
Is there a Kickstarter in europe and if not shouldn't there be?
gokhan 16y ago
Their pitch video is great in explaining the product with all the alternative use cases. I'm inspired.
steveklabnik 16y ago
EDIT 2: Hey there, it's early in the morning, and it's pretty clear that 3,000 * 30,000 != 100,000... But go ahead, downvote me some more. I think I need another few cups of tea.
- chegra 16y ago
  $25 per person? [I think Diaspora did it with much less people] I will be looking at you from now on with suspicious eyes. EDIT: Feel free to delete it
  - steveklabnik 16y ago
    I'd rather publicly admit I made a mistake than just make it disappear. I rarely think deleting posts is appropriate.
    - chegra 16y ago
      Well you already deleted the first half of it, so why not the rest?
mhb 16y ago
Why are so many people willing to pay $20 for a product, that if it already existed and was available at a checkout counter would probably cost less than $5 or $10?

100 points by eande 16y ago

ovi256 16y ago

This is one of the times I wish I had a 3D printer. To make one RIGHT NOW.

jsz0 16y ago
Some Styrofoam and an Exacto knife could probably replicate a close approximation. Might not be very durable though.

ugh 16y ago

They will have to 3D print 360 (for those who pledged $50 or more). I don’t know how fast their 3D printer is but that seems like quite the task.

Construct 16y ago
Hopefully they'll let one of the larger rapid-prototyping companies handle that task. Typically, when I need more than a handful of 3D rapid prototypes I'll order cast urethane pieces. The rapid prototype shop will take my part, create a two-piece SLA (type of 3D printing) mold, then cast the individual pieces in this 3D-printed mold. Turn-around times are very quick. Lately, though, I've been able to get molds cut and have 20-100 first article pieces (sans final texture) in 4-6 weeks from China. If they've already settled on the design, they may want to just send the $50 contributors a first article and then ship them a final unit again later. Of course, it's not entirely the same feel as a 3D printed part, but it's probably far stronger and still gets them to the front of the line.
mcav 16y ago
I'm consistently surprised at the kind of things Kickstarter projects offer to donors. If a project becomes really successful, some projects may get into a bind. One project offered a phone call to donors, which alone would be really difficult with a lot of people. (>1000?)
- follower 16y ago
  Isn't that the reason why you can set limits at each level of how many thank you "packages" are available at that level?
jonknee 16y ago
According to The Economist the 3D printing is outsourced to Shapeways so the load shouldn't be a problem. http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2010/10/small-scale_production http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2010/10/small-scale_p... Shapeways is apparently already doing north of 10k prints a month: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/23/shapeways-and-its-3-d-printing-comes-to-new-york/?src=me http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/23/shapeways-and-its-3...
- ugh 16y ago
  That’s a great article, thanks for that! The two guys behind the project really seem to be very thoughtful.
rewind 16y ago
My understanding of the video is that the first one was 3D-printed, but they need the money so they can use injection molding, and your donation is a pre-order for the injection-molded batch they produce.
- tlrobinson 16y ago
  PLEDGE $50 OR MORE Not only will you receive a new Glif when they are ready, but we will also mail you a 3D printed Glif immediately after funding ends. 347 BACKERS
  - rewind 16y ago
    Sorry, missed that. I just went by what was said in the video, so I didn't realize there was a separate benefit to the $50 pledge other than what they said you get for the $20 pledge in the video. My bad.
marknutter 16y ago
Wait, I thought they said they were going to manufacture them using injection molding, not 3D printing. It looked to me like they use used the 3D printer to make the prototype.
- ugh 16y ago
  If you pledge $50 or more they will as quickly as possible send you a 3D printed stand, presumably because setting up the injection molding process will take some time.
replicatorblog 16y ago
For a part that size, a normal 3D Printer could print out 30-60 a go, depending on the size of the printer. The primary determinant of printing time is the Z-axis I'd estimate it would be a 4-5 hour job, so they could print these in a week. That said, Shapeways has access to much more production capability.

boredguy8 16y ago

Can someone explain what "THIS PROJECT WILL BE FUNDED ON TUESDAY NOV 2, 9:45PM EDT." means? Is it when, if funds keep accruing at the current rate, they'll have made their goal? Or is that when they'll get the money they've raised from Kickstarter? I didn't see anything on the page explaining that bit of information.

enjo 16y ago
It's when the funding period ends. At that point the money will actually change hands. They've already done basically 10x their goal ($10k). Note: Kickstarter is not a forum for investment. You don't get equity in return. In this case you are really just pre-ordering one of those stands.
- blasdel 16y ago
  What's bizarre about the Kickstarter model is that for the most successful projects they end up acting as a blocker — if you reach your goal in a few days and you set your deadline to a month away, there's no way for you to get the funds until it passes — even afterwards it'll take a while for Amazon to let you cash out. There's no way for the creator to say 'we passed the goal, that's enough money, lets get to work' — something that set Diaspora up for a far more epic failure.
  - thewordpainter 16y ago
    blasdel brings up a great point. we actually did a kickstarter project for our startup @ http://gorankem.com http://gorankem.com in august 2009 when kickstarter was still pretty young themselves. we had no clue how it would turn out so we set our threshold at $1,000 to be raised over 30 days. Before we knew it, we had hit our goal in under a week. unfortunately, it became a lot tougher to justify soliciting donations once our goal had been met. in hindsight, i wish we had set our initial goal higher, but at the same time, the kickstarter search in fall '09 didn't exactly net us any donations outside of our network of supporters. this past summer i helped a great band out of nashville put together a successful $10,000 project so they could get a van to tour the country: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/slowmotioncenterfold/slow-motion-centerfold-needs-a-van?ref=search http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/slowmotioncenterfold/slo... needless to say, i'm a big supporter/believer in the crowdfunding model! -adam p.s. a bit embarrassing to look back at our video/project for Rank 'em (we've come a long way since), but here it is for anybody that's interested: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1003234199/help-us-keep-rank-em-rockin?ref=search http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1003234199/help-us-keep-...

edash 16y ago

I contributed a week or so ago. It wasn't charity, though, I simply thought $20 was a fair price to pay for the item and was willing to wait a couple months for it. I want this to exist...

ThomPete 16y ago

Is there a Kickstarter in europe and if not shouldn't there be?

gokhan 16y ago

Their pitch video is great in explaining the product with all the alternative use cases. I'm inspired.

steveklabnik 16y ago

EDIT 2: Hey there, it's early in the morning, and it's pretty clear that 3,000 * 30,000 != 100,000... But go ahead, downvote me some more. I think I need another few cups of tea.

chegra 16y ago
$25 per person? [I think Diaspora did it with much less people] I will be looking at you from now on with suspicious eyes. EDIT: Feel free to delete it
- steveklabnik 16y ago
  I'd rather publicly admit I made a mistake than just make it disappear. I rarely think deleting posts is appropriate.
  - chegra 16y ago
    Well you already deleted the first half of it, so why not the rest?

mhb 16y ago

Why are so many people willing to pay $20 for a product, that if it already existed and was available at a checkout counter would probably cost less than $5 or $10?