Zaib Husain and Azam Shahani spent a lot of time in Husain’s garage making things, but quickly grew frustrated with the time it took to adjust the 3D printers or milling machines. “We spent more time fixing the machines than making our projects,” said Husain whose kids and husband also joined in the impromptu hardware projects. So they decided to build a robot that could do all the things. The result will be shown for the first time at the New York Maker Faire starting today, but you can get a sneak peek in the video embedded here.
The Makerarm will sell for between $1,900 and $2,200 and will launch with a Kickstarter on Oct. 1. The machine itself won’t ship until next April however. It boasts some impressive skills at that price, or even above that price. It’s the first machine in that range that can do the following:
- 3D Printing (using both filaments and resins)
- Carving/Milling
- Laser Engraving and etching
- Pick and place
- Cutting
- Write/Plot
- PCB Fab and assembly
This skill set means one could pick up a few of these and set them running as a mini manufacturing facility in your garage if you wanted, which is certainly a game-changing idea. The printing capabilities are fairly quick as I explain in the video, and it is much quieter than some of the other products on the market for home or lab use. Because of the design it also can print larger objects, that can range from 10 by 30 inches wide and 10 inches high.
As for quality of the finished pieces, I’ll let others be the judge. It seemed like a versatile machine to have around the house, with the option of being able to purchase an attachment that lets you ice a cake.
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