The scrappy new startup was launched in June by a team of ex-MakerBot engineers who came up with a pretty simple idea for making 3D printing affordable and accessible to everyone. Rather than dozens of expensive, industrial 3D printers that cost money in terms of upkeep, technicians and materials, Voodoo Manufacturing uses a bank of more than 125 MakerBots that are all controlled using proprietary software. Their software allows all of the 3D printers to be managed by a single technician. At the speed that they are able to produce 3D printed products, the Voodoo team is certain that they are the most affordable and highest-capacity 3D printing service in the industry.
“At Voodoo, we’re all about speed, scale, and price. By using MakerBots, which are 1/10 the cost of traditional 3D printers, we can grow our factory effortlessly to meet additional demand in an instant. Some people say that desktop 3D printers are not reliable enough to operate at this scale. At Voodoo, we disagree. We have achieved what others thought was impossible. Because we are a factory born from software, we can run our 127 printers with a single person,” said Voodoo Manufacturing co-founder and CEO Max Friefeld.
Voodoo Manufacturing’s setup allows their printer farm to handle orders of virtually any quality and is capable of producing prototypes and even completed products ready for sale. Customers can upload small orders onto the website and instantly receive a quote and an option to place their order. Voodoo will work closely with customers placing high-volume orders to optimize the design, printability and end quality to maximize 3D printing time, and minimize cost to their customer. Currently Voodoo can manufacture large runs of individual parts of up to 10,000 units at a time.
The company also offers an API that will give small businesses and online retailers the option to automatically send orders from their own websites directly over to Voodoo’s print queue. The orders will be cleaned and shipped directly to the customer without online store owners ever needing to involve themselves in the process. Interested businesses are encouraged to contact the Voodoo Manufacturing team directly about incorporating their API onto their website.
“Voodoo’s expertise and knowledge of 3D printing and the software that powers it is introducing an innovative new model for the industry. We are thrilled to watch them build out their services and expand their offering of 3D printing and design,” said VP of Business Development at MakerBot Gil Maman.
Have you used this new service? Let us know what your thought. Discuss in the Voodoo Manufacturing forum thread on 3DPB.com. Check out this video of the Voodoo Manufacturing factory in action: