I have been wanting to post some thoughts on two recent, heavily discussed, blog articles , Chris Anderson’s (of Wired Magazine) report on new kinds of small manufacturing operations and Joel Johnson’s (of gizmodo) spirited critique. Between the two, there’s been a lot of good discussion of the ways in which new technologies do and do not enable new models of production, particularly in terms of ways in which small shops and small-time producers can be realistically competitive.
But before I was able to articulate anything of value, Jeffrey McGrew of Because We Can posted an “analysis from the trenches”, that contains both reality-testing as well as a lot of inspiration. I’d encourage ShopBotters who have any kind of interest in digital fabrication services, Making & Fabbing, distributed manufacturing, or values and lifestyle choices in creative careers, to have a look at Jeffrey’s blog. And, just as a side note, Jeffrey and Jillian will be speaking about their operation at this year’s ShopBot Jamboree (April 23-24 in Durham).
By Gary Campbell, January 31st, 2010 Daylight Method
One of the handiest things we can learn from big iron machines with Automatic tool changers is how they keep track of multiple bit lengths in up to a dozen tool holders. Even tho most of us do not have ATC’s, there are some real advantages to implementing a method to zero or rezero the bit other than using a Zzero plate. One of these advantages is the ability to store the setting so that the bit can be re-zeroed in case of power off or failure, loss of position or an error that causes you to have to restart a file.
If you have an accessory such as a drill or second Z added to your machine you will find even more uses for storing daylight values of different tools in each of your axes. If you have multiple Z’s and/or drills the advantages become exponential. Another advantage is being able to zero all bits to the spoilboard and have the post processor add the material thickness to the file as an offset. This will allow you to change and re-zero bits off the material to a location on the spoilboard. This can add accuracy and eliminate errors caused by zeroing to an area that is removed before a second bit is installed. It can also eliminate errors caused by materials that bow or warp during removal of material between roughing and finish passes. Drill users can eliminate the use of the drill offset file after a bit change by using a simple formula that compares the daylight value before and after a bit change. Having an upper limit allows lifting the Z to its maximum height to clear clamps and other obstacles on the table.
Even though most of the real work of the Daylight Method is done behind the scenes in the SB3 software, you will have to add a proximity switch to your Z (and A if you have one) axis. For the PRS I highly recommend the version sold by ShopBot. These prox switches have a long wire and have been specifically manufactured to be compatible with the newer control boards. PRT models use a different configuration and there are a number of good sources for them. You will need to fabricate a bracket that places the prox trigger point about 1/8” below the hard stop at the top of the Z travel. Here is a picture of a prox switch and trigger bolt mounted on my machine:
Mounting a prox switch on the vertical axis allows the same positional accuracy for the Z that we have for the X and Y axes. The X Y zero routine uses stored offsets to set the 0,0 location. The daylight method uses the same principal to record the distance from the prox to the table surface. This is accomplished by “bumping” the prox switch after a bit zero and recording that value to the my_variables.sbc file. This is the file where all similar values specific to your machine is stored. I used the syntax from the Zzero file to lift the Z axis to the prox and record the height. Here is an example that works on my machine, but care should be taken to adapt this to yours:
LIFT_Z:
ON INPUT (7,0) GOSUB TOP_Z
JZ,12
PAUSE .1
RETURN
TOP_Z:
ON INPUT (7,0)
PAUSE .1
&z_top = %(3)
Pause .1
MZ, (&z_top – .5)
RETURN
After the “&z_top” variable is stored then it should be “written” to the my_variables file. Here is an example of a subroutine that follows the syntax of the drill offset file and writes the stored variable to the file. Note that the variable must exist in the file prior to this sub being used.
WRITE_TOOLS:
&name = “c:\SbParts\TempVar.txt”
OPEN &name FOR OUTPUT AS #1
WRITE #1;”&z_top = “; &z_top
CLOSE #1
PAUSE .5
Shell “C:\SbParts\Custom\MyVars.exe c:\SbParts\TempVar.txt”
PAUSE .5
RETURN
If you were to use the above action after you zeroed your bit and wrote the &z_top variable to your my_variables file, if you lose Z position you can recall the &z_top height and apply it to the Z location the same as you apply your stored offsets for the X and Y. This would be as easy as writing a file to bump the Z against the prox and lowering .5” like above and then, using the VA command, assinging the value of “&z_top-.5) to that location.
If you use a lot of fixtures and clamps to hold irregular materials as we do, you can use the prox to ensure that the Z is lifted to its maximum height for rapid moves, or even a Jog Home. We have included this “Lift Z and A” into may of our custom routines. Some examples are: The beginning of our warmup file, before we zero the X & Y and before we send the gantry to our park location for sheet change during sheet cutting. I am sure there are as many variations as there are ShopBotters that implement the prox. In any case, I am sure that it will be a valueable tool for all that choose to use it.
While puttering on various MAKEcation projects, I’ve continued to ponder the economy and how to relate to today’s conditions as a small business. Last week’s government report of continued job losses in December prompted me to get some of the thoughts down. These have grown to be a bit extensive, so for convenience I’ve broken them into two posts: the first regarding small business and the economy in general; the second a more specific perspective relevant to things at ShopBot and to ShopBotters.
Two Interests
I’m focused on the economy and small business for two reasons: First, the majority of our ShopBot customers are small businesses. We’d like to do our best to provide not only the right tools, but also support and resources to help ShopBotters move forward in these times. Second, ShopBot is itself a small business and while part of me says to just concentrate on making good tools and not obsess over an economy that is out of all of our control, I do believe in actively seeking strategies appropriate for the new conditions and whatever opportunities they may bring. I cover these in detail in Part 2, but first some realities.
There is probably one thing that can be said about our situation now — as if you didn’t know it already — we are not likely to see a surging tide of recovery that restores a pre-2008 type business activity anytime soon. And, when the recovery eventually arrives, I imagine that both your and our business landscapes are going to look a lot different than before the 2008 financial crisis and recession. As for the economy of the next year or two, even optimistic experts don’t forecast much growth. And while perhaps, despite yesterday’s news, unemployment may be stabilizing; we’ve got an impressively long way to go to get employment back to the levels that makes people feel good and creates solid demand. Take a look at the employment graph:
 US Unemployment (data: Bureau of Labor Statistics) Our Economy
As far as the general economy goes, there may be additional shoes still to fall: additional de-leveraging may follow from the derivatives feast that led up to last year’s economic collapse; in particular, there may be more trouble from previous leveraged deals and private equity buy-outs that will need to be refinanced — a variation on the mortgage-derivative fiasco at the corporate level. And, we aren’t even past the projected collapse of many more mortgages with their resulting bank failures. At the very least, continuing foreclosures and short-sales will likely keep house prices down and limit home equity as a credit source for a good while, even if banks were loaning (I’ve heard stories from a couple of friends actually purchasing houses recently, that the reaction to the previous lack of discipline in writing mortgages has resulted in an overcompensation in the opposite direction … it’s now difficult for an ordinary person just to get through the paper work to buy a house, even when they can afford it).
All this means that the wheels of industry are not churning very fast. Our national production and utilization of factory capacity is impressively down. This depression of activity is the kind of thing that effects almost everyone. It’s useful to look at some of the details across category in it order to keep in mind how far we need to come back in order for demand to start flowing again at all levels of the manufacturing and employment food chain.
 Production & Capacity Utilization (data: US Federal Reserve) It is encouraging that there has been recovery in the stock market because positive signs here contribute some improved morale in the face of the huge losses that many people experienced in their retirement accounts in the months following the crisis. Unfortunately, studies have shown that while the major indices have recovered a large chunk of their 50% loss, the average investor did not have enough money back in the market to be able to take advantage of the rapid upswing during the spring and early summer — the average retirement account has recovered by less than 10%. Even this bull market may not last in a slow recovery given P/E ratios are already high, and earnings from trimming spending and related efficiencies have already been utilized.
From a practical point of view for us small businesses, this all means that consumer spending which had grown to be about 70% of the US economy, is going to be a smaller piece of the action for some time. And, the additional reality for many of our ShopBot customers is that residential construction and the work related to it is likely to lag even longer. It also means that, no matter what your politics or what the government eventually does, government spending is going to represent a bigger chunk of work that’s available — most likely with an emphasis on heavy construction, energy, health care, security, education, and other infrastructure elements.
So What’s to Be Done?
Well, who really knows! But I can share our perspective for our own business as well as our thoughts on what we are doing for existing and future ShopBot customers. These perspectives involve moving beyond the depressing raw numbers of the recession, as telling as they are, to recognize that while the economy is down, neither the economy nor business are static. The nature of peoples’ interests and wants changes; the nature of markets changes; our culture continuously re-organizes itself in new ways. And, there is probably a lot more going on now than is immediately apparent. Everyday is a new economy and one thing that is distinctly different now than in the tough times of the 1930’s is that things move quickly.
I’ve previously discussed some of the psychological factors suggesting that people’s purchasing patterns will be irrevocably changed as a result of last year’s financial collapse. It’s a confidence and perspective thing: when 30-50% of everyone’s nest egg has evaporated almost overnight, everyone now knows there is little that can be financially counted on — it’s an alteration in confidence that is producing a re-orientation of most peoples’ perspective on life. The New York Times last weekend reported on a poll they and CBS News had recently taken on the economy. Not surprisingly, in this poll people reported they were now spending less money and were planning to continue to spend less. What the poll also found though, was that people were actually “doing more” … more activities with the family, more outdoors activity, more entertainment, more hobbies and pursuing of personal interests. I previously suggested that new attitudes about values and lifestyle were likely to start taking hold and this seems to be the case.
[excerpted from previous column]
“There’s talk everywhere about a new appreciation of what we value and about fewer frills, less bullshit, and more substance … A context of environmental concern and energy challenge reinforces a new frugality. Respecting the environment with reduced consumption and transportation; carrying out production closer to where it is needed, using local materials, resources, and labor; and the evolving of new and varied energy sources all fit with greater attention to value, lifestyle choices, and attention to community. The expanding interest in gardening, food growing, urban homesteading, farmers markets and local restaurants – the ‘locavore’ movement — are clear examples of a new appreciation of the quality and advantages of community sources and local production … I’m not suggesting that we are about to see a tidal wave of change or that everyone will stop buying mass produced items from Walmart, but there is certainly a shift in the appreciation of items and the nature of our yearning … There’s a range of items that are customized, modified, or personalized that people care about: items that have an aesthetic, design, usage, or craftsmanship aspect that shows through; items that are sensitive or thoughtful; items that acknowledge the precarious environmental situation; items that are fun to acquire or produce real fulfillment; and, items that one has been involved in producing … Not everyone is a tinkerer, nor is it necessary that everyone gets involved in making their own stuff. But the Maker movement (e.g. see MAKE magazine) and today’s thriving, internet-fostered craft community reflect the growing enthusiasm for an understanding and involvement in the production of things, and shows the scale of people interested in creating rather than just consuming. It’s not withdrawal, anti-technology, or anti-science thinking but is about embracing new understandings and new ways of doing things by being involved in them … “
Such new lifestyle perspectives are likely to play a role in how markets and spending behavior evolve for quite a while.
Summarizing Market Opportunities and the Fit of Digital Fabrication
To summarize, the above considerations suggest that in the evolving economic landscape there will be two particularly significant areas of new production demand and opportunity: the increasing level of public spending with all its secondary offshoots; and demand generated by new personal priorities and values. Now, given these directions of potential activity and demand, what I believe should become the central orientation for us at ShopBot and for ShopBotters in general, is the way in which technology and specifically digital fabrication technologies mesh with the emerging areas of opportunity.
Internet and computer-related technologies have made possible whole new ways of doing business that are especially useful for small businesses and individuals. The advantage of immediate access to information, resources, logistics, distribution, analysis, communications, and customers now allows little guys to be competitive with big guys in many domains. And even more relevant for all of us, new digital fabrication technologies take the computing power off the desktop and move it into the real world of production. This makes it possible for small shops and manufacturers to be competitive in ways not possible 10 years ago. Not that a small shop is going to build automobiles, but the cutting, machining, and reproductive capabilities of digital fabrication tools make new and flexible approaches to small scale production, micro manufacturing, and distributed manufacturing of many items a practical and useful possibility.
Digital fabrication technologies are particularly attractive in that they afford a means to return production and good jobs to communities all over the country. Distributed production is consistent with changes in our economic perspective that favor the local production of items using local labor and materials. With respect to increasing government infrastructure investments, these will occur locally and create opportunities for digital fabrication in public construction, rehab, and energy use agendas among others. In consumer areas, small shops with digital fabrication capabilities can play into the expanding interest in customized products and work made to order. Local making, building, producing, and manufacturing are unlikely to be paths to quick riches. But they do provide satisfying and valuable work that can be fulfilling as well as financially rewarding and sustaining.
Getting More Specific for Us at ShopBot
The specific problem that confronts both ShopBot and ShopBotters is that it’s not possible to know exactly what form the new opportunities I’ve vaguely described will take — or the exact directions we should move or the projects we should undertake. But the issue has our attention. Here at ShopBot we have seen no growth in our own sales over the last 9 months. This comes after 14 years of double digit sales growth just about every year. In particular, the part of our sales derived from customers involved in residential construction and cabinetmaking has been stagnant (compared to ~25% annual growth in 2004-2007).
At ShopBot we have primarily benefited from a regular flow of relatively expensive tools (in ShopBot terms) sold to medium and large operations. These have tended to be companies that previously would have been purchasing higher-priced CNC machines — in the current economy these companies are now looking for equipment that will accomplish the job at a better price; or, they are companies that use the configurability of small robotic tools (i.e. our Buddies) for operations in cell-based production lines, sometimes for operations other than cutting. In addition, we’ve sold tools to a number of small operations making a range of unusual and specialty items. These purchasers see adapting digital fabrication to their operations as a way to put more detailed machining into their products and to increase production. I confess these new kinds or applications are my favorites because they help us push our own visions of what our tools can and should be doing and show us some of those new directions.
Indeed, our primary strategy at ShopBot is to make sure we are simply open and attending to emerging possibilities. Based on ongoing interactions with our customers like those above, we are beginning to invest in new directions and emerging niches that should be representative of our opportunities in affordable robotics and digital fabrication.
More specifically, we are working on several specialty robotic woodworking machines (hopefully you’ll see a few at IWF) as well as placing more emphasis on niches in plastics and aluminum work. Also, you may have already heard about our Tyro Project that recognizes the high level of interest we have received for a small, portable, less expensive ShopBot for crafts, engraving, hobbies, and education. I’ve had a personal reluctance to get involved with a smaller and less powerful tool myself– after all, you can’t use them for boatbuilding — but “attending” in this case means listening to some of the strong signals we’ve received and acting on them. We have become particularly enthusiastic about the potential of a smaller tool in providing education about digital fabrication: what you can do with it; how it works, how to get involved. (The target Tyro unveiling date is 4/2/2010.)
More broadly, the educational need is one we believe important in communicating the capabilities of CNC. For example, lots of people have heard about 3D printing but think of it as expensive and impractical. Very few people appreciate that one can subtractively 3D-print real stuff today, out of real materials and at large scales with CNC tools. In fact, we are enhancing our own training programs this year (including new West Coast training), as well supporting Camp ShopBots and a big Jamboree in Durham this Spring that will focus on exploring new opportunities for digital fabrication.
While tools, support, and training remain our primary focus, we’ve had increased interest from developers and integrators interested in using ShopBot Control Systems for various types of robotic devices. So you will see an enhancement to our information and offerings for developers of controls, motors, drives and software. These ShopBot Control System components are also getting interest from those retrofitting older CNC machines that still have good mechanicals but need new controls, drives, or motors. We can often offer a very affordable rejuvenation for such tools as well as performance improvements to newer tools that are poorly performing or no longer being supported. The economy has been hard on CNC manufacturers, a number of which have shut down, or switched to only selling imported tools and no longer supporting earlier tools.
As a general strategy, it’s also worth mentioning that a rough economy is a good time to explore new opportunities for synergies with vendors, partners, and even competitors. For example, with respect to the latter, we’ve had a really positive experience over our eCabinet collaboration with Thermwood — an alliance that surprised a lot of people. While neither of our companies is happy with the state of the cabinetmaking market in the economy, our interactions with Thermwood have been interesting and stimulating. eCabinets is working great for several dozen ShopBotters who are using it, and we look for other opportunities to work together — useful new relationships can be formed by simply being open in challenging times. [FYI, Thermwood has just released a new version of the eCabinet System.]
Specifically for ShopBotters
So what about ShopBotters? I don’t mean to make searching for new opportunities sound easy. Like us, your resources are probably limited and you can’t try everything or spread yourself too thin. There’s not much help out there for investing in new markets either. Banks are making less money available for loans and leases, and credit card interest is high. The effect of financial de-leveraging has been severe in drawing off the dollars that would otherwise be available for borrowing by solid, small companies. Government is encouraging banks to loan to small businesses and making resources available on the one hand, but on the other is imposing new regulations with respect to loan criteria. This last is probably a good thing in the long run, but in the short run has the effect of choking the flow of loans for small business projects. So, while I can suggest that you should keep your eyes open for new niches and directions, new ways of doing things and offering products and services, I know all this is easier said than done.
 Map of US Fabbers to date. You may already be aware of a major effort we are making to help put in place the new web resource, www.100kGarages.com, as a system to assist ShopBotters in exploring and identifying new opportunities. It’s a place where people wanting to get digital fabrication work done can make connection with ShopBotters interested in doing the work. At the most superficial level, it’s a meeting place for subcontracting jobs. However, our goal is for 100kGarages to serve a much broader purpose in producing a public awareness of the kind of work that can be done skillfully, efficiently, and locally by workshops with digital fabrication tools. We hope to spread the word in way that helps the public (and government) realize there is an easy way to find people to help them get things made, whether they need a piece of trim for a renovation project, 100 storage boxes at a new school, or 1000 prototypes of a new energy-saving product. The world needs to appreciate that the nature of the technology allows for efficient and cost effective access to high-fidelity parts and components that can be communicated and specified in digital models. Too often it is assumed that CNC is only about mass production in big factories — that couldn’t be further from the truth.
We want 100kGarages to provide resources that make it easy for those coming into the system (we call them “Makers) to specify what is it that they want to get made and to be able to easily connect with the digital fabricators (ShopBotters or “Fabbers”) who will do the work. And, we want to provide support structures for these “Fabbers” to make it possible to easily participate in this type of business. To accomplish these things we are working hard at developing content and resources and we have partnered with internet digital fabrication mavens, Ponoko, to create new resources for both Makers and Fabbers. (You may find the Inc Magazine article on Ponoko of interest.)
100kGarages.com is a work in progress and will continue to be, as we experiment and learn what works and what does not work. We’ve posted a report covering where we’ve gotten so far, what’s going to be happening over the next few months, how we expect 100kGararges to evolve, and about efforts to drive business to the site. But it is important to note that 100kGarages is not so much about ShopBot or ShopBots as it is about creating new networks and ways of doing business with digital technology tools. 100kGarages will flourish to the degree that participants make it work and that it is successful in helping to popularize digital fabrication as a way to get things made. It will be more about the growing success of Fabbers and their projects than about us. 100kGarages was recently featured by Springwise as one of the Top 10 Business Ideas of 2010.
 Springwise selects 100kGarages (#8). Refining the Details
As our report indicates, and as several forum commentators have noted about the concept, most people probably won’t want to get just a single part cut out, and will probably not want to design something themselves; they will want an entire and completed product. The idea of 100kGarages is to address both types of needs. For the Maker who just wants a plywood shape cut out, they should be able to come to 100kGarages and easily find a Fabber nearby ready to receive their dxf file and do a quick cut out. But 100kGarages should also function in a process where the Maker uses an intermediate “Designer” who creates complete projects ready for cutting by a Fabber. The “Designer” may be an individual who offers a catalog of designs or who customizes designs purchased by a Maker. The final design can then be transmitted to a Fabber for production. Our hope is to develop a community of Designers associated with 100kGarages as an extension of the websites resources. By way of example, have a look at the designer area on the Ponoko site. Ponoko started out as a cutting service for people with a design. Now it has a featured community of designers, developers, and galleries that fulfill their production needs through Ponoko cutting services.
You might also think of the “Designer” as a software resource. For example, it could be a parametric design system in which the Maker enters their specific measurements, then out comes a toolpath of a complete project such as coffee table, a sign, or a stair stringer ready for cutting by a Fabber. We hope to develop/encourage extensive parametric offerings as 100kGarage resources. You can probably imagine parametric offerings for a number of market segments such as signage, furniture, construction and renovation (a rudimentary sampling is available in the project section of 100kGarages today. We have considered popularizing the concept of parametric applications with a few creative iPhone/Android apps that get Makers hooked up with 100kGarage Fabbers — feel free to jump in with ideas and effort on this one.
For many ShopBotters, it may be important to appreciate that a Fabber may also be a Designer. This already happens to a degree at the moment because many of the jobs going through 100kGarages require design work from the ShopBotter as well as the actual fabbing of the parts. But ShopBotters will also soon be able to formally present themselves as having a “Designer” entry point into the systems as well as a Fabber role. More generally, as we move forward with educating the Maker public we hope to be able to help clarify for them how the design and production process works, and provide resources for participation at any level of the 100kGarage system.
 To summarize, what we’re working on for ShopBotters are tools, software, support, and business initiatives through 100kGarages. I hope that this description of how 100kGarages is developing also illustrates the kind of flexibility we believe needs to be expressed in adjusting to our new economic landscapes and exploring how to create new opportunities for ourselves. That is, 100kGarages is intentionally open-ended because we just can’t know yet what will work and what won’t. We do see 100kGarages offering opportunities for establishing all sorts of different types of working relationships with customers/makers, deisgners, and fabbers. It won’t be for everyone, and it may be that it only works to help establish a single new activity for your own shop or even just an idea for something you might do on your own. But it’s a model for digging in. As you are investing in new directions and markets, keep in mind that none of us can know what’s really going to work for growing our businesses in current conditions. If 1 or 2 ideas in ten actually pay off, we believe we are doing well. We’re hoping that there will be a few aspects of 100kGarages that resonate with the new economic realities and help boot ShopBotters into new agendas.
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