We are excited to announce that we will be launching the first round of pre-orders for MicroMolder via Kickstarter in the coming weeks and we need your help! We have spent well over a year in development and we are finally satisfied that the MicroMolder is at a stage of development that meets the highest level of build quality, reliability, safety and performance that we can provide.
UPDATE:
MicroMolders campaign will be live on November 27, 2020! Pricing and ship dates will be available at that time.
Checkout the landing page here:
Why did we choose this route?
Simple, we need pre-orders to capitalize on volume purchasing. ShopBotix is a startup with decades of design and engineering experience as well as manufacturing assets but we are limited on purchasing power when it comes to buying in bulk. We are also at capacity in our small shop. Pre-orders will justify leasing a larger space in order to fulfill larger batch manufacturing and assembly runs and provide some of the capital needed to purchase components and raw materials at reduced rates.
Why Kickstarter vs. pre-orders via the website?
We wrestled with this one for a while. Basically, we fell we may not have reached enough people's radar through our social media posts and that the Kickstarter platform might help capture a larger audience at a time when the introductory pricing is still available.
How is our Kickstarter different than others?
Simple, we have already spent the time and money developing the machine, we are ready to go into production now. Some other Kickstarter projects in the tech category typically don't take this step prior to a campaign. Of the campaigns that didn't some teams quickly discovered that product design challenges, R&D time and development costs were greatly underestimated. Underestimations have created release delays, under performing products based on campaign promises and in some cases failure to release anything at all leaving backers with nothing to show for their support. Our approach is different because we have invested the required R&D time and capital in the product development processes prior to taking pre-orders or making performance promises. We are so ready to go that we hope to set a record on how fast early bird backers have their units once the campaign has closed. For more on the development path we took check out or Instagram page @shopbotix.
We need your support!
Even if you don't have a need for a MicroMolder yourself any help in spreading the word of our upcoming release would be very helpful. Know an organization, school, business, friend or family member who loves 3D printing, CNC machining, making, building, robotics or electronics? You would be our personal hero's if you would share our web page and story!
What if the campaign doesn't reach its funding goal?
Don't worry, if our modest funding goal of $35K isn't reached we will still be producing both the MicroMolder and MicroMolder+. Production will just be at a slower pace and at lower annual quantities. Unfortunately, if we don't reach our funding goal the purchase price will likely shift upward as the lower quantities of machines produced each year will result in a higher component costs for us on the front end. So, its in everyone's interest to help us reach our goal! We can do it! But only with your help and support!