In 2010 TechShop, the DIY workshop/fabrication studio, announced they'd be opening an NYC outpost in 2011. That got pushed to summer 2012, with Brooklyn announced as the specific location; but summer's come and gone with no news.
3D fabrication company Shapeways, however, has good news for us Gothamites: Yesterday Mayor Bloomberg cut the ribbon (using 3D-printed scissors, it seems) for the groundbreaking of Shapeways' new "Factory of the Future" in Long Island City, Queens.
When construction on the 25,000-square-foot facility is complete, it will hum with 30 to 50 industrial-size 3D printers from EOS, Projet and ZCorp.
When its fully up and running, our Factory of the Future will become the largest consumer facing 3D Printing manufacturing facility in the world. It will have the capacity to 3D Print 3 to 5 million objects annually.It will house state of the art 3D Printers just hitting the market. Our focus will be on Selective Laser Sintering (used for Strong & Flexible nylon) and UV Acrylic Resin Printing (for Frosted Ultra Detail)....
We will have over 50 engineers, craftsmen, 3D printing specialists, and industrial designers fine-tuning and tweaking a Willy Wonka esque system in which pixels go in and objects come out. We will not only work to keep the promises we have made, but to improve upon them.
....We are bringing the future of manufacturing to NYC, and there will be sparks.
Doors are scheduled to open in January!