About
BoXZY Rapid-Change FabLab: Mill, Laser Engraver, 3D Printer
$1,193,255
630
Introducing BoXZY, the most versatile desktop fabrication device on the market. We built BoXZY so you can do more, better. This triple-threat tool combines a 3D Printer, CNC Mill, and Laser Engraver in one compact cube. By utilizing the quick-change heads, any maker can shape a block of aluminum, hardwood, or plastic into intricate designs; 3D print complex plastic shapes; or laser engrave into objects made of wood, leather or plastic.
BoXZY’s is an extremely robust maker space that rapidly becomes what you need when you need it. Simply slide one attachment out and slide another in without any compromise in precision. To power all these tools and create BoXZY’s 4 micron resolution, BoXZY drives all 3 axes with industrial ballscrews, which are firmly nested in BoXZY’s sleek, black anodized aluminum body.
BoXZY mills complex shapes in brass, aluminum, plastics, and hardwoods. You can shape almost any material you can source when you couple BoXZY with its quick change mill. BoXZY cuts rapidly through soft metals and hard woods, and BoXZY comes with a solid aluminum jig plate. Simply, pull off the magnetically coupled 3D print platform to expose the pre-drilled fixture plate and attach your spoil board, fixture plate, clamps, or ours!
The 2000mW laser engraver slices through balsa and other thin woods eagerly, and will engrave photos on hardwood, leather, and plastic with incredible accuracy. For precision nothing compares: there are few methods precise enough to render text, images, and complex design files with such fidelity as a laser engraver.
BoXZY is top-tier as 3D printer, and it’s a great compliment to the mill and laser. You can easily print complex shapes with fine internal detail and incredible accuracy. Bridge long expanses and steep overhangs with almost any filament available. With BoXZY you can use PLA or ABS to print functional components, or print with nylon for strength critical creations. If you need something more adaptive, print with flexible filament--or if metal is more your style--then print a cast for lost wax casting to create a sophisticated metal build. Build shapes impossible for other forms of manufacturing and creation, and print in place to create pre-assembled parts to fly through iterations.
- Quick-change attachments. Rapidly switch CNC milling attachment, laser cutter/engraver, and 3D printer. Create with more materials in more ways--or do more on the same build. BoXZY is an arsenal of creation.
- All major components are CNC milled from solid billets of aluminum.
- The body is Quarter-inch thick aluminum. BoXZY defies the apocalypse.
- Ballscrew actuation. Industrial ballscrews actuate all 3 axes. BoXZY is in control.
- 4 Micron resolution. BoXZY is precise.
- No assembly, no programming. BoXZY is complete.
- 935 watt (1.25hp) CNC milling capacity. BoXZY is powerful.
- Adjustable CNC milling speeds anywhere between 10,000 and 30,000 RPM. BoXZY is flexible.
- USB slot. BoXZY’s has the hook up.
- Fully Expandable Electronics: So you can build your own attachments. BoXZY is Hackable.
- 2000 mW laser, 445 nm laser. BoXZY is so sci-fi.
- 3D Print in many kinds of filament: PLA, PVA, Ninja-flex, ABS, and even Nylon with our high temperature enclosure kit. BoXZY is loaded.
- CNC Mill almost anything: aluminum, hardwoods, acrylic, Delrin, ABS, Renshape, machinable wax, and yes, even some steel alloys. BoXZY is hungry.
Interchangeable Manufacturing Method
Upgrade your desktop with power of CNC milling AND laser cutting AND 3D printing in the space that once held only a 3D printer. Each aluminum attachment quickly and easily slips into the solid metal head, latches in place, and BoXZY engages a new manufacturing power, providing on demand capability. BoXZY’s interchangeable attachments equip you with the power of real time adaptation, allowing you to jump from shaping one material to creating with another, from 3D printing plastic to 3D modeling aluminum—and BoXZY allows you to fuse methods. You can employ 3D printing, laser cutting, and CNC milling in the very same build. Don’t stop with our attachments, though. We built BoXZY to hack. BoXZY’s simple, sturdy metal head allows you to attach any new effector you can build. Build more.
Serious makers need even more serious tools, so we drive BoXZY with ballscrews to boost BoXZY’s precision, repeatability and capacity to push high loads. They are strong, reliable, compact, precise, and easily maintained—and rare in anything but large precision manufacturing equipment. BoXZY's unique design has centered on utilizing ballscrews to engage all the strength, precision and reliability they employ. Ballscrew actuation combines the ability to push harder with more precision and less backlash. Making the precision of ballscrew actuation accessible to everyday makers was a serious challenge, a challenge we won.
Rock-solid, quarter-inch thick aluminum encases the industrial ballscrews, capturing and stabilizing their action in BoXZY's metal body. Along with a metal body, every one of BoXZY’s major components are CNC machined from single billets of aluminum. The strength and ability of aluminum to hold precise machine operations means that we build more function into smaller, more durable components. All of these parts are held together with stainless steel fasteners. BoXZY’s built-for-a-beating construction means you can print the same part the same, every time.
You can CNC mill, laser engrave, and 3D
print without ever leaving the control software. BoXZY utilizes a simple,
intuitive interface. There’s an Easy Mode for beginners and a more advance mode
for the pros. For milling, BoXZY uses AutoDesk's simple, fun and free
"123D" toolpath generation. Milling with BoXZY is a joy. Generate
your code in 123D, open the file in BoXZY’s interface, set your Z, and start
milling! You can preview your build, select layers to view, and watch your
build in real time--all in the same screen. Also BoXZY can execute G-code
created by most commercial CAM programs.
If you want to generate your own 3D models, then you’re in luck. Recently,
Autodesk made many of their programs free to makers. 123D is free for anyone,
and, for most individuals, Fusion’s intuitive, professional 3D modeling
software is free too. Students and other kinds of makers, have free access to
many of Autodesk’s most powerful design tools. Each of these programs, even the
most advanced, has a rapid path to mastery. The tutorials are built for your
learning style and will take you from novice to designer in a
matter of days.
BoXZY was born to boost your power to create more, in more places, and less space--while building your ideas out of more materials. Now, after investing our lives in BoXZY, we’re excited to release BoXZY into your hands and see your ideas build. Help support our KickStarter so we can move ahead, manufacture, and make BoXZY's power accessible to makers everywhere.
What can you make with a BoXZY? Here are some things we are making:
Help us make your space a maker space!
We’ve built strong and we’re building fast:
- BoXZY is ready for production.
- BoXZY has an incredible team in Pittsburgh, PA
- Engineered the BoXZY system to be mass manufactured
- Assembled and tested 6 generations of BoXZY prototypes
- Tested BoXZY extensively, checking and retesting electronics and mechanical components, build after build.
- Completed a small production run of each component to verify our supply chain.
- Assembled and tested a small production run of full BoXZY units.
- Completed designs for additional tools and build capability.
BoXZY is ready to build your ideas, and this KickStarter will power BoXZY’s delivery to your door and launch our vision of making every desktop a makerspace. With your support we can immediately begin manufacturing and shipping. By supporting BoXZY now, you'll play a huge role in bringing interchangeable function and manufacturing precision to the desktop and be a vital part in the innovation of new BoXZYs, new functions, and new components, and even more importantly, you’ll show the world what you can do with BoXZY.
Soon: Video Update: A DAY WITH BOXZY
Soon: Video Update: INSIDE LOOK WITH JUSTIN
Soon: Video Update: SPEEDS AND FEEDS
Soon: Video Update: HOLD DOWN SYSTEMS
Soon: Video Update: BOXZY BASICS
Ben Saks created this video about the developmental path to the creation of BoXZY through to the future company we create. This video is mainly about us, the co-creators of BoXZY, but every one of our team knows the deep struggle to find tools big enough to build their ideas, and we as a team are committed to helping everyone build more. Each team member chose BoXZY because they are committed to enhancing the capacity to create.
Risks and challenges
Our team has the experience, flexibility, and time to fix any unlikely issue. And we're eager to communicate and collaborate with our backers. We’re very experienced in logistics, and we've built solid, active, and tested relationships with component manufacturers. We'll be assembling all BoXZY units in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in our space at the TechShop in Bakery Square.
Manufacturing a product can be fraught with difficulty, so after we developed relationships with key manufacturing partners, we ordered and received the essential components for a small batch of BoXZYs to exercise communication channels, and test quality and timetable for our components. And, we’re nested full time in the vast resource of manufacturing tools provided by TechShop Pittsburgh, so we have real time adaptability to any issue, no matter how unlikely.
This is our full time job. We're all in, so we’re going to be actively talking to you, our backers, responding to your concerns and collaborating with you during the campaign and after the campaign.
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