A Vending Machine?

Have you ever worked in a shop in the middle of the night when retail stores are closed? And you broke a drill bit.
We have Shot bot and 7 Axis bits in the vending machine along with other shop related basic accessories such as:
- Engraving tools
- Double Edge Lettering Bits
- Single Edge Upcut Spiral O Flute
- Double Edge Upcut Bottom Surfacing
- Raspberry Pi
Pi not Pie. Perhaps not what you first thought. It is a credit-card sized computer that plugs into your TV and a keyboard. It’s a capable little PC which can be used for many of the things that your desktop PC does, like spreadsheets, word-processing and games. It also plays high-definition video. you may want to try it.
At AssentWorks. Tuesday Night Open House 6 PM.  125 Adelaide on the 3rd Floor. Exchange District. Winnipeg.

It Happened So Fast!

What can happen when two people with different but complimentary skills meet? In this case, a new business. And that is exactly what happened with AssentWorks members: David Bernhardt and Aaron Guppy.

In less than two months ago, while touring AssentWorks, Aaron Guppy saw David Bernhardt's outstanding work of signage illuminating the front entrance. Key design elements of that sign started Aaron thinking of ways to develop a line of decor products. Two weeks later he joined AssentWorks, and immediately sought out the creator of that sign. When they met, it's no surprise that the two kindred spirits talked for hours, because, what Aaron couldn't have known was that, David had also been quietly working on some very similar product ideas. A week later they formalized a partnership and started designing and making prototypes. They approached a local manufacturer and made an agreement to have their products made here, in Manitoba -  products which they'll sell across the country (and beyond?).

So, at AssentWorks, in a month and a half, two people who hadn't met previously, have turned an idea into a named, registered company with a logo, business model, marketing strategy, and manufacturing capacity for home/office decor products. They'll be premiering real samples of those products at the Home Show this weekend (March 15-17)  in a walled, display booth that they built themselves; at AssentWorks of course.

NEXTSTYLE, the first fully-conceived and gestated offspring of the great dream that the members of AssentWorks and each of our supporters, like you, have been striving to facilitate, will take its initial breath at the Home Show, this weekend.

What's most exciting is that this is just the first of many businesses their chemistry has the potential to produce. How many more businesses are waiting to be developed? I don't know. What I do know is that about 150 prototypes were built at AssentWorks so far. It is possible. It happened with NextStyle Architectural Finishes.

Visit us for a Open House. Every Tuesday night. 6 - 8 PM. 3rd Floor, 125 Adelaide St. Exchange District. Winnipeg. AssentWorks and Ramp-Up Manitoba.

Contributor: Robert Elms, Members Council Chairman, AssentWorks

If you missed it...

In case you  missed it, here are the links to news on March 01, 2013 AssentWorks funding announcement in the spirit of entrepreneurship in Manitoba.

Winnipeg Free Press
Winnipeg Free Press
Winnipeg Free Press
CBC News
Metro News
CBC News
The Winnipeg Sun
CJOB
Innovate Manitoba
Indiegogo Campaign

The Spirit of Passion

 Martin Cash captured the spirit of AssentWorks perfectly in the Winnipeg Free Press on the day before our announcement. "When there is passion involved in any pursuit in life, the meaningfulness of the enterprise is enhanced", Cash said. AssentWorks Directors, Members and Volunteers demonstrate this passion everyday.

Many people came to AssentWorks on March 1st for the first time. They witnessed something very special. Kerry, Mike, David and Chris articulated their passion and vision in a way that only they can. As co-founders, they all have the same vision and that is what helps to make a business successful.

Vic Toews, Federal Minister of Public Safety made his much anticipated announcement in the way of a $467,000 commitment to AssentWorks. Funding that will take our facility from entrepreneurs creating finished prototypes AND facilitating the creation of the actual businesses that surround them, thanks to Ramp Up Manitoba.

A fundraising effort is also underway on the crowd-funding site Indiegogo to help deal with some of the additional costs associated with the additional space. Your sponsorship will help us make cutting edge equipment available to the community, develop training opportunities for specialized skills and reach out to entirely new audiences across the province about entrepreneurship and invention. All donations receive amazing AssentWorks produced products; check out the list of rewards at the campaign site.

Come see the passion for yourself any Tuesday night at our weekly open house. If you can not come visit us, consider sponsoring through our Indiegogo campaign. Or just follow your own passion. Whatever it may be.

AssentWorks
3rd Floor, 125 Adelaide St.
Winnipeg

Be Part of Something Very Special

Do you want to be part of Manitobans bringing their ideas to life; part of a community support for entrepreneurs; part of something very special...join us on March 1st.

The Honourable Vic Toews, Minister of Public Safety, on behalf of The Honourable Lynne Yelich, Minister of State for Western Economic Diversification, will make a special announcement at AssentWorks on March 1st, 2013. You're invited to hear from the minister and receive a unique tour of AssentWorks, one of Canada's largest and most accessible public fabrication centres.

The event takes place at 10AM on the morning of March 1st, 2013 at AssentWorks, 3rd floor, 125 Adelaide Street in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

The event will also include brief announcements from AssentWorks regarding our 2013 Phase 2 development activities that include a new home for RampUp Manitoba.

Registration is open to the public.

Event Details:
10:00 AM - Noon
AssentWorks
3rd Floor, 125 Adelaide St.
Winnipeg

Register for the event here

For additional information, please contact:
Kerry Stevenson
Director, AssentWorks
kstevenson@assentworks.ca

Crowd-sourced Renovations – Now That’s Innovation!

 By: Chris Johnson

  

Day 1 of the massive ‘Renovation for Innovation’ at @RampUpManitoba and @AssentWorks presented itself with a unique challenge (something our membership love to overcome on a daily basis).  We had a trailer full of 600 10’ 2x4’s, with an elevator that decided to throw a hissy-fit (you would too if you were 100 years old!).  Well, it took approximately 60 seconds to make a human train consisting of 9 people to hike them up the fire escape to the third floor.  Isn’t that something?  9 people on site on a cold winter Saturday at 8AM who were willing to toss 2x4’s up a fire escape.  I was impressed, but that kind of excitement can’t keep up right?  These people are volunteers!

60 days after the outset of this project I am pleased to report that the crowd-sourced volunteers of Ramp Up Manitoba and AssentWorks, with a little help from some of our founding sponsors, have delivered an exceptional effort building our shiny new #StartupSpace!

It’s very exciting for Winnipeg that we have enough volunteers to take on a project of this size (almost 10,000 sq ft space) in such a short period of time. Quite frankly, it makes it all worthwhile!  It was the norm to show up to the space and meet totally new people who just pitched in with whatever skills they had to contribute, and even learned a few new skills along the way.


We had teachers turned framers, developers turned nail-pullers, engineers moonlighting as drywall installers and more.  Did you know your city was full of such giving, energetic, and passionate people?  We are so lucky to have a membership willing to give up their Christmas holidays, New Year’s, and countless evenings and weekends away from their families just trying to leave Winnipeg a better place than they found it.  This is the spirit that drives Ramp Up Manitoba and AssentWorks.  We owe a huge thank you to our dedicated members, and a number of private sector supporters including HIGH SPEED CROW (dozens of man hours donated), Moskal Electric (data cabling donated), Benjamin Moore (primer/paint donated), Best Price Painting (paint application donated), and more.

So, with space renovations coming to a close, it’s now time to turn our attentions to finishing touches inside the space.  Shuffling of equipment and tools on the AssentWorks side, and startups moving in to their new offices on the Ramp Up Manitoba side.  It’s time to get back to the business of innovating, prototyping, and commercializing.  And not a moment too soon, Winnipeg is bursting at the seams with great ideas that need to be built.

We undertook this project to expand our prototyping capabilities at AssentWorks while adding co-working space for innovative Ramp Up Manitoba startup companies to thrive together.  We have a lot more to announce in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!

Lastly, if you read this and said to yourself even once, ‘Hey, this sounds great – I would love to be involved in something like that’…  we’d love to meet you!  Visit us at the below sites to learn more, or pop in any Tuesday evening  for our Community Night where you can get a site tour and meet some of our members.

RAMP UP MANITOBA

 

Yes we do have 3D Printers in Winnipeg!

Actually we have 2 and soon we will have 3. They are all very capable depending on the needs of the user. Here is a summary of each:

BFB3000

The BFB 3000 is a very capable low-end extrusion-based 3D printer. It can accept two types of 3mm filament plastic, ABS plastic and PLA plastic in 1Kg spools. Small objects of arbitrary shapes can be printed in plastic, up to 20cm (PLA) or 10cm (ABS) from 3D models you supply in STL format.

UPrint

The uPrint Plus is a very capable medium-end commercial extrusion-based 3D printer. Prints 1.75mm ABS filament plastic in one pound 30 cubic inch cartridges. Small objects of arbitrary shapes can be printed in plastic, up to 10cm on a side from 3D models you supply in STL format. Parts printed on the uPrint could be strong enough to use in your machine prototypes.

Now imagine scanning and printing in color!

Kerry Stevenson, Director of AssentWorks said why he choose the new Zprinter “Along with the color scanners, members can easily scan full color images and print realistic color models with astonishing results”.

Advanced Color 3D Printer Zprinter 650

Color and resolution! Z Corp states a resolution of 600x540 dpi, saying it's "the highest resolution in a 3D printer."

360 Color Scanners - The Skanect and VIUscan

Can you say “Color?” You'll be able to scan with precision accuracy to 0.1mm and in full color! 

The Skanect system is an easy to use tool that captures casual color scans of medium-sized objects, a person or a room and can create 3D meshes out of real scenes in seconds. Its “rapid” scanning capability lets you quickly move around our 3D camera to capture a full set of viewpoints, and you will get a mesh before you can say "I can't believe it was that easy!"

Our VIUscan handheld scanner is ideal for higher precision scanning of small or large parts that you can use for reverse-engineering with our RapidForm software. If you need high-resolution 3D colour data and shape the VIUscan will capture every detail and deliver hyper-realistic results.

For additional information on 3D printing: visit us on a Tuesday night open house 6 PM - 9 PM, 3rd Floor, 125 Adelaide St. Also Kerry Stevenson, Director AssentWorks tracks developments in Fabbing, 3D Printing and Desktop Manufacturing through his blog read throughout the world, Fabbaloo. http://fabbaloo.com