If we don’t consider veterans of low-budget 3D printing, it is not known, that Omni3D from Poznań had a similar position in Poland, like Zortrax does. The company was present in mainstream media, travelled around the world and presented its products on several trades, events and conferences. What is more, it represented Poland on 3D PrintShow in London and in New York. Although its activities were a bit controversial, no one did such a good job in advertising of growing industry of low-budget 3D printers.
Unfortunately, nothing lasts forever and in second half of 2014 the company had some financial problems. Their consequence was a profound restructuring. In the meantime, Omni3D carried out a successful campaign on Kickstarterk, where it collected money for AirEnergy 3D – a movable 3D printed wind turbine.
The project succeed – it was backed by 205 people, who paid them 24.108 £ – 5000 £ more than Omni3D pledged for. It was amazing, because an idea of the project was noble (an environmentally-friendly solution, which should have solve the problem of lack of electricity in countries of the Third World) but its quality was just tragic…
The turbine consisted on 2 parts – upper, made from 3D printed elements, which were moved with wind and lower – a mechanism producing electric energy. Omni3D claimed that during the campaign they had managed to switch a lamp thanks to the energy gained from working turbine and after that they wanted to generate power of 300W.
It couldn’t have worked properly… During my visit in the headquarter of the company in October 2013 I could have seen a working prototype of the turbine, which was presented also on events and trades. Putting its quality aside, it was not able to generate a promised power. When you considered it as a 3D printed gadget, AirEnergy 3D seemed to be perfect. But if you wanted to gain something useful, you were totally disappointed.
The project was a marketing masterpiece, perfectly prepared for Kickstarter’s needs. Emphasis was put above all on so-called “green energy”, “environmental protection” and helping the countries of the Third World (Omni3D were going to send one turbine to one African village).
Although AirEnergy 3D was presented on Paris Climate Conference (COP21) at the beginning of December 2015, on January 11th 2016 Omni3D informed its backers on Kicksterter, that it closed a project and it was going to give them money back. It turned out, that the company created a working prototype, but production of a device in price which was promised on Kickstarter was impossible. So everything which I wrote in September 2014:
The situation looks different in case of Omni3D and wind power station AirEnergy 3D. First of all, this product doesn’t exist. Secondly, generating of 300W with the construction presented during the campaign seems to be impossible to achieve. I don’t want to say, that it categorically won’t come off, but it undoubtedly ought to cost more than pledged 19.000 £ .
The project was a fail, but I have to appreciate the company for giving the money back. They have already started to pay the refunds.
The history of the company can be shared into 2 stages – before and after Factory 2.0.
Factory 2.0 is a big, industrial 3D printer using FDM technology, with a giant working area (50 cm in every axis). It was presented on company’s Facebook funpage and became a legend – everyone has heard about it, but none has seen it. Eventually, Factory 2.0 was officially presented in July 2015. It was also shown in Warsaw on 3D Show and surprised with quality and size.
Omni3D is trying to finish shameful chapters of its history. The company made a change at the turn of 2014 and 2015, when it decided to stop selling low-budget 3D printers (clones of Dutch Felix – RapCraft 1.3, Architect and Factory or a total fail – Pi) and focused on huge industrial machines.
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