MakerBot swings into action at Home Depot

The 3-D printing movement might be the next big thing. It might be the next Betamax.



But one thing for sure is that the world’s largest home improvement retailer has made space in a dozen stores for a high-tech endcap promoting the “power and versatility” of 3-D printing.

 

Simply put, instructions go into the 3-D printer, real plastic objects come out — things like replacement parts, art projects and product prototypes.



“You don’t need 3-D modeling skills to 3-D print,” reads the new end-cap display at the subterranean Home Depot on Third Avenue in Manhattan. That’s because MakerBot, a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based 3-D printer manufacturer, is “full of predesigned models that range from simple to complex.”



On display is a fully working adjustable wrench (orange-colored) that prints fully assembled from the MakerBot Replicator Desktop 3-D printers, selling for under $3,000.



Other MakerBot endcaps are up and running at Home Depots in Illinois and California. That puts Depot in pretty high-tech company. Microsoft stores have been selling MakerBots for about a year.



“We are continually looking to bring the latest innovation to our customers and are excited to offer Maker-Bot 3-D Printing products in select stores and on Homedepot.com,” said Joe Downey, a merchant for Home Depot. “MakerBot 3-D printers are yet another great technology that can serve particular needs of specific customers.”