SACRAMENTO, CA 09-26-17
SPoE seeks to raise $150,000 to bring commercial printing to the consumer market
After submitting the production ready prototype for their utility patent, SPoE (which stands for Simply Prints on Everything) is launching their Kickstarter campaign today. SPoE is a free standing printer which can be placed on any surface and prints on the item directly.
SPoE has been engineered from the ground up. Instead of a feeder, it utilizes 4 independent tread systems that allow you to place the unit directly down on the surface you want to print on. The ink cartridges are interchangeable so you can switch from printing directly on paper and wood to clothing, metal or even glass; all from the same unit. SPoE’s print software allows users to resize the print dynamically instead of picking from a limited selection of sizes. Even the gears had to be specially developed to maintain accuracy and alignment on any sized print job.
The brainchild of Joseph Zeleny, a print master with over 20 years of experience in print shops, SPoE has been engineered to give professional results. “I was young and poor. Because I was working two full time jobs and paying my own way through school, seeing the printshop I worked at turn down money drove me crazy.”
Zeleny dedicated himself to designing what would become SPoE, only to realize the technology wasn’t available in 1992, and prototyping costs alone were well outside of a struggling college student’s budget. So he curbed his idea. It wasn’t until three years ago, when one of his former classmates brought SPoE up, that he re-visited the idea. “With 3D printers making prototyping affordable, advances in printing technology, and enough experience behind me, I decided it was time to make SPoE a reality.”
The high capacity garment ink cartridges can print up to 100 shirts in full color with a single cartridge. SPoE has interchangeable cartridges which allow the unit, which is smaller than most inkjet printers, to print on paper, wood, plastic, glass, metal, and clothing directly and without any pretreatment. With an expected price of under $30.00 each, the unit can easily pay for itself with a single cartridge.
SPoE is expected to retail for $749, but will be available on Kickstarter for $499 for super early birds, ramping up to $599 through the end of the campaign.
