Small, Powerful Machines That Punch Above Their Weight Class for Professional Engineers

BERKELEY, Calif., N.Y., October 4, 2017 — Bantam Tools™ CEO Danielle Applestone took advantage of her opportunity to address thousands of engineers at last month's Modern Machine Shop Top Shops conference in Indianapolis, Indiana, where she took the stage and unveiled a whole new rebranding of the company she founded, Other Machine Co. The rebranding includes an evolution of its most popular product, the new and improved Bantam Tools Desktop PCB Milling Machine, that provides professional reliability and precision at an affordable price.

Why the name Bantam? A Bantam chicken or rooster is known for being small, yet powerful and competing well above its weight class. The new Bantam Tools Desktop PCB Milling Machine offers these same attributes for professionals and educators who want to prototype hardware and iterate as fast as possible. The new name, website and improved product with enhanced features, are being showcased at the Top Shops conference. The launch will highlight the easy, fast, and affordable Bantam Tools Desktop PCB Milling Machine that Applestone and her new business partner, Bre Pettis, predict will accelerate innovation in the PCB design and manufacturing industry.

Pettis, who is the former co-founder and CEO of the 3D printing company MakerBot, has long had his eye on the desktop CNC milling machine category and purchased Other Machine Co. earlier this year. Since that time, Pettis and the Bantam Tools team have been working together to reimagine the ultimate desktop CNC machines, and have launched the new Bantam Tools Desktop PCB Milling Machine as their first move. The new name, logo, website and product features are focused on selling Bantam Tools products to professional engineers and educators.

"When we started Other Machine Co., now Bantam Tools, five years ago, we were a government-funded project with the mission to put manufacturing robots in the hands of children and create a generation of new makers and engineers that could design things and even invent new robots for manufacturing," said Danielle Applestone, CEO of Bantam Tools. "We originally focused on the hobbyist market, but soon realized that 90 percent of our machines were being purchased by professional engineers and educators. This rebrand helps us focus on those professionals and educators, who dramatically accelerate their pace of development and innovation with our machines."

The new Bantam Tools Desktop PCB Milling Machine offers professional reliability and precision in an easy-to-use, fast and affordable machine. The new machine is accompanied by software features and hardware accessories that allow faster, more affordable and efficient prototyping of electronics. Engineers and designers can create prototype PCBs in a single day versus the weeks it can take to outsource board manufacturing. Priced at $3,199, the Bantam Tools Desktop PCB Milling Machine is an affordable option compared to other pricier professional machines and services.

"Our customers use the Bantam Tools Desktop PCB Milling Machine for a variety of projects," noted Applestone. "From tiny circuits for phones, air quality sensors, thermostats, computers and other personal electronics, to items needed for the aerospace, biotech and automotive industries, the Bantam Tools Desktop PCB Milling Machine offers a way for designers and engineers to be more competitive by prototyping quicker more affordably. Desktop CNC machines have the potential to transform the nature of how engineers develop hardware."

"We really believe that a machine like the Bantam Tools Desktop PCB Milling Machine is at the forefront of the digital desktop manufacturing movement," said Bre Pettis. "This machine changes the way prototyping is done, making it fast, easy and affordable. Thats a paradigm shift that makes iterating a daily or hourly process instead of one that happens every couple weeks or months. Having Bantam Tools on your desktop changes the whole equation of designing, prototyping and testing. When you iterate more and faster, you accelerate product development and build better products."

Bantam Tools produces hardware and software, while supporting the engineering community as they explore the next generation of tech. The Bantam Tools Desktop PCB Milling Machine is the companys flagship product and is used at companies and organizations such as CITRIS Invention Lab, all branches of the US military, NYU ITP, Blackmagic Design, Adafruit, Supplyframe DesignLab and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. For more information on Bantam Tools and the Bantam Tools Desktop PCB Milling Machine, visit bantamtools.com.