{"id":437,"date":"2014-02-02T02:07:08","date_gmt":"2014-02-02T02:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.amberspyglass.co.uk\/?p=437"},"modified":"2014-02-02T02:14:25","modified_gmt":"2014-02-02T02:14:25","slug":"introduction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amberspyglass.co.uk\/blog\/2014\/02\/02\/introduction\/","title":{"rendered":"Introduction"},"content":{"rendered":"

I should have done this first thing. \u00a0But, better late than never.<\/p>\n

\"CatalinVoinescu1smsq\"<\/a>My name is C\u0103t\u0103lin Voinescu. \u00a0I am a computer scientist by training, software developer by day, CNC enthusiast and small-time entrepreneur by night. \u00a0I live in the UK, in Camberley, Surrey. \u00a0I am married and we have two sons. \u00a0I was born in Romania (in Bra\u0219ov), and I moved to London some fifteen years ago. \u00a0I also spent a couple of years in Chicago, and I still go there now and then.<\/p>\n

I learned about Edward Ford’s Shapeoko<\/a> and Bart Dring’s MakerSlide<\/a> from a friend in July 2012. \u00a0I read the entire Shapeoko forum<\/a>\u00a0(back when that was still possible to do that in a couple of sittings), and loved both projects. \u00a0At the suggestion of my friend, and with fairly enthusiastic encouragement from my wife, I decided to try to make the kit more easily available in the UK and the rest of Europe. \u00a0Of course, I could not resist making changes. \u00a0Some were based on upgrades seen on the forum, some were my own ideas, and a few were driven by cost, or availability of materials and fabrication methods.<\/p>\n

Edward suggested the name eShapeoko<\/a>\u00a0for the new machine. \u00a0I liked it. \u00a0The now woefully obsolete FAQ [note to self: update it!] jokes that the\u00a0e<\/em>\u00a0in eShapeoko stands for European<\/em>, extended<\/em>, enhanced<\/em>\u00a0(so far so good),\u00a0excellent<\/em>, extraordinary<\/em>\u00a0(your call) and fabulous<\/em>\u00a0(oops).<\/p>\n

The first ten kits were made with MakerSlide from Inventables<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On the Shapeoko forum, I met Harry Raley, who was planning to have MakerSlide made in the UK. \u00a0He ran a successful\u00a0Ulule campaign<\/a> (Kickstarter was still US-only at the time). \u00a0He searched for potential suppliers, got quotes, talked to them, selected the lowest quote, ran the Ulule campaign, and used the proceeds to pay for an extrusion die and a first batch of MakerSlide. \u00a0A few months later, he had the unenviable task of handling, packing and shipping some 500 metres of rail. \u00a0I helped by selling him V-wheels, bearings and eccentric spacers at cost; in return, he sold me cheap MakerSlide for the eShapeOko kits.<\/p>\n

Once the campaign was over, Harry and I ran an online store together, known as both Amber Spyglass Ltd<\/a>\u00a0(my existing company) and MakerSlide Europe<\/a>\u00a0(the latter with Bart’s kind permission). \u00a0Harry would stock and ship MakerSlide, eccentric spacers, V-wheels and a few other items, and I would stock and ship eShapeOko kits and all the other items in the store. \u00a0Logistically, this was a bit of a nightmare, but Harry and I got along well and made it work. \u00a0(Fun fact: to this day, Harry and I have never met in person.)<\/p>\n

Last summer, Harry got the opportunity to pursue a career that would not have left him enough time for MakerSlide Europe. \u00a0He sold the extrusion die and his remaining stock of rail to me, effectively retiring from the business. \u00a0Harry had ordered two or three batches of MakerSlide before this, and I ordered a larger one after Harry left. \u00a0Since then, MakerSlide Europe has been myself and my wife (with my younger son helping occasionally<\/a>). \u00a0Given that it’s now a single company, I need to settle on one name at some point, but I’m still dithering between Amber Spyglass (which I like but it’s not related to the domain at all), MakerSlide Europe (which has a copycat ring to it, and feels like it would limit the domain, but is obvious and helps in search engines), or an entirely new name (no ideas, though).<\/p>\n

The rest of the story, especially the MakerSlide saga, you probably already know.<\/p>\n

\"Gravatar\"<\/a>And, in the unlikely case you ever wondered about my avatar here: many proud parents use their children’s photographs as their avatars, Facebook profile pictures, and so on. \u00a0In keeping with Internet trends, and to brandish my parenting credentials, my avatar is a baby picture too. \u00a0It’s cropped from a photo of my younger son when he was five days old. \u00a0What you see is a small bit of his blanket.<\/p>\n

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