Other Machine Co. Becomes Bantam Tools™

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

BERKELEY, Calif. & NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#BantamTools—Bantam
Tools™ is being announced this week at the Modern
Machine Shop Top Shops conference in Indianapolis, Indiana, when CEO
Danielle Applestone takes the stage and unveils a whole new rebranding
of 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. That’s 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 company’s 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.

Contacts

For Bantam Tools:
Jenifer Howard, 203-273-4246
jhoward@jhowardpr.com