‘I want to put a 3D printer in every home’

Hull-based Alex Youden’s interest in 3D printing was piqued when he got his first printer two and a half years ago.

He told The Yorkshire Post: “I got it as a kit so I had to put it all together. It didn’t even come with any instructions. That was fun.

“It was because of doing that I then worked out how a 3D printer gets put together and I really got into it as a hobby.”

The 19-year-old was still doing his A-Levels at the time, but had established dreams of starting up his own business, designing and selling printers.

Soon an opportunity cropped up at the technology hub, C4DI, in the form of an internship.

Mr Youden said: “They had connections with Hymers College, the school that I went to, and they said we’re looking for an intern for a year, who would fit in, that is really switched on in the technical area.”

Here the young entreprenuer was told to to think about launching his own start-up.

“As soon as they said that, I thought I know exactly what I’m going to do because I’ve been thinking about it for a couple of months,” said Mr Youden.

Nearly 12 months on he is now looking to fund his venture through a Kickstarter campaign. Mr Youden has already raised over £12,000 and is hoping to raise £30,000 in total.

Mr Youden said that the crowdfunding exercise had started off well.

He added: “If you work out how much we’re getting per day and how much we’ve got outright then we’re easily going to hit our target.”

He hopes to market the product at around £350, a much lower price that existing 3D printers.

“If you go onto Amazon or places like that you’ll probably be looking at paying around £600. I know if you go to Maplin, they sell a 3D printer, you’re looking at £600-£700.”

Mr Youden said that he will keep the costs down is by sourcing parts locally.

“The vast majority of the printer is being sourced from within a two-mile radius of our location at C4DI. That means you don’t have to get parts shipped halfway across the world, it’s just right there on your doorstep,” he said.

While Mr Youden has an interest in engineering, he appreciates the need to keep things simple for the ordinary customer.

He said: “In the future the aim is to have a 3D printer in every home. We’ll try and make everything as easy and as accessible as possible.”

Mr Youden says his interest in engineering stems from his brother. He said: “I probably got it from my brother to be honest. He’s an electronics engineer.

“Like most things that he did I kind of picked up and followed. I’ve always been into electronic engineering and that kind of thing.”

To make a contribution to NFire Labs visit https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nfirelabs/nfire-1-worlds-first-truly-modular-3d-printer

‘Gym membership for techies’

C4DI is a hub for technology businesses in Hull.

“The guy who founded this said it is a gym membership for techies,” said Mr Youden.

He added that because everyone is working in the tech sector they all complement each other very well.

He said: “They all go hand-in-hand with each other.

“They all work together and work off each to produce a better result in the end.”

Accountancy firm PwC launched a partnership with C4DI last year with experts from its Hull office visiting the technology hub each month to provide start-up entrepreneurs with free advice and mentoring on various business topics such as payroll, book-keeping and tax.