SAN ANTONIO – Fiesta is a party for a purpose and Geekdom added a technology twist.
Geekdom gave KSAT 12 an inside look at their revolutionary 3D printing ideas and how Fiesta is growing the local tech community.
“He needed to have this significant number of things printed in this really short time. And there was nobody in town, no individual, no businesses that could do that, many that quickly,” Dale Bracey, of PrintNet3D said.
Bracey said PrintNet3D is a local company that came together to solve a problem and started thriving.
“We’re going to help people like build little products or prototypes or whatever. And we’ve already done a few of those and that will allow us to test our software as we develop and build that side of it,” Bracey said.
They are one of the many companies at Geekdom looking to grow even more during Fiesta.
“Entrepreneurial spirit here is loud and large in the city of San Antonio, has a huge small business community, and we love the part that we get to play alongside helping entrepreneurs with just an idea,” Matthew Espinoza, Geekdom programs director said.
Tech Trek is taking place on Tuesday and it is the only technology-focused event during Fiesta.
“Tech Trek is an event where we’ll have here one one of many stops along the trek. The idea is you start at one office, one building, and you go to the next one. We’ll have about 30 startups being promoted to sharing a little bit about their business,” Espinoza said.
And this year PrintNet3D and Bracey designed the Geekdom Fiesta medals.
“I had these two friends that for years have been very into Fiesta Metals, and I’ve always wanted to have the opportunity to outdo them,” Bracey said.
The raw material goes into the 3D printer and after about an hour it comes out ready to hold cascarones.
“It’s two pieces, actually, but it’s built in a way with spacing and tolerances where it can print just like this and doesn’t have to be assembled. You literally pull it off the printer and crack it open and it’s ready to go,” Bracey said.
And there’s great symbolism in the Fiesta medal.
“Eggs are an incubator for life, right? They incubate life of all forms of. And Geekdom is an incubator. I mean, that’s why we’re here. That’s why we’re starting this, what we’re building out,” Bracey said.
So clearly there is some practicality this Fiesta.
“Then when we’re hanging out with our friends at NIOSA or whatever, you know, we just when they turn around, we just pop them on their head,” Bracey said.
You can learn more about Tech Trek by clicking here.