Image courtesy of Arvind Balaraman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Are you familiar with the section 179 deduction?  Essentially you can subtract the cost of capital equipment like a 3D printer/scanner from your profit and reduce your tax bill.  If you’re taxed at a 36% rate it’s like getting your new printer/scanner at a 36% discount.  Now the limit has been reduced from $500,000 in 2013 to only $25,000 in 2014, but that’s still more than enough to add a new toy to your business or start a new business.  Balboa Capital put together a great YouTube video explaining the process.

3D Industri.es (3DI) has created a new portal and search engine based directly on shapes.  This allows you to find industrial parts quickly and easily based upon their shape alone.  This removes any language barrier, any need for a part number or need to search supplier by supplier.  We can see this being big with old and obsolete machinery, perhaps with out of business manufactures, allowing users to locate parts or compatible parts that are close enough.