Bantam Tools, a desktop CNC manufacturer that builds computer-controlled machines, acquired Evil Mad Scientist, the designer and manufacturer of computer-controlled drawing and handwriting machines. Dr. Windell Oskay and Lenore Edman, co-founders of Evil Mad Scientist in Sunnyvale, California, will move to the Peekskill, New York headquarters of Bantam Tools, as chief technical officer (CTO) and chief operations officer (COO), overseeing technical development and operations.
“We are excited to announce the acquisition of Evil Mad Scientist and its amazing art machines,” said Bre Pettis, CEO of Bantam Tools. “I’ve been a fan of the art plotters and have been using them for years. We have an amazing year planned where we intend to release several new and different creative machines. This acquisition will help accelerate these new products, and we are very excited about bringing on these innovative and creative machines and Evil Mad Scientist’s co-founders. I’ve been friends with Windell and Lenore for almost two decades since my days at Make: Magazine. We share a love of creative tools that empower our users.”
The acquisition of Evil Mad Scientist will expand offerings at Bantam Tools to include art machines, in addition to its high-precision Bantam Tools desktop CNC milling machines. This added product category of drawing and handwriting machines will give artists, designers and educators the ability to create new art forms, convert digital art to physical artwork using traditional materials and teach the next generation to use computer-controlled art machines to express themselves.
The next generation of Bantam Tools art machines that Oskay and Edman are helping to develop will be marketed under the Bantam Tools NextDraw brand. The Bantam Tools NextDraw will be manufactured in Peekskill, New York, and will launch in the spring of 2024 as a computer-controlled drawing machine.
“We are thrilled to be joining forces with Bantam Tools,” said Oskay, CTO of Bantam Tools. “With my background in atomic physics, I bring nearly 30 years of machining and designing computer-controlled instrumentation. I am especially looking forward to leading technical development and harnessing the combined experience of our hardware and software engineering teams to build the next generation of creative machines.”
Edman is also excited to be joining Bantam Tools as COO and bringing a focus on customer service and product documentation that has been so important at Evil Mad Scientist. “I’ll be continuing to support our existing customers with love and a supply of spare parts,” noted Edman. “I hope they’ll be as excited as I am about what my fantastic team at Bantam Tools will be building next.”
