Bantam Tools Acquires Evil Mad Scientist to Accelerate Development of Next Generation Art and Handwriting Machines

Windell Oskay and Lenore Edman of Evil Mad Scientist named CTO and COO of Bantam Tools 

PEEKSKILL, N.Y, January 16, 2024 — Bantam Tools, the desktop CNC manufacturer that builds exceptional computer controlled machines for innovators, is excited to announce the acquisition of Evil Mad Scientist, the designer and manufacturer of popular computer-controlled drawing and handwriting machines that provide versatile solutions to artists and educators. Dr. Windell Oskay and Lenore Edman, co-founders of Sunnyvale, California based Evil Mad Scientist, will move to Peekskill, New York, headquarters of Bantam Tools, as CTO and 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.” 

As developers of popular drawing and handwriting machines, the acquisition of Evil Mad Scientist will expand offerings at Bantam Tools to include art machines, in addition to the 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 Dr. Windell Oskay and Lenore 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 reliable and well-supported computer-controlled drawing machine that provides versatile solutions to artists, innovators and educators.

“We are thrilled to be joining forces with Bantam Tools,” said Dr. Windell 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.” 

“I’m also excited to be joining Bantam Tools and bringing to the company a focus on customer service and product documentation that has been so important to us at Evil Mad Scientist,” noted Lenore Edman, COO of Bantam Tools. “I’ll be continuing to support our existing customers with love and a supply of spare parts. I hope they’ll be as excited as I am about what my fantastic team at Bantam Tools will be building next.” 

To learn more about Bantam Tools and the Evil Mad Scientist products, visit bantamtools.com.

Bantam Tools builds exceptional computer-controlled machines for innovators, engineers, artists and educators, including desktop CNC machines with professional reliability and precision and computer-controlled art machines that are fast, automatic, mimic handwriting and create physical art from digital designs using traditional materials. Bantam Tools machines are easy to set up, ready to use right out of the box, and like its namesake the bantam rooster, punch above their weight class, empowering mechanical engineers, product designers, entrepreneurs, electrical engineers, machinists, designers, students, educators, artists and digital fabricators to stay ahead of schedule and under budget. All of Bantam Tools Desktop Milling Machines are clean, safe, and easy to use, making them a great choice for any lab, shop, classroom or studio. To learn more about the Peekskill, New York, company, at bantamtools.com, on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at @bantamtools, or on  Medium. Bantam Tools is hiring. 

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