DAVE EGGERS Signs copies of his new book “The Eyes & The Impossible,” the story of a dog living in an urban park, winner of the 2024 Newbery Medal. 4-5 p.m. May 4, Magers & Quinn, 3038 Hennepin Ave. S., Mpls.

ALISON ESPACH: Discusses her widely praised, genre-straddling novel “The Wedding People” in MELSA’s Club Book reading series. Virtual/streaming event. 7 p.m. Wednesday. No registration necessary. Go to facebook.com/ClubBook.

PETER GEYE: Reads from and discusses his new novel “A Lesser Light.” 7 p.m. Monday, University of St. Thomas O’Shaughnessy Education Center, 2115 Summit Ave., St. Paul; 7 p.m. Tuesday, Excelsior Bay Books, Excelsior; 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Roseville Public Library, 2180 N. Hamline Ave., Roseville. These programs are free and open to the public.

ONE BOOK/ONE MINNESOTA: Diane Wilson, Sun Yung Shin, Shannon Gibney and John Coy discuss their writing in the anthology “Where We Come From,” this year’s title in the statewide book club that brings together people of all ages, presented by Friends of the St. Paul Public Library acting as Minnesota Center for the Book.  Free virtual event. 10 a.m. Tuesday. Registration required. Go to thefriends.org.

POETS: Minnesotans Donna Isaac, Margaret Hasse, Rosetta Peters and Amanda Bailey read from their latest collections. 1 p.m. May 4, Eat My Words, 214 13th Ave. N., Mpls.

Marcie Rendon (Courtesy of the author)

MARCIE RENDON: Reads from “Where They Last Saw Her,” winner of the 2025 Minnesota Book Award in genre fiction. Free. 7 p.m. Monday, East Side Freedom Library, 1105 Greenbrier St., St. Paul.

BILL THORNESS: Seattle-based journalist discusses “All Roads Lead to Rome: Searching for the End of My Father’s War.” Inspired by letters written by his father to his mother, Thorness began a quest to rediscover his father, traveling to World War II battlefields and to Rome, where he stood on a bridge reflecting on the loss his father must have felt in not making it to the end of the campaign to liberate the Eternal City. The narrative moves between reimagined battle scenes and present-day travels. In conversation with Juliet Patterson. 7 p.m. Thursday, Magers & Quinn, 3038 Hennepin Ave. S., Mpls.

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Calling all hobbyists, entrepreneurs and anyone who loves to tinker: there is a new shop in town, or at least there will be on Thursday.

Steam Factory, a 3D printing business in St. Paul, is set to open its first membership-based retail shop on University Avenue where it will offer 3D printing, manufacturing and design services to just about anyone with an idea, said owner Rick Beddoe.

A trained mechanical engineer, Beddoe said 3D printing thus far “lives in a bubble of manufacturing.” With Steam Factory’s retail storefront, he hopes to burst that bubble.

“We’re trying to bring this industrial process into the light and make it accessible,” he said.

Founded in 2015, Steam Factory is named after the common STEM acronym: science, technology, engineering and mathematics, plus “art,” Beddoe said.

Located at 2650 W. University Ave., Steam Factory houses more than a dozen 3D printers — six of which are the latest model from Formlabs — plus a classroom area for workshops, a coffee bar and a 3D printer that was built with 3D-printed plastic components.

The 2,500-square-foot space is clearly influenced by the steampunk design with metal lighting fixtures, wooden work benches and a coffee table created from the hatch of a World War II Liberty ship.

How it works

With four levels of membership ranging from $0 to $40 per month, members of Steam Factory will have varying degrees of access to 3D printing, prototyping and scanning as well as design, engineering and manufacturing services.

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“You can go to the library (to print) or be part of a club, but the problem with those is that they aren’t moderated,” Beddoe said. “We’re going to help people utilize design tools, help them learn and grow.”

If you have an idea in mind, stop by the store and Beddoe and his team will help you bring it to life. If you have a design ready, send in the order online and pick it up when it’s done.

While the membership gets you access, the bill for printed pieces also takes into account the material cost, print time and labor. Smaller pieces can print in just hours but more complex projects could take longer.

So, what can you create? “Pretty much anything,” Beddoe said, as the machines can print in more than 50 materials including nylon, resin and plastic. “We have materials that are rigid and durable to really flexible like silicone and clear parts that are water-tight.”

Phone cases, gaskets, toys, pen holders, lenses and miniature figures are just a few examples of things that can be created from a 3D printer.

Jewelry can be made with a 3D printer using a process called investment casting where a wax model of the jewelry piece is printed, then encased in a mold so when the wax is melted out, you’re left with an intricate cavity to pour molten metal into. Steam Factory, a 3D printing business, opens its first retail store on University Avenue in St. Paul on May 1, 2025. (Courtesy of Steam Factory)

Through investment casting, 3D printers can also be used in the jewelry-making process. During investment casting, a wax model of the jewelry piece is printed, then encased in a mold so when the wax is melted out, you’re left with an intricate cavity to pour molten metal into.

“We can make just about any kind of part you can imagine,” Beddoe said, adding that some of the furniture parts at Steam Factory were 3D printed, including the light fixtures and table brackets.

Whether you’re a student planning a final project, an aunt wanting to create the perfect birthday gift or a DIY dad who refuses to pay full price, Steam Factory can most likely help you get where you need to go.

Proprietary printing

While the model for the retail store is to walk in and print it yourself, Steam Factory also prints proprietary products for local businesses at the nearby University Enterprise Labs, a life science incubator for startups.

Take Virtual Radiologic, an Edina-based teleradiology practice and one of Steam Factory’s clients, for example.

As a teleradiologic practice, vRad hires remote radiologists to read studies for hospitals across the country, said John Musick, radiologic systems trainer for vRad. “We equip our radiologists with very expensive work stations,” Musick said.

The vGrip, made for Virtual Radiologic by Steam Factory, is used by radiologists to help streamline the diagnostic process. Steam Factory, a 3D printing business, opens its first retail store on University Avenue in St. Paul on May 1, 2025. (Courtesy of Steam Factory)

Part of this work station is called the vGrip.

“The device is basically a super fancy, form-fitting mouse with buttons at each digit that you can program to interact with our software,” said Eric Perrizo, help desk lead at vRad. “We can customize it to our radiologist’s workflow and it puts less stress on their hands.”

Before partnering with Steam Factory, vRad ordered grip devices in bulk from China, “but we didn’t know we should have stored them in a temperature-controlled environment,” Musick said and, as a result, they deteriorated.

“Radiologists are fastidious creatures and they won’t tolerate a sticky device,” Musick said, so he put out a call on social media for local 3D printers and that’s how he found Steam Factory.

“Rick’s been a great partner to work with. He’s kept us informed and solved any issues on his side and kept production on time, at cost and in some cases cheaper,” Perrizo said.

“Almost all of our equipment that we send to the radiologists have Chinese components, if it’s not entirely manufactured in China,” Musick said. As a result of President Donald Trump’s tariffs, vRad is paying about 20% more for its equipment, he said.

Local, customizable manufacturing

As uncertainty looms around a trade war and U.S. companies are looking at domestic manufacturing, 3D printing could fit the bill for some cases.

“Having a local manufacturer meant that we could have adjustments made with a month’s notice,” Musick said of the vGrip, adding that they have plans to make the device more ergonomic.

Andrew Brown, co-founder and CEO of Radwave Technologies, said his company turns to Steam Factory to create rapid prototypes, which they usually receive within a day.

Radwave, which is also located in the University Enterprise Labs, creates tracking components for minimally invasive surgical procedures.

“I see it as an accelerant,” Brown said of 3D printing. “It’s not just trinkets and prototypes anymore. The materials he’s using are in our production systems.”

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Steam Factory also buys locally, getting its 3D printers and materials from Minneapolis-based EAC Product Development Solutions, where Beddoe also works as an engineer.

Where Beddoe’s business provides the printing as a service, EAC provides the hardware and materials to make the printing possible, said Lauren Adey, business unit director for additive manufacturing at EAC.

“I think it is only going to get bigger,” Adey said of 3D printing service bureaus like Steam Factory. “Low volume manufacturing is a need.”

Steam Factory grand opening

When: 4 to 9 p.m. Thursday, May 1

Where: 2650 W. University Ave., St. Paul

RSVP: http://pipr.es/0ssX22R

Jim Moore, a widely praised poet who divides his time between Minneapolis and Spoleto, Italy, celebrates publication of his new collection, “Enter,” during An Evening With Jim Moore at 7 p.m. Friday at Open Book, 1011 Washington Ave. S.,  Mpls., presented by the Loft Literary Center and his publisher, Minneapolis-based Graywolf Press. He will be in conversation with Graywolf editor/publisher Carmen Gimenez.

Jim Moore (Courtesy of the author)

Moore, who will be 82 in June and has been writing poetry for more than five decades, was instrumental in bringing together the Minnesota poetry community in the late 1970s.

In “Enter,” Moore roams widely, from California to Italy, from remembering those who have passed on to his own shyness. Some of the poems reference the effects of COVID, so it’s not surprising Graywolf calls this  “A collection of thoughtful meditations on hope at a moment when hope seems farfetched…”

Moore, who has won four Minnesota Book Awards, is the author of eight books of poetry, beginning in 1975 with “The New Body.”

Here is the middle portion of his poem “Where I Live Now,” an affectionate look at senior citizens in Spoleto who have seen so much in their lives:

“Twelve bells ring at noon from three churches,

all at once. It is too much sometimes.

They go on, my old people.

They gave up long go,

but they go on.

Swallows and bats, wild asparagus

when the season is right.”

Tickets for An Evening With Jim Moore are $10. For information and pre-registration, go to loft.org/events/evening-jim-moore.

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One economic policy mistake invariably leads to another to compensate for the damage from the first. The latest example are reports that the Trump Administration may create a tax break for U.S. exporters harmed by foreign retaliation to the President’s tariffs. Don’t be surprised if the cost of paying off the many U.S. tariff victims ends up exceeding the revenue they raise.

While some countries are trying to negotiate Mr. Trump’s tariffs down, others are punching back. Beijing is imposing 125% duties on all U.S. goods to match Mr. Trump’s latest tariffs, which would effectively cut off American exports to China. Ford Motor has stopped shipping to China pickups, SUVs and sports cars made in Michigan.

Beijing has also told Chinese airlines to halt purchases of Boeing airplanes and aircraft parts from U.S. companies. The European Union has threatened 25% duties on an array of U.S. goods in response to Mr. Trump’s 25% steel and aluminum tariffs. Canada has slapped 25% tariffs on more than $40 billion in U.S. exports.

If the trade war escalates, Mr. Trump’s tariffs could reduce U.S. exports as much as they do imports. The first-term Trump Administration spent some $23 billion to aid farmers harmed by China’s retaliatory tariffs, which the Trump team plans to do again. Now news reports say some Trump officials are also considering a new exporter tax credit to support manufacturers.

The idea is to compensate U.S. companies for declines in exports caused by retaliatory tariffs. So if steelmaker Nucor ’s exports shrink by $3 billion as a result of other countries’ tariffs on U.S. steel, the company could receive a tax credit — effectively a government payment via the tax code — to offset reduced sales.

Unlike most business credits — such as for research and development, chip-making or green energy projects — this tax subsidy wouldn’t be designed to reward politically favored investments and industries. The point would be to mitigate damage caused by a misconceived U.S. government policy.

Another recent example is the Covid employee retention tax credit, which was paid to employers to keep workers on their payroll after government shut down the economy. That credit was rife with fraud as businesses unaffected by lockdowns claimed it. Consider it a safe bet that companies that lose exports for reasons other than trade retaliation will claim the export credit.

The bigger problem is that the credit runs counter to the goals of Mr. Trump’s 2017 tax reform, which simplified the corporate code by eliminating sundry tax breaks. As JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon noted in his recent annual letter, the cut in the corporate tax rate to 21% from 35% was paid for in large part by this simplification and broadening of the tax base.

Adding new tax dispensations will muck up the code and reduce corporate tax revenue. It will put fiscal pressure on Republicans to raise the corporate tax rate, which would make U.S. businesses overall less globally competitive. Republicans are already considering raising the corporate rate and top marginal individual rate to pay for Mr. Trump’s tax breaks that do nothing for economic growth like his deduction for interest on car loans.

Tariffs are economically harmful for their immediate victims, but they are also politically corrupting as lobbyists plead for exemptions and subsidies. An export subsidy won’t be the last mistake to make up for the original sin of tariffs.

— The Wall Street Journal

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