3D print thread

Enough of your fucking cryptos.
I just bought a 3D printer. My first job paid for the machine. Seems like the work will be sparse though. Anybody making money with these out there or have a business model?

Attached: 3D_PROMO-526283072_1.jpg (770x400, 33K)

Other urls found in this thread:

makezine.com/projects/3dp-chocolate-skull-mold/
twitter.com/NSFWRedditVideo

I'm gonna print a gun off these one day

go look up some 3D printed lower receivers and get yourself a firearm
theres a few different pistols out now, and a .22 AR lower that all work

i just went yesterday on a visit day to a fab lab that had 3d printers from basic one to 25k ones , laser machines, and all sorts of stuff, i asked a load of questions, what do you want to know more particularly?

What kind of printer? What did you print for your first job?

Maybe you can get some commissions from hobbyists or small time diy people, big companies will go with an engineering firm that does prototyping and understands material science.

What kind of markets are emerging in the 3D print realm that I can capitalize on?

What exactly can be printed? Can I make my own designs? How hard is it to create a design?

aren't they still slow af tho - like RLY fucking slow ? Seen some cheap ones now (sub $200) but suspect, they'd be utter crap

I am, although I wont tell you what I do because fuck you.

That said, I am going to give you enough of an advice. The largest "mind trap" with 3d printing is that people think they can "produce" out of it. This is stupid. Additive manufactung is Extremely costly, and even if you do manage to happen on a succesful product, the time it takes to print it (not to mention errors etc) is retarded.

Instead, what you should do, is print stuff, that can then make other stuff. Including:

a) Prototypes. For kickstarters etc, if you are social enough to do those.

b) Molds, which you can use to cast other stuff. Such as chocolate/ice. You can even 3d print molds, with which you can then cast, say, silicon molds, with which you can then sell to other people to cast stuff if you want to go 2 levels of meta.

I'm gonna steal this idea

>muh molds
so, basically dildos ?

where do you sell these jobs?

Its not that novel and idea. Obviously the whole tricky thing with b) is still finding something cool to sell.

Here's the article I was inspired by, back from 2014, to start thinking along those lines:
makezine.com/projects/3dp-chocolate-skull-mold/

What do you mean "jobs"?

You make a product. Sell it on etsy or something. Make a fb & twitter page about it. And throw and $100 of fb targeted to what is presumably you very niche/quirky market.

At which point you will discover that 99% of selling is marketing.

REEEE TELL ME WHAT YOUR NICHE IS REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Iv tried FB marketing and have had no luck, maybe wrong audience?
(our product is bracelets)

Well, I dont know about bracelets.

One problem with the girly stuff, is that there are huge amounts of crap coming from China/Alibaba, with huge economies of scale to work on actual level, and yet still cost dirt cheap. "Bracelets", in the abstract sounds like too large an idea and not niche enough.

Myself would advice to focus on geek culture.

If it is a bracelet, it need to not be just a bracelet. It has to be a bracelet that somehow references molecular biology, and targeted and women in stem in something. I remember caffeine molecules pendants/earings etc used to be really popular for awhile. And then in the word list you'd put all the women in science, biology, etc stuff.

Obviously if it is something geeky, being a geek yourself about it helps.

We primary focus on mens bracelets using precious stones but ill try to keep this in mind. Im working with 2 others and already have inventory so we can really just switch our niche.

Check out FPV drone parts. A gopro mount sells for $15 and costs me like 25 cents to produce. I can sell them for $20 If i do multicolor prints.

>buy 3d printing machine
>print 3d printing machine
>????
>profit!

I know about the liberator and part of me wants to print one...but then there's a part of me that knows I won't use it. So wouldn't be a bit like showing cocaine under your bed that you aren't going to take? It's just something there to get you in trouble for no apparent reason haha

So I have a very simple/cheap one called an Ender 3 from a Chinese company called Creality. But I studied architecture in college so I've a good knowledge of modelling and 3D software already.
My first job was for a tv station that my friend works in the art department for. They wanted a totally useless object that was just a big letter O for some photoshoot. They had apparently asked a pro to do it and they were quoted a price of 200, so my friend came to me and just asked me to do it. He was happy to allow me charge the pro price!

I was wondering about Warhammer people. Those pieces used to be so expensive? But then I imagine people who are into that kind of thing are probably into doing it for themselves?

I'm thinking those weird dudes who masturbate to anime dolls. We could make them custom shit for high prices?

Yes you can make whatever you want as long as you understand how to use basic modelling software. SketchUp is the most basic and user friendly so I'd start there (anyone can do it honestly).
Additionally you can actually just take photos of things in 360 and there's free software that will stitch it together into a 3D model..it's pretty fucking dope.

It is slow yes. But it doesn't use much power and when you think about something going from a total concept to a physical object in a few hours it doesn't really seem so slow at all. If you wanted to mass produce though I imagine youd be best off printing a mould. Or a prototype and then go to a company to mass produce.

Nice! I was thinking the same thing. Yeah part of me feels like I shouldn't let the cat out of the bag myself but...I still think most people are too scared of the technology to involve themselves a any way.
Can you at least tell me if you're making a lot of money? And if you have many machines?

Yeah bracelets is good but I personally think anything like that is 99% about branding. Maybe I'm wrong?
I reckon utilitarian things are more sellable.

Genius. Thankyou sir. Are you doing this a lot?

I get what you're saying but I think this is easier said than done. Unless you have a great idea.
For stuff that already exists I feel like it it's about design than you need a brand and that's the crux of the problem there.

The FPV stuff is pretty saturated and moves quick. If you want to be on top of it you have to follow the frame makers and print for new frames. For instance Armattan just released a new frame, getting ontop of those prints before others is the only way to make it.

As far as warhammer, those files are so fucking locked down its not funny.

the dude i asked questions too was saying that yes the hype for 3d was huge and a bit bigger than it is supposed to be, and that 3d printing is very expensive compared to the benefits of it.

The main advantage of 3d printing is that its being able to compose a product( sorry english is not my main language) through a distance. you can send your product anywher in the world and print it.

personalization of objects is a highly profitable environment.

but you have a difference in materials: and all depends on that, if you want to make stuff with your or invest in a 3d company that depends.

what is your objective? keep that printer and make a fortune or try to make money with starting with your printer and evolve up?

I live in CA, I'm gonna use that shit until I move out somewhere.
>Inb4 "ur turning my state blu!!"
I don't vote, let alone vote Democrat.