Do you earn significant money with 3D printing?

626Pilot · Post by **626Pilot** » Fri Dec 09, 2016 8:00 pm

I assume that most of us are hobbyists. I'm wondering if any of you rely on 3D printing as a significant (if not exclusive) source of income. If so, I'd like to know whether you focus on 3D printing things for other people (e.g. 3DHubs) or producing your own products, or some mix thereof, and whether you sell design services as well.

I'm looking at the possibility of doing all three. It seems to me that multiple revenue streams (some paid printing of stuff from Thingiverse, plus my own products, plus CAD service) is the best way to go. However, the issue with printing things from Thingiverse is that some of the models have quality issues (unrealistic tolerances, never actually been printed, full of errors the slicer and NetFabb can't fix, etc). I have read a few horror stories. There's also the added overhead of having to maintain customer relations with many different people who all want different things, vs. selling my own products that I can validate the design of once, and run off however many copies.

Qdeathstar · Post by **Qdeathstar** » Fri Dec 09, 2016 10:00 pm

i mainly do this for fun, i make my 3dhubs cost the lowest price around just to get orders because it's fun to print, so i'm not in it for the money, but i still make a profit.

I've made a lot of things for my personal use that i could not have bought.. so i am happy in that respect. I made a custom switch/outlet that fits in a standard electrical box and cover plates and it looks just like a lutron

626Pilot · Post by **626Pilot** » Sat Dec 10, 2016 12:02 am

I've made a few around-the-house type things, like a stove lock (keeps the cat from rotating the burner control). What do you charge per cm^3?

Qdeathstar · Post by **Qdeathstar** » Sat Dec 10, 2016 7:52 am

$5.00 plus .30 cent/cm^3

i think if you are trying to make money with 3d printing cad design or printing something and selling it is the way to go, especially with fdm printers. I think most people that know and care about quality and are willing to pay a premium for it are going to want an sls printing service and those who don't will just opt for the cheapest cost, not recognizing the added value of a well tuned printer. The first print i paid for i though was amazing quality; but now that i know it was shitty, under extruded and extremely brittle.

cloneit3d · Post by **cloneit3d** » Sat Dec 10, 2016 3:52 pm

I designed a RJ45 locking device for customer facing devices that my company uses exclusively in retail locations. I was unable to find one on the open market that would work properly on IP phone sets. I sell them for $5 a piece. I would rather sell the design as I prefer not to be in the business of making them however it is what it is for now.

Cheers!!

626Pilot · Post by **626Pilot** » Sun Dec 11, 2016 1:09 am

Qdeathstar wrote:i think if you are trying to make money with 3d printing cad design or printing something and selling it is the way to go, especially with fdm printers. I think most people that know and care about quality and are willing to pay a premium for it are going to want an sls printing service and those who don't will just opt for the cheapest cost, not recognizing the added value of a well tuned printer.

I already made money selling some depth gauges to a guy who has a factory. They're printed out of PLA. I'm going to do another run for that guy soon, this time in PETG.

Also, if I'm aiming to make a living, $4,000 for a Form 2 suddenly doesn't seem too bad. I have already backed the MORPHEUS Delta on Kickstarter, and while the quality is not as good as the Form 2, it is under a thousand dollars. If someone sends me a job and wants to pay resin printer-level pricing, then I'll do it. I already have my own plans for that in the near term.

Burley · Post by **Burley** » Tue Dec 13, 2016 8:07 pm

All depends on what YOU consider significant, doesn't it?

WizzleeD · Post by **WizzleeD** » Mon Dec 19, 2016 5:58 am

It's like a black hole for my budget, every time I decide to make some money, I do exactly the opposite like buying second Prusa or going to purchase 3D scanner now... Something wrong with me

joe · Post by **joe** » Mon Dec 19, 2016 7:18 am

WizzleeD wrote:It's like a black hole for my budget, every time I decide to make some money, I do exactly the opposite like buying second Prusa or going to purchase 3D scanner now... Something wrong with me

Haha, I agree. The title of this post should read " Do you SPEND significant money on 3D printing?

WizzleeD · Post by **WizzleeD** » Tue Feb 20, 2018 12:33 pm

WizzleeD wrote:It's like a black hole for my budget, every time I decide to make some money, I do exactly the opposite like buying second Prusa or going to purchase 3D scanner now... Something wrong with me

At least I managed to return the invested funds for my Artec scanner

Mac The Knife · Post by **Mac The Knife** » Tue Feb 20, 2018 5:17 pm

WizzleeD wrote:
WizzleeD wrote:It's like a black hole for my budget, every time I decide to make some money, I do exactly the opposite like buying second Prusa or going to purchase 3D scanner now... Something wrong with me
At least I managed to return the invested funds for my Artec scanner

How is that scanner working out?

GumbleTea · Post by **GumbleTea** » Thu Mar 15, 2018 5:48 am

Mac The Knife wrote:
WizzleeD wrote:
WizzleeD wrote:It's like a black hole for my budget, every time I decide to make some money, I do exactly the opposite like buying second Prusa or going to purchase 3D scanner now... Something wrong with me
At least I managed to return the invested funds for my Artec scanner
How is that scanner working out?

So you finally got the scanner?
What do you scan, and how good the result is?
Dos it really looks as good as Artec shows on their site?
I'm thinking about buying a scanner for myself.
Have you tried to scan people? As I understood "lite" version of EVA doesn't scan textures. I've downloaded some scan's made by full Eva. I don't think I can use such textures..

Welcome to the SeeMeCNC Community