Noobie Intro

[Choog]

Hi All
Been trolling for a while now and thought I’d finally introduce myself.
I’m a total noob to the world of 3D printing. I have been teaching myself how to design and taking classes at Youtube University. My background is more science based and my company has recently started exploring BioPrinting organs, skin, etc. This is what first peaked my interest and now I am hooked-spending most of my free time learning the different software and applications and how to apply it towards making my own profits. It looks like this board has a ton a great knowledge and I look forward to your feedback.

With that, I thought I’d drop my first question:

I am going to be moving towards posting (and hopefully selling) my ideas. Most of you are very experienced sellers and creators---What advice would you offer a noobie?...when starting out-Lessons learned, regrets, recommendations, “wish I had done this instead”…. I’d appreciate any advice.

Thanks in advance
Choog

[LuckyImperial]

For manufacturing purposes I think my advice would be to buy a quality, well supported, enclosed printer. $400 can buy you a fairly impressive printer that will print PLA quite well, but these printers often aren't calibrated up to snuff and suffer from hot end issues that you really just don't want to deal with on a production level.

The Formlabs Form 2 is a resin based printer that will give you quality unrivaled by FDM/FFM printers. It's not cheap, but those things can produce parts that cheap FDM printers can't. Period.

The FDM printer I would recommend would be an Ultimaker 2+. It's basically a Cartesian printer with all of the issues addressed that a RepRap would normally be plagued with.

If you want to go more "RepRap", I suggest looking into Wanhao. They are Arduino based and have pretty amazing support for their price point. They are compatible with all of the free slicers and many people have championed Wanhao's as their Go-To production printer.

[Choog]

Great..thanks for the suggestions. I am still focusing on just designing right now. I will probably look into having these other printing companies print out my stuff for now until I get rolling. It looks to me like the actual design work and learning the software is more valuable for now.

[Genechr]

I too am a newbie and have tried for several months to find information on getting started. I would very much like to start my won business but I don't where to start. Do I purchase a 3D printer and go blindly into my own business? Is there someone just starting out that can guide me in how they went about starting their business. I know this is a relatively new opportunity and I would very much like to be a part of it. Please, any suggestions and information would be greatly appreciated.

[keithk16]

Just like you I am also a newbie to the forums but have been designing for about 4 years now and 3D printing for the last year.

A while back I was in the same position you are, not really sure where to start. Fed up with just sitting around I reached out to a great 3D printing company called EEZITEC and met with their CEO and Lead Sales Engineer just to talk technology. Fast forward a few months and I now work as a part time design engineer for them.

My biggest recommendation is to start by reaching out to companies you admire and see if you can get the chance to talk with some of the people who work at the company. These people are the ones who have already gone through what you are trying to do and can offer some great information on how to proceed with your idea.

With this in mind I would be happy to talk with any of you about my experience and if you are interested I can try to get you a meeting with the same guys I met with.

Hope this helped.

[keithk16]

Choog,

What kind of designing do you do?

What software do you use mostly?

[Genechr]

Just like you I am also a newbie to the forums but have been designing for about 4 years now and 3D printing for the last year.

A while back I was in the same position you are, not really sure where to start. Fed up with just sitting around I reached out to a great 3D printing company called EEZITEC and met with their CEO and Lead Sales Engineer just to talk technology. Fast forward a few months and I now work as a part time design engineer for them.

My biggest recommendation is to start by reaching out to companies you admire and see if you can get the chance to talk with some of the people who work at the company. These people are the ones who have already gone through what you are trying to do and can offer some great information on how to proceed with your idea.

With this in mind I would be happy to talk with any of you about my experience and if you are interested I can try to get you a meeting with the same guys I met with.

Hope this helped.

Where is EEZITEC located? What background did you have before you reached out to EEZITEC? and how can I get up to that level before I approach a company? Do you have an email I can reach you at or a facebook account ?

[Choog]

Choog,

What kind of designing do you do?

What software do you use mostly?

I am starting out with very simple designs and trying to apply them to everyday uses to become products. I started in 123D suite and it has gotten comfortable..so I plan on sticking with it for now.

[Choog]

Great..thanks for the advice Keith