Actual Printer Usage

**3DFever** · 03-23-2014, 10:46 AM

Hello ladies and gents, I am curious to hear from everyone how much use you get out of your printer. How much time is your printer being used versus how much downtime? Also do you feel like your printer has been a wise investment, purely from a financial perspective? I know it's not a very interesting question but I am trying to get a feeling for a business idea. Thank you for any feedback.

**ChiloquinRuss** · 03-23-2014, 07:24 PM

I love my machine. I am a model maker and use it for things that are not currently available from other commercial sources. I cannot see how one could make a business out of it unless one had enough money to set up a printing farm with several machines printing. Fairly simple prints still take 20 to 30 minutes. On my CNC machine I get $75 hourly minimum shop rate time charge. That means on my MakerBot I should be getting $40 to $60 for a simple part and we know that won't happen. It appears from prices I have seen for 3d printed items they are getting around $10 to $15 per HOUR of print time. That won't work within my business plan. Design time is seperate from that time as well. Russ

**Geoff** · 03-23-2014, 07:47 PM

Originally Posted by 3DFever

Hello ladies and gents, I am curious to hear from everyone how much use you get out of your printer. How much time is your printer being used versus how much downtime? Also do you feel like your printer has been a wise investment, purely from a financial perspective? I know it's not a very interesting question but I am trying to get a feeling for a business idea. Thank you for any feedback.

Financially, 1 machine is hard to make alot of money from simply due to time constraints, so for a viable business you need more than 1 machine that's for sure. I look at it in a simple time vs money fashion. If you are selling something for say $10 that takes 2 hours to print, you are only going to be able to pump out 10 or so a day - but two machines could double that etc, it's just finding a good niche market for something.

**Kingoddball** · 03-23-2014, 10:17 PM

Down time = A lot.
I rarely use mine lately.
Needed a part for a quadcopter - Pulled out a computer, found a part on thingiverse, modified until it work - File/Print! BRILLIANT!
Love having a 3D Printer.

As for making money - I am lucky enough to have broken even - A little better off actually.
Bought my original, sold it for what I paid, build another - Use this to build another which I sold. So I come out with free 3D Printers (2).

I use it when I need a part or I'll design up something, not using it to try make any money.
Even still, buying one and having it there for when you need it if brilliant.
(Slightly off topic...)

**Davo** · 03-24-2014, 07:49 AM

What causes you to have downtime?

**RobH2** · 03-24-2014, 09:59 AM

I use my printer about 10 hours a week to print prototype parts for product development as well as for printing personal items. 3d printing is not a revenue stream for me at this time. But it is an invaluable tool in my design toolkit. I can print items in a few hours that would have taken days to create in the traditional "model making" manner. Plus, the parts are actually able to be put to use. Most design models are crafted from other materials that simulate what they'd actually be made from. They are frequently to be used for aesthetic evaluation purposes only and can't be used. With 3d printed parts, the aesthetics can be assessed and then they can be used in many cases to test them.