making money from 3d printing?

**cipher0** · 03-20-2014, 06:14 AM

Articles keep popping up on the internet that you can get your money spent on your 3d printer by selling your 3d prints and maybe even start a small business.
I don't own a 3d printer yet, but i have been researching this field and i see while the fun as a hobby is satisfying enough, i dont see how you could sell anything you 3d printed for profit.
Does anyone here sell his 3d prints for profit? What would that be?
Because lets look at an example from one of those articles:
Iphone cases. While there are some flexible filaments, how can even the highest resolution of modern 3d printers produce a case which looks aesthetically good? They have lines all over them and jagged edges. Not to mention the time it takes to print.

**jimc** · 03-20-2014, 09:06 AM

I have well beyond paid for my printer. I dont actually do any kind of printing svc for people but there are a few products i make using 3d printed parts.

**cipher0** · 03-20-2014, 09:55 AM

what would that be? I honestly cant think of anything.

**squadus** · 03-20-2014, 05:44 PM

Be creative. Use your imagination. You can literally manufacture anything with 3D printing
And be patient. The technology is only getting better.

**jimc** · 03-20-2014, 06:23 PM

here are some gauges i make for older military generators. i have a company make me the guts then i design and print the plastic parts. laser cut the lenses and print the gauge faces. i also make the 3 black knobs on the control panel and some other parts for this thing as well.

$_57.jpg $_57-1.jpg $_57-2.jpg

**AMID** · 03-20-2014, 06:49 PM

I made some money for my own printer. Easilly made in the investment. Luckily i work with 3D-printers all day, so i dont have the need to run a small shop to continue playing with other printers.

At www.amid.se /shop you can find my camera stuff. They're cheap, but when you sell a bunch each month is good margin (since ABS/PLA/PETT is soo cheap).

**cipher0** · 03-21-2014, 06:00 AM

Originally Posted by squadus

Be creative. Use your imagination. You can literally manufacture anything with 3D printing.

Oh, I am creative.

I'm a 3d modeller and I can make some crazy things with a 3d printer when I get my hands on it. The problem is the resolution (quality) they print at. I mean here's some things I've thought: 1) sculptures/figures/toys - as I said, they have lines all over them and jagged edges, not pretty at all. Acetone baths and sandpaper make them look only slightly better from what I've seen. 2) cool design phone cases - same as above. Here you also have symmetry which makes acetone or sandpaper hard to use and keep it that way. (Can you even use these techniques with flexible filaments?) 3) jewelery - I know you can use a plastic print to make a sand mold, but the plastic print will have the same problems as above. And for jewelery you need it to look even more perfect. 4) holders/accessories for cameras/kinect/phones. Okay pretty sure some people won't mind the imperfections on the surface of these, even more if they can't find a not 3d printed version, but there isn't really a demand for this kind of stuff where I'm from. Almost nobody has a kinect, has or heard of things like GoPro. I might be lucky to sell 2-3 of these in a year, but that won't be close to covering the cost of my 3d printer or the filament.

Originally Posted by AMID

I made some money for my own printer. Easilly made in the investment. Luckily i work with 3D-printers all day, so i dont have the need to run a small shop to continue playing with other printers.

At www.amid.se /shop you can find my camera stuff. They're cheap, but when you sell a bunch each month is good margin (since ABS/PLA/PETT is soo cheap).

That's cool.

unfortunately like I said above where I'm from it will be hard to sell specialized stuff like these, I might be lucky to sell 2-3 of these in a year, but that won't be close to covering the cost of my 3d printer or even just the filament.

Originally Posted by jimc

here are some gauges i make for older military generators. i have a company make me the guts then i design and print the plastic parts. laser cut the lenses and print the gauge faces. i also make the 3 black knobs on the control panel and some other parts for this thing as well.

$_57.jpg $_57-1.jpg $_57-2.jpg

Cool. But looks like you use more than just a 3d printer for this job though.

**jimc** · 03-21-2014, 07:23 AM

Yes there are 4 printed parts. Basically the whole gauge body itself and the bezel. The lens is lexan

**cipher0** · 03-22-2014, 10:35 AM

Well there you go. I mean it's cool that you can make money like this, but you're incorporating 3d printing in an existing job, which requires other tools/knowledge, with clients you already had.
So sorry if I'll sound bad, but I don't think your example will help me. I don't have a similar job already where I could use a 3d printer like that.