My 3D Printing Farm

[@JdiJoey]

“Package all the shi-“ that part had me 😂😂

[@Redo3D]

I love seeing this! I also started with just 4 printers, and have since expanded to 20 ender 3v2s with the product I designed. I can relate to what you're doing here. Much success in your future designs and business!

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

Thanks man, and congrats to you on your success! 20 printers is quite the setup! Looks like you have a great product with good demand. How do you advertise your product?

[@Redo3D]

@@MartinsonManufacturing my brothers youtube channel Retro Hoop Collectibles. Majority of my sales have been from there and also word of mouth. Instagram and Facebook groups as well.

[@petermarin]

congratulations!! what product did you design??

[@igcefa]

I have the same story, but it I have a little more time. I started with one and now have 78 machines running 24/7

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

@@igcefa That's insane! Do you make just one product or multiple different ones?

[@3dpchiron709]

Good info - to improve profit margins, or reduce cost you could try: No stringing (sanding) + faster print -> use larger nozzle (eg 0.8mm) and print in vase mode with thicker layers. If you want a double walled part, make the model two nozzles thick, then remove a 0.03mm vertical slice (so it's like a chain link). Tune the flow, jerk & accel settings to get a strong yet minimal seam up the side. Thicker vase parts with internal structures are also possible depending how you make cuts. Harder to describe, but think of it like scoring the surface with a knife: you do 0.03mm cuts (smallest gap i've found is still recognised by Cura) in to one surface that stop 2 nozzle widths from the opposite skin, a bit like this ├│. You can imagine the slicer printing the outline, with every gap a double wall. Visual differences (gloss/matte) -> suggests slight temp difference between the hotends as Petg shine increases with extruder temps. Could measure and tune print temp for each of them. Old stock PLA parts -> perhaps a semi-insulated bag inside the package to save wasting them. Power/layer issues -> maybe on some machines the stepper drivers vRef is set a bit higher, causing them to run hotter. Cheaper Filament -> usually the manufacturer lowers costs by not drying (properly). Could use the warm printer cabinets to dry new spools. With a larger nozzle size, slight variation in filament thickness isn't noticeable.

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

Man, tons of great information here, thanks for taking the time to share all that. Sounds like you have a ton of 3d printing experience. You got me really curious about vase mode now, i'm going to have to try that out soon.

[@yourlocaltoad5102]

@@MartinsonManufacturing You could also buy a food dehydrator and use that to properly dry filament. These dehydrators can be bought very cheaply and they can cook out all the moisture in one night.

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

@@yourlocaltoad5102 Thanks for the tip!

[@Just_Jesus_ef]

Good info. Thanks

[@joshuavincent7884]

" then remove a 0.03mm vertical slice (so it's like a chain link)" i don't understand this part, can someone explain

[@santopino2546]

I used to have false power loss issues on a cheap CNC milling machine, I resolved the problem by powering the drill with a separate power unit and leaving the electronics on the original power unit. The stepper motors generate quite a lot of EMF disturbance that could be an issue for the microcontroller and the communication with the PC, try shielding and grounding.

[@bradleyhovan9390]

Good change with dropping PLA. I believe the magic formula here was your designs-these exhausts are super simple for a slicer, which lowers your risk at all stages! Good job

[@SaltGrains_Fready]

HINT: Number the printers with the date they show up and go into service plus any letters or product id's.. That keeps it all in order by when they went into use as well as age etc.

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

Definitely a great tip here!

[@WarrickTaylor]

And keep a service log somewhere, that way you will know if a specific machine has a recurring issue rather than something common to all the machines on occasion. Definitely serial number the printers.

[@SaltGrains_Fready]

Each machine should have a log notebook with a date and the file name of what ran that day entered as it is run. Log Temp of Bed, nozzle and FR on the end of the line, which slicer, settings and any adjustments for that particular extrusion, as well as noting the filament that is in use with the day it's put on the instrument when that changes. After awhile it's a great log to refer back through to see situations that happened, and also for a repeat print job of something specific from awhile back and how it performed and produced.

[@petermarkk1408]

The Extruder Mount is one of the best ideas i‘ve ever seen. So easy and really good!

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

Thanks man! It's been a big help.

[@nikolaoskousoulas]

@@MartinsonManufacturing Hey there is there any 3d printed mount for this mod? I really want to try it out! Thanks.

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

@@nikolaoskousoulas You're talking about the extruder mount right? Shoot me an email [e-mail] and i'll email you back with the stl file.

[@PatHaskell]

Good for you! I’m really impressed with your attention to detail and recognition of what customers see when they receive your products.

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

Thanks Pat!

[@oneheadlight8000]

PETG is plenty.. We print gun parts and they hold up just fine. We also use ASA but you need to be more concerned about VOC's with that material. ABS is pretty much obsolete unless you need a bunch of pretty colors. ASA prints more easier, has the same or better mechanical properties, and has a nice matte finish. We use 3DXTech for most of our filaments. Edit: We also print with ASA on scotch brand blue tape. 85C bed.

[@erronousactions]

To deal with your powerloss issues I'd look into running all machines on a UPS, because it filters all the incoming power from sudden spikes or drops, since it's constantly fed through the battery in them, so that way you're protected from 'dirty' spikes, which can cause these powerlosses.

[@goss4444]

In the I.T. world we call it "Brown Power", LOL. Servers are sensitive to 'dirty' power spikes and drops, so it is always important to run them from a UPS specifically for the constant power they output.

[@KLP99]

Please consider keeping your printers with the same numbers they have but in each group change them to A, B, and C and do 1A, 1B, & 1C, etc. That way you'll be able to keep them separate. Just a thought. I'm not sure it's a good idea, but my printers are colored in other words I printed fan shrouds in blue, red, orange, and green. So my printers are called blue, red, orange, and green in Octoprint themes for each printer. That way I know which one I'm attached to when I'm sending a job.

[@michaeltyborski4802]

My Snapmaker Original printer just arrived today. It's a trainer for printing, engraving, and carving. Thank you for showing where effort can lead. And more important, thank you for being a company that believes in quality.

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

Thanks for the comment Michael. Awesome machine you just got, I wish you the best on your making journey!

[@elHippieSupremo]

I love the simple fix for the extruder to prevent filament scraping/breaking.

[@feedbck191]

thank you for this started a print farm myself as well this year and is already taking off like crazy, really great to see some of the innovative ways you are creating a better work flow! gave me some ideas as well!

[@DevildudeEMZ]

That’s awesome, what products are you creating ?

[@JorgeMarioManuelOrtega]

i mostly do abs, for adheasion, just hard hairspray and 110/120 degree bed. ( heated/enclosed chamber) will also help. 90 degree straight edges into the bed really need pads

[@mechadroit]

This is giving me ideas... I see another side hustle in my future.

[@dang4937]

Thanks for putting this together, it is inspiring. I'm curious about your reasons for 3d printing this part vs injection molding once you got to some scale

[@Weirdomanification]

Some possible reasons: Initial expense was still to high to justify, especially when there's a high risk the sales drop off. Injection mold shop could take his design and directly compete. Injection mold shop could raise unit price once he was invested. Injection mold shop could end up having terrible quality control. Injection mold shop could go bankrupt. Molds could be seen as assets and be locked in legal proceedings. Labeling the part as 3d printed helped when marketing to other makers.

[@dorjanhajdari2670]

1. It could be spikes in peak demand dropping voltage for a split second just enough to trigger the warning. 2. The probability of getting an error increases with frequency and quantity. The more you use the printer(s) and the more you have, the more likely you are to experience an issue.

[@joybidwell9487]

Congratulations! It’s fun to see hard work paying off!

[@ntbarone]

Very inspiring video! Just bought the voxelab aquila few weeks ago used needing repair and finally got it running at 100%. Just now opening up Pandora's box of possibilities. Excited about starting up as a small business to supplement the income. No rush. Just excited to see where this goes.

[@lennynnnnnn]

G-10 for print bed for ABS. Its amazing. No warping even with no brim, and when the bed cools, the part separates on its own!

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

That’s awesome! Definitely going to check it out.

[@goss4444]

Thanks for this video! I am looking for a different career choice and I think I have found it in printing parts! Drones, rc cars, fan ducts, fishing lures, etc. There is enough to go around for all... I realize I have to open my mind to new hobbies to see where the deficiencies are, for instance is a drone manufacturer making replacement parts or have them available on their site? One thing I couldn't tell is how you communicated to all the various printers. I assume you have a bunch of Octopi running the show, but is there something better? An octopi server running multiple printers instead? I need to do more research on this.

[@killerpenguin660zzz]

Very informative video, thank you for sharing! I am literally in the beginning phases of starting my own 3D printing business focused around lighting décor. I'm going to be buying my second printer in the next couple weeks to keep up with demand. I built my own 3D printer enclosure myself but I love the IKEA cabinet idea.

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

Awesome to hear man! I love the idea of lighting decor. Would love to do some lighting products myself down the road. Best wishes on your 3d printing journey!

[@djVania08]

What printers do you use? Do you have any website to see your product? Good look with your business!!

[@tubingforever]

Looking to start a 3d print farm too. This is so cool to see!

[@rroberts509]

I've been looking for a way to house my 3D printers. That Ikea cabinet will work great. Thanks for the information and the process looks awesome

[@bryancaballero7022]

if you are having voltages issues , try looking a UPS system , same system we use in data center IT serves that need clean stable voltages

[@sahandd12]

I'm so happy for you I hope you have greater success

[@davezon]

Loved your video! So I started out with one 3D printer from Aldi, an i3 duplicator rebadged. After a few years or printing random things I needed, a mouse plague came along here in Australia and I was printing auto reset traps 24/7. I went from one to 4 printers to keep up with demand. The last printer I purchased was a CR30 which has been a challenge to get working... But it's is now. Your video has inspired me to get more productivity from my printers, it was a great watch and good workflow stations.

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

Thanks for the encouraging comment man. Best wishes to you on your making journey!

[@3dvince]

Don't switch to ABS!!! The whole ABS is stronger than PETG thing is a big old myth that as been busted by Stephan from the KZbin channel CNC Kitchen. ABS requires much higher print temperatures wich is going to cause many problems on your stock Enders (trust me I ran 5 enders on ABS for a while and it was a nightmare). What Stephan showed is that not only PETG is similar to ABS (strenght and temp resistance) PETG ended up having stronger layer adhesion than ABS. ABS was one of the first filament to be resistant and that's why it's got this reputation but it's just a myth now.

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

Cool man, thanks for sharing that! PETG is so much easier to print with anyways so that makes my life easier.

[@3dvince]

@@MartinsonManufacturing I love sharing the knowledge man! That's the beauty of the 3D Printing community everybody is here to learn and share their knowledge!

[@dwintster]

Thanks for the video, I have a background in Industrial Design and got into 3d printing almost 20 years ago but have gone on a different path since. Looking for my first personal 3D printer to get started. I used to love the SLA at work but FDM like the Ender 3 that you have might be a better place to start. Printing so much it might be worth it for you to look into doing small production runs with soft tooling. Take a few printed parts build a silicone mold and cast your parts out of a highly density urethane. Do some research and see if it works with your parts. Thanks again for the great vid.

[@spencerlange125]

Yes, PETG is amazing. It is my go-to material. I only use PLA for prototyping and working out designs.

[@PressRToWin]

That being said, for higher temp applications PETG doesn't cut it.. my prusa mk4 started to soften and lose belt tension when I had it in an enclosure and it hit 50c inside

[@peanutbutter3578]

I think this is so cool. It's amazing that we can manufacture parts with affordable machines at home now like that

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

I know, I'm so glad the price of this tech has come down so the average person can afford it.

[@3DPrintingForMoney]

"blue tape aged 3 months"...perfect! 😂btw, 100% on spot man, especially on the choice of quality filament

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

Lol. Thanks for watching man!

[@skaltura]

I run ender 3 farm too, try the "carborundum" glass plate, aka Anycubic Ultrabase. Works extremely well, and doesn't really care at all if it's a bit greasy, dusty etc. works just the same. Before first use wash it. They sometimes come dirty and prints don't stick. They also get slightly better with use.

[@ashokmoghe8035]

Bumped into this video since I just bought my first 3D printer (Ender 3 V2) and have been binge watching 3D printer videos. Although I am not into a 3D printing farm your video was a very nice video to watch. It is always nice to see how someone's business starts with a concept and flourished into a nice at scale operation. Wishing you good luck for your continued growth in 2023. Since you have these many printers running continuously, a couple question if I may - what changes have you made to your stock printers to ensure quality and reliability. Like I keep hearing about replacing stock bowden tube with better quality Capricorn tube, all metal hot-ends, metal extruders etc. Also it will be nice if you can put together a video showcasing some routine maintenance. Thanks and good luck.

[@johnrobinson3642]

Great video, that was really interesting, thanks for sharing. I have a couple of suggestions that you might like to try. First of all, when printing ABS, try out a PEI bed. It will stick perfectly, and release easily when it cools down. I print a lot of ABS, and I put down my first layers at 75mm/s on PEI, no adhesive required. Also, consider trying klipper firmware on a test printer, it has far superior kinematics. That translates to much faster printing without loss of quality, as a rule you can expect to double your print speed just from installing klipper alone. My standard print speed using klipper on my Ender 3 V2 is 150mm/s. You need to use a raspberry pi which adds expense, however you will be able to substantially increase productivity of each machine, so you won't need to spend more money on extra printers, or space and cabinets to house them. I don't run a print farm yet, but I hope to soon (printing car parts in ABS or ASA), but those are things I do on my personal printer (which pretty much runs 24/7) and so will definitely implement on other printers. Having said all that, I don't know how much printing faster will add to wear and tear on the printer, and whether the benefits outweigh the cost/downtime that comes with that, but I aim to find out :) Thanks again for sharing.

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

Thanks for your contribution, lots of good advice. I've actually been having an issue with my ABS prints fusing to the bed lately so i'll definitely give that a try. Is there a particular PEI bed that you would recommend? This is the first time i've heard about klipper firmware so i'll have to look into that more. Saving print time would be a huge help!

[@johnrobinson3642]

@@MartinsonManufacturing I'm in Australia, so I tend to buy most of my stuff from China as shipping from the US is expensive. I use the Energetic PEI plates, but you will have a much wider range available assuming you are in North America. Do a search on YT and you will find heaps of info. Klipper is a game changer. Seriously, once you have tried it, you won't look back. On your first installation, you will have it all up and running within a couple of hours. And if you mess it up or just don't like it, you can revert back to Marlin in less than 5 mins. Aside from the better kinematics, klipper as a number of other significant features: a) Everything can be configured in the config file, no need to recompile firmware as with Marlin, b) Pressure Advance allows you to easily tune the filament flow through corners, so you can eliminate bulges. Marlin has a similar feature called Linear Advance, but it is not compatible with the Creality mainboards, and c) Resonance Compensation allows you to tune out ghosting/ringing. I would suggest looking at the TeachingTech YT channel, he has recently convert several printers to klipper and he walks you through all the config process. Also, feel free to contact me if I can help, I'm happy to walk you through it. Good Luck! :)

[@comradejordan5738]

You could be experiencing differences in part shade for a couple of reasons. Usually this is due to inconsistencies in reading and different PID tuning settings for each of the printer. Silicone socks could have various different amount of use and wear. I'd suggest if you try to get the most consistent printing temperature and consistency, to make sure all nozzles are from a consistent manufacturers, and the heater cartridges and thermistors are all inserted with thermal paste (boron nitride thermal paste from slice engineering works great). Don't forget to PID tune each of the prints with their part cooling fan on at the speed the filament of use will print at, and try to PID tune each of them with the door closed and the other printers running to simulate a real environment.

[@comradejordan5738]

This should reduce almost all of the shade variation you are experiencing, the only variables that should be left are the filament humidity and consistency.

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

Thanks for taking the time to share all this, I'd like to try this out and see if it fixes the problem. It's been a frustrating one that I've never been able to solve.

[@tomhutchins1046]

You need input filters. 3D printers use stepping transformers they can back feed interference into the power grid. As delivered there is no filter. Its actually required by code in many areas for just this reason. One machine will interfere with another. And possibly anything electronic plugged into the grid.

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

Thanks for sharing this Tom. I’ve tried using a power conditioner. Is an input filter something different? This electronic stuff is all over my head so I appreciate the input.

[@br88dy]

The video was helpful, thanks for sharing

[@nathangray5212]

Currently working a job at Pizza Hut and it’s fun but I’d rather use my skills and knowledge for something more useful. I’m certified in these modeling softwares, just need to get a printer and begin learning because 3d printing while making money sounds awesome. This video is giving me a lot of inspiration to start!

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

That's awesome man! The great thing is you can get a good printer for $200 so it's pretty inexpensive to get started.

[@customboatscreensolutions5893]

Massive well done to you sir, love how meticulous you are with your business

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

Thanks man!

[@antlu65]

Love learning about your process! Design, printing, process and logistics - very illuminating. Thanks! 👍

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

Absolutely!

[@naasking]

Thanks, you have a great process it seems. Some good ideas if I ever wanted to sell something I designed. I think other people have mentioned the electronics overheating as likely causing your issue. Running electronics at higher temperatures also reduces their life expectancy, so there's added cost beyond just failed prints. Maybe move the electronics to a separate cooler area from the heated chamber to extend their lifetime and improve their reliability. There are also fire hazards with 3D printers, both from the electronics and the heated printing area. Less likely these days but still possible. Maybe replace or at least line your wooden enclosures with cement board on all sides. Cheapest option I've found for building a fire resistant enclosure. Separating the electronics means they should ideally get their own enclosure(s). Also maybe add a fire detecting automatic fire extinguisher. I've seen them on Amazon.

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

Great thoughts shared here, thank you for commenting. I'm planning on moving the electronics outside the enclosure in the coming months.

[@elHippieSupremo]

I had a similar problem with my new ender 3 (first 3d printer!). A certain model I was trying to print would keep failing at the same level about 12 hours in(layer shift, then the print just stopped on the next attempt). Apparently the motherboard overheats on these things. Fixed by adding an exhaust fan to the side of the motherboard enclosure. Also opened up the enclosure, moved the ribbon cable to the side, since it obstructed the airflow from the fan to the ARM processor. Finally spliced in the board fan to the heating block fan, because the mobo fan would actually only run when the parts cooling fan was running before. Have been running it up to 4 days at a time without any problems. This is what gave me the idea: hackaday.com/?p=461364 .

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

I appreciate you sharing the solution you found!

[@waynefilkins8394]

I would have just gotten those ups battery backup things. I have 2 of them and I run my pc and mining rig through 1 and 2 printers through the other. Got 2 printers out in the garage that don't run through one yet but never have that problem so yea that is really an odd problem to have. Has to be something to do with your fuse box or something.

[@prxrb]

You might be able to decrease print time, and eliminate the seam, by printing this in vase mode. You may need to swap to a larger nozzle, but it looks like it may be a 1 mm wall thickness which is super doable

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

Yeah that’s a good thought, I’ve never played with it before. Is vase mode typically just one wall?

[@prxrb]

@@MartinsonManufacturing yes, in your case you may need to alter the model to make it a solid cylinder instead of a tube, but the advantage would be never having to retract and travel (wasted time), and always maxing out your volumetric flow. Lmk if you want to talk more about it, would love to xhat

[@Atlas.X9X]

Nice job on your process and streamlining production. Thanks for sharing.

[@traileater]

Very inspiring....there is so much a person could do these days for self income. I love the manufacturing side... 3d printing, cnc, laser ect. All right there, anyone can do it, you need patience, desire and integrity. Loved your video, wishing you prosperity with your business! I wonder if you get issues with your powersupply lifespan running abs temps in cabinets, they will only have warm air to cool them..? If an issue you may need to punch 2 holes in the cabinets per printer, for a cool air intake and exhaust, in a contained system as to not alter your hotend & bed temps. The power supplies are probably of not high quality, I had one fail in just 6 months of moderate use. Cheers

[@OutpostPottery]

I really love this video, brother. Thanks for sharing your experience and setup. I'm trying to ramp up my printing capacity after having developed a few tools for potters. This really helps! Thanks! -mj

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

Awesome man, glad it was helpful! Best wishes on your journey!

[@jcracoustics]

Hey! Great video! Hoping you see this as it’s an old video now but I couldn’t help but wonder since you are printing lots of the same part (and clearly shifting volume) why you don’t go the route of having it tooled and injection moulded on the well established parts. The part cost would be less after you get over that initial say $1500 tooling cost and you wouldn’t have defects or sanding to deal with. Then you can use your farms to run new product lines before committing the next successful one to tooling. You could also then go the Amazon FBA route on those parts so your dealings would be manufacturer straight to Amazon warehouse and nothing for you to deal with and easier to scale. Either way great video and super happy for your success!

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

Thanks for the comment man. Injection molding would be a great way to go. Do you know anywhere where I can get tooling done for $1,500? The cheapest I found in North America is $34,000.

[@jcracoustics]

@@MartinsonManufacturing Wowzers that's a high quote! Most my experience is with China. I get a lot of trays/cases/etc. tooled for the hydroponics industry. Our work has a China office though to make communication easier. Recently used DongGuanShi YiSheng Packaging Prouduct Co.,Ltd and a mold cost for a 300 x 600 x 15mm thick reusable tray was $1800 with unit cost $0.4350. I can only imagine your prices are due to them being from North America or potentially the shape being a tube means the mold needs to be 3 parts and therefore more complex. Might be worth chatting with a plastics design firm on the phone. Quality has always been good from China too.

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

Man, that’s a great price. Thank you for sharing your contact. My current design would require a sliding three part mold so that’s probably why it’s so much. I’d like to look into this more. Thanks for getting back to me with the additional info!

[@shydevil]

6:42 if you still have this issue you might wanna get a frequency filter for these printers. it might be possible that they send some interference into the power lines creating stuff like voltage sparks (negative and positive). I had this issue too with my fridge and pc monitor being pluged in on the same curcuit and everytime my fridge started cooling my monitor restarted

[@SynisterInfection]

Amazing video, thank you for all your insight and advice. I am in the process of starting my own farm and this is the kind of information I was looking for. Thank you again.

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

You’re welcome. Best of luck to you on your farm!

[@chucklenz9011]

I’m wandering why there aren’t more laser farms producing deco parts and wooden boxes and parts from 1/4” plywood. About to get my first laser and expand on this idea.

[@petag5587]

Awesome job man, very inspiring. I’m about to start getting into this very soon.

[@halukdenizmedet5905]

Amazing video, perfect explanation of an home factory

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

Glad it was helpful

[@tomhutchins1046]

AND the transformers will run on 220 just flip the switch an wire them up. It will cut the power bill in half. Will also heat up faster be safer and be much more stable.

[@matroosoft4589]

I saw someone else with a print farm using UPSs to smooth out voltage peaks, he had good experiences with it

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

Thanks for the tip!

[@jstro-hobbytech]

Good for you man. It's good to see nice guys , that are also talented get ahead. I hope you become a millionaire my friend.

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

Thanks man :)

[@Blu702]

Why don't you have them on a ups. First thing I'd do if I had a print farm. Line conditioner and battery backup all in one. Degree of time you'd want it to stay up in case of power loss would determine the price obviously.

[@snowwolvesproductions]

Thanks for the info. Appreciate seeing your process. Developing mine. Just have to find my niche... 🙂

[@Plan-C]

Dude, That is great. I would have an overtemp and smoke detection with Raspberrry Pi / Arduino and a relay. I am not sure about these days but many of those boards shipped with thermal runaway protection disabled by default. Thermal runaway will save ou if a thrmistor cable breaks or the thermister falls out but you really also need something to guard against shorted hotend and heatbed mosfets failing short circuit - the micro would be unable to shut them ff as they would be 'fused' on. Only way to deal with that really is either a raspberry pi with temperature failsafe and smartplug or relay plugins of a custom job using something like an arduino. Great to see it took off.

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

That would be awesome to have it set up that way. Learning how to use a raspberry pi intimidates me, but maybe I just need to jump in and figure it out because I love all the things you can do with one.

[@Plan-C]

@@MartinsonManufacturing I think Teaching Tech did a vid on it recently. kzbin.info/www/bejne/paumoqSiha9ml5I I did a vid a while back showing it with a smartplug shutoff but it was long-winded. The teaching tech one explains it much better but just uses a relay instead of a wifi smartplug. Good luck.

[@marianososa4309]

How do you print PETG on an Ender 3??? Do you use an all metal barrel??? Excellent job!! Congratulations!!

[@MusterMax18]

You can try to use arc welder (G2-G3) to improve your print surface.

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

Interesting... This may help out a lot actually. Thank you for sharing, I didn't know of this before.

[@captmcloven2137]

You have a really nice setup. I have noticed I to am looking to get into the 3D printing business. A lot of people have asked me for specialty parts. Is it best to just find parts that you can print in bulk? How do you have all the printers linked? I use Octoprint with raspberry Pi 4 running wireless on mine with Cura as the slicer. Your printing ABS parts with stock Ender is down right amazing. I look forward to seeing more of your content and hearing back from you. Great job on your business and content.

[@captmcloven2137]

I subbed and hit the notification button cause you just did not spit out information. You did a walk through and that is what content is all about.

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

Thanks for reaching out man. As far as one-off specialty parts or bulk prints, I think the best is to just start doing various jobs for people until you find a niche that you can really focus on. I started out offering 3D printing services. Several customers were asking me about laser engraving so I eventually bought one. Two months after buying the laser engraver I 3D printed a part for it to solve an issue that was bugging me and then it eventually became a fulltime job selling those parts. I absolutely love printing in bulk because you can really start to streamline your process. That being said, I'm starting an offshoot company to offer services because there's a huge need for it. I don't have my printers linked. Good ol fashioned micro sd cards :) Thanks for your support!

[@raccoon9469]

I appreciate the video man, it gives a lot of good tips as well as motivation to really get into the industry. I've been printing for personal use for a few months now and am already looking to expand and actually manufacture parts for sale after some success selling to local individuals.

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

That’s awesome to hear man! Even though 3D printing is so prevalent now, I still feel like it’s an untapped resource with so much potential. So would you be looking to just sell parts or do you think you’d offer printing services too? What industry are the parts in that you’re looking to sell?

[@manuelpadua2113]

Possibly already said in this post but check the serial number to the site you might be able to post organize the printers according to age.

[@MrDiMaggio5]

Great video. I'm researching 3D printers (there are way too many of them LOL) more for hobby, but watching these and seeing you can build a business around it makes it even more intriguing!

[@khulekanintini425]

I am really inspired by this video and would like to start a 3D printer farm.What do you think is the best product to start off with?

[@swindmiller]

Enjoyed the video. Happen to have an STL you would not mind sharing for the fan mod. I run 5 Ender-3's and have the issue with the strings sucking up in the fan. Over time, causes a decent issue :)

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

Sure, no problem. Shoot me an email and i'll email you back with the stl file: [e-mail]

[@kaede15]

Have you considered moving your production to injection molding based on the high demand? It could simplify a lot of your production process, like more reliability, production time, employee's costs, complexity in maintenance etc. Also, have you considered "heat" to your electronic as to your random power loss problem? Maybe you can extend the cabling and put the electronics outside of your cabinet. In any case, really impressive, you turned your hobby into a retable business.

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

Awesome thoughts, thank you for your contribution. Injection molding is something I've thought a lot about. I recently got a quote from a company in Illinois but it was far outside my price range because my part requires slides. I think I'd have to get it done overseas for it to be viable but I'm not crazy about that either. I haven't thought about heat as the power loss culprit before so you given me something to think about now. I appreciate that. What's your background? You strike me as a very intelligent person.

[@kaede15]

@@MartinsonManufacturing Outsourcing to China could be viable, but quality control and specially communication can be really challenging, if you going that route hire a Chinese person locally who can speak fluent English and not other way around. I worked as a network technician for many years, and most hardware failures are result of inappropriate heat dissipation. You'd be amazed how a couple of failed fans can do to a server. Rule of thumb is all electronics required some sort of heat dissipation, if it is passively cooled it only means that the heat is dump to the environment. Here is another optimization you can do. Most psu that comes with the printer are in the realm of 70 80% efficiency. You can buy really cheap server grade 1.1K watt PSU for around 50 bucks and mod the 12v output with a breaker board. That can easily powered 2 to 3 printers and the efficiency are around 90% to 95% depending on the "gold" or "platinum" standards. That way if you scaling up your 3d farm, you could save some real cash in power. ;)

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

Awesome man, thanks so much for the tip I'd really love to try that out because the power loss issues can be pretty frustrating. Thanks again for commenting!

[@internettoughguy]

@@MartinsonManufacturing Your power issue is coming from the 3D printer power supplies. The majority of them have over temperature protection on the main board. Once the intrenal temperature reaches the preset limit the OTP shuts down the power. This is occuring because you put everything into a cabinet and it's getting too hot. Moving the power supplies outside of the cabinet will solve your problem.

[@bratwizard]

Thank you very much for putting this video together. It's very informative!

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

Thanks for the feedback John, I'm glad you found value in it!

[@MassiveBallics]

I myself and trying to get a farm started as a small LLC. Something I'd love to see is how to start if you have a video for that part.

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

Sure, I could do that. What in particular would you like to see? How to setup the business? How to find a product to print or how to find client? How to market? There’s so many aspects to it and each one could be it’s own video.

[@MassiveBallics]

@@MartinsonManufacturing How to setup the business? How to find a product to print or how to find client? How to market? I fear that Im more into the tech side of 3d printing and not much on the design and business side of things. I have 4 printers and I am learning to work with the differnt types of filaments from pla, pla+,petg, asa, abs is next. That cabinet you have looks great and is sparking ideas for storage place in my garage. that will help with the heating and cooling part.

[@MassiveBallics]

@@MartinsonManufacturing My current setup will be manages by using klipper as it seem I can add about 3-6 printer per raspberry pi. and because I have a lot of spare PC's I might use one of those as my print server... I know I need to find a good printer that is cheap but not too cheap that is a bad printer and enders seems to be that printer. as far as the idea. I am starting to look at some classes on fusion 360 and how to use it. but right now Im just printing or test printing items for fun. I have a coreXY and Delta printers.

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

Awesome dude, it sounds like you’re in a good place and off to a good start. It’s sounds a lot like where I was 4 years ago. I’ll definitely make a video on this soon, but for now my advise would be, just START. It’s okay to not know what the heck you’re doing. That’s what being an entrepreneur is all about. But, I assume you’re good at solving problems so you’ll eventually figure it out. Don’t feel like you need to have everything figured out now, you’re a smart guy and will figure it out when you get there. Just start moving in that direction in whatever small and imperfect way you know how. I look forward to sharing more details on my journey in a future video. Maybe by the end of February.

[@MassiveBallics]

@@MartinsonManufacturing thank you again for your help and I look forward to learning from you.

[@JustinDepew]

Inspiring video! Thanks for sharing. I would be really interested to hear how you optimized your slicer file. This is something I would like to get better at.

[@jacknabvoip]

I love my ender 3... as your comment about odd things going on with your "ghost in machine" I had my ender 3 for 2 years now.. but for the past couple months my printer seems to like adding it's own personal touch. It print stuff that's not part of the model.. it's random.. yesterday was the most interesting print were the printer added it's own creativity. What it printed was the shape of the model but everything else was not part of that model. What was most interesting to me was the very first couple layers the bottom or floor of the print. It completely looked like a piece of plastic you see on your purchases household items, there were no lines what so ever... it was a very strong, yet thin print that had a semi glossy shine which the white filament used was flat white. It's definitely the type of results I would love to get from my prints.. but my ender 3's not willing to tell me it's secret..

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

Your printer “adds it’s own personal touch” Lol! I can relate. Yeah man, the inconsistency stuff drives me nuts.

[@mayslam]

Whats up man great videos. However I'm heari you're up to 14 printers. Have you considered learning to make molds? I'm a mkld maker and it greatly speed up manufacturing process at the shop i work at. We create sculptures and parts for disney universal etc. We never ship out 3d printed parts that are still clearly printed. We sand and resin them to a smooth surface and then mold them with fiberglass silicone or plaster depending on whats needed.

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

You guys are smarter than I ;)

[@filmmakershelp]

People don’t usually know that power at your outlet can any from 95 volts to 130 usually and a task specific Uninterruptible power supply is really required for sensitive hardware and long duration tasks. I learned this from box mining with graphics cards.

[@chiuuuuuuuuuu]

Would it be cheaper to do abs molding for highly repeated parts? Thanks for the great video. What an amazing printing farm

[@roblucas6097]

Very nice setup you have for your printers. Do you have instructions on how to move the extruder to the top rail like you did? I would like to do the same with mine.

[@martonlerant5672]

If temperature iy an issue with your PLA i would check out filatisum's advanced PLA & engineering PLA. (With mineral dust & glass fibers to mixed in to ddastically change the melting point) If nothing else, they retain the rigidity of PLA compared to thjngs like PETG or ABS. With a marginally higher heat rssistance.

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

Thank you for sharing!

[@GAMarine137]

Thanks for the tour

[@giuseppegervasi1820]

have heard of power serge , to eliminate it by going 12v direct

[@OG96932]

when you leave your printers untended , you risk burning down the premises, what safety measures do you use, when using multiple printers

[@you-dont-know-me]

Are you not worried about potential hazard such as fire?

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

Great question. Yes and no. But being that I run it like this all the time, no not really.

[@dmytroi5456]

Thank you for you video. But did you investigated other ways of mass production of those details? Because I thought that 3d printing makes sense only for very small batches.

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

That's a great comment. I've looked into injection molding but it was in the 10's of thousands so I'm going to to keep 3D printing them for now. Have you come across any mass production methods that are somewhat economical?

[@dmytroi5456]

@@MartinsonManufacturing I know that it's also possible to use silicone molds and pour it with some kind of epoxy. It should be slightly cheaper than 3d prints (master model can be made on 3d printer), but there are some limitations. But really I'm far from this area, I'm just curious)

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

@@dmytroi5456 Yeah silicone mold is a good idea. That's something I've thought a lot about before, but never had the balls to try it lol. I think what turned me away is pouring resin requires me to be actively engaged in the process whereas 3D printing I can just hit start and walk away. I'm really hoping a company comes out with an inexpensive injection molding machine. That would be a game changer. I'm sure someone will come out with one eventually.

[@rawreffincake]

at 5:00 minutes you show a cooling fan duct upgrade that you made, do you have a link to the upgrade?

[@rayturp6742]

If you change to ABS you will need to move your power supplies outside of your cabinets. They will overheat if you dont.

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

Thanks for the feedback!

[@andyshap]

At 14:05, can you tell me which IKEA cabinet this is? (Is this the PAX that is 19 5/8" wide?) Thank you!

[@aruniochoa5944]

I want to do the same but I don't know how to do CAD or use a 3D printer. Designs and product ideas , I have a lot. I also sell on Amazon FBA some toys. I want to start this. Gives me more drive to be productive than selling someone else's product. Please give me some advice. Thanks!

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

I'd definitely recommend learning CAD and 3D printing, however, if that seems like too much to learn than you can always hire someone to do the modeling and printing for you. Making and selling your own products is very rewarding.

[@chadkoyan3096]

You should try running a UPS if your still having power loss issues.

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

Definitely a good idea. I think the solution is either a UPS or trying to keep the electronics cool. Someone else mentioned that the heat may be causing the issues so I think its one of these two things. Thanks for the idea!

[@dirtdawg420]

Saving up for an ender 3 pro right now. Hopefully will be a full farm eventually

[@richardruddy6341]

Just wondering if it is easier to make a mould of the parts since they are quite simple and just injection mould a load of them?

[@KellyBear1981]

Did you change the fans or did any form of noise reduction adjustments with the Ender printers? Bed level adjustments? And how do you get it so beautifully smooth, it’s really nice 👍 you said it’s the slicer but we never get it that good.

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

My Ender's are about as stock as you can get. I was using PLA and that is beautifully smooth. I now run PETG and ABS. Not as smooth as PLA, but still pretty dang good though. I also tested multiple different filaments throughout this journey and some just print smoother or rougher than others. Any matte filament will look better than a filament with a sheen cause it hides a lot. I honestly think it's my part geometry and slicer settings. If you had me print some random STL file it would look just like everyone else's.

[@byronwalker3606]

Any chance you could share the link for the white cabinet?

[@TheKdcool]

You could really improve surface finish with arc welder

[@mrphil123]

I know you don't want to upgrade them but pls buy Capricorn boden tubes....

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

Just did! I started melting the stock ones when I switched to PETG.

[@dwpelland]

Thanks for sharing. This is vauable info.

[@janimelender2674]

Are your Cura settings in the comment section somewhere? Would def like to take a look at them. :)

[@Akcd11r2002]

Frequency or voltage drift. You need a double conversion UPS.

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

Thanks for the tip!

[@wilmercb]

Congrats!! wishing you the best to come!!!! ✨🙏🏼 ...have you tried the Prusa printers? Thanks

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

Thank you! Not yet, but I'm really thinking of buying one soon.

[@sergetheijspartner2005]

I was hoping for more things like Business plan, pricing, overhead, what goes to taxes, what is your profit margin etc...Don't worry I am not IRS I am not even American so the tax laws are different here in Belgium, but maybe do a video on that?

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

Thanks for the recommendation, i'll be sure to address those topics in a future video.

[@triadnlphotography1313]

Use capricorn tube and if it strings use a bit of olive oil with sponge box to have no stringing Sometimes filament is not dry enough so drying filament could be a solution

[@MorningCarnival]

An excellent and informative video. Thanks. I’m just starting. I have just the one printer at the moment that I’m using for prototyping of parts for a larger product. Just today I started using ABS and I’m still yet to try PETG to find the most suitable filament for my parts. It would be cool to produce an item that is can sell individually though.

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

Hey, that's how great things start, keep at it. I never thought prototyping that first part would have turned into a full time job.

[@pista01slk]

I designed a similar vent for the K40 laser cutter. It has over 8000 downloads. Maybe I should have built a print farm and sold them :)

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

💯

[@3dprintingfun329]

Get a ups to stabilize power. Mine triggers once and a while on my computer, brown outs

[@MartinsonManufacturing]

I may give that a try. My power conditioner didn't solve the problem so maybe a ups is the key. Thank you for the suggestion.