The 5 stages of a successful 3D printing business

[@garrydye2394]

Been a business owner for 22 years and this was a very good video. I would say most people want to run their own business for three main reasons. 1) I will make lots of money 2) I will work less 3) It will be fun. Once someone realizes all three are almost never true....they quit. This is where passion comes in. You csn not compete with someone who has passion and thinks about 3D printing while in the shower and on the toilet. You do not care about it but heard there was money in it. The other guy and 100 more who have passion will run circles around you.

[@Perennial_Curiosity]

My reason for wanting to start a business is I hate clocking in and having someone watch over my shoulder and tell me what I'm fucking up when I already know and am trying to fix it. No idea whether that bodes well for my business or not but there's only one way to find out.

[@oxconcreteremovalfirewoodm3863]

Great comment as well! I agree

[@FullCircleTravis]

I'll add to this. A big issue is competing against low-profit or no-profit competitors. Especially when it comes to arts and crafts. Even with perfect optimization, you can't win a price war with someone losing money. Sure, the money losers don't last, but they are replaced by more money losers. Don't become one just for the pride of being self-employed temporarily.

[@mikewazowski9953]

​@@FullCircleTravissounds like you know a alot about money losers by experience as well as nobody cares

[@FullCircleTravis]

@@mikewazowski9953 There are a lot of losers. Some people will make personal attacks just to feel better about themselves.

[@MrPodushka]

Love the video. I have learnt about the types of businesses there are. I think I would go for a lifestyle model in the beginning. I will either grow it into a scalable business model or tune it down to hobbyist model based on how successful I get

[@brigvaldez4815]

Thank you

[@MGrahamMakes]

👍Great content & well presented!

[@fish3dp372]

Very good info....thx!!

[@gladiatormechs5574]

i plan on weighing my models and charging by the weight .. how much should i charge by the ounce of PLA ?

[@3DQue]

Charging on print weight alone is not the best idea, since there's a lot more that goes into the cost of a print than simply the cost of material. For example, a high detail part with 0.08mm layers will weigh the same as a rough draft part at 0.32mm layers even though the high detail part will take 4x longer to print, use 4x more electricity, put 4x more wear&tear on the machine, have 4x higher chance of random failures, etc. Try this 3D print cost estimate calculator which takes into account a lot of different variables. You'll probably find you are under-charging: www.fabbaloo.com/calc

[@gladiatormechs5574]

@@3DQue Thanks for this information.. but can you tell me if you agree with this rule of thumb.. i was told to mark up 5 times the cost of a roll of PLA FILAMENT for every roll used... i would rather over charge then under charge.. you wont get hurt this way.

[@3DQue]

​@@gladiatormechs5574 Pricing by weight is simple, but it is the wrong metric to focus on. The value you provide to your customers it usually quite unrelated to the weight of the final product. For example, a super high detail miniature model which needs a 0.2mm nozzle, 0.05mm layers, and 5 iterations slicing to get it perfect will only weigh a few grams. Is your expertise, patience, and labor only worth a few dollars? I strongly suggest taking into consideration your labor, slicing time, and total print time otherwise you'll be undercharging. You should price high enough that you lose some deals based on price.

[@gladiatormechs5574]

@@3DQue Thank You... my models are VERY LARGE... and i am planning on charging 5 times more then the cost per pound of PLA... and yes i agree with selling less at a higher cost..

[@WealthOverFameAndAttention]

i just commented on one of your old videos . lets say i have a oppotunity for a grant and decide i want to get into 3d printing and i also would have the chance to get contract jobs in different filed like petroleum , offices , water supply contracts what printers industrial level should i go for ,..... ive made a plan but i want to see if anything you suggest comes up with what ive planned already

[@3DQue]

We have people printing parts for all of those applications. It's more about what parts you print than the sector although it is very important to ensure that the part is right for the job (design, material, etc). Most new print farms will focus on simpler, non-critical parts such as electronics boxes or tool holders /jigs, etc rather than engineered parts such as valves. It really depends on your background.

[@WealthOverFameAndAttention]

@@3DQue based on whats been mentioned what machines would you recommend, ill mention the names ive come across after , can tell me your thoughts on the ones im looking at

[@3DQue]

@@WealthOverFameAndAttention It depends on what you want to do and how much you know about 3D printing. The Bambu printers are pretty easy to use, Prusa are extremely durable and not difficult to use, Artillery are both durable and inexpensive but may be a bit more difficult to use.

[@WealthOverFameAndAttention]

@@3DQue I want to target / get contract jobs and be of service to petroleum companies , water contraction companies i got these names so far • Markforged Metal X • Stratasys Fortus 450mc • Ultimaker S5 • Formlabs Form 3 • Raise3D Pro2 Plus • MakerBot Method X • Prusa i3 MK3S:

[@FusingFilament]

Anyone who works for them selves has the worst boss 😂 I m harder on my self than any boss I’ve ever worked for.

[@3DQue]

True!

[@jonathanditren1680]

nice!! thanks!!

[@CallmeSam00]

Would love to use this with my 3 printers for personal use, but not at up to 300$ per month just for the printing time. The hardware upgrade is one thing, but the pricing you chose for the software makes this pretty much non-viable for hobbyists.

[@3DQue]

$300 a month would buy you 7,000 hours a month! That’s quite a hobby ;)

[@CallmeSam00]

​@@3DQue I guess I could just book 3 power slots but according to your werbsite, that is still $120/90 per month. That is about an order of magnitude more than what I'd expect to pay.

[@reptiloidx8942]

How about investments in to such business ?

[@3DQue]

Seems to be lots of money going into farms these days!

[@engineered700]

Here's some advice for you.... Even though your automation system is excellent, it will never be widely accepted by Any serious 3D print farms at those exorbitant prices.

[@stephsharp8475]

Thanks for your feedback. Our software is used in over 20 countries, millions of times a month. Getting a single extra hour per day from a printer pays back the automation.

[@3DQue]

It is used by farms that want to automate planning, scheduling, tracking, and production of large volumes of prints or with complex order management requirements. Breakeven is ~$1 / day ... 10 minutes of extra printing on each printer for growing farms.

[@skaltura]

You should add pauses, anecdotes, humor etc and work on the pacing, you had a good message here but it was really hard to follow with this pacing.

[@3DQue]

good points

[@shaynegryba]

Personally I thought it was perfect, I’m here for information first and foremost. It’s written like a high quality blog post.

[@NicodemusT]

Great video. If you have a 3D printing farm, and you're trying to be profitable - you've already lost the plot. If you need so many 3D printers that you have a farm, what you have is a product that needs to be sent to an injection mold.

[@3DQue]

Thanks for the comment. I would have agreed with you a few years ago, but things are really changing these days now that 3D printing is very reliable and especially since it can be automated. Injection molding incurs a huge up-front cost, putting lots of financial risk on the designer, and it comes with more design constraints and much longer lead times. Print farms let you quickly iterate and produce hundreds of different products without needing hundreds of molds (thousands of dollars each). And even if you're just printing one thing over and over again, automated 3D printing is still cheaper than injection molding on a per-part basis until about somewhere between 10k and 100k parts.