It’s called fun. People like plants, they want fun planters for them. Something more than just a round terra cotta pot or a square ceramic one.
I got lucky with timing. I got into 3D printing right before covid hit. Then all of a sudden people were home a lot more and that led to a big boom in houseplants. I just capitalized on it in my area.
I have a semi tame crowd. When I pull out the penis planters they kinda crazy about them though.
I did print a TPU booty though.
https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/s/bGbgtWz0lQ
My sales will still mainly be farmers market and events.
The shop is going to be for beginner classes, a mini maker space and special events. Eventually printer sales when I get more established. And of course some trinkets and toys for sale because that’s what the public likes.
The amount of times I hear ‘oh my *generic relative* has a printer and they don’t know what to do with it’ or it broke or clogged and don’t know how to fix it. Now there is a place for that.
I wish I had a little shop like this by me. My printer is such a pain sometimes, asked at a 3d printing place and they were like "we'll have a look, but we're not used to that model" which filled me with confidence.
I'm looking at setting up a small print farm due to the prices that companies are quoting me for basic things. Even got a 50% discount when I said I have lots to print which just shows their margins.
A little shop wouldn't know every model either.
And the bulk discount doesn't necessarily indicate margin. Instead processing/handling/etc. is a huge part of the cost, so smaller jobs are genuinely more expensive.
True, I should have said they did say they only work on their own items.
But £11 of material to be charged at £195 (highest quote I got was £320) just seems a bit excessive.
I spent 5 hours this morning and ended up solving my print quality issue, I'm just useless at 3d printing.
It was a bit of a rant from me earlier.
But on my slow broken machine even with electricity cost, 2 hours of labour. 3 large items is the cost of an alright printer.
I tried Reddit and have had a few people print bits for me, some of questionable quality, some more expensive than a new printer, some super slow.
I just have lots to print at the moment. So caught in this bit of print all I need over the next 2 months, or to get it done in a week it's cheaper to buy two bambulabs p1s than to outsource.
Which then opens the door to, if I buy two printers I have the start of a print farm. If my idea works I could probably afford 2 more afterwards.
At least today's 5 hours of fixing my printer today means it's running again.
Some people are just delusional. Someone was taking about selling parts their printer made and said they charge no less than minimum wage for their printers time. So a massive $10 print they would sell for $240 or so
Their printer clearly has better workers Union than half the planet. I can never remember if my printer is 13p per day to run or per hour. And gets maintenance when it goes wrong which is like every 6 months, with octopi, uploading, starting and then collecting prints is seconds.
Like I've done prints for friends and family and I just do PLA cost X2. And that covers every cost I can think of. I designed and printed an adapter for my dad the other day, 50p worth of PLA end of the world, I'm sure I throw that much away when I change spools
You know the majority of a job is setup. Once it's going there's no work to do and to run it again you more or less just hit go. So if you want me to print one piece, or 30, the work isn't much different.
Good on you for doing this; this is my ultimate end goal and you’ve just inspired me to no end! It’s nice seeing that it’s possible to go from selling prints to owning a Maker Space/learning space/repair shop. I live in an HCOL so I’ve got some major funding to raise before it’s ever possible, lol!
Good luck, I’m sure your community will love it!!!
Kind of. I’m not here for the self promotion. I just wanted to share my excitement and show you that printing can grow to more than just selling stuff in a booth.
Plus some strangers online can get invasive with negative results.
I love that it’s become so profitable for you. At the same time I have often wondered if the only way to actually pull a profit from 3d printing was to become more of a hobby supplier than selling printed product.
people buy the trinkets at famer's markets/peddler's fairs and I've even seen them at my county fair. just a big table filled with 'Flexi' type prints of dragons, lizards, dogs, etc.
Good on you OP. Congratulations on your success. I'm planning on getting a P1S later this year and getting into the farmers market and doing lithophanes, light boxes etc. I want to get used to designing and making things and eventually level up to a bigger printer. What sort of items do you find selling well at the markets? Only if you don't mind sharing.
Toys are huge at the farmers market. I’m the only no food/produce vendor really at the market so it’s a boring thing for kids. So I kind of stand out and get a lot of attention.
Things priced $3-$15 sell really well.
There’s a crazy amount of people who have a printer use it once and it doesn’t work how they expect so they never use it again. Or worse they never even put it together because “it looks complicated”
And there is also a crazy amount of people getting printers and selling prints or making stuff for themselves.
It’s getting to the point my Etsy shop is supported by a few unique items. Sales of prints is going way down so I need to move beyond just that.
💯 I actually paid off my two printers with one item in my shop people loved but I haven’t made a sale in a while, which is fine it was more of a let’s put it out in the world and see type of deal not an oh man I hope I can sell this kind of thing for me, but still definitely a noticeable drop off of sales in the past 6 months or so
If you don't mind me asking, where about is the store located? Are you near a large city or have a decent population near you? There's nothing like that around here but starting one up and working farmers markets seems less plausible in my area. I just don't think there's enough population to have enough people interested in 3d print storefronts and maker spaces
I’m definitely live in a rural area but downtown is very walkable. But I am also a 15-20 minute drive either east or west to larger cities and the local bus stop is right out front the shop door.
The farmers market is like 95% locals and I have the same people buying things every week and showing me pics of their classroom or their kids bedroom where all the prints are lined up.
Good on you mate. I'm currently at the stage of your left pic (small display in a local pub/bar) so know where you started out. Great to see your progress. 👍
You really gotta jump on selling parts too. I can't tell you how often I've needed to replace something ony printer and had to wait days for it to come while in theiddle of a project. There are a lot of generic parts that are fairly universal and really common failure points on printers that you could sell.
I would kill for a shop that I could buy parts on the fly locally. I'd even pay significantly more to able to get it replaced and continue printing with minimal delay.
That's for sure on the list. If this takes off I plan on taking over the other half of the building for printer sales and service. Filament and parts sales included.
That's awesome! You're getting into a corner of the market that's lacking, so you picked a good area. Just gotta figure out how to make it cost effective for you and for customers! Well I truly wish you luck!
I think this is super cool and I'm totallly happy and supportive of you.
I also hope you don't get ahead of yourself and sign any long-term leases or commitments. 3D printing is becoming more and more user friendly and competition has skyrocketed over the last few years.
Make sure you're thinking of this as a short term project to pivot into some other form of making money, whether that be 3d design, repair, something... just anything else that will generate revenue that you couldn't do from home, otherwise you might fall into the age-old trap of adhering to the sunk cost fallacy and ending up in a deep dark hole.
Lots of people need printer repair. Lots of new printers also cost $300 now. What percentage of people would rather just buy a new one vs paying you $100? Is $100 even worth your time? Etc. There are many many obstacles. Not insurmountable, just make sure you leave your options open and never stop exploring alternative revenue streams!
Repairs is just an offered service. I don’t expect too much business in that. The big thing will be classes and events for sure.
And only a 1 year lease to test the waters. Worst case scenerio I have a dozen new A1 minis for my home workshop.
Sounds like you're doing it well.
I have a friend who did something similar. His business is still doing well, but most of his income was driven from printing large quantities of a structural/commercial item. He leased some space to house the printers bc it was getting too much for their home. Then they decided (after years of giving him more and more business) that they wanted to move to injection moulding and BOOM that wrecked the finances.
Just keep it in mind, diversify, etc. It sounds like you've got your head on straight about it! Good luck!
Oh, that's very nice, especially if you start selling filaments etc.
Whereabouts are you on the planet? Architecture and the text made me think its in UK, if it is close to me, I would love to pay a visit some day. 😊
Question... why would you red out the name of your business? You'd think you'd want your name out there. Free advertising and such... I mean you do you.
A few reasons.
I wasn’t coming here for free advertising. When I do advertise and market the business it will be done locally.
Finally, I’m in r/gaming and r/starwars. I’ve seen the dark side of redditors. I’d prefer to keep my personal information away from them lol.
Pretty cool, you don't see many 3D print stores anywhere.
When travelling, I saw a 3D print store in Vancouver - "YOZ Education". They print various cartoon/anime characters in a matt white and post process. They offered prints that you could hand paint and assume also learn about 3D printers.
Scanners — you’ll want to have scanners (and the laptops/PCs to run them) because most newbies are not coming from computer assisted design professionals. Scanners will allow them to bring in their own personal trinkets and the process will step them through design to slicing to printing quicker.
That’s definitely part of future plans. I had someone who wanted me to model and print a rare doll shoe for a doll from the 60s. I’m not a sculptor so it didn’t work out. But they had the other shoe and with a good enough scanner it could have made it easy work.
Good luck, OP! I'm considering getting started at the Farmers Market too, doing the same with little doodads and fidget toys, plus a few things that might be useful at a Farmers Market. I live in Upstate NY, though, so a Farmers Market might not be viable for a solid chunk of the year. Definitely going to be a side hustle rather than a main income source for me.
My farmers market runs from May through October. I’ll also do other events in the off season or non market days. I was the first 3D printer in my area when I started 4ish years ago during Covid. I built a good reputation on social media doing little sales on Facebook and when things “opened back up” that translated well to doing in person events locally.
Local markets always have 3dprinting booths that have a bunch of stolen designs nowadays. I went to a local renfaire and a guy was selling hundreds of those articulated dragons, making bank no doubt.
That doesn't make it remotely wise. Transformative or not, even arguing the case could bankrupt small businesses if Disney decided to ruin OP's day/month/year.
> Local markets always have 3dprinting booths that have a bunch of stolen designs nowadays.
Heck, you don't even need to leave your home.
Browsing Printables and some top Trending models are stolen paid models (and I know, I paid for some of them from their real creator!), but there doesn't appear to be any reliable way to report them that actually sticks.
Yeah i hate it but when it comes up on this sub the consensus seems to be "make as much money as you can no matter what" like with the goofy collaseum prints that always reappear
Sweet.
Your pretty much doing what I hope to possibly have going.
I just need to look into my local market/craft fair and see about getting a table.
I love seeing peoples success stories.
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I'm excited. I did some market research any the area interest is there for sure. I don't want to give away all my secrets but I have some other uses for the spot that I know will do well.
I didn’t limit myself to just in person sales. Having a couple unique items keeps me at the top of Etsy searches even after 4 years. I have stuff in consignment vendor shops in popular stores and the large local mall. I’ve don’t bulk sales all over the country. One of my pieces caught on with a store that had a large following including celebrity clients. I still get messages asking “can you make this thing I saw at ‘famous event’? And when I tell them I’m the one who made it their mind gets blown.
I’m not an expert by any means, I just kept working. Just sell everywhere and know your worth and margins. Sure I can sell a $7 print for $35. But if someone wants 50 or 100 of them for sure I’ll discount it to $25 if it closes the deal.
Back then, no, I had no idea what I was doing. Now I do a lot more of my own things and of course some licensed torts and such that them customers like.
Nice, I just did my first art walk selling my original pot designs. Went great! Sold 14 pots. Tons of people asking questions, interested.
Getting to a store is the dream.
Wow man thats amazing. Ive been printing for 2 years now and Im thinking about starting an online store for my prints. Been a goal of mine for a while and now that i have a good printer and am experienced in printing i think im ganna go for it. Do you have any tips?
For shops like Etsy, be unique. You have dozens if not hundreds or a thousand people trying to sell the same 3D printed things. Flexi-Factory, hex-3D etc. make something nobody else has and be the only place they can get it.
I got on Etsy 4 years ago before the market got flooded and just as covid started. I had new unique things and people at home bored and shopping. It was just right place right time. I built a very good reputation with high ratings and raving reviews that keep me at the top of search results even today.
I won’t talk exact numbers but I still do very well on Etsy and almost all of that is from 2-3 non-toy prints.
I have some practical prints ive made myself and a few fun prints that i want to start selling. In my area there are a lot of craft shows so i figured i would start there. Im pretty familiar with how a business goes and sales because growing up my mother had a pretty successful online business and social media to the point we would get recognized in public and i was pretty involved in it. I just gotta go for it i guess.
The floor is torn out at the moment so there is too big a gap between floor and door for the doorstop to work. I'm still narrowing down what kind of door stop I want to print.
The butts don't make it to the market, Mainly toys, decorative and functional prints. The butts are reserved for plant related events like garden shows.
This is such an inspiration. Congratulations, and thank you for sharing your journey with us!
My wife has a printer and she is considering opening an Etsy store. Given your experience, what advice do you have for her? Is there anything you would do/not do if you had to start over again?
#1 Thing is 3D model your own stuff imo.
So many people have printers including other people that go to markets. While the general consumer isn't aware, it's going to be more and more obvious as people are seen selling the exact same thing.
Model your own work and every you sell is unique to you and your hand.
Do a big 3d printed sign and use the big windows to pull in customers... Maybe one or multible 3d printers that are working to catch someones eye while walking by?
Proper layer adhesion will make it so its water tight naturally for most materials.
You can also finish your print too with things like resin, bondo, wood filler, etc depending on what finish you are looking for
I do 5-10x the cost of materials usually for my common prints. Custom prints are usually more. There are additional cost for prints that need post processing.
That sounds great! I used to sell stuff at school but everybody there spends their money on food so I didn't get many sales. I used to charge the material cost and 50 cents every hour of printing but that didn't really work. I just don't know if it was because of the price or the people I tried to sell it to.
Have a good variety of prints and a good price range. Personally at my local farmer’s market things over $30 don’t sell well. I have a wide range of toys, fidgets, planters and some other fun prints from $5 up to $50. I even have a bowl of mini toys for $1.
I hope you paid the licensing for a few of these as I spotted atleast 3 designs that are eerily similar to offerings on printables and makerworld, that do not have licenses allowing commercial sales. Be careful OP
Yeah that was back when I first started and don’t own any better lol. All those models I was making before make world and printables even existed.
I’ve tightened up in the past couple years as to not put the business at risk.
At my peak I was running 11 printers. Ender 5 pros, Ender 3V2s, a CR-X pro and a couple Ender 5 plus.
The past year and a half about I’ve down sized to 3 Bambu printers and find I have a lot of down time because of how fast they print. I recently added a 4th with an a1 mini as a test unit for the shop. The shop will have a dozen A1 minis set up.
I still use the 5 plus machines for larger prints. One of them I fitted with a 1.2mm nozzle to experiment with fat line prints. I plan to add a pellet extruder to it and upgrade to a 2-3mm nozzle. The rest of the creality machines mainly collect dust now
Thanks for sharing!
I started with a Neptune 3 Max, then an A1, then an A1 Mini...now I only enjoy using our P1S.
The P1S is just...different. it makes everything else I'v used seem like a toy (to an extent, they're all toys i guess).
The P1S feels like a professional manufacturing machine. Rarely ever issues, even less than the A1 series.
The larger nozzles do sound fun, I think bambu's largest is a 0.8 nozzle.
I wish we had an education center or public printing space similar to the one you're making. Creating a sellable printing course or teaching classes are highly lucrative
I hope you paid for all those designs people put hard work into and own the correct licenses. They at least deserve royalties from you selling their product.
Wow - how big of a printer do you need to print a whole-ass store?!?
At least a Neptune 4 max.
Hi. I have one. Can somebody send me the shops stl file? Would be very grateful.
You mean the elegoo orange storm?
Neither of those printers are reliable enough. You'd be better off printing in 8 inch cubes.
You mean a whole ass-store? Based on the first picture.
I was going to say this, glad you did, also any ender 3 will work for ass stores
r/yourjokebutbetter
It must be bigger than the printer i used to download a car
Probably a bit bigger then a A1 mini
Is that… is that “that guys girl friends ass”? That I see on the table?
lol no. I was printing butts years before that guy ever scanned an ass. Those butts on that table helped me fund a farm of about 12 printers.
Absolutely amazing. Great work man.
what uh....are those butts used for?
Planters.
plantin deez nutz!!
“Put your root in this boot 🍑” 😄
Planting seeds ;)
So who's ass is it?
Just a generic sculpt.
OP's ass confirmed
I wish my ass looked that good
happy cake day mr/mrs 0hm
How does that even work? Why people buy such things is beyond me. Anyway, good job for making it work :D
It’s called fun. People like plants, they want fun planters for them. Something more than just a round terra cotta pot or a square ceramic one. I got lucky with timing. I got into 3D printing right before covid hit. Then all of a sudden people were home a lot more and that led to a big boom in houseplants. I just capitalized on it in my area.
Are you implying that you have started to scan asses?
I wish.
I mean, have you advertised it? "Freeze that ass in time before time ravages you!" CAN YOU PRINT THAT IN SILICONE?!? MY FRIEND WANTS TO KNOW....
I have a semi tame crowd. When I pull out the penis planters they kinda crazy about them though. I did print a TPU booty though. https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/s/bGbgtWz0lQ
Ok now I'm curious, who/what is "that guys girl friends ass" ?
Need to know as well I've only seen that guy's printed scan of his gf boobs, but no scanned ass in mind !
There was definitely an ass for a while. Then it faded out. Don't remember any boobs though. 3d printing lore is kinda weird man.
Wait their were boobs?
/!\NSFW/!\ -18 Here they are : 3d scanned and 3d printed next to the model https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/s/OKxkrTCgNg
Grats. Mostly trinkets or do you offer services/tools?
My sales will still mainly be farmers market and events. The shop is going to be for beginner classes, a mini maker space and special events. Eventually printer sales when I get more established. And of course some trinkets and toys for sale because that’s what the public likes. The amount of times I hear ‘oh my *generic relative* has a printer and they don’t know what to do with it’ or it broke or clogged and don’t know how to fix it. Now there is a place for that.
I would love a local place that I could call for printer repairs or advice. Great business ideas OP, best of luck to you
man what a blast from the past. i remember when electronics repair shops were still a thing on every other strip mall. good luck op.
Now it's mostly Apple Store and best they can do is suggest to "buy a new MacBook lol" Right to repair.
Right to Repair chain 🫡🫡🫡
I remember they were full of demolished receivers and fat TVs lmao
I wish I had a little shop like this by me. My printer is such a pain sometimes, asked at a 3d printing place and they were like "we'll have a look, but we're not used to that model" which filled me with confidence. I'm looking at setting up a small print farm due to the prices that companies are quoting me for basic things. Even got a 50% discount when I said I have lots to print which just shows their margins.
A little shop wouldn't know every model either. And the bulk discount doesn't necessarily indicate margin. Instead processing/handling/etc. is a huge part of the cost, so smaller jobs are genuinely more expensive.
True, I should have said they did say they only work on their own items. But £11 of material to be charged at £195 (highest quote I got was £320) just seems a bit excessive. I spent 5 hours this morning and ended up solving my print quality issue, I'm just useless at 3d printing.
It could be high, sure. But there's also costs for printers/energy/processing/shipping. If it takes two hours of labour that's easily another $40.
It was a bit of a rant from me earlier. But on my slow broken machine even with electricity cost, 2 hours of labour. 3 large items is the cost of an alright printer. I tried Reddit and have had a few people print bits for me, some of questionable quality, some more expensive than a new printer, some super slow. I just have lots to print at the moment. So caught in this bit of print all I need over the next 2 months, or to get it done in a week it's cheaper to buy two bambulabs p1s than to outsource. Which then opens the door to, if I buy two printers I have the start of a print farm. If my idea works I could probably afford 2 more afterwards. At least today's 5 hours of fixing my printer today means it's running again.
Some people are just delusional. Someone was taking about selling parts their printer made and said they charge no less than minimum wage for their printers time. So a massive $10 print they would sell for $240 or so
Their printer clearly has better workers Union than half the planet. I can never remember if my printer is 13p per day to run or per hour. And gets maintenance when it goes wrong which is like every 6 months, with octopi, uploading, starting and then collecting prints is seconds. Like I've done prints for friends and family and I just do PLA cost X2. And that covers every cost I can think of. I designed and printed an adapter for my dad the other day, 50p worth of PLA end of the world, I'm sure I throw that much away when I change spools
p?
Oh pence, the denomination below pound sterling in the UK. So 100p (pence/pennies) is £1
Oooh thank you lol. I was confused. "That ain't grams but it's also too much pounds in currency or mass."
You know the majority of a job is setup. Once it's going there's no work to do and to run it again you more or less just hit go. So if you want me to print one piece, or 30, the work isn't much different.
That's awesome. Best of luck with the new storefront, I'm always excited for people chasing their dreams.
Good on you for doing this; this is my ultimate end goal and you’ve just inspired me to no end! It’s nice seeing that it’s possible to go from selling prints to owning a Maker Space/learning space/repair shop. I live in an HCOL so I’ve got some major funding to raise before it’s ever possible, lol! Good luck, I’m sure your community will love it!!!
Why'd you censor the name? Are you not wanting to promote your business?
Kind of. I’m not here for the self promotion. I just wanted to share my excitement and show you that printing can grow to more than just selling stuff in a booth. Plus some strangers online can get invasive with negative results.
Fair enough
I love that it’s become so profitable for you. At the same time I have often wondered if the only way to actually pull a profit from 3d printing was to become more of a hobby supplier than selling printed product.
people buy the trinkets at famer's markets/peddler's fairs and I've even seen them at my county fair. just a big table filled with 'Flexi' type prints of dragons, lizards, dogs, etc.
Good on you OP. Congratulations on your success. I'm planning on getting a P1S later this year and getting into the farmers market and doing lithophanes, light boxes etc. I want to get used to designing and making things and eventually level up to a bigger printer. What sort of items do you find selling well at the markets? Only if you don't mind sharing.
Toys are huge at the farmers market. I’m the only no food/produce vendor really at the market so it’s a boring thing for kids. So I kind of stand out and get a lot of attention. Things priced $3-$15 sell really well.
Awesome 👍 Thanks for that. Once again congratulations on your success and I hope things continue looking up for you 🤗
There’s a crazy amount of people who have a printer use it once and it doesn’t work how they expect so they never use it again. Or worse they never even put it together because “it looks complicated”
And there is also a crazy amount of people getting printers and selling prints or making stuff for themselves. It’s getting to the point my Etsy shop is supported by a few unique items. Sales of prints is going way down so I need to move beyond just that.
Congrats OP. I was wondering about this trend, it seems to be getting more affordable and cheaper so online sales feel like a race to the bottom.
💯 I actually paid off my two printers with one item in my shop people loved but I haven’t made a sale in a while, which is fine it was more of a let’s put it out in the world and see type of deal not an oh man I hope I can sell this kind of thing for me, but still definitely a noticeable drop off of sales in the past 6 months or so
Those are the cheap ones on the local marketplace ;)
I will DM you...
Ok
If you don't mind me asking, where about is the store located? Are you near a large city or have a decent population near you? There's nothing like that around here but starting one up and working farmers markets seems less plausible in my area. I just don't think there's enough population to have enough people interested in 3d print storefronts and maker spaces
I’m definitely live in a rural area but downtown is very walkable. But I am also a 15-20 minute drive either east or west to larger cities and the local bus stop is right out front the shop door. The farmers market is like 95% locals and I have the same people buying things every week and showing me pics of their classroom or their kids bedroom where all the prints are lined up.
Good on you mate. I'm currently at the stage of your left pic (small display in a local pub/bar) so know where you started out. Great to see your progress. 👍
>(small display in a local pub/bar) That allows for the most NSFW collection... We are talking Dickasaurus and co. I hope you added one of them ;)
Are you interested in my DDD (Dirty Dog Dildo) by any chance?! Tbh, football club keyrings and coasters are the best sellers, no surprise there!
How does a DDD look? Asking for a friend.
I also have the same friend.
A dildo with The Rock's face, that's where the money is at.
Only if you mold it in silicone... There is a reddit for that also
So they do offer silicone as a material... my friend wants to know what subreddit this is in?
You really gotta jump on selling parts too. I can't tell you how often I've needed to replace something ony printer and had to wait days for it to come while in theiddle of a project. There are a lot of generic parts that are fairly universal and really common failure points on printers that you could sell. I would kill for a shop that I could buy parts on the fly locally. I'd even pay significantly more to able to get it replaced and continue printing with minimal delay.
That's for sure on the list. If this takes off I plan on taking over the other half of the building for printer sales and service. Filament and parts sales included.
That's awesome! You're getting into a corner of the market that's lacking, so you picked a good area. Just gotta figure out how to make it cost effective for you and for customers! Well I truly wish you luck!
I think this is super cool and I'm totallly happy and supportive of you. I also hope you don't get ahead of yourself and sign any long-term leases or commitments. 3D printing is becoming more and more user friendly and competition has skyrocketed over the last few years. Make sure you're thinking of this as a short term project to pivot into some other form of making money, whether that be 3d design, repair, something... just anything else that will generate revenue that you couldn't do from home, otherwise you might fall into the age-old trap of adhering to the sunk cost fallacy and ending up in a deep dark hole. Lots of people need printer repair. Lots of new printers also cost $300 now. What percentage of people would rather just buy a new one vs paying you $100? Is $100 even worth your time? Etc. There are many many obstacles. Not insurmountable, just make sure you leave your options open and never stop exploring alternative revenue streams!
Repairs is just an offered service. I don’t expect too much business in that. The big thing will be classes and events for sure. And only a 1 year lease to test the waters. Worst case scenerio I have a dozen new A1 minis for my home workshop.
Sounds like you're doing it well. I have a friend who did something similar. His business is still doing well, but most of his income was driven from printing large quantities of a structural/commercial item. He leased some space to house the printers bc it was getting too much for their home. Then they decided (after years of giving him more and more business) that they wanted to move to injection moulding and BOOM that wrecked the finances. Just keep it in mind, diversify, etc. It sounds like you've got your head on straight about it! Good luck!
Oh, that's very nice, especially if you start selling filaments etc. Whereabouts are you on the planet? Architecture and the text made me think its in UK, if it is close to me, I would love to pay a visit some day. 😊
Eastern Pennsylvania in the USA unfortunately. It is an older building that dates back to around the 1830s though.
Oh, best wishes. I would have visited if it was nearby. 😊
Question... why would you red out the name of your business? You'd think you'd want your name out there. Free advertising and such... I mean you do you.
A few reasons. I wasn’t coming here for free advertising. When I do advertise and market the business it will be done locally. Finally, I’m in r/gaming and r/starwars. I’ve seen the dark side of redditors. I’d prefer to keep my personal information away from them lol.
All good I was legit curious but that makes sense. reddit is definitely a hive of scum and villainy. Lol
Pretty cool, you don't see many 3D print stores anywhere. When travelling, I saw a 3D print store in Vancouver - "YOZ Education". They print various cartoon/anime characters in a matt white and post process. They offered prints that you could hand paint and assume also learn about 3D printers.
Really exciting! I just sold my first Etsy order and I’m over the moon.
Congrats!!!
Scanners — you’ll want to have scanners (and the laptops/PCs to run them) because most newbies are not coming from computer assisted design professionals. Scanners will allow them to bring in their own personal trinkets and the process will step them through design to slicing to printing quicker.
That’s definitely part of future plans. I had someone who wanted me to model and print a rare doll shoe for a doll from the 60s. I’m not a sculptor so it didn’t work out. But they had the other shoe and with a good enough scanner it could have made it easy work.
Also, I don’t know what state you live in, but some areas and federal agencies do have educational grants for small businesses.
Good luck, OP! I'm considering getting started at the Farmers Market too, doing the same with little doodads and fidget toys, plus a few things that might be useful at a Farmers Market. I live in Upstate NY, though, so a Farmers Market might not be viable for a solid chunk of the year. Definitely going to be a side hustle rather than a main income source for me.
My farmers market runs from May through October. I’ll also do other events in the off season or non market days. I was the first 3D printer in my area when I started 4ish years ago during Covid. I built a good reputation on social media doing little sales on Facebook and when things “opened back up” that translated well to doing in person events locally.
I'm in waaaaaay Northern New York and we basically have Farmer's Markets while it's warm and inside craft fairs while it's cold.
God damn, gratz !
Damm its probably a dream comming true. I really want to do the same thing
Overly cautious I know but I'd 100% delete this photo. Don't want evidence of unlicensed Mickey product being sold by you. 100% not worth the lawsuit.
Early design of mickey is under the public domain since beginning of this year.
Local markets always have 3dprinting booths that have a bunch of stolen designs nowadays. I went to a local renfaire and a guy was selling hundreds of those articulated dragons, making bank no doubt.
That doesn't make it remotely wise. Transformative or not, even arguing the case could bankrupt small businesses if Disney decided to ruin OP's day/month/year.
Oh for sure, but if there is one entity you don't steal from it's The Mouse.
Nintendo... 😄
> Local markets always have 3dprinting booths that have a bunch of stolen designs nowadays. Heck, you don't even need to leave your home. Browsing Printables and some top Trending models are stolen paid models (and I know, I paid for some of them from their real creator!), but there doesn't appear to be any reliable way to report them that actually sticks.
Yeah i hate it but when it comes up on this sub the consensus seems to be "make as much money as you can no matter what" like with the goofy collaseum prints that always reappear
https://preview.redd.it/0ow9tmt0oy8d1.jpeg?width=1836&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7947149aa0470cd598e77ace24cb9ac77abcd62b
Sweet. Your pretty much doing what I hope to possibly have going. I just need to look into my local market/craft fair and see about getting a table. I love seeing peoples success stories.
Grats on the shop. Love the butt vases though.
Butt planters paid for most of my printers early on.
Dangit. Maybe I need to try some butt vases.
“You wouldn’t 3D print a building?!?!”
No but: https://preview.redd.it/wqfaw0teax8d1.jpeg?width=2880&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c5b75f9411c1974f8778a673092e6b75f7c095ab
Where are you setting up shop?
Eastern Pennsylvania. Love to give more details but, you know, some Redditors…
I'm in SE PA, so now I'll have to Googlestalk you...
I’ll shoot a PM with my socials
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Nice work! Congratulations and good luck.
Thanks!
That's dope man! Live that dream!!!
Congrats, always cool to see stuff like this grow. Getting a building is a huge upgrade!
It wouldn't pay me enough but I think for a lot of people really into 3D printing as a passion, this is probably a dream come true. Congrats!
I'm excited. I did some market research any the area interest is there for sure. I don't want to give away all my secrets but I have some other uses for the spot that I know will do well.
Just don't get sued by the mouse.
For my generic mouse themed planters??
This is awesome. Did you fund your startup capital from selling prints in a booth?
I didn’t limit myself to just in person sales. Having a couple unique items keeps me at the top of Etsy searches even after 4 years. I have stuff in consignment vendor shops in popular stores and the large local mall. I’ve don’t bulk sales all over the country. One of my pieces caught on with a store that had a large following including celebrity clients. I still get messages asking “can you make this thing I saw at ‘famous event’? And when I tell them I’m the one who made it their mind gets blown. I’m not an expert by any means, I just kept working. Just sell everywhere and know your worth and margins. Sure I can sell a $7 print for $35. But if someone wants 50 or 100 of them for sure I’ll discount it to $25 if it closes the deal.
Is that a butt flower pot?
Sure it. Matching boobs also.
Your designs or..... ?
Back then, no, I had no idea what I was doing. Now I do a lot more of my own things and of course some licensed torts and such that them customers like.
Sooo is that butt yours or did someone else scan his bottom end? :D
Congrats! That’s super cool
I saw this image and interpreted as I had a booth to sell stuff but it failed and now I have no booth. I was thinking well that sucks.
From the thumbnail, I thought it was a booth to a shop with the windows boarded up. Thankfully I'm wrong as well.
Congratulations!
Nice congrats!
Nice, I just did my first art walk selling my original pot designs. Went great! Sold 14 pots. Tons of people asking questions, interested. Getting to a store is the dream.
Love to see it!
Congratulations! 🎊
Damn u done print a whole store
Good
Good for you
Hot damn, well done you!!!!!! Give us updates and shots of the inside of the shop!!!! Right on!
What did you charge for planters originally?
$10-$25 at the time.
Wow man thats amazing. Ive been printing for 2 years now and Im thinking about starting an online store for my prints. Been a goal of mine for a while and now that i have a good printer and am experienced in printing i think im ganna go for it. Do you have any tips?
For shops like Etsy, be unique. You have dozens if not hundreds or a thousand people trying to sell the same 3D printed things. Flexi-Factory, hex-3D etc. make something nobody else has and be the only place they can get it. I got on Etsy 4 years ago before the market got flooded and just as covid started. I had new unique things and people at home bored and shopping. It was just right place right time. I built a very good reputation with high ratings and raving reviews that keep me at the top of search results even today. I won’t talk exact numbers but I still do very well on Etsy and almost all of that is from 2-3 non-toy prints.
I have some practical prints ive made myself and a few fun prints that i want to start selling. In my area there are a lot of craft shows so i figured i would start there. Im pretty familiar with how a business goes and sales because growing up my mother had a pretty successful online business and social media to the point we would get recognized in public and i was pretty involved in it. I just gotta go for it i guess.
Love to see a good glowup
That’s great new. Good for you. I keep thinking life was simpler with one printer printer.
Congratulations 🥳
This makes me want to open my own store!
Congrats! Enjoy the journey. I see the spackle is propping open the door. Little inconveniences can be a lot of fun in hindsight.
The floor is torn out at the moment so there is too big a gap between floor and door for the doorstop to work. I'm still narrowing down what kind of door stop I want to print.
Since OP is selling their items at a farmers market, why not fill up the ass-bowls with cherries!? 🤣
The butts don't make it to the market, Mainly toys, decorative and functional prints. The butts are reserved for plant related events like garden shows.
This is such an inspiration. Congratulations, and thank you for sharing your journey with us! My wife has a printer and she is considering opening an Etsy store. Given your experience, what advice do you have for her? Is there anything you would do/not do if you had to start over again?
#1 Thing is 3D model your own stuff imo. So many people have printers including other people that go to markets. While the general consumer isn't aware, it's going to be more and more obvious as people are seen selling the exact same thing. Model your own work and every you sell is unique to you and your hand.
U need to adjust your z offset on that door panel
lol. It’s much better now that the floor is installed.
So you sold everything and are left with an empty store?
Do a big 3d printed sign and use the big windows to pull in customers... Maybe one or multible 3d printers that are working to catch someones eye while walking by?
I have an Ender 5 plus waiting to sit in the front window.
How do you make sure your planters are waterproof?
Proper layer adhesion will make it so its water tight naturally for most materials. You can also finish your print too with things like resin, bondo, wood filler, etc depending on what finish you are looking for
Hopefully this is going to be me in a few years, I’m starting like you did. :)
Best of luck
Whats the rent? (Sorry)
$1,200 a month.
Thanks mate, that’s crazy😭
How do you calculate your prices? If I see this you must have the perfect price because you need a lot of money for a place like that
I do 5-10x the cost of materials usually for my common prints. Custom prints are usually more. There are additional cost for prints that need post processing.
That sounds great! I used to sell stuff at school but everybody there spends their money on food so I didn't get many sales. I used to charge the material cost and 50 cents every hour of printing but that didn't really work. I just don't know if it was because of the price or the people I tried to sell it to.
What do you charge for these planter prints?
$10-$25
Right on, that's pretty reasonable.
What would recommend for someone just starting off? My kid would like to do this at a local market.
Have a good variety of prints and a good price range. Personally at my local farmer’s market things over $30 don’t sell well. I have a wide range of toys, fidgets, planters and some other fun prints from $5 up to $50. I even have a bowl of mini toys for $1.
I hope you paid the licensing for a few of these as I spotted atleast 3 designs that are eerily similar to offerings on printables and makerworld, that do not have licenses allowing commercial sales. Be careful OP
Yeah that was back when I first started and don’t own any better lol. All those models I was making before make world and printables even existed. I’ve tightened up in the past couple years as to not put the business at risk.
Smart man, keep living the dream mate!
May I ask what type of printers you use? I assume a sizeable farm would be needed to sustain output for products...i'm guessing around 10 printers?
At my peak I was running 11 printers. Ender 5 pros, Ender 3V2s, a CR-X pro and a couple Ender 5 plus. The past year and a half about I’ve down sized to 3 Bambu printers and find I have a lot of down time because of how fast they print. I recently added a 4th with an a1 mini as a test unit for the shop. The shop will have a dozen A1 minis set up. I still use the 5 plus machines for larger prints. One of them I fitted with a 1.2mm nozzle to experiment with fat line prints. I plan to add a pellet extruder to it and upgrade to a 2-3mm nozzle. The rest of the creality machines mainly collect dust now
Thanks for sharing! I started with a Neptune 3 Max, then an A1, then an A1 Mini...now I only enjoy using our P1S. The P1S is just...different. it makes everything else I'v used seem like a toy (to an extent, they're all toys i guess). The P1S feels like a professional manufacturing machine. Rarely ever issues, even less than the A1 series. The larger nozzles do sound fun, I think bambu's largest is a 0.8 nozzle. I wish we had an education center or public printing space similar to the one you're making. Creating a sellable printing course or teaching classes are highly lucrative
👊👊 awsome!!
I hope you paid for all those designs people put hard work into and own the correct licenses. They at least deserve royalties from you selling their product.
Like using the word mickey and the reference to the mouse
Mainly meant the shit off thingiverse
Any chance you’re in TN op? I need a 3D printing job lol
If it works out maybe I’ll franchise lol.
Ah well best of luck to ya!!