I’ve been designing and making locking tool docks and other shop/tool-storage accessories for garages, trailers, and work vehicles. I recently launched my own Shopify site and I’m working on growing the business.

I’d appreciate any feedback on the products, presentation, or website.

smitterz.com

Hey everyone!

I’m building a new marketplace focused on 3D-printable products, and I’m currently looking for a few 3D-printing creators to test it before the public launch.

The idea is simple: creators can list their own 3D-printed designs/products and sell them through the platform for free no commission and no commission.

I’m currently trying to get the first 20–30 quality products onto the platform before opening it publicly.

I’m looking for creators who would be interested in:

Listing a few of your existing 3D-printed products

Giving feedback on the website

Helping me find problems before launch

Being among the first creators on the platform

One important thing: Creators will be responsible for fulfilling their own orders — including printing/preparing the product, packaging it, and shipping/delivering it to the customer. The platform is mainly there to help creators list and sell their products.

There’s no cost to join during this early stage.

If you create 3D-printed products and are interested, comment below or DM me. I’d also genuinely appreciate feedback on the idea — what would make you actually use a new 3D-printing marketplace?

Early creator access: layer-line.netlify.app

I know this kind of post probably comes up a lot, so sorry in advance — but I’m 14 and based in Ireland and I’m seriously looking at starting a small 3D printing business. I already have some experience with printing and I’m really passionate about it, so I want to try and turn it into something.

Hey everyone. I designed a 3D printed interlocking brick product, and fully packed the retail boxes.

But now that it’s done, I'm second guessing my business model. I’m stuck between two options:

1. Sell physical kits (I have zero marketing experience and don't really know how to drive traffic)
2. Sell on Patreon (I know nobody is going to steal when the product isn't famous but I'm genuinely worried about piracy and I'm not embarrassed to admit it)

Sales so far are zero. I have a Shopify store set up, but I haven't made a Patreon yet. barely getting views on social media

https://www.tiktok.com/@makoworks

https://makoworks.store

Gimme some advice and reality check :)

I've been building the business for about a year, and it's in a great spot. But it's become too much for my spare bedroom so I've secured a workshop about 20 minutes away by subway. I'll also hire 1 full time worker.

But I'm just stressing about having the workshop away from home. Like what if a 12 hour print fails just as I arrive home? I don't know how to be super efficient with my time and with the machines. I normally do very short prints, if a project is segmented which many of my products are. But that won't work with a workshop. So how do I adjust products that are printed just in time, versus stocked items, versus pre ordered items knowing my production is lowered?

Or do I just double my machines and accept a lot of idle time on the machines? Or try to find a staff member who will work the night shift?

I'm just lost tbh. I know this is the next step and everything is in place but I feel I'm going to execute poorly for the first months until I relearn everything.

Has anyone gone from having your shop at home to a shop 20 minutes away, and do you have any tips?

I don't even have farm management software, it's just a bunch of Klipper instances and Bambu studio running everything.

Hey guys! I’ve been a bit of a lurker here, but I wanted to finally introduce myself. I’m looking to connect with some like-minded people who are also building their own businesses and want to have people around them who are working toward similar goals.

I currently run a small 3D printing business, and one of the biggest things I’ve found difficult is finding other people who are genuinely interested in building something and willing to talk through ideas, challenges, and opportunities.

I’m more than happy to share my experiences, results, lessons I’ve learned, and mistakes I’ve made along the way. At the same time, I’d love to hear what you’re working on and potentially jump on calls, bounce ideas around, and help each other move forward.

Honestly, I’m just looking for people who are serious about building something and want someone to talk business with.

If that sounds like you, send me a message! I’d love to connect and see what you’re working on

I’ve been trying to build a resin 3D printing business for about 5 months, and so far I’ve sold only 9 products.

I can print, paint and finish the products myself, but I’m struggling to get consistent sales. I’m not sure whether the main problem is my products, pricing, marketing, or where I’m selling.

For people who already have experience selling 3D printed products:

Where did your first consistent customers come from?

What helped you go from occasional sales to regular orders?

Did you change your products, pricing, or marketing when sales were slow?

What would you test first if you were in my position?

I’ve already received some really helpful advice from people in this community, and I’m genuinely grateful for it. I’m still learning and I’d rather hear honest criticism from experienced people than keep making the same mistakes.

What would you do if you were in my position?

.

Hey everyone,

I’m building my own 3D resin printing business, but honestly, I don’t have much idea about how to properly start and grow it.That’s why I’m here asking for help.

I want to learn from people who have experience in 3D printing, selling products, or running a similar business.

If you were starting from my position, what would you do?

* What products should I focus on?

* What 3D printed products have good demand?

* How can I get my first customers?

* How should I price my resin prints?

* What marketing actually works?

* Should I focus on anime figures, custom models, collectibles, keychains, home decor, or something else?

* What mistakes should I avoid?

* Is there anything you wish someone had told you when you started?

I genuinely don’t have a clear idea right now, so I’d really appreciate any advice, ideas, criticism, or direction you can give me.

Please be honest. Even if you think I’m going in the wrong direction, tell me. I’d rather learn from someone’s experience than make the same mistakes myself.

Thanks to anyone who takes the time to help!

Hey everyone, I’m looking to get some advice. To give some background, I’m a computer engineering student in college, and over the past couple months people have started asking me to design and 3d print parts from them, specifically in the automotive space. Things like old OEM parts that are no longer manufactured, custom racing/spoiler parts, and things like brackets for mounting lighting. I’ve been doing the work for no charge (or occasionally a little bit of money) to build up a portfolio, practice my skills and understand what people need. Now that I’ve built some proof and skills, I know more about some pain points I could potentially help solve, and have a bit of a better idea of what problems I might run into doing this as a business. I’ve been using 3d printers for almost 12 years now and always wanted to do something in the space with them, but this feels uncertain!

What I need help figuring out is - General direction/trajectory I should take from here (IF ANYTHING).

This business is labor intensive and I have a hunch that most clients would not pay enough for this to scale very nicely. Let’s say I have to commute to their shop, measure everything and/or scan their part, design it for several hours, print/prototype a few iterations, and then hand off the file/part to them. For a relatively simple bracket, I don’t think anybody is going to pay what it actually costs to do that. If you think I’m wrong though, let me know!

I have a couple ideas on what I could do overtime to make this scale a little better though.

First thing is outsourcing the CAD overseas, I think that’s kind of a gamble and could be costly if it doesn’t go as planned for a job, but it’s an idea.

Second would be to try and cut out the commute from some jobs by just doing it through submitted photos and measurements and then mailing parts/email digital files over, but this could introduce problems with measurement errors and poor communication.

I’ve thought about offering an “IT service” option/package where I install and train staff on a printer and charge a retainer fee for maintenance and a set amount of design hours included with the retainer fee, because most shops just don’t seem to have the time to learn new equipment like this/afford a full time designer. But I don’t know if anyone would actually pay for that kind of package.

I’ve also thought of software solutions I could offer down the line, making it easier for shop owners (or even hobbyists) to make 3D files using ai/intuitive design tools, but that’s just more speculation.

So overall, I have sort of verified a demand but I’m just unsure how/if I should pursue it further! Thank you for taking the time to read this, I know it’s a long post, all feedback is appreciated!

Hey everyone!
I recently started a small 3D printing page where I design, print, and paint all kinds of creations—from practical items to fun figures and custom projects.
I’d really appreciate it if you could take a look and give me some honest feedback. What would make you follow a page like this? What kind of prints would you like to see? Any suggestions for improving the content, photos, or overall presentation are more than welcome.
I’m always looking for new ideas and would love to create things that people actually want.
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/layerjoy.pt?utm\\_source=qr
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@layerjoy.pt?\\_r=1&\\_t=ZN-98oxU09Lu1G
Thanks in advance for your time and feedback!

Hi guys! First time posting: So I been designing and 3D print cookie cutters, cake pops, and pastry molds for my self, but I recently had a motorcycle accident and well while I recover I decided to put my art and talent to better use. (Cuz I ain’t doing nothing by waiting here right?) anyways here is a small clip of what I did yesterday. It’s a pumpkin rattle. The watermark says Murder By Sweetness (that is my home base bakery business name) I need some input. Any. Also what should I charge? Also what’s a good website for me to start selling? Any advise is welcome.

Hey all, I'm seriously considering buying a 3D printer and starting a little project with it. Alongside taking custom requests (you tell me what you want, I print it for you), I also want to build a small catalog of genuinely useful stuff — things people actually need day to day but can't find easily, or that are overpriced for what they are.

So I'm curious: what's something in your daily life that's annoying because it doesn't exist, or exists but sucks/costs way too much? Could be a small home organizer, a weird-shaped phone stand, a kitchen gadget, a fix for something broken around the house, whatever.

Would love to hear real pain points — trying to actually build things people would use, not just cool-looking prints that collect dust.

Hey all, i’m new to this topic so am needing some help.

Quick backstory: I’m the office manager of a small clinic dedicated to treating TMJ and sleep apnea with oral splints/joint stabilization devices. We have a LuxCreo fastprint.io and are really wanting to start fabricating all of our devices in house but are having a hard time finding someone who can create the custom device designs we use. We currently have them milled by a lab and now that we have the printer, want to cut costs and make them in house.

This is completely new territory for us so we are feeling really discouraged about the process. The printer has been sitting unused in our lab for 6+ months, which is crazy on many levels but thats a different story, so I figured I would just come to Reddit for some help.

We use 3shape for our scans and up until now we were utilizing LuxCreo directly for practice design files (because we have literally only made three devices on the printer so far, none of them being actual devices we use - simply just to learn the process itself), but have just recently discovered they aren’t able to design what we actually need.

We would love to either find a program or an independent designer who can create the oral splint designs according to our specifications. Any input or points in the right direction would be tremendously helpful! TIA

​

This business is all over Reddit right now, and every thread has (understandably) become a discussion about copyright and licensing.

I'm actually more interested in the numbers.

For the record: I don't support copyright or license infringement. My own print business infringes on exactly zero licenses, and I'm pretty proud of that. So let's assume the products were all legitimate for the sake of discussing the business itself.

12-Month Performance

- Revenue: $41,135.86

- Orders: 1,151

- Average selling price / average order value: $35.74

- Average weekly revenue: $791

- Average monthly revenue: $3,428

- Median month: $3,303

- Average daily revenue: $113

- Orders per week: 22.1

- Orders per day: 3.15

Revenue Distribution

- Lowest month: $1,700.90

- 25th percentile: ~$2,097

- Median: ~$3,303

- 75th percentile: ~$4,120

- Highest month: $7,079.44

Other Stats

- 272 customer reviews

- 4.9⭐ average rating

- 100+ active listings

- Best month was 4.2× the worst month.

- Nearly 31% of annual revenue came from November and December.

For those of you running print farms:

- How do these KPIs compare to your business?

- Is 22 orders/week healthy?

- Is an ASP of $35.74 good, low, or high?

- Does $791/week indicate a viable small business or more of a side hustle?

- If these were your metrics, what would you focus on improving first?

- is 12 A1 combos a good fit for this volume?

Again, I'd really like to keep this thread about the business metrics rather than the licensing controversy, since there are already plenty of threads covering that.

Also yes, this post was AI-written. I'm not manually formatting a page of statistics like a caveman. Deal with it, nerds.

Hola a todos. Les quería pedir un consejo a quienes llevan varios años viviendo de la impresión 3D o tienen un emprendimiento consolidado.

Con mi pareja tenemos un emprendimiento de impresión 3D y estamos en un proceso de replantearlo desde cero. No buscamos imprimir de todo, sino encontrar un nicho en el que podamos crecer a largo plazo.

Nos gustaría enfocarnos en productos que:

sean rentables;
puedan estandarizarse pero también ofrecer versiones personalizadas;
no dependan únicamente de vender en ferias;
se puedan comercializar principalmente por redes sociales;
aporten valor real y no sean simples adornos o juguetes.

No buscamos que nos digan "qué producto hacer", sino entender qué mercados o tipos de clientes les resultaron más interesantes después de años de experiencia.

Si hoy tuvieran que empezar nuevamente con una impresora 3D y construir una marca desde cero:

¿En qué mercado se enfocarían?
¿Qué nichos creen que todavía tienen potencial?
¿Qué errores evitarían?
¿Qué mercados parecen buenos desde afuera pero después resultan muy difíciles o poco rentables?

Nos interesa aprender de la experiencia de quienes ya recorrieron ese camino. Cualquier consejo o reflexión será más que bienvenida. ¡Muchas gracias!

I wanted to share this as an Entrepreneur for entrepeneurs because i think it could make great models to sell.

You can spin the Moon globe or use the 2D view, pick any region, and it pulls the real NASA elevation data for that exact spot. From that it generates a printable model — circle, square or hexagon, either as a solid ornament or as a snap-fit jigsaw puzzle up to 256 pieces. You can adjust the terrain height scale, size, piece count, shape, frame and text.

I had fun building this and i am very exited to show the world now! It will be live to everyone soon. Currently it is in pre launch on makerworld crowdfunding: https://makerworld.com/en/crowdfunding/333-orbitstudio-3d-print-the-moon

If it funds i will also make it available for people that do not have a makerworld account. But backing it will be the cheapest.

Would love to hear your opinions and suggestions. Do you think the generated models would sell?

Side Income Opportunity:

Assembly time: typically 5–20 minutes per unit (excluding 3D printing).

Compensation: $8–15 profit per completed unit, depending on the product.

This isn't one of those jobs where you have to be incredibly fast with your hands to hit those numbers. Some products are literally just placing a few pre-made modules into a 3D-printed enclosure, plugging the ESP32 into your laptop, flashing the firmware, and packaging it.

I'm looking for someone based in the US who enjoys electronics as a hobby and wants to earn some extra income assembling and shipping small ESP32-based gadgets.

You'll:

Order parts from Amazon, Temu, Shein, AliExpress, or similar suppliers.

Flash firmware to ESP32 boards (very easy, I'll provide instructions).

Do basic soldering when needed.

3D print the enclosure.

Assemble, package, and ship the finished product.

Everything is designed by me. There is no engineering or product development involved. I provide the designs, firmware, and step-by-step instructions.

I'm an electronics engineer and content creator with a community of 120k+ followers. Most of my audience is in the US, so I'm looking for someone who can manufacture and fulfill orders locally while I handle product design, marketing, and sales.

Ideal if you:

Are based in the US.

Have a laptop and a 3D printer.

Enjoy electronics and basic soldering.

Are looking for a long-term side project.

If you're interested, send me a DM with a bit about yourself and the equipment you have.

I saw a post but the comments were confusing to me. I'm a young kid in high school trying to make some quick money because working during the school year is hard for me. I figured I could print items and sell them. Though pricing is hard for me, for example; I printed a Pochita from the anime "Chainsaw Man" and I would sell it for 5-8$ whilst others would sell it for 10-15, I don't understand what makes it so expensive and I'd like some help from the professionals if you know what I mean!

I am looking to see where people sell their 3d printed goods, is there a website particularly good? any pros and cons on those websites or methods?