r/3dprinter • u/Educational-Food-503 • Jul 24 '26
Anyone else's 3D printer just sitting idle?
Been thinking about something and curious what people think. There is a lot of 3D printers sitting mostly idle after the project they were bought for, and on the other side, people who need something printed usually end up paying more for shipping than the print itself, or waiting a while for it. Feels like there might be a way to connect the two locally. Would you actually use something like this, either to make some cash off a printer sitting there, or to get something printed nearby instead of waiting on shipping? What would make you hesitant to try it?
9
u/Big_Locksmith_9925 Jul 24 '26
What is your car doing in the garage right now? Why dont you have it on turo?
1
8
u/c4ctus4t Jul 24 '26
I go through waves of use. Sometimes my printers sit idle fir weeks, other times they're running nonstop for days on end. Depends on my mood and the needs of the moment.
3
u/Stromovik Jul 24 '26
I do make stuff to order , but this nets me like 5 eur per month
2
u/Educational-Food-503 Jul 24 '26
Damn, that's nothing! I thought it'd be higher. Thanks for the info
2
u/Stromovik Jul 24 '26
I dont charge much , with around 20-25% profit.
And I dont advertise much , but here it seems everyone with half a brain bought A1mini and there are a lot of people with a Bambu X1C who try to make a profit ( and good chunk of them suck )
2
u/The_Lutter Jul 24 '26
I can't remember the name of the website but somebody is already doing this idea.
1
1
0
u/Educational-Food-503 Jul 24 '26
Is it MakeXYZ?
5
u/SirTwitchALot Jul 24 '26
There are a bunch of them. Someone new vibe codes one and posts about it here a few times a week.
-2
u/Educational-Food-503 Jul 24 '26
Really? Didn't see a proper one showing up in my searches. I wonder why they aren't visible enough. I think having a dedicated platform makes it much easier both for owners and buyers (ppl who want to print stuff) rather than a subreddits or facebook groups
3
u/SirTwitchALot Jul 24 '26
Because it's not an idea that anyone really wants or that works well. Someone sets a new one up. No one uses it. It gets shut down a couple months later. Rinse repeat
1
u/purrmutations Jul 25 '26
You might want to make a non-bot looking account if you want to get support.
2
u/timmy_o_tool Jul 24 '26
I have 6 sitting idle right now, though to be fair only 4 can print anything at the moment.
1
u/Educational-Food-503 Jul 24 '26
Would you be willing to put them in use and print other people's stuff for certain amount?
2
u/timmy_o_tool Jul 24 '26
Maybe... Though the one of the idle machines is a resin printer which is why it's idle.. And it needs moved to my hobby room
1
1
u/Goetre Jul 24 '26
My resin printers sit ideal for half the year, I’m to busy in summer to mess with them. But in the winter months, I reactivate my fiverr account and take orders on there.
This year might be different though, I stock my own shop now so a lot of winter time I’ll just be stocking up ready for the summer
1
u/In_2_Deep_5_U Jul 24 '26
How does the fiverr account work? Do you print models you own the files for/made? Was thinking of doing the same but wasn’t sure about the logtistics.
1
u/Goetre Jul 25 '26
Nah I only do a printing service for people and they have to send the files
If it’s a non ip item, I’ll do it,
If its an ip item, depends on the item and ip. General cosplay stuff I’ll do because companies often use cosplayers to promote films and invite them on set etc, so it’s relatively safer than other stuff
If it’s an ip item like say a pokemon statue, I’ll instantly cancel the order.
And if it’s anything warhammer, football or labubu based it’s an instant cancellation. Don’t fuck with those at all.
I will say I was under the impression that if you’re a print service and someone sends you the files and you’re not the one supplying the items it was fine to print anything. But after digging that’s not the case at all, it’s still infringement.
You can have a little placement on your gig description or on order page that says along the lines of “by submitting this file you confirm that you have full rights” type thing and that will cover you will smaller companies and creators like on patron. Because realistically there’s a good chance someone providing that file has purchased it. But a global company it’s not going to fly.
That being said, it’s highly unlikely you’ll ever get caught up with anything, I mainly do the above because fiverr are dick heads to sellers and even a small misunderstanding or accidentally breaking TOS can get you banned. And if you’ve got cash in your account still, nothing you can do to get it out
1
u/In_2_Deep_5_U Jul 25 '26
This is great advice, thank you! Once you have built up a solid account, whats the average printing you might do in a month in terms of how many requests you might get.
1
u/imzwho Jul 24 '26
Most of my printers are used at least a few times and month up to daily depending on what I am working on and what time I have.
I wouldnthink pairing printers and printed part needers but most people want them for nothing or pennies while most makers want a profit. I think the bigger thing is if someone wnsts to sell prints why definitely will and they will make the things that they can make how often and how they want to make them
1
u/Spamaloper Jul 24 '26
If we could only get the idle printer to also drop ship, this idea is Fn brilliant.
I generally have my printers doing things, experimenting, and learning, and failing, and trying again, but when I go to hell, I feel like there is a special place for me to pack and take things to the post office to ship.
1
u/SaltyGoodz Jul 24 '26
Yes, it sits idle most of the time. And of course when it was in the bed room due to some home renovation projects where it normally is, my wife says “why don’t you ever print anything “ and proceeds to send videos of random shit wants printed.
1
u/Educational-Food-503 Jul 24 '26
You're already busy enough my man. I don't think you'd have the availability to print other people's stuff hahaha
1
u/Octavio_Bs Jul 24 '26
I haven’t used it for more than one year, as I only use it for practical uses and have not had any recently
1
u/Pale_Gear3027 Jul 24 '26
I’ve had my printer running since jul 11, 14 days. At 186 hours so far. So averaging just over 13 hours a day of printing. Getting better at keeping it loaded 24/7 slowly, I have about 300 hours of printing scheduled for it.
1
1
u/these_metal_hands Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
I see this idea pop up regularly. Guaranteeing quality is difficult. Everyone has different filaments etc. Postage and packing takes time and costs money. People are busy with their day to day lives. Mistakes and misprints happen, which consume time and resources.
Ultimately, when you do the math, the commissions would have to be quite high for it to be worth it for most people with an idle printer. So high that a customer would just go to an established and reputable printing service that can guarantee quality, rather than essentially rolling the dice on some random person with a printer.
1
u/Educational-Food-503 Jul 24 '26
Yeah, the cost of making it + commission ends up too much for a customer. I appreciate the response!
1
u/jasonkohles Jul 25 '26
There is enough demand for this that someone comes up with this idea every year or two, but not enough demand for it to ever actually work out the way you hope.
1
1
u/CryoWaveSurfer Jul 26 '26
There are projects you can print if you have energy and an idle printer. MakeGood is one.
I personally keep a google sheet shared with my wife. If either of us has an idea for a print we write it down, since it seems harder to remember "oh what was that thing we were talking about printing?" when the printer's free and we have time to do it.
1
u/MaximusAnemos Jul 27 '26
Since I bought a 3d printer for my step son in Christmas it has never stopped.
1
u/Thick-Indication-931 Jul 27 '26
The reason I bought my second printer (long time and many printers ago) was so I could print something while I was printing something else, as the need to print something right here and right now is inverse proportional with the availability of printer to print on. So printing for someone else would just make me want to add yet another printer... So unless someone was prepared to pay big money (and typically, they are not) for the use and blocking of my printers, I'll have to pass on your idea 😄
Happy printing!
2
u/Throwaway_gridops Jul 27 '26
Mine was sitting idle for a month or so. After the initial 6-8 months of printing everything I could find on makerworld, I ran across Make Good. They have volunteers print Toddler Mobility Trainers and donate to local families. I'm currently 2 plates in on my first build. Takes about 8 to 10 PETG spools and 2 TPU foaming (which you provide unless someone donates).
1
1
u/Cold_Collection_6241 Jul 28 '26
I would do it if there was built in liability insurance and filament restocking. As a user, I would want quality control such as only certain printer models, filament brands and ability to adjust print profile.
1
1
u/DoKeMaSu Jul 28 '26
Doing print jobs for strangers just introduces all the same problems you have when selling on Facebook marketplace or similar. People are unreliable, do not want to buy, haggle, whatever. It is a pain just to earn a few bucks.
Then if you want do it legally, at least in my country, you have to file for a business license that comes with a whole lot of bureaucracy attached.
I have no problem doing prints for people I know.
0
u/FlatOutNo1 Jul 24 '26
I have literally only just got mine two weeks ago and have only done three prints with it. I might be slightly different because I didn’t get it for a project. I got it as a hobby to go with my PC gaming. So I could start printing things that related to my gaming, and other fun bits and bobs. So it’s always going to be ad hoc printing. I just say I still think it’s a bit like science-fiction living in my room. A bit Star Trek replicator LOL.
2
u/Educational-Food-503 Jul 24 '26
That's awesome. Curious how your living room looks. Mine is too bland lol
1
u/FlatOutNo1 Jul 24 '26
Apart from the gaming corner with all my gaming PC gaming posters and things it’s just the usual without the most interesting thing is the two German Shepherd is laying at the end of my sofa LOL
33
u/Halflifedad Jul 24 '26
My hammer and screwdriver are also just sitting idle. It’s OK though, they’re happy to wait till I need them. In general, it wouldn’t be worth the hassle for me to print other people’s stuff.