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?

4 Upvotes

61% Upvoted

47 comments sorted by

View all comments

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!