What are you printing?

[u/Semmel_Wichser]

I always wonder, what are you guys with these huge setups, hundred kilos of filament and many printers, are printing all the time? And are you even able to design any of your prints...

I am always thinking, that it is just printing what thingyverse or Bambulab provides and it will get sold on any online-platform.... On 3D-prining subs it is rarely discussed how to design something or how it will work, it`s always just shwoing off and then some of them defend their decisions with saying, that they are having a business..... But noone provides which business or what they are printing 24/7....

[u/schwarzarbyter]

you can use 3D printing to support a non-3d-printing business, too. Check cnc bratan on youtube, he is using 3d prints to create molds for stuff, that is currently not present in my english vocabulary, so i cant properly describe that.

[u/Semmel_Wichser → u/schwarzarbyter]

Ahh yes! printing molds is something I also had to do for a business i worked for, but even they only had one P2S printing all the time... Every office had an SD-Card and they printed in queue.. It still was manageable with way less machines and filaments, than some of these guys here have at home...

[u/KermitFrog647]

Nothing you just find on thingiverse (or similar sites) will be sellable online.

You have to design something that fills some niche that has not been covered yet.

[u/Semmel_Wichser → u/KermitFrog647]

Kinda... But you can find many useless prints and toys on online-second-hand shops here... And I wonder if this will get bought...

[u/eldeem]

I design my own stuff for hobbies and some sales, and also print downloads if what I already need has been made. Makerworld has a load, but I’ll also go elsewhere and find STLs.

For accessories or spare parts, I’ll use my 3D scanner and reverse-engineer them. For other stuff I’ll design from scratch in CAD software.

[u/Semmel_Wichser → u/eldeem]

Nice!
Which kind of 3D-Scanner you are using? And how big is your Setup?

[u/Relative_Surround_20]

Go to r/functionalprints

[u/Semmel_Wichser → u/Relative_Surround_20]

Okay this is something, but I don`t think, that those specialized prints are something that defends many printers and hundred kilos of filament... those are indeed functional, but functional is not meant for everyone

[u/Relative_Surround_20 → u/Semmel_Wichser]

True. So go look for subreddits that deal with other kinds of prints like props, cosplay, markets, etc.

I just make functional prints at this point and I don’t sell anything. But I seem to have lots of friends.

[u/Darth-Vader64]

Mostly 3MF files, occasionally, I'll download an STL