Has anyone try the 3D hub to make money by printing at home?

[Robert]

I was researching for some projects and I found makerbot was brand of the year and I was looking at the apps and found that you can make money by providing your printer as a Hub where you just print it and ship it locally and it won the best app award.. Has anyone try this wondering how it works? Its a pretty cool idea when someone need to print a object and you offer a printer to print for a price.. 

makerbot was best brand 

http://3dprintshow.com/london2013/awards/categories/brand-of-the-year-2/

3D Hubs was best app

http://3dprintshow.com/london2013/awards/categories/best-onlineapp-based-service/

main site

http://www.3dhubs.com/

[Dan Newman]

How good do you expect lay folks are at designing FDM printable 3D models?
Even models you find at Thingiverse can be problematic (to say the least).
And then there's the issue of expectations (e.g., you mean it cannot print
that fine of detail? You mean it will take how many days and how much
plastic to print Jetguy's pumpkin head? You mean it isn't flexible,
strong, etc.?).

Folks who have tried printing for the world at large will chime in shortly.
The typical issue is that you have to be prepared to work with people to
modify their model to be printable and to set their expectations. That, in
turn takes time, and time costs money.

None of these are barriers to providing such a service and earning $$$.
It just helps to go into it with your eyes open and being careful in what
models you will or will not accept to print and how to price those models.
And being careful to set expectations with potential customers up front.

Dan

[Jetguy]

While interesting it fails to meet a couple of the major issues of printing for profit.

The biggest problem that can be seen is the printing side of this is a very simple factor of time and plastic cost.

We can include machine wear and tear but human labor of machine setup, build surface maintenance, care and feeding, troubleshooting and so on are the real "cost" outside the machine hardware, plastic, and the tiny bit of electricity.

 

But, what is completely ignored here is the fact of 3D model manipulation is more important than even the hardware.

With any print job, the biggest problem is can you even print it before you try?

I would say hands down, probably 90% of the models you might get from someone require some level of tweeking before it's even remotely ready to print.

And that's where the real money is, the consulting with the client to fix the cad files into something printable.

In order to do that, you have to get several expensive software licenses. You cn dry and do it on the cheap, but at some point, there is a line between amateur and pro.

[Joseph Chiu]

I've offered printing for others at several places.  Long story short, don't go buy a printer expecting to make money from taking in print jobs.   

I've taken a number of prints-for-hire jobs, and have had happy customers - but to be honest, the amount of time and effort that has gone into getting a happy customer outweighs the income on a strict dollars-per-hour.  I do it more because I love printing, it's fun to see the projects that people come up with, each new job is a learning experience, and because the serious customers actually do value the service and benefit from the work that I do for them. 

Also, there's no better learning your tools than when someone else's design throws a wrench in your workflow that you haven't encountered before.

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[E. WizardGlick]

The biggest problem is cost to time. If my cool skull takes 18 hours to print, and I merely charge $25 for it, there is virtually no profit.
On the other hand if little jewelry odds and ends can print a couple of hundred in five hours I can then charge a buck a pop, or make trinkets for the hip;sters to be dropped at the consignment store.
I'm in an area where people make crap all winter then hit the craft show flea market circuit in the summers. Some even do the southern route for all year selling.
Problem is if you saturate a market with hipster jewelry eventually no one buys.
Like pet rocks.
Cool for a while now who buys them.
On the other hand one could design gewgaws and sell the prototypes to indian casinos.

[Joe Larson (aka Cymon)]

I'm on MakeXYZ. So far I've had a grand total of 1 order and have yet to find the balance between cost of printing and value. Charge too little and it's hardly worth me firing up my bot and shipping the piece. Charge too little and it'll be too expensive for anyone to put in the order.

On the other hand on Etsy I can pick and choose the designs that are worth my time and set a more reasonable price, print small batches, and go.

[Joe Larson (aka Cymon)]

Alright, I'm on 3DHubs now. Not sure exactly how this works. Can anyone order from me or can you only order if you're local. Either way I like their "base pay plus materials" pricing model more than MakeXYZ. but I think their defaults are dreadfully high.

[Chris C UK]

I'm on 3D Hubs. I've had one order.

Its an interesting business model but I can't see it going mad.

I did have an exchange with my customer to set expectations which they were happy with.

The site test the files for printability for you. And you can set your set-up charges to account for any time you think you'll need.

For me there were a couple of issues though.

The model is based on building clusters of local printers - so you use your local printer and collect in person. They also require a minimum number to 'open' up a new cluster.

Because of this I've had to join the nearest, London. I'm about 40 miles from the centre of London so not really suitable for someone to pop round.

Now my customer didn't realise this only picking up on the London link which was where they were. We then had to exchange emails to sort out a delivery option/charge. All of this worked out as the main reason the customer picked me was that I could turn their print round very quickly. But I can see others not being so happy to realise this. And, I miss the opportunity to be found by my direct location and able to serve my local area. While I am one of the few that can in my patch, I'd like to be able to do that.

All that said, it costs nothing to join. So I'm happy to be on there.

Chris 

[Jameshs]

I am on 3D hubs - west London, and it is supposed to filter .... my only one contact so far contacted me direct and sent a file that had been rejected by the site - and I could see why, a totally unprintable assembly, bigger than my printer (a UM classic) - several emails later we parted company amicably.

I can't see it making me 'profit' the printing is just too slow - for me what it does is build relationships and a web of people, plus pushes my capability on the printer. Every project i do professionally sets me up in some way for the next one - so this is a good way of really pushing your capabilities. But then I am an architetct and so always want to be pushed!

Most things I print for myself are usable - but one are works of art, there is always some 'defect' be it string, surface finish, slight colour from the nozzle, slight lifting, all of this I am really happy with, but not sure a 'customer' would be.

I printed a part for a drum kit for an acquaintance and was faster and produced a better product than the commercial printer he used, but I worked out it would have been £100 for a small plastic part! - ouch, but it taught me about speed and temp to avoid overhangs, but still maintain layer adhesion.

Make XYZ so far has just brought spam :)

James

[Kurt @ Gmail]

Hey James - I suspect you are joking about the SPAM on MakeXYZ -
although - I think I know what you mean. I've had like - I dunno - maybe
8 people approach me for print jobs. One even had me sign an NDA. But,
even he didn't end up following thru and have me do the job - and he
wasted SO MUCH of my time too! It was Nuts. So - most have been time
wasters. Only 1 paid project so far - and, that guy - I did it more as a
favor - offering to print at almost Cost - because it was these toy
connectors - I read about in an article some time before - thought it
sounded cool - and was thrilled to get the chance to do it for this guy.
It connects between different toy sets - like Legos and Kinects and
Lincoln Logs - and such...

But - yeah - overall, MakeXYZ has been a rather disappointment!

-K-

[Kurt @ Gmail]

I agree w/Dan & the other guys. A 3D Printing business MUST Be largely
based around your 3D Design skills - and NOT Just paying for printing
plastic things - its not really where the money is. Unlike others - that
may have printer issues - and its another issue making $$$ w/3D Printers
to be unreliable - I don't have that problem - as i have a Mojo. But, my
costs are also higher!

I've been promoting my business lately - and have rather enjoyed that
fact that its mostly inventor types coming to me with their designs -
mostly as sketches - and having me produce prototypes - but FIRST
actually creating the 3D model. And - this I like. But, business is slow
in Gearing up - hopefully I can ramp up and eventually survive off the
business!

-K-

[David Clunie]

I've been printing things for family and friends mainly and charging them as such for what I would someone on the internet.  To introduce them to the ideas of printing I usually do a one off item, like a headphone holder, or something small.  Then point them towards thingiverse have them look around and to let me know if there is anything they'd want printed and charge them accordingly, if I have to tweak a model then i add in that time to do so.

Outside of those projects which has my bot (or had my bot running pretty much 24/7 until my broken thermocouple, xaxis cable, etc. issues of late) I've not done actual work from "real clients" per se.  but as i'm learning the ropes and trying to keep the machine reliable (rep2x) which is a major effort I'm happy with just friends and family members orders.  Especially with christmas coming up!  I charge for Plastic+Electricity+PrinterWear/Tear+My Time  other services such as finishing and or design work are separate and significantly more of course.

-david c.

[Stan Velijev]

Seeing as this is kind of a niche market, I wouldn't get your hopes up for more than a few odd jobs through something like 3dhubs. 

Do it for fun, experience and to help people, because you'll end up depressed if you try to do it for a profit.

I have a small business which I run with my girlfriend, we hand make jewelry and I handle the 3d printed stuff.

Some items are fully 3d printed, and there's some minor internal stuff I print for non-3d items, like settings for odd-shaped crystals.

If you want to make money, this is how you'll have to do it. Your own designs printed at your own pace with minimal downtime.

I've had the printer coming up on a year now (printer's been printing products for sale maybe 3-6 months of that) and It's generated revenues of maybe around 8x it's cost so far.

Granted, I've spent a lot on PLA, upgrades, replacement parts.

Most of the time was spent printing prototypes and fine tuning models to print consistently, as well as assembling the items.

So in the end, if you compare that to a normal job and the labor and materials involved, it kind of just breaks even.

The only thing that's worth anything is the designs. So unless you're getting paid well to design for clients, don't expect more than to break even at best.

[Stan Velijev]

Also of note, if the goal is just to make money purely off printing, you're going to have crushing competition in the form of Shapeways.

They'll have a wider selection of materials, higher quality, costs probably close to yours, a wider selection of materials, and a trusted name behind them.

Unless you've got a unique plus side like design from concept or extremely quick turnaround times (they need something same day and live locally) you're going to have an extremely hard time competing.

On Monday, 28 October 2013 16:21:59 UTC-4, Robert wrote:

[Toybuilder (Joseph Chiu)]

I've been listed on MakeXYZ for many months now, and while I've had a few back and forths with potential customers over those many months, I've mostly just had "lookie lous".  One print job was from a customer that sent me STL's that his designer made for him -- with features that were not suitable for printing with my machine (very tight tolerance of parts that had to nest with friction fit, and overhangs in the interface areas) -- I ultimately decided to refund his money rather than give him useless prints.

Then about two weeks ago, I somehow ended up with several jobs simultaneously that netted a decent amount of money -- but most of that was in the engineering time, not the actual print itself -- since then, it's been more of potential customers with designs that are not readily suitable for printing as-is.

One customer sent a STL that would have been $0.16 of plastic... and wanted to know if he can save money by not paying postage to have it shipped to him, but for us to meet in person instead!

So, as I said before, don't just go into the 3D printing biz feet first, thinking that you'd make money buying printers and printing out pieces.  You won't.   The real money making is in the value-add that you can bring to the table, either as an artist, engineer, or consultant to the project.

[Kurt @ Gmail]

Stan - to a certain extent I agree with you regarding Shapeways. But, here's where I disagree.

I know that with my main printer - my Mojo - its VERY Pricey to run it - including material costs. Plastic is in proprietary cartridges for which I "pay thru the nose". That being said - print quality is almost ALWAYS Top Notch - and hard for others to beat what I can output. At least, for those with Desktop 3D Printers at home. But, because its so pricey for me to print - what I sell ends up at the price that Shapeways sells things. But - with Non-Proprietary plastic on spools - and printers like the Rep's - theoretically - you SHOULD be able to produce things BELOW what Shapeways charges. Believe me - I know - I also had a CupCake - on which I produced a TON of Shit - as other folks on here already know.

Anyway - just sayin'...

Lastly - I may post to the group here shortly something I am planning - on which I could use the help of Multiple people in the group here - to consistently give them print jobs to do. And - in this way - people May actually be able to make consistent money with thier Bots. But, it won't be Boatloads of money - it will be reasonable amounts. Again - just in the planning stage at the moment. But, when I am ready to launch this project - and looking for other Bot Op's to help me out - I WILL be posting about it here!

-K-

[Stan Velijev]

Well what you've got there is either parity on quality without a price advantage with a quality machine, or a price advantage without quality parity with a lower end machine.

This is assuming you're provided a file you can just put in your printer and go and have it turn out right first try, a case I find unlikely if random people without 3d printing experience are sending their models. Chances are with improper models and some change of failed prints there's going to be waste, again making this inefficient.

Either way, you've still got the other down-sides listed which would lead most people to Shapeways unless you've got a clear advantage over them.

As for your email: Dan and Jetguy will indeed know better, but what I can say is different materials alone might cause an issue with consistency. Unless you're sending out materials or providing funds for the same material to be purchased there might be issues. Shipping costs from multiple users might also be an issue.

Seems like finding a single person or company with a multitude of the same printers and materials would be a less risky way to do this.