Posted: 8/22/2026 12:05:15 PM EDT
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My wife has decided to start a side gig 3d printing very specific doodads. I know nothing of this subject and she only knows what she’s googled since this idea sprung into her head at midnight  .Help me score some brownie points by pointing me in the right direction for some starter tools/accessories. I will not be able to answer any questions related to what she’s doing or how or why. I don’t know because sleep is what I do at midnight. |
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Do your market research very, very thoroughly. Every 12 year old kid with a 3D printer has had the same thoughts and thinks they can make it big by selling 3D printed slop from makerworld on etsy. The market is already saturated with this stuff. Hopefully you have a product that isn't already being peddled by 87,000 other people with a 3D printer in their basement. |
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Originally Posted By Blob: Do your market research very, very thoroughly. Every 12 year old kid with a 3D printer has had the same thoughts and thinks they can make it big by selling 3D printed slop from makerworld on etsy. The market is already saturated with this stuff. Hopefully you have a product that isn't already being peddled by 87,000 other people with a 3D printer in their basement. Do it for fun or hobby and you won't be disappointed. Make some supersafeties too!!!! 
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Preferred pronoun: MARINE
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Originally Posted By wildearp: 5 minutes after you advertise something, it will be copied by someone else with lower overhead. Do it for fun or hobby and you won't be disappointed. Make some supersafeties too!!!! Yep. I had every single one of my designs stolen. The only designs that were not stolen were the ones co.plex enough that even having the part from me they couldnt get the geometry to fit right, or, in the case of one of them, required a multimaterial printer which back then was more exclusive than it is today. Even so I made decent money as a side hustle but still wasnt worth it. Selling dodads of other designs? Not happening. The only person I have ever seen make it worthwhile is my wife's cousin. She owned a custom cookie business and bought a printer to print custom designed cookie cutters. She had people ask to pay extra to keep the cookie cutters used to make the cookies and she quickly realized there was more money and less effort there than in cookies themselves. She now has 20 Bambu A1 printers running 24/7 to keep up with demand. They bought a 575k house and drive two brand new Broncos. Her and her husband do this print farm exclusively as a source of income. |
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Originally Posted By wildearp: 5 minutes after you advertise something, it will be copied by someone else with lower overhead. Do it for fun or hobby and you won't be disappointed. Make some supersafeties too!!!! Originally Posted By wildearp: Originally Posted By Blob: Do your market research very, very thoroughly. Every 12 year old kid with a 3D printer has had the same thoughts and thinks they can make it big by selling 3D printed slop from makerworld on etsy. The market is already saturated with this stuff. Hopefully you have a product that isn't already being peddled by 87,000 other people with a 3D printer in their basement. Do it for fun or hobby and you won't be disappointed. Make some supersafeties too!!!! If I print something it’s going to be earplugs 
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Well I think its a good idea as its really a future hobby thats just now really picking up. Also this country needs to desperately get back in the manufacturing game and these are perfect training tools for that. I think the best starter one is the Bambu A1 or A1 mini. Its perfect for cutting your teeth and at the same time perfect for scaling if you need to and have the right parts for it. The only draw back is that the bed moves a lot and its not good for certain tall parts. So if you have tall parts, the P1/P2 will be a better choice. Also, if your using colors, sometimes the open frame printers get a bit of color separation going, so an enclosed printer will be ideal for that. Just a warning, once you get past the freebe shitty programs and learn to design your own stuff, its really addicting. |