Hey 3D printerers! I’m working on an article about using your 3D printer to either cover the cost of the printer itself, or to use it to turn a profit.
If anyone who is using their machine to generate some side cash is willing to share what they’ve been doing, I’d love to interview/feature you for the article! (And, we can keep the specifics out if you’re concerned about others jumping into your niche.)
Short of having a commercial grade SLS machine, there’s no money to be made in printing parts. There used to be, in the beginning, but the prices eventually dropped to break-even and there was no profit any longer.
I am looking to use mine for quick prototyping of pattern impressions at the foundry I work at. I designed mine from the ground up so I could handle the larger sizes. I have lots of learning and tuning before I would feel comfortable selling the service to them. But that is one of my end goals.
I’ve been looking on eBay and there are a couple of sellers selling small figurines (with a lot of sold listings). There was even a guy selling nerf-guns with 3D printed add-ons.
Not sure what printers they’re using, but I’ve emailed a few of them in hopes that they’ll let me interview them.
@Ashley_Webster IIRC with the exception of Makerbot, all of those places are buying $10k+ commercial machines, and they aren’t FDM, they’re sintered glass impregnated nylon.
I print various plastic cases for my solar an li-ion chargers which covered the cost of my printer
I in fact do make money with my bot. The main reason is i am currently living in The Philippines where the market is quite different from the states.
What kind of printer do you have,@Wayne_Friedt ?
@3DForged.com I have printed a full set of prusa mendel parts for a bro, he gave me new fillament in return. As I was reading the stuff other people have said, I want to bring up something important: making money is NOT my goald of 3D printing. I do it becauce it is fun. Also I can save money on making parts and stuff for my self. That is my reason for having a 3D printer :-)
I was kind of not giving you the answer you wanted, but I think this is how many people think (!) And is also important to mention 
Solidoodle2
I have had a minor success printing directly into retail with a small botfarm. More than paid for the machines. http://www.makerbot.com/explorers/ Squarehelper.com chrism8001@gmail.com
@Dag_Elias_Sordal Hopefully I didn’t come off as suggesting that everyone needs to be making money with their 3D printer. I was just hoping to put together an article on people who were, so that anyone who was interested in selling some of their prints could have some insight on how to do so.
Awesome that you printed your buddy a Prusa Mendel! That kind of plays into what I was looking for as well, because that goes towards covering the cost of your printer.
@Wayne_Friedt Would you be interested in talking about some of the ways that you run your 3D printing business?
@3DForged.com Sure just PM me.
@3DForged.com no! no! I was not thinking so either looking forward do you’r article btw
I don’t know if it counts but I make filament for the 3d printing industry
Hey guys, I got the first interview up. I’ve also got another one in the works!
Let me know what you think and if there’s any other questions you’d like me to ask in future interviews.
http://3dforged.com/how-to-run-a-3d-printing-business-with-joe-larson/