I’m considering entering the 3d printing arena to start a business. I’m not sure what printer I should start with. Also, if I find items on thingiverse, I can’t print them and sell them because they were made by someone else, right? Thanks everyone! I’m sure I’ll have more questions later.
I’d suggest getting a printer first and gaining some experience with it before starting a business. Unless you have a particular idea in mind - it’s a fairly active area.
Whether you can print things from Thingiverse depends on the license they’re put out under. Each object has a license section - the Sharealike license for instance allows commercial use: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Each item has that info listed?
@Mark_Rossi
Yes, every Thingaverse item has a license attached to the description.
That said, “starting a business” seems a bit vague. Generally “3D printing” isn’t a business yet, (unless you are selling printers, supplies for printers, parts for printers, or things-for-printing on printers) A more useful question is, “Are there any existing businesses such that having a 3D printer would make them more competitive? Or give some advantage?” And there are some prototype shops doing that but generally they buy the commercial machines, hire some techs and some mechanical engineers, and hang out their sign.
I’d echo Lars sentiment here, get a printer and get some experience using it first. If you can think of a business that would use it, great.
The idea right now is to print items that I’ve designed or others have designed and sell them.
@Mark_Rossi
ok then. You won’t want one of the ‘home’ or ‘hobbyist’ 3D printers then, they take an hour to three hours to print, and the item is made in plastic. Further the printers require quite a bit of “hands on” sort of maintenance. If you are not a skilled designer as well, that will further cut into your margins.
However, if you want to compete with @Shapeways_Inc then that is certainly possible. A @Stratasys Connex3 would be a solid starter machine for plastics, then some laser sintering machines for metals.
Startup costs are bit high though, generally folks who already run machine shops are “branching out” into additive manufacturing, they get to re-use their existing customer base.
Which laser sintering machine is decently affordable and recommended?
Define “decently affordable”. Recent “low cost” sintering machines are creeping down towards $10.000, but the quality and maintenance costs may not be par for business use. Maybe if you let us know what kind of budget you have for your business, and whether it’s a full-time business or just a side thing for Etsy, we could be more specific.
I have only about $12,000 to work with, so this might not be something I can do right now. I want it to be full time so I can work for myself and not work for anyone ever again.
@Mark_Rossi then become an engineer/designer/product developer.
I don’t want to look stupid by asking this, but I will. Do I actually have to be an engineer? I’m only asking because I’m not one.
I should have put || in between those. It’s an OR situation. 3D printing allows rapid prototyping. Finding people with invention ideas is not hard. Developing the idea is probably worth more than the slim margins that 3D printing will give.
I have a friend who is not any type of certified engineer, but he knows enough to produce proper drawings for machinists, etc. He makes about $500 for a 3 hour job in solidworks.
His last gig was a foregrip for an AR-15, took him about 1 hour to make, and he made about $330
Ok. Thanks.
@Mark_Rossi
I don’t think so - it helps to have an engineering background when you are playing with hobby level 3D printers - but I don’t see it as a requirement.
If you are using commercial grade printers, a big piece of what you pay for is removing complexity and making it easier to successfully get objects out of it.
The above said, while there may be entry level SLS printers in the 10k range, I’ve not had any experience with them. Most of the commercial offerings I’m aware of start around $25k. Someone mentioned Shapeways earlier - last I heard they had about $5m of printing equipment in their NY facility, and that was back in mid '13.