this post was submitted on 18 Feb 2024
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3DPrinting

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I found this interesting. It's a different view point than "buy the latest and greatest".

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[–] mosiacmango@lemm.ee 8 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

There are print request sites where people will put up a print model and filament requirements and you can agree to provide them by X date for Y dollars.

Sometimes people need one offs and dont want to buy a printer, so they pay $50 for $5 worth of plastic/electricity. Sometimes other folk need 100 of something and pay $5/each for something like a green rectangle. With solar panels or cheap electricity, as long as you are making a profit after buying plastic and have the process tuned in, you basically have machines making $1-3/hr just running 24hr/day.

[–] Pohl@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Fascinating. A whole hidden world.

[–] mosiacmango@lemm.ee 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I think it's likely a very hard niche to break into and keep orders coming.

It also seems like a lot of people find a device or appliance where there are no replacement parts or very expensive ones and they sell printed ones at a nice markup.

It might be that those green squares fix a $300 thing for $20 when the manufacturer wants $80. Print them, toss them up on etsy/amazon and call it a day.

I know years ago I bought a replacment knob for a kitchenaid mixer that I got used. Was something like $10 for likely $0.25 of plastic, but it made sense to buy to solve my one issue instead of buying a whole 3D printer.

[–] Damage@feddit.it 1 points 9 months ago

A friend of mine Is a good way into repaying his bambu x1c by taking commissions from friends and Facebook marketplace