Sup /diy/I am thinking of marketing myself as a 3d modeler/rapid prototyper. You submit your plans/sketches to me or tell me what you want, then I design and model it for you and handle the printing. (shapeways does this I suppose but clients don't have to know that) I'm looking to target anything from art students who want their figurines printed in plastic/steel, to local engineers/students who just need to have that custom bracket printed for a car/machine that is no longer being made. Does /diy/ think there is any sort of market for this or am I wasting my time? Btw this is a part time thing while I study architecture.
Side business only. You'll be lucky if you can even make enough money to pay back costs of the machine.Art students aren't going to pay you a lot to get their stuff printed, and you have to spend time 3D modeling when they can just make shit out of clay or hand moldable plastic.Engineers don't want you shit, they already have access to these machines or CNC mills and need metal stuff.
You haven't read the post. Its not my machine. Shapeways prints whatever file you upload and prints in metal, plastic, ceramic, whatever. Clients are paying for my expertise with 3d modeling and knowledge of the materials only. Arts students cannot make pic related from clay.
>>187132Actually they can. They could either form it around a disolvable foam core, or work parts of it at a time and then join it.You never really said you were going to do it with shapeways in the OP. But if all you're doing is farming shit out to shapeways, you either won't make much profit, or you won't get any customers. Honestly, the best you could do is just offer yourself as a 3D modelling service for people that want to use shapeways. Probably not the answer you want, but your idea is pretty fucking stupid otherwise.
a side business to making art objects yourself, perhaps. I think there would be a market for commissions, if you can build up a nice portfolio of finished pieces and show them in a gallery or something and build a reputation on good work. I think people would love custom D & D or Warhammer character pieces for painting. As an aside, I have a few things from shapeways and I'm not super impressed with the finishing. If you could polish up the metal/lightly sand the plastic a bit before sending them out, it would look better.
>>187137Except the price. Lets say OP wants to charge $15 an hour, which is fairly reasonable for skilled technical contract work. Then Shapeways fees. It could only work if it was cheap.
>>187137Its not mine. Pic related is an architectural model I made though.
>>187139Look, I'm just saying, any art student can mock something like that up in modeling wax pretty quickly, then get it sand casted if they want it in metal.
>>187138Depends on how you want to do it, I guess. You can use the Shapeways shop, which has its own conditions, or you can get one offs from Shapeways sent to you, with your own unique works in the forefront rather than the service you are providing through Shapeways. It's more about positioning than anything.
>>187143I'm sure that a skilled artist can. However there are certain things that can clearly only be done with 3d printing. Warhammer scale figurines for example, or the previously pictured skull. It seems people are seriously trying to deny this, which is funny. There is a reason 3d printing exists.
I don't understand why people ask for advice or critique only to wave a hand and disregard it all. How about this. It's a brilliant idea op. One-in-a-generation business plan. You'll make millions. There, you got your ass kissed now piss off.
>>187145Uhh, how do you think they made warhammer figs before there was 3d printing? Are you really this retared, kіd?And this is not why they made 3d printing. They made 3D printing for rapid prototyping, not for art shit. You could get a prototype in 24 hours, and easily modify it. They don't use 3D printing for commercial production because it is not efficient, however it is repeatable, quick, and can be produced anywhere there is a 3D printer, which are all advantages well worth the costs when prototyping. When it comes to selling things, it fills a very small niche between one-offs and mass production.You seem to be in massive denial because you think you'll make big bucks with your business plan. Good luck and best wished, kіd.
>>187145>It seems people are seriously trying to deny this, which is funny. There is a reason 3d printing exists.You seem to seriously underestimate art students (particularly ones that make material things) and engineers. Both are well trained to actually make things, and in case you're too young to remember, people were making things before there was 3D printing, kіd.
>>187149Thanks I love having my ass kissed. All is right with the world. >>187155>>187150The purpose of 3d printing is to have most of the benifits of machine manufacturing without the expensive and capital-intensive requirement to cast moulds and adjust cnc machines. In other words to create short-runs or one-off products. But please, enlighten me about how warhammer figurines were made from clay and carved out of stone back in your day, and how artists can manufacture pieces within sub millimeter tolerances "cos ah dun need no damn muschine"
>>187158Are you retarded, kіd?
>>187158>cnc machinesYou're a fucking retard. An extruder is a CNC machine.
>>187158>But please, enlighten me about how warhammer figurines were made Casting. It's a lot cheaper than 3D printing. It's something you can do in an afternoon and a trip to the hardware or hobby store. And lol @ implying someone is a Luddite if they don't go for your asinine idea.
>>187169Please show me something cast at the scale of a warhammer figurine with equipment accessible by the average artist at detail comparable to a 3d print. Go on, I'd like to see it.
>>187173The one on the right is the 3D printed one.Can't wait to hear how fake this is or how they didn't use the right printer or some other excuse.
>>187173Are you serious?Sculpting wax and stylus. Serious, how the fuck do you think the original models for those warhammer figs was made?Hold on, how the fuck do you think anything with detail was made before fucking 3d printers. Not to mention 3d printing precision is not anywhere near a cnc machine, and you can't use good structural materials like billet steel, aluminum and titanium or specialty plastics like teflon. Your idea for "engineers" is retarded.
>>187175No scale, but it is admittedly a pretty good job if it really is hand casted.
>>187177No, you're just dumb and you don't understand how things are made. You're a fucking architect. You draw things on paper and engineers have to figure out how the fuck to actually make it. They probably don't even teach you how to make wood architectural models anymore.
>>18717750mm
>>187177Casts have more definition than a 3D printer. In fact is is a common complaint about 3D printing that you get visible layers and lines because they don't have enough detail. Something done by hand may not have the accuracy to get the exact right coordinates in a xyz matrix, but 3D printing loses out on precision and detail.
>>187177You do realize all the metals on shape ways aren't actually printed. They make a mold from the plastic, then melt the plastic out and CAST it in metal.
>>187183As I understood it it is printed, and then the micro metal beads are fused in an oven.
>>187185They do. In a mold.
not sure if trolls or just stupid or too early in the morning to give a fuck about this treat
OP, I know my dad is always fiddling with stuff where he'd love there to be easy access to specialized brackets, he'd probably make like 2-3 orders a month for 4-8 identical parts.As long as you're not an asshole about it and charge a fair price, I'd say this is a brilliant idea!
Don't encourage him to become a middle man. The middle man tends to get cut out first, especially in these times.OP, it's good that you're thinking, but this idea just doesn't seem like a viable enough business endeavour.
>>187122There are whole set of companies out there that do this, they are known as service bureaus.They are fairly big operations and it would be very hard for you to break into the business your self.>>187183>>187187That's patently false, shapeways uses the Direct Metal Laser Sintering(DMLS) process(pic related) for producing stainless steel parts, where they fuse stainless steel powder together with a laser beam.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_metal_laser_sinteringIt's a cool process to watch:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VImKhUD-8hkThey also use the Electron Beam Melting process to produce parts from titanium. In electron beam melting one uses an electron beam to fuse metal powder together.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electron_beam_meltingit's a VERY COOL process to watch:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cqa3TMxje14
