Thoughts on 3d Printing from general people and engineer types/3d designers

So I've reached a point in my life where I'm considering starting my own business, I'm still throwing ideas up but one of the ideas at the moment which seems fairly viable is in the 3d printing sector.

I was wondering what all your thoughts are on this fairly new tech still relatively in its infancy, is it something you consider will just be a fad ? Do you consider it viable long term from a business perspective of say for instance custom phone cases, or another start up I've read about which is custom headphones. If money was no issue and you could buy a 3d printer, what kind of things would you create with it ? Would you make yourself some christmas decorations ? make your own coffee mugs ? your own keyring ? print off parts to fix broken things ?

How much skills does one need within the 3d design ? Is it a difficult thing to learn ? Do you need to artistic in order to make the designs ? I'm musically artistic but when it comes to drawing best I can do is simple things like squares and stickmen. Can any of you with 3d design experience chime in on this subject ? Mainly CAD designers would be beneficial

I found this on my searches it seems the printing tech has gotten a hell of a lot better since I last checked in on it.



A 3d printer which prints circuits embedded within the object, it's the sort of advancement I've been eagerly waiting as I do have a background with electronics, the problem is I don't really know what the lifetime is like for 3d printed objects and whether it's worth waiting for the tech to advance even more, there's develops within graphene ink which not serves to make the final product stronger and sturdier but also the potential for creating your own 3d printed batteries too. Their printers are $9,000 but I have no clue about any of the printers as there seem to be different variants and obviously the larger printer the more it costs, but this one printing electric circuits and the ability to add in circuitry during the 3d process seems the most advanced I've seen so far.

And I also stumbled on this Paper-thin 3D printed solar cells to provide affordable electricity for unlit rural areas which seems to open more potential doors for business opportunities but again with zero experience and relatively little knowledge within the 3d printing world I honestly don't know where to start.

So any thoughts, inputs recommendations are welcome on this topic of discussion as it's something I'd be interested in learning more about

I am an engineer and have experience using 3-D printers to make quick mock-prototypes of injection molded parts. It's a lot faster than actually cutting a mold out of aluminum or steel.

a reply to: charolais

Do you think it has a long term future in terms of potential usages within industry and refining over traditional process we have now ? I know it's probably more down to a reliance on the ink technology improving but if that wasn't an issue and the ink was perfected, as an engineer could you see yourself transitioning to full 3d fabrication from prototype to final build ?

a reply to: Discotech

China does it.

a reply to: GodEmperor

You know, in Earthquake prone zones and places where tornados hit regularly this kind of thing could be the future. Get your house destroyed by a twister or earthquake ? No problem we'll print you a new one in a day and have it shipped out to you in 3 days!

Infact it's just given me a novel idea for a construction invention, no idea how feasible it is as I'm involved in construction but I have a friend who is luckily so I might run the idea by him.

Thanks for the link I'd forgotten about those printed houses!

a reply to: Discotech

3D printing is awesome for people who create parts. For bikes or cars.

Im looking at buying one for my new business. Im a mine engineer full time, but i started a side business doing aerial surveying with my UAV and photogrammerty software.
I want a 3d printer to be able to make scale models for clients upon request, of the area surveyed.
A friend of mine has a kick arse one, for his side cash cow.
Essentially its 3d printing fetuses. Women go and get an ultrasound, have the doctor record the ultrasound onto a flash drive. They bring it to him, and he makes a 3d baby for the soon to be parent.
He charges $200 a pop for them.
Makes a good chunk of cash doing that.

The cost is extremely high (I looked into this extensively ) you are still better of sending stuff to get manufactured in China

I will reply properly one moment ok.. So

The printer for $9000 will only manufacture small size items

For long term manufacturing in larger quantities the printers second hand start from around $55000
Next they only are capable in printing in one material, Plus you don't have an assembly line they start around $75000 for 3D printers
The material that goes into 3D printers is so expensive also certain printers only take certain materials
Next yes you need a good graphic designer not just that you will need probably an engineer (next is pattern and design copyright issues someone will see your product and if you don't have it protected for at least $25000 for pattern someone will grab your idea and send it of to China to mass manufacture cheap as chips)
Next it is expensive for consumer, and it is hard to communicate their "ideas" of what hey want to have done (they would need drawings, or also send you a CAD drawing) etc it is easier for them to find a local printing manufacturer (also some liberies already offer 3D printing!)

Don't get me wrong custom designs are the next massive evolution of manufacturing from cars to toothpaste it is at the top of the list of demand for our generation but we are talking about eg Apple, Toyota hell knows what so they already have all the resources to custom design so after individual people thinking the same thing as you these massive companies will be your next competition (it's already out there I think it's HP currently does the best custom designs for all electronic assesories , bicycles can't think right now what else sry)

3d printing is neat stuff. I've yet to touch it because I know I'll get addicted.

Look into the "reprap" project.

As for long term, the concept isn't a fad- but the tech might be. Knowing your way around it couldn't hurt. IIRC even NASA uses 3d printing now- although theirs uses metal dust and lasers.

a reply to: realnewsrealfunny

Right the cost is high. There are 3D printing services here hi could use a service until you have the capital to purchase a 3D machine.

I also believe the price will come down soon.

Have a nice night

a reply to: realnewsrealfunny

Yeah I knew it wouldn't be cheap and there would be competition but wouldn't the likes of Apple and Toyota be specialising in what they're fabricating with the 3D printers, for instance Toyota would just be making parts for vehicles, Apple would be designing around tech products. There's a lot of avenues to explore for niche markets within the 3d printing realm where big business might not be exploring because it's not within their expertise range ?