Just wanna throw out the idea here

[D12sprint]

So I been part of this forum for a few years but more as a spectator. Never really posting much about my tank and what not. But I do know there are plenty of refers on here that over noticed do a ton of DIY projects and most are done quite well and many of you guys have a ton of skill. But I also have seen some struggle to have something made or struggle to make something themselves. Any thing from light racks to skimmer stands to who knows what else

The idea I been having is I wanna invest into a 3D printer and start making some prints. I went to school to be a CNC operator and got certified and learned a lot and I feel the CNC World is used a lot on this hobby but it would be nice for someone to be able to make something at home per request without that crazy cost. So I want to ask the question. Would it be worth it? Is there enough people on here that could think of stuff they need that would make my investment worth while. I want to be able to provide one of a kind made to order products. Made of plastic or nylon that are reef safe. I'd appreciate any feed back or any ideas of products you guys might feel would be something useful to experiment with. Please give me positive AND negative feedback as I want to know if it's a good idea

Thank you


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[mark.a.smith405]

Sounds like a really cool idea! It's hard to say if it's a good idea with out knowing material and labor costs though

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[D12sprint]

Sounds like a really cool idea! It's hard to say if it's a good idea with out knowing material and labor costs though

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Yah that's true. If I get a good amount of positive feedback and people want it. I'll start crunching the numbers that way I can gets. More definitive idea of cost and stuff. It would pretty much be me alone. So no overhead other then material which is bought in bulk. It then just depends on if it's nylon or simply plastic. Nylon being a harder material, cost more and so on. It would obviously be for only smaller items that range from small small like 1 inch by 1 inch. To 10 inch by 10 inch

I would also want to do tests in water to confirm that certain materials such as PLA is reef safe just like nylon so I know it's a vague idea just want to get enough feedback to maybe push me to one side or the other of the fence hahaha


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[cowboycove]

I personally think if you do go through with this . it'll be more of something for experience for you. You're not going to have very many people at all needing something made. Most products are readily available or can be replaced by manufactures for free. Remember. You need the product to mimic it I think. So for you to buy or borrow one just to copy isn't going to make sense. A lot of work in the end. I doubt anyone is going to want to pay more then 10-20 for let's say an impellor. Not very many items on a tNk is plastic except for equipment. Great idea though. If you do do this. I'd venture off into doing car parts. Especially classic car parts. Jay Leno I think has a huge machine and shop for his classic cars.

 

[Tangwich]

I am sure you would make a killing manufacturing screen tops. Put me down for 2. Lol

 

[Smite]

It sounds like the 3d printer would limit you too much with the aize you are talking about. If I had the schooling for a CNC, I'd invest in one and be ripping out custom sumps, tanks, stands, signs, display cases ect. But most importantly, a 8" cone/funnel with a 7" lip on top so i can bypass my filter sock in the sump without having all the dripping noise!

Seems like there is money there and a large demand for that skill in the hobby.

 

[Greaser9999]

I personally think if you do go through with this . it'll be more of something for experience for you. You're not going to have very many people at all needing something made. Most products are readily available or can be replaced by manufactures for free. Remember. You need the product to mimic it I think. So for you to buy or borrow one just to copy isn't going to make sense. A lot of work in the end. I doubt anyone is going to want to pay more then 10-20 for let's say an impellor. Not very many items on a tNk is plastic except for equipment. Great idea though. If you do do this. I'd venture off into doing car parts. Especially classic car parts. Jay Leno I think has a huge machine and shop for his classic cars.

Talk about shooting the guys idea down! Successful companies started with one idea and continued to improve while making adjustments.

That being said, what kind of ideas do you have in mind Dylan? Im also a cnc machinist so I get the idea you have in mind. The last shop I worked at had 2 3D printers, a large one to make parts up to 2ft in length. They also had a small one which printed parts smaller than a foot, what route are you going for here? What type of parts are you looking to print, one idea is I could think of is printing a manifold. You can do it in several pieces and avoid the hassle of gluing and cutting pvc. Maybe you should get in touch with [MENTION=44]organism[/MENTION], he had an idea that requires some possible machining maybe you two can come up with something

 

[D12sprint]

Talk about shooting the guys idea down! Successful companies started with one idea and continued to improve while making adjustments.

That being said, what kind of ideas do you have in mind Dylan? Im also a cnc machinist so I get the idea you have in mind. The last shop I worked at had 2 3D printers, a large one to make parts up to 2ft in length. They also had a small one which printed parts smaller than a foot, what route are you going for here? What type of parts are you looking to print, one idea is I could think of is printing a manifold. You can do it in several pieces and avoid the hassle of gluing and cutting pvc. Maybe you should get in touch with [MENTION=44]organism[/MENTION], he had an idea that requires some possible machining maybe you two can come up with something

To be honest I don't have any MAIN ideas down in my head I wanted to see what people needed. I would invest in a smaller one like you described your former company had. Just to do simple things but products that are ready to go as well as have people send me ideas and I can make a one off item. I seen plenty of diy equipment that people build on here and else where that companies don't readily have. Yes making reproduced propellers for pumps would be a waste of time and money when there is a factor just cranking out like nothing. I'm talking about one off ideas. One of a kind things that may work for your personal tank and work with your personal measurements instead of making some stuff out of materials from Home Depot


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[D12sprint]

It sounds like the 3d printer would limit you too much with the aize you are talking about. If I had the schooling for a CNC, I'd invest in one and be ripping out custom sumps, tanks, stands, signs, display cases ect. But most importantly, a 8" cone/funnel with a 7" lip on top so i can bypass my filter sock in the sump without having all the dripping noise!

Seems like there is money there and a large demand for that skill in the hobby.

Yes the 3D printer does indeed have its limits but I want to just use this as a way to get my feet wet into the hobby as a manufacture. I can work from the house and if I feel I need a demand for much larger items then I can invest in a full size CNC. And start bigger better projects


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[oredith]

it really depends on your goal.

if you are doing it as a fellow hobbyist and want to be able to make one-off-custom stuff to help people who have specific design requirements for their projects, you're not going to make any money from it. the time required would consume any reasonable profit, and you wouldn't get any repeats on it.

if you want to make some money on it (which is totally cool, everyone deserves to make a living), you will have to find something that people want, and build them in volume.

the trick, of course, is figuring out what everyone wants that can be made better with a 3D printer will be the trick.. >_<

 

[D12sprint]

I personally think if you do go through with this . it'll be more of something for experience for you. You're not going to have very many people at all needing something made. Most products are readily available or can be replaced by manufactures for free. Remember. You need the product to mimic it I think. So for you to buy or borrow one just to copy isn't going to make sense. A lot of work in the end. I doubt anyone is going to want to pay more then 10-20 for let's say an impellor. Not very many items on a tNk is plastic except for equipment. Great idea though. If you do do this. I'd venture off into doing car parts. Especially classic car parts. Jay Leno I think has a huge machine and shop for his classic cars.

I agree with you on the fact that people wouldn't want to pay for a reproduced part and I did mention that I wanted positive and negative. That's was the point of this post is get an idea from other people and get an outside opinion so I really actually do appreciate your opinion. And you may be very right.


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[D12sprint]

I am sure you would make a killing manufacturing screen tops. Put me down for 2. Lol

Hahaha it would perfect for nano tank screen tops. Anything bigger is where you are limited to a 3D printer unfortunately but that's the ideas I wanna hear. What would YOU use it for if you had it. And I just make it instead lol


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[Puffalicious]

If you don't want to spend the cash on a 3d printer, there's a site called 3dhubs.com where people offer services to print things out. All you need is the drawing and specs and they will print it out for you.

 

[Greaser9999]

To be honest I don't have any MAIN ideas down in my head I wanted to see what people needed. I would invest in a smaller one like you described your former company had. Just to do simple things but products that are ready to go as well as have people send me ideas and I can make a one off item. I seen plenty of diy equipment that people build on here and else where that companies don't readily have. Yes making reproduced propellers for pumps would be a waste of time and money when there is a factor just cranking out like nothing. I'm talking about one off ideas. One of a kind things that may work for your personal tank and work with your personal measurements instead of making some stuff out of materials from Home Depot


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I think trying to make a custom manifold would be a good start!! A lot of hobbyist don't know how or don't want to try and make them out of fear of doing it wrong or having to start all over because they messed up or it started leaking. Its not exactly cheap to build one either!! If you could make one that could assemble in 2-3 pieces versus having to cut and glue like 30+ pieces. Most peeps on here might not fully understand the capabilities of a 3D printer and what they can do but I've seen it first hand and think that if you have the time and money I'd say pull the trigger!! If you don't try you definitely can't succeed..

 

[oredith]

i have so many things i'd wanna make if i had a 3d printer.. and probably only 10% of them are reef related.. >_<

 

[Tangwich]

i have so many things i'd wanna make if i had a 3d printer.. and probably only 10% of them are reef related.. >_<

silly jeff, you can't 3d print whores and booze : p

 

[cowboycove]

I agree with you on the fact that people wouldn't want to pay for a reproduced part and I did mention that I wanted positive and negative. That's was the point of this post is get an idea from other people and get an outside opinion so I really actually do appreciate your opinion. And you may be very right.


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Sorry. I wasnt at all trying to shoot you down . just giving you my opinion. Like [MENTION=7881]Greaser9999[/MENTION] said. Companies start from 1 idea and blooms into Another. And it sounds like you will be a successful business man if not in reefing somewhere else. The 3d printer gives you endless possibilities. Like you said some people on here are pretty handy with diy. But some thing don't make sense making to sell because the time it took them to make it just isn't worth it (diy stuff). So you really have to think about making something that a ton of people will buy that you can make in volume. The plan alone for 1 thing would probably take weeks to perfect. You can probably make more money 3d printing star wars figurines. Inseriousoly wouldn't know wth I would make with a 3d printer. Maybe a wife that doesn't nag. Lol

 

[805reef]

Would a 3d manifold be useable? How strong are these 3d printed products? Would it be able to be fitted with pvc pieces properly and leak free? I personally wouldn't trust one myself but it is a nice idea because they could be made to look so much nicer than the standard pieced together pvc manifolds. also curious what the cost would be because flex pvc has a bunch of premade out of pvc manifolds for pretty cheap https://flexpvc.com/cart/agora.cgi?product=PVC-Manifolds

I do think that there are a lot of on off products that can be made though. Like custom probe/hose holders. Feeder trays (like where the plastic goes from the feeder down into the water so the pellets/flakes get wet and sink instead of straight into the overflow) and other random things. I used some pvc to make a bracket to mount my gyre from the bottom of my eurobrace, it came out ok but a nice 3d printed piece would look much nicer im sure.

I'm sure if you just keep thinking and reading the boards you can find many products that people will be interested in and some day you could find that one that everyone wants!

good luck

 

[Greaser9999]

silly jeff, you can't 3d print whores and booze : p

:lol: good one!!

 

[oredith]

silly jeff, you can't 3d print whores and booze : p

you're just not trying hard enough then.