Projects that use less than 5 yards of filament

Hi! I was wondering if anyone could suggest objects that can be made with less than 5 yards of filament, 10 yards of filament etc. Thanks!

(I'm starting a 3D printing materials company that sells 3D printing filament by the yard (similar to Faberdashery but focusing more on weird, cool filaments like thermochromic etc.). This is both for my own personal interest and so people can gauge what a yard of filament really gets you.)


P.S. I wasn't sure where to post this. The "I want to make something" section seemed like it was more for specific objects but if I should move this thread there (or somewhere else) please tell me.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/31/2014 07:36PM by Filamomentous.

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Footle sells filament by the yard to make 3D printing more available to everyone!

Support Footle's crowdfunding campaign! [www.indiegogo.com]
(^WOOD-COMPOSITE filament for $0.50/yard! THERMOCHROMIC for just $0.40!!!)

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Sorry but, are you aware that the overwhelming majority of the RepRap community (as the whole planet except for the US) works with the metric system, not the antiquated US/imperial system?

So to most people a yard means absolutely nothing.

If you load a file into pronterface it will tell you how much filament is used in mm. Multiply by 0.001094 for yards.

Putting it in kg - 1kg of 1.75mm PLA is about 300 yards long.
In your campaign you are selling 20 yards of gold/silver PLA filament for $8 which corresponds to $120/kg.
From China the cost is about $11/kg + shipping.

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Ralph.Hilton
Putting it in kg - 1kg of 1.75mm PLA is about 300 yards long.
In your campaign you are selling 20 yards of gold/silver PLA filament for $8 which corresponds to $120/kg.
From China the cost is about $11/kg + shipping.

Interesting. I based the prices off of Faberdashery's (with some adjustments for more expensive filaments) since that's a business people seem to like (at least the ones I've talked to about it). They have a gold filament for $0.40/meter at the current exchange rate (that's about $0.437/yard).

Usually when I encounter filament it's around $40/kg (shipping included). I don't know how much shipping from China is but presumably it and the $11 add up to less than $40. My university gives us as much free PLA as we please (in seven-ish colors) so I've never done too much research on cheap PLA. I've mostly just looked into the specialty filaments because I really want to try them. When one buys filament in smaller quantities, presumably one is paying for the convenience. I'd rather have 80 yards of 8 different filaments than 300 yards of one filament (unless I was actually using it for prototyping as opposed to making random objects).

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Ralph.Hilton
If you load a file into pronterface it will tell you how much filament is used in mm. Multiply by 0.001094 for yards.

Thank you!!!

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NormandC
Sorry but, are you aware that the overwhelming majority of the RepRap community (as the whole planet except for the US) works with the metric system, not the antiquated US/imperial system?

So to most people a yard means absolutely nothing.

Yes. I might consider switching to meters.

Although I don't think that "to most people a yard means absolutely nothing". I think that a yard, to most people, is just a unit of measurement that's about a meter. I'm okay with that - it's to my, not the buyer's, disadvantage since a yard is slightly longer than a meter so in the "worst" case, they just get more filament than they expected. <- oops no lol

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/02/2014 10:05PM by Filamomentous.

When I look at a site selling filament then I assume that they are selling filament imported from China unless they state otherwise.
Faberdashery have a reputation for providing very high quality filament. I suspect that you'll have to drop prices a lot to compete.
I would suggest that you do a lot more planning on your business model. It is not set up to get repeat business.

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Ralph.Hilton
When I look at a site selling filament then I assume that they are selling filament imported from China unless they state otherwise.
Faberdashery have a reputation for providing very high quality filament. I suspect that you'll have to drop prices a lot to compete.
I would suggest that you do a lot more planning on your business model. It is not set up to get repeat business.

Thank you for your suggestions.

I guess it would be prudent to state on the Indiegogo that the gold and silver are both manufactured in the US and are made to be compatible with RepRap printers though I've used the silver on a Makerbot without any problems. I'll go fix that in a little bit.

With the majority of the filaments, however, there is no choice in manufacturer as they are only made by one (since my company is focusing more on specialty filaments than standard PLA). The wood-composite and stone-texture, for example, are German. My aim is to get customers who want to experiment with new filaments without having to invest in 1kg spools of filament which they aren't even sure will work and which they will probably never even use half of. I want to give makers the ability to play with new materials as well as see if and how these filaments work with their machines.

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Filamomentous
- it's to my, not the buyer's, disadvantage since a yard is slightly longer than a meter so in the "worst" case, they just get more filament than they expected.

FYI, a yard is shorter than a meter. It is approximately 90 cm.

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Filamomentous
Interesting. I based the prices off of Faberdashery's (with some adjustments for more expensive filaments) since that's a business people seem to like (at least the ones I've talked to about it).

I've ordered plenty of filament from them but largely stopped. The main reason: I became tired of spooling it myself. Also RepRapper filament seems just as good quality to me.

Andy

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/02/2014 05:13PM by ajayre.

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bill2k

Quote
Filamomentous
- it's to my, not the buyer's, disadvantage since a yard is slightly longer than a meter so in the "worst" case, they just get more filament than they expected.

FYI, a yard is shorter than a meter. It is approximately 90 cm.

You're right! Thank you! I misread the conversion when I looked it up -_-

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/02/2014 10:07PM by Filamomentous.

Why do you need an Indiegogo to sell someone elses filament? Seems to me that all you are doing is buying someone elses filament, snipping off 10 yards of it at which point it will coil itself and stuffing it in a bag. Laywood and Laybrick are $120 a kg. You sell the Laywood/Brick for $10 so you're getting $5 per material roughly before shipping/packaging. 300 yards / 10 = 30 * 5 = $150 per spool so you are going to make about $60 before any packaging...shipping is about $5 using USPS for anything so without packaging you are ending up at 30 * 5 = $150 in shipping alone unless you work out some kind of deal which I don't see with the size of your campaign so I fail to see how you make any money unless you are getting some kind of special deal.

I failed to see you set a limit at 8 people...

You are going to need to buy .5kg to fulfill 80 yards.

Laywood = $60 for .5kg
Laybrick = $60 for .5kg

You are spending $120 alone to even collect $80, how is this suppose to work for you?

Either way whether you make money or not, this is a waste of an Indiegogo which is designed to allow companies/individuals to get generate funding for large purchases in exchange(but not guaranteed) for a discounted product.

By any chance, is your name Frank? Why do I have a feeling you funded your own campaign 4 times?