total newbie with dumb questions

I have been researching 3D printing for a couple weeks now and will continue to learn more and more as my research goes on. I am interested in the 3D printing technology and the possibilities and would very much like to be part of this emerging and growing technology. Now with that said here come the dumb questions.

Can I make money with a 3D printer or can I with a $500 printer that I build using RepRap designs?
What are the ethical concerns regarding open source code for profit venture? (I am a nice person and would never want to step on any toes)

Eventually I will have more questions but this is a start anyway. I am saving my pennies so I can buy parts to make a printer.

Yes you can make money with open source. After a year of printing things for myself and others, it was time to start charging for things, afterall plastic isn't free. There is a website, which I can't find again, where you can advertise that you will print things for profit( or whatever). My 9 year old daughter is now producing keychains for her friends. I couldn't be happier that at the age of 9 is learning and embracing this technology, not to mention turning a buck..

Thanks for the reply. I'm fascinated with the technology but I hope to turn it into a business venture as well I see potential to reproduce obsolete parts with permission of course.

NB

this is a rapid prototyping printer...
not a final goods printer, you are always going to have layers. You can lower the size of the layer but this exponentially make prints take more time..

Some plastics can be chemically smoothed, but this destroys part tolerances

Also not everything can be made from plastic... just because its the same size and shape does not mean it will do the same job.

Unless your a artist and a 3d wizard, I don’t think you can make money easily.

Most places that have models, they are all marked NC ie not for commercial use

The printed 3d parts market is already flooded...

Most that are making money have found little niche markets.

Quote
linster
What are the ethical concerns regarding open source code for profit venture? (I am a nice person and would never want to step on any toes)

There are many different types of open source licenses, so you'd need to read the particular license to make a proper determination. Pretty much all the open sourced software that is part of the printing tool chain (slicing, firmware, host software, etc) are covered under licenses that permit commercial use. Some designs may be covered under similar licenses, or they may be under a license such as Creative Commons-Noncommercial. With CC-NC, you can't use the design as part of a activity with a primary intent of commercial advantage or monetary compensation. You couldn't take a CC-NC covered design, print it, and then sell it as part of a kit for instance. However your daughter could print keychains to give to her friends if she didn't charge anything.

It's a grey area IMHO whether she could sell keychains for a small amount of money to cover material costs, electricity, etc. It also would be a grey area if someone gave you the file and paid you for your time/use of the machine/material cost (e.g. $10/hr, $x/ft of filament, etc). In either of these cases, I really think that in either of the above cases, you'd still be ok as you aren't obtaining a commercial advantage or monetary compensation for the work that is covered by the CC-NC, just the use of the machine. But to remove any ambiguity, you should check with the original licensor for permission/clarification.

I agree with Dust regarding making money, especially if you are just starting out and haven't built a printer previously, let alone a high quality printer. There is already some degree of saturation in the market and while you might be able to get some business, I don't think you'd be able to "make money" to the degree that would make it profitable.

linster,

Dust got it right concerning profitability of printing. A couple of years ago, printing parts to be used in the construction of 3D printers was profitable, but it is much harder today. (Note: I'm not speaking from the first hand here.) Now that one can buy a decent 3D printer for $500, kits are coming under pressure. Today, 3D printing has to dovetail with something else. I've used 3D printing in education, as a tool for getting students interested in CAD/CAM. I've also used it to demonstrate my CAD designs to customers. In both cases, I don't think it was worth the investment of my time. (Which isn't to say that students aren't worth it.) However, as a rapid prototyping tool, 3D printing has a huge amount of potential. Mold-making is also an obvious niche. One-off custom work might also be a niche, especially where one can use the 3D printed parts directly. But if you want to make money, take some courses in CAD, get a drafting job, and then use a 3D printer as a tool in that field.

If you want to make money just running the tool, 3D printing with a RepRap isn't going to do it. Investing in a much better printer (after becoming proficient with the whole software and hardware tool-chain) might make sense. But I have my doubts. There is just too much intrenched competition.

If you are in a manufacturing town, CNC routing is probably a much better bet. One can build a tiny CNC router for about the same cost as a 3D printer, but that machine won't make money either...unless one were doing custom PCBs or something else at that scale, but only if one could do the PCB design too. A home-built CNC router capable of cutting full 4'x8' sheet-goods could probably launch a business, but one would want to get something bigger and capable of cutting aluminum in a hurry. There would always be pressure for more capability (ie. add a water-jet, a laser, mills, etc.) and that requires investment. Honestly, for a one-man show, it seems like the drafting angle is the least risky way in to the business of CAM, but a scratch-built CNC router might work as a spring-board as well.

cdru pretty much nailed the licensing issues. The hardware and software tool-chains are safe, but one should be very careful about the licensing on the parts being printed.

while I agree that it is not an easy market and you need to be mindful of what you are producing, I find your arguments about not being able to make money a little to " inside the box" And I do agree, you are not going to make money producing the same objects ( 3d parts, gopro stuff,etc) that litter auction sites, there are a lot of other ways to make money with the printer. no you are not going to make enough to quit you day job, but to believe that there is no options to produce income from the printer is close minded. you just need to find that thing that people want, or make them think they want it,
With my daughter it is more of a learning thing, learn how to design something, learn how to produce it, learn how to sell it. I know she is not going to fund her college on 50 cent key chains for her friends. but the experience is priceless.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/08/2014 08:41PM by cat.farmer.

Thanks for all the replies it gives me allot to think about. I do have a degree in computer aided drafting so learning newer software is just a case of becoming comfortable with the commands. I am not looking for any get rich quick schemes I really just want to see if a I can find a niche that hasn't been exploited yet. I also want to make my own printer to learn the technology and time will tell how advanced I get with it in the future. Maybe someday I find myself running a high end industrial machine and maybe not but the technology is way to interesting to not get involved somehow. Thanks again and I'm sure you will hear from me in the future.