Would you list your idle 3D printer online and request local prints?

Hi Guys,

I know this is a general forum, and I couldn't find any correlating forums to this. So, you've got your new 3D printer. you've spent a bunch of time and money on it - between parts and labor and filament and software/firmware.

List it here: signup.3Dpinpoint.me It's free. You can accept or decline prints, and make a profit from doing so. Is this something 3D printers would use? Why or why not? I'm in the development stage of a website surrounded by this business model: Where owners can list their prints, and customers can request jobs. Customer feedback is the most important thing to me and I would love to make a website for the 3D printer, by the 3D printers.

Thanks for your input!

Daniel Brooks
3D Pinpoint
[lnc.hr]

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/07/2013 11:35AM by 3Dpinpoint.

Seems very interesting I'm definetley going to check it out

It's still in development, but the site should be up soon! I keep everyone up-to-date on milestone events when they sign up.

What value do you add to the transaction either for someone looking to have something printed or for someone printing? Anyone that is running bots in for profit jobs can get the customers. There is a shortage of good low volume shops. Emphasis on good. Many want to have a job shop but aren't capable and I don't see anything in the business model that will address that concern. It's a broker service but what's your juice? What do you bring to the table that helps those wanting to do contract? Likewise, why would someone that wanted something printed come to your site to find a printer?

the only problem with this i can see is the great question of how to measure the quality of the prints

---

-=( blog )=- -=( thingiverse )=- -=( 3Dindustries )=- -=( Aluhotend - mostly metal hotend)=--=( Facebook )=-

thejollygrimreaper Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> the only problem with this i can see is the great
> question of how to measure the quality of the
> prints


This was my exact thought as well. I've yet to reach the one year mark on printing and I've only sold one thing I've printed simply because I felt that if I could not meet or exceed quality of others then I wouldn't want to sell.

There would need to be some form of quality control

Maybe the people with printers could upload or email photos of items they have printed to give the buyer a general idea of what quality they will get.

This could be done on the site or by email on a case by case basis.

tattooedfish Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> thejollygrimreaper Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > the only problem with this i can see is the
> great
> > question of how to measure the quality of the
> > prints
>
>
> This was my exact thought as well. I've yet to
> reach the one year mark on printing and I've only
> sold one thing I've printed simply because I felt
> that if I could not meet or exceed quality of
> others then I wouldn't want to sell.
>
> There would need to be some form of quality
> control

the question is also what exactly defines a good quality print ? i would suggest some sort of grading system

---

-=( blog )=- -=( thingiverse )=- -=( 3Dindustries )=- -=( Aluhotend - mostly metal hotend)=--=( Facebook )=-

What value do you add to the transaction
He obviously wants to offer a service to the community, and is not interested in making a profit, or being a middle man like Ebay making profits
from each purchase and then on payments.

Forgive my Cynicism, but life makes you that way sometimes.

---

Random Precision

There is already a system like this working and it's called 3D-hubs: [www.3dhubs.com]

Anyway, I wouldn't, I have printed parts for someone before who didn't own a printer and the guy didn't really understand how his file should be prepared and it took me ages, only to find out that in the end there was still something wrong with the file that couldn't be fixed that easily so we both gave up.

It's a nice concept for people who know how these machines and their file-systems and software work

We are embedding an .stl viewer on the site, so before the transaction takes place, you will be able to seeing a rotating 3D model of what it is you want printed. It is up to the owner of the 3D printer if he believes can print it, then he accepts the offer and starts the print.

There is a lot of value. I know it may not sound like it right now, but once 3D printers become a lot more common, I think it will have a positive influence on both small business and local business. For instance, people will be able to print designs for a profit, and others will be able to view their uploaded images of completed projects and determine if that type of print quality will suffice for the type of print requested.\

The internet is very, very huge. It's extremely hard to make a name for yourself and becoming one of those few successful job shops. But word of spreads. Lets say you print a desk ornament for your neighbor. Your other neighbor comes over and see it, and says "Hey, that's really cool. Where did you make that?" He then directs that potential customer to you. And then his kids see it. And his kids' friends. That's exposure and that is exactly what every shop is after. The prints may not be spectacular yet, but 3D printing is still in its infancy. The quality is already increasing every month with the slew of new 3D printers. I'm not expecting this website to take off overnight. I'm focusing on the future and realizing just how big of a market this will. Because if I didn't create it, someone else will. And with business, you've got to make your idea future-proof. I am simply offering a local service option to those who don't like waiting, that may need test prints printed today to continue working, and not wait days for it to come in the mail, and when things break, your machine is down for days. Local printing could eliminate all of that.

I think that a site like this is needed. Here are a few idea's I have for it, Take or leave any
[ I was thinking of making a very similar site, seeing I am a web application developer and saw a need for it ]

1) Have a rating system for every transaction, a 1 - 5 star system should work well where both the buyer and printers rate the other person
2) Have an option to put your print up for bid, Then let the buyer choose which printer they want based on profile and bid price
3) Allow for shipping or local pickup ( This will attract more buyers and printer's then just the local pickup alone )
4) Give the option to be a payment gateway for the transaction, and take a 5% cut, This will make both buyers and printer's more likely to use the system because they are not going to be giving cc info to someone they do not know, and making it easier to order print's
5) Allow printer's to upload images of item's they have done, with both the starting stl and the final product, This will give buyers a better expectation of what they will be getting

Good luck I am very interested in seeing it when it is complete

Ohmarinus Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There is already a system like this working and
> it's called 3D-hubs: [www.3dhubs.com]
>
> Anyway, I wouldn't, I have printed parts for
> someone before who didn't own a printer and the
> guy didn't really understand how his file should
> be prepared and it took me ages, only to find out
> that in the end there was still something wrong
> with the file that couldn't be fixed that easily
> so we both gave up.
>
> It's a nice concept for people who know how these
> machines and their file-systems and software work
>


You are correct, I am currently a member of 3D Hubs. I've examined the website - which has a really beautiful look to it. But me, as well as countless others I have asked on there, do not like the overall layout of the website. It is not the easiest website in the world to navigate. And also, entire cities have to be unlocked. To unlock a city, 10 printer owners must first register their printers. I don't believe in that. I think anyone, anywhere should be able to list their printer. It could actually turn out to be a very good thing if you are the ONLY 3D printer in your city for a little while.

But you are correct, customers typically don't know what they want, nor do they understand the process. They have no idea if a print can be printed or not. I would think the owner would check for holes and not continue a print knowing its going to fail, but I also don't think its up to the printer owner to fix these holes. So if the print cant be printed, the owner can reject the print until the customer fixes it. They can submit the print to Odesk.com and find someone to fix it for just a few dollars if necessary, but you are right.

"Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine" I've been waiting for a time to use this quote, haha.

Are you reading my mind? This is almost exactly exactly what I am doing.

We are implementing a rating system, we aren't taking a 5% cut, we're tacking on an additional 5% for maintenance fees. We have a payment gateway that is measured by volume in cm3. On your profile, you will be able to upload images as well as view ratings given by others.

And regarding your bidding system, I had actually already looked into this, and decided against it for a couple reasons.

1. Customer did not like the idea
2. I realized it devalues the 3D printer owner. When 3D printers are bidding against each other, ultimately the same quality prints are being done for less, even though the time taken to print is the exact same.

I think the bidding system would attract more part-time printer's to the site but that's just my thought's on it ,
Do you have an eta on when the site will be live? ( Just wondering )

I was thinking today, and It might be a good add-on to have laser cutter's and other cnc based products avalible on the site as well

So the value you bring is a transaction processing service that can calculate sq cm and an online .STL viewer. For a 5% cut. You can call it a maintenance fee but it's really a cut for you to provide service. Fair enough. You say the Internet is really big (news to me... ) but don't offer how it would benefit either the user that wants something printed or those that have printers to use your service. What are you offering as a way to drive traffic that I couldn't do alone and what advantages of scale would available? I don't see a complete business model. Why should people use your service. If you save me money or bring me clients, how do you do it? Why should I pay you for that service? What can you do that I can't or that you can do more effectively than I could with Bot Queue or OctoPI, frequenting various communities and buying Adwords?

It sounds like a good business idea to me, Just try to optimize your service everyday and stay ahead of competitors. Good luck!

I really like your idea! It is a great way to tap into the printing power of the community I think adding laser cutters and other manufacturing tools (CNC Lathes/Mills) would be a great idea. I think there is a lot of potential for a business that provides a platform for outsourcing rapid prototyping. Recently I have been working on an all metal hot end design, and I had to pay hundreds of dollars for samples from China! I think the ability to locally outsource custom prototyping will really help developers who do not have the required machinery.

Good luck!

Eric

Thank you all for the great responses. In addition to the user profile page, we are also going to implement an "Experience in CAD" text box, where you can list how many years and which software you use to edit/create/slice. We are also thinking about adding a "test object" to be printed across all listers, as to determine quality expectations. In addition, for future updates, we would like to add a "Find a Designer" option, that way you won't need to outsource to websites like Odesk to have a model updated, edited, or created.

As always, please keep me up to date with anything you would suggest! If you haven't signed up, be sure to do so before the launch HERE

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/15/2013 12:13PM by 3Dpinpoint.

I could see the value if you were an arbiter of quality for both sides, and did some prep work on STLs. ie.
Do some real QA on test prints and give an initial rating of print quality for new printers wishing to sell services. (you can keep user ratings but I don't see that as value you are adding to the transaction.)
Do some real QA and repair on submitted files. (are they manifold, will they require support, are they likely to work as customer intends, proper print orientation, strength/material requirements, resolution requirements, etc. )

If you do enough work as the middle man then it's more likely people will use your system vs. another. The more confident I am that I can just download a customers STL and print per a listed recipe the more likely I am to do it. The more times I am forced to fix an STL, or send a design back to the customer for changes, or email to ask about issues, before I can print it the less likely I am to want to do it again. As a customer, the more often I can send a file and just get it printed quickly without too much hassle the more likely I am to repeat. The more I have to negotiate and tinker with the file the less likely I am to submit another one.

This has potential.

Thanks guys! Since you all have been so helpful, I'd like to create some kind of referral program that incentivizes individuals.

What would help you all spread the word? A free 3D print from a local 3D printer? A campaign I dedicate to you if you get the most referrals?

I would like some more input on this. What would you like(within reason) that would get you to try and get more people to come to the website? After all, you are also in direct control of how successful your business will be on 3D Pinpoint. If you market the hell out of your company, you are going to get more people coming to you than someone who waits for people to Google their zipcode.

I do save you money, and I also save you time. The cheapest available solution on the internet is Makexyz - and they charge a 15% premium with a $5 minimum balance, and $8.99 mandatory shipping charge. I charge a smaller percentage, with a less expensive option for shipping, and have a better online presense. Makexyz is happy not marketing at all. I am dedicating hours and hours, and making connections, and creating meetups, and getting people excited about a service like this. On top of that, I am posting in every possible forum to get answers from real people who use 3D printers like RepRap and asking for what kind of features they would like in their website. I have also listed a slew of ideas I plan to implement in future updates.

What would you personally like to see in a website like this?

this sounds awesome. but also exactly like makexyz.

i've had my printer listed on makexyz for ~2 weeks now and it's pretty cool; i've made around $150 already. here i am: [www.makexyz.com]

Ahh, i've seen your newest post too. It is going to be awesome. I've talked to hundreds of Makexyz customers, found out what they like, didn't like, and what they think I should add. And we've got some super amazing ideas for future updates.

3Dpinpoint Wrote:

SNIP>>
. The prints may not be
> spectacular yet, but 3D printing is still in its
> infancy. The quality is already increasing every
> month with the slew of new 3D printers.


I think that is rather wide of the mark!
Anyway, good luck - you are US based I take it?

---

_______________________________________
Waitaki 3D Printer

I should have worded that a little better. 3D printers aren't necessarily printing in better quality every month, but people are becoming much more innovative with them, and continually finding new ways to make them print in higher quality.

Anyways, yes, I am a US based business, but our service is worldwide. We've got a foothold in 48 countries so far.

3Dpinpoint Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ohmarinus Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > There is already a system like this working and
> > it's called 3D-hubs: [www.3dhubs.com]
> >
> > Anyway, I wouldn't, I have printed parts for
> > someone before who didn't own a printer and the
> > guy didn't really understand how his file
> should
> > be prepared and it took me ages, only to find
> out
> > that in the end there was still something wrong
> > with the file that couldn't be fixed that
> easily
> > so we both gave up.
> >
> > It's a nice concept for people who know how
> these
> > machines and their file-systems and software
> work
> >
>
>
> You are correct, I am currently a member of 3D
> Hubs. I've examined the website - which has a
> really beautiful look to it. But me, as well as
> countless others I have asked on there, do not
> like the overall layout of the website. It is not
> the easiest website in the world to navigate. And
> also, entire cities have to be unlocked. To unlock
> a city, 10 printer owners must first register
> their printers. I don't believe in that. I think
> anyone, anywhere should be able to list their
> printer. It could actually turn out to be a very
> good thing if you are the ONLY 3D printer in your
> city for a little while.
>
> But you are correct, customers typically don't
> know what they want, nor do they understand the
> process. They have no idea if a print can be
> printed or not. I would think the owner would
> check for holes and not continue a print knowing
> its going to fail, but I also don't think its up
> to the printer owner to fix these holes. So if the
> print cant be printed, the owner can reject the
> print until the customer fixes it. They can submit
> the print to Odesk.com and find someone to fix it
> for just a few dollars if necessary, but you are
> right.
>
> "Lack of planning on your part does not constitute
> an emergency on mine" I've been waiting for a time
> to use this quote, haha.

Hi Danny,

Quote
But me, as well as countless others I have asked on there, do not like the overall layout of the website. It is not the easiest website in the world to navigate.

Thanks for that feedback Danny, that's actually the first time we've got complaints about the navigation. We actually have a feedback system which I suggest you have a look at 3dhubs.uservoice.com and I'm quite curious as to how exactly you spoke to countless others... Just drop me email at brian at 3dhubs.com if you want to keep the conversation going.

Anyways we just launched an updated version of the website a couple days ago - that nearly doubled the 3D Printer numbers.. we've got nearly 1000 printers on the platform. On top of that we're organising local meetups with our communities in all 15 active cities. That's the reason why we have our unlock system in the first place. Here are some of the cities that will open soon. If you haven't registered yet feel free to join us.

Opening Soon:

#1 Melbourne 25 makers, 17 printers
#2 São Paulo 42 makers, 16 printers
#3 Los Angeles 36 makers, 15 printers
#4 New York 36 makers, 12 printers
#5 Beijing 24 makers, 9 printers
#6 San Francisco 20 makers, 9 printers
#7 Boston 26 makers, 9 printers
#8 Groningen 21 makers, 8 printers
#9 Rome 18 makers, 8 printers
#10 Arnhem 23 makers, 8 printers



See all cities here

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/14/2013 12:07AM by briangarret.