Starting a 3D Printing Business

If you can use design software, if you are a good designer, and if you have some money to spare, creating products with 3D printers and selling them online or offline can be a good business. These days people like customized products, and that's why instead of buying mass-manufactured products, they are buying handmade products. Therefore, the products you create through 3D printers can be easily sold. There is nothing you cannot create through 3D printers, however, the kind of products you are trying to sell must be in high demand. You can create and sell action figurines or toys. But the figurines and toys you print with 3D printers are comparatively more expensive than the mass-produced ones. Therefore, you need to create products that are not already saturated in the market. Perhaps, taking personalized orders, printing the order, and shipping the product to the buyer is the best way to build your business.

How to Start a 3D Printing Business

In 1986, Charles Hull invented stereolithography, which is commonly called 3D Printer. It was primarily invented to create lab tools, but today anything can be printed using a 3D printer, including a house. If you are looking for a small and medium business idea, 3D Printing Business can be the one.

What equipment do you need?

You of course need a 3D printer. What kind of 3D printer do you need? Well, it depends on your priority.

A basic 3D printer cost $400-$1000.

Medium-level 3D printer costs $1000-$3000.

Professional level 3D printer costs $3000-$10,000

Industrial-level 3D printer costs above $10,000.

Since yours is a small and medium enterprise, I suggest you buy either a medium-level 3D printer or a professional-level 3D printer, Basic 3D printer is just for personal use.

You also need 3D printing materials, a computer, and design software. Most 3D printers come with design software.

What skills do you need?

You need skills to use 3D modeling software like Autodesk AutoCAD, SketchUp, etc.

What kind of products can you print?

You can begin printing toys, utility boxes (air pod box for example), action figurines, historical characters (Abram Lincoln, for example), mythological characters, etc., and sell them through your own store or other online marketplaces.

Business Idea: How to Create Your Own 3D Toys and Sell

You might buy a toy for $5-$10 but remember the money you spent on the toy is a part of the $141 billion toy industry. In the United States, in 2019, the average amount spent per child on toys was $300. A child gets about $6500 worth of toys during his childhood in the United States. You can imagine how much money you can make from this industry.

The easiest way to make money in the toy industry is by reselling toys but you can make more money by creating your own toys.

Buy a 3D printing machine

Design Toys and print through a 3D printer

Sell through your own store or ecommerce marketplaces.

You can use metal, plastic, or wood to print your toys. Try to come up with unique toy ideas. If you don’t know what kind of toys you should create, read mythologies and find interesting characters. Design those characters and print them as figurines.

What is the Best Way to Start 3D Printing Business?

Instead of creating and selling 3D-printed objects, start a print-on-demand business with 3D printing. You work as a print provider and offer printing and shipping services on the behalf of customers. Your customers will design the product, they will sell the product, and you will be fulfilling the order. In this business model, you do not have to design your own product, you do not have to sell products, you let your customers do everything and all you do is fulfill your order. I have never seen anyone doing this in my locality, therefore, I have been dreaming about this business model for a long time. However, this business requires a lot of investment. A commercial-level 3D printer can cost at least $10,000, and I would need an additional $3000 for setting up the studio.