Johnic
1
I’m looking once I purchase my printer (undecided yet on which one) to setup a hub and print for $… Is it a decent money maker and if so what’s the tricks to doing so. Example: good printer build size, multiple printers, what kind of printers ?
thanks
You can make decent money on 3D Hubs, just not every day, week, month. So do not rely on it for money/a job.You may need to have a print of at least 8*8*8 inches in build volume, and it is good to have multiple printers to make more, and to have a back up, plus you can fix them with is other. I think it is also good to have modeling skills, and clean up skills. You also have to understand your printers. Cool fact I produced about the money to buy another 3D printer on 3D Hubs. You need to price competitively. Make sure to get an open source printer to modify it, make sure the printer has a heated bed, and a high temperature max for both the heated bed and hotend. Dual extruder printers are good too, but they need a very knowable person, I would not recommend for a first printer. Market your printer on different websites that allow you too it will get you more money. On average I would think a good hub gets $100-1000USD depending on the prices. So for the printer make sure to get open source, check out the reviews, make sure the hardware,software, and firmware are open source. If you are a first time user, 3D Printing has a learning curve.
Johnic
3
What printer would you suggest?. I’m about to pull the trigger on a Cubicon Single. It’s open source and decent size build plate.
Fusion looks nice but more $
What is your budget? Are you a beginner? How are you with electronics? The Cubicon Single is a bit closed source. Where are you located?
Johnic
5
Budget is $3000-5000.
I’m located in SoCal. I’m a beginner 3D printer but I’m good st 3D modeling and electronics just don’t have the time to tinker too much.
Enza3D
6
Based on what you said here, do not get a large volume printer. These are not beginner friendly, and if you want it to print well enough to sell, you need to spend a decent chunk of time tinkering and getting to know your machine. I love my Axiom Dual but it was a royal pain to get functioning well enough to use for Hub orders. I would not recommend it for anyone without a strong technical background and a lot of patience. She prints fantastically now, but it took 6-8 weeks to get it there, even with a lot of experience in 3D printing and a couple engineering degrees.
These larger printers (Airwolf, Ultimaker, Fusion, etc.) are not something like a Makerbot where your average consumer could save a bit, then buy it. Any machine over $1000 is not really meant for non-technical consumers, it’s meant for in-house design where you simply can’t afford a week or two lead time for a prototype. Unless you have particularly deep pockets, no average Joe is going to have a $3k+ machine sitting in their house. These machines have such a small user base that when something goes wrong you need to be able to to figure out what it is and fix it yourself, because Google won’t be able to answer it and support may have never even heard of your problem (the Form is an exception here).
If you seriously want to pursue Hubs, I’d suggest starting with a cheaper smaller printer and learn the ropes well. Print with every material you can get your hands on, mod the mechanics of it, push the machine to it’s limits, and when it breaks, fix it yourself. Even better than buying one pre-built, buy a $200 RepRap kit from eBay and get your hands dirty. Investing in a big, expensive machine from the get-go could very well be an extremely expensive mistake that you can’t just return and forget about.
1 Like
Johnic
7
Don’t know much about the Airwolf brand. Are they reliable and how’s the troubleshooting service with them?
Get the Ultimaker or Airwolf 3D Printer. You might be able to get the Dual Extruder when you are more experienced in the Airworlf 3D Section.
I disagree, Ultimakers and lulzbot are both large printers and work great right out of the box. They are both very easy to use and reliable.
Although as you mentioned you cant just buy a printer and start a successful hub. You need to learn how your printer works and the ways to get a great print out of it. Also how to take someones design idea and use the best print orientation or materials for it to succeed.
7 Likes
Enza3D
10
Ah, I totally forgot about the Lulzbot! Thank you for mentioning that one; I’ve heard mixed things about the Ultimaker when using it for large prints. Although I suppose motor heat and just general wear is more stressful for a printer when you do primarily large 10+ hour prints constantly, and higher material volume just increases rate of failure.
The Cubicon Single is a great printer, I have one myself, but it won’t teach you much about 3D printing in general. It really does everything for you including automatic bed levelling. It also has active heating so limits warping.
Combine the Cubicon with Simpify3D and it is an amazing machine. However can be a bit boring, it just prints without problems! 
Johnic
13
Gotcha, but the print quality is good compared to other printers out there ?
what concerns me about the Cubicon is the complicated moving parts for the bed. If they break I’m out of luck and shipping it back for repair.
Under the bed isn’t that complicated. It is just really well made. Yes it could break but the build quality of this machine is way above any other I have seen. It is solid.
Enza3D’s advice is spot on.
“just don’t have the time to tinker too much”
Doesn’t sound like this is a path you want to go down. Regardless of what you spend on a machine you will end up selling it and never want another. This is especially true if you plan on printing anything other than trinkets off thingivers which are designed with 3d printing in mind.
Johnic
16
Understood. I realize that there needs to be a lot of effort to get the best results (tinkering) and if that’s what it takes then I’ll need to do that from what I’m learning here.
The Fusion 3 F400 sparked my interest.
I build all my own equipment so I cannot recommend any particular machine from experience. I just checked out the website and from what I see it is extraordinarily over priced. But like I said, I build my own equipment so they all seem overpriced to me. I put my money into precision linear motion not LCD touch screens that serve no purpose.
Personally, We own the Ultimaker 2+ Extended. Much like most of the posts already state be prepared to spend countless hours researching and printing test prints. It really is the only way to learn your machine in and out. I like the advice of buying a cheap DIY kit. The experience of building the printer and tuning it in properly will really pay huge dividends later on… It took me countless hours to figure out 3D printing, and then when I started using simplify3D it was like starting over lol… That being said, use simplify3D, the level of control is unparalleled, and it literally will give you the best possible prints once you get your settings tuned in. Once you’ve built and tuned in a DIY, and have some time punching out quality prints then I would take the plunge on a more expensive machine. Personally, I wish I took that route. Why? Because the technology is constantly evolving, and prices just keep dropping. If I did the cheap DIY first by the time I was good at 3D printing I could have gotten a significantly better machine for the same or less money. Just my thoughts, and good luck!
“shipping it back for repair” when something fails/break/need to be upgraded is not a plan for success. This is why everyone is telling you to get a kit and build one. I have 6 machines and at lease one is being repaired/upgraded (by me) at any given time. My business would be no where near viable otherwise. In terms of print quality I really recommend that you think of the printer more like a paintbrush rather than a printer. Does having the greatest, most expensive, most reliable paintbrush make you an artist? No. Only after you master the mechanics and software involved will the difference between a $500 machine and a $5000 machine matter and on top of that you will actually be able discern between what is a gimmick and what is worth spending your money on.
Johnic
20
Very good points.
What kits would you recommend again ?
