Running a Small 3d Print Farm - A Day in the Life - Vlog 1
Vložit
- čas přidán 17. 05. 2024
- This is a day in the life vlog, showing what it's like running a small 3d printer farm out of my house.
Hope you enjoy this inside look at what it's like running an etsy shop, selling 3d printed name plates.
I run 4 bambulab p1ps and 3d print full time.
Buy me a coffee
www.buymeacoffee.com/macymakes3d - Věda a technologie
I was saddened to see the printers weren't given names but numbers. I hope they get proper names one day.
Great to see what a day of a 3D printing startup looks like!
Really cool what you've been able to accomplish in what looks to be about a year! Congrats! Keep up the great work!
You’re awesome. Love the lab. Good job 👏🏽
This was an interesting look at how you run a print business. Thanks for sharing.
Great too see ur doing well
wow! you're a superwoman! congrats!!
Great content!
Thank you :) Thanks for watching!
Good on you busy mum👍🇦🇺,
Enjoyed your first 3d printing vlog, this is the first video that I've seen of yours. Subscribed to see what neat things you end up printing in the future.
Awesome thank you! I’m excited to keep making cool videos for you guys!
Nice job on your first video! Still getting started with my own little 3 print farm at the moment. Looking forward to watching yours grow. I've got 2 P1Ps, 5 Ender 3s, a Saturn 2 Pro resin rig, a home-built big core-xy printer I'm going to convert to an experimental multi-axis machine, and I just got a Creality K1. Loving the newer machines! Still deciding on what the main workhorses in my Stable should be and learning all the things. Mostly using the Enders as filament dryers, although I'm learning OrcaSlicer and am going to be tuning them so they're a lot happier and more reliable.
Thanks for sharing your experiences! I'll eventually build a video channel as well, and have my domain bought for the website which will also house my eStore and I'm a hosting reseller so throwing the site and the store up won't be a challenge. Have heard many times that Etsy, though definitely a viable way to go, takes a big bite out of profits, thus have decided to handle the marketing on my own and drive traffic to my own site. We'll see if that proves to be wise or foolish in the coming months. Among the many things I'm blessed to be able to do for a living are 2D and 3D motion graphics and animation, VR, video and audio design and production, custom websites, and high end location-based interactive entertainment projects. All of which will be most useful for surfing this most current tech wave. Having a ball with this latest venture and really enjoying it. Lots of interesting challenges! Best of luck to you! Looks like you're on the right path.
Wow you have so many printers! I’ve only tried anycubic and now bambulab. Maybe I’ll eventually venture out and try some others I just don’t have the space to store anymore right now. Would love to have an actual shop one day so I can expand and do cooler things. I also hope to have an actual website and drive my own traffic, Etsy was just the easiest way to start but it definitely does cut into my profit. Maybe soon I’ll start working on that.
I love that you shared your experiences with me too, you’ve got a lot going on! Thanks for taking the time to watch my videos :) Can’t wait for us to keep growing together
Great Job! im gonna try to start slow printing some stuff for sale. we'll see how it goes. I have two X!C's well I will have the second one soon. gotta start somewhere.
Awesome good luck! Keep checking back in, I'd love to hear how things go!
@@macymakes3d will do! I just pulled a free print I created because I think it will sell to hobbyists if just make it.
Nice! Cardboard spools in the AMS raw, brave. I usually wrap the edges in electrical tape.
I like to live dangerously haha. I'll try the electrical tape. Probably a good call
@@macymakes3d makes use you pull it tight as you wrap the edges.
There are snap on pieces you can print so the spool never rolls on the cardboard. Check Printables or MakerWorld.
The problem with the cardboard is a similar issue with abrasive filaments. The particles will latch onto the filament and get caught anywhere down the line from the PTFE to the gears and cause clogs. If you clean and/or replace parts frequently, it won’t really be an issue. But if you want to get every last bit of life out of every part, print the spool rollers.
Maybe keep yourself an inventory list of filament with the amount left on the spool/roll once it's opened....can keep it on your pc then. Hugs, Naomi from Sth Australia xx
If you sign up for a USPS account online, you get discounted shipping rates when you print your own label/pay online. They will even come pick it up from your house....but not sure if there is a limit to the # of packages they will pick up at once/per time period.
Great video :) The filament weight on spool thing is something I've found to be a real pain, I'm in the middle of building myself a little web app where I can basically keep track of all the filament inventory and then also store the current weight of each spool, so I can just pop onto it and deduct each print as they're done.
I didn't realise it was a problem other people had as well so might look at making it available to everyone (for free of course, its hopefully going to help with a problem we all have!)
This is a great idea! Hopefully you’re able to make it happen!
I have found old CD racks work really well for spool storage and are cheap from thrift stores
Ooh interesting thanks! I’ll look into this. I definitely need a better storage system!
Thanks for the lovely video. I am thinking if this can be more than a hobby. Got the Carbon X1 and it´s rocks. Hopefully you will get some deserved money out off your effort.
Definitely can be more than a hobby!
One i really need to do a nameplate with some backlights, so that the taxis will find our place.
1:35 I never thought to weigh filament and see if there is enough. I always just kind of look and hope for the best. I will definitely try this! It would be such a shame to run out when 95% complete!
Yeah it’s a helpful trick. I keep an emptyish roll of each brand I use so I can use it for checking weights. Highly recommend!
I have to ask have you updated firmware yet and if so did it cause any printing issues. I'm trying to figure out if it was the firmware on my system or something else I also just print PLA for my business. Looks like you hit on something great all the best to you Macy.
LPT OrcaSlicer I have a P1 and cant recommend it enough
Love the video. I'm in pretty much same space as yourself over here in the UK.
Some thoughts... though it looks like you're already doing better than me :)...
Use slippers with grip that wouldn't pick up any scraps of plastic. I had a cat die due to some sort of intestinal leak. It could have been anything that caused it... but I'll always wonder if the silly furball nommed up a little piece of plastic... even though he was never allowed in the print room, every now and then my socks would drag out a bit of plastic... so maybe consider your rugrat.
I'd put the heavy stuff on the bottom of your racking. I just got some racking myself this week. I've empty cardboard boxes on the top, filament on the bottom, printers in the middle. I'm thinking I want a unit with 2x printers per racking... and everything it needs around it like AMS, filament, tubs for stuff to pack... my thoughts are then I can scale it with moar printers!
If you're in the room with the printers much... amazon has some cheapo air quality monitors... possibly worth investing in one.
I didn't see any dryers... turns out that filament comes non-dry, even when shrink wrapped... so quality can be improved by blasting it for 4 hours in a dryer. Dunno how that could work with your setup though... I tend to only print in black. If you're getting pristine quality then never mind :).
Good luck... get scaling fast as you can, as I reckon this business only has a few years in it until everyone is having a go!
Aww I’m sorry about your cat. I do worry a little about the baby as he gets older how I’ll keep him away from the plastic mess. Hopefully everything will just be fine.
That’s good to know about needing to dry the new filament. I’ll look into getting a dryer. Might be nice to have even if I don’t dry them right out of the box.
Thanks for all the helpful tips and also for taking the time to watch my video. Excited for us to grow our print shops together. Hopefully I’ll hear from you again soon 😄
@@macymakes3d Yep, it's all exciting and hopefully it works out for both of us! Best of luck with it all, looks like you're off to a great start with your business :).
Good luck with the scaling up. I'm constrained to a pretty tiny room until we move in about a year. I think racking is my way forward... allowing me to consider moving from 2 to 4 printers (X1C + P1P) if things keep working out well.
A thought with your leftover filament... I save mine up (same brand+colour) and use the AMS with auto-switchover to empty them (usually one near-empty roll first, with a full roll to aut-switch over to). I guess it only works with some types of rolls. Sunlu switches over 100% of the time. Overture can sometimes refuse to let go of the last bit of filament and ruin the print job.
Subbed. Just started with Etsy myself and would love to get to the point of being a print farmer myself
That’s awesome good luck! Hopefully I can supply you with some content/ideas to get you well on your way!
Awesome, you're very organized! Dehumidifier is a great idea, as I've lost a few spools of PLA to just ambient moisture. They all disintegrate to small pieces of spaghetti : ). Keep up the great work! Very inspirational!
All my plastic is either in an IP67 locking tote with two Eva_dry desiccant dehumidifiers or its in the AMS with 5 added containers of rechargeable desiccant :)
If Overture is not sponsoring this video, they should at least thank you! 😂 Nice video!
Haha I wish!
What size are the containers you are using for your filament storage?
Gotta get the hydra mod
Filament management is a nightmare for me. Partly due to space constraints and partly because I haven't found a suitable solution for keeping my most-used filament easily accessible. Sorting through Sterilite containers is kind of terrible.
I agree! I’ll look in 3-4 boxes before finding the color I’m looking for. I also can’t really add new color options because I don’t have the space to store it.
Great Video, I run a very similar operation with a very similar Christmas rush. I noticed you are using some cardboard spooled filaments. How are they working in your AMS? They seem to jam up on me so I recently printed a spool transfer machine to put them onto those provided Bambu rolls. Best of luck this holiday season, i started preparing for it in September.
Thank you :) I haven't had any issues with them yet (knock on wood) but I don't print super complicated things with tons of color changes. I actually have more trouble with my plastic sunlu rolls than my cardboard rolls. I've seen some people printing covers for the edges of the cardboard spools and also using electrical tape, but I haven't tried it myself. If I do, I'll make a video lol. Good luck to you this holiday season too! Should be a fun time
@@macymakes3d Electrical tape is the way :)... I'm terrified of jamming up my AMS when the printers are on 24/7 and still struggling to meet demand.
Great start to the blog and best of luck for Christmas season! Quantity wise, how much did things increase during Christmas? 1x, 2x?
This will be my first “big” Christmas. My shop kinda blew up in April of this year.
Last year I had 8 sales in October, and then 30 for both November and December so roughly 4 times. This year I’m hoping/preparing for ~300.
1:24
I occasionally weigh my filament rolls, although it's not really necessary with the Bambu Lab. It automatically continues with the next roll of the same color. Since then, I haven't had any filament leftovers lying around. Why don't you do it this way as well?
I sell nameplates primarily and if I let the roll run out/switch to another roll it’ll leave a hard line in the print showing where the rolls changed so I can’t use that function for the nameplates. I use it for other things though.
@@macymakes3d Oh, i understand now! That makes sense!
Would you be interested in making a video tutorial on how to sell on etsy, how it works, tips an tricks. I'm sure theirs other videos but I've watched your Two blog videos which I don't normally watch that style of video but you seem pretty cool. As a stay at home disabled dad of a one year old. I understand the struggle of trying to get things done during the naps. An possibly during some play time, trying to learn fusion 360
Absolutely! One of my goals with this channel is to help people make a little extra money with their printers specifically through Etsy. Hoping to get a video out next week about creating a new listing on Etsy but I’ll definitely start working on some tips and tricks/getting started videos also! Thanks for watching the 2 I’ve made so far, I really appreciate all of your support ☺️
Be really nice if Bambu had a tool allowed you to put rfid tags on non-Bambu rolls of filament. Fingers crossed.
If I recall correctly, the RFID system is partially open source, so other companies should be able to add RFIDs to their filament as well. Haven't seen any company do this as of yet, but I do believe it is possible.
Yes! Hopefully that becomes a thing. That would be amazing
What software do you use to create the name's? These are really cool.
Adobe illustrator! I love adobe products
Do you use any software to track your filament usage? I've been working on something that I think could be useful for others but not sure what everyone's needs are.
I don't. Would probably be pretty helpful though, especially to determine cost per print and pricing my items.
Hi, great chjannel, a question for you, I knon the Bambbu's have a fantastic speed advantage as well as multi colour with the AMS but how much of a print quality difference is there over your Anycubics?
The bambu print quality is 100 times better than the anycubics. No contest, it's amazing.
The BL printers are superior across the board. The one thing I personally recommend, however, is to use OrcaSlicer, and not BambuSlicer. With exactly the same settings, OrcaSlicer just prints nicer. And there are more options to better provide print flexibility.
Do you do some air filtration of your printing room? Or just print PLA/friendly materials?
No, I only print PLA
@@macymakes3dok, good to hear :-)
Have you had any issues with shipping PLA prints in the summer, where they might warp from heat?
Yeah I would’ve personally used PETG.
I had 1 that warped but it was because I put it in a box that was slightly too small and I was shipping from NC to California in the middle of the summer. I learned from that mistake and bought bigger boxes
I thought Bambu said the AMS wasn’t compatible with cardboard rolls? Have you had any issues?
At the very least, use lips on cardboard spools but they aren't incompatible in the sense they won't work but rather there are fibers that break off the rolls and gum up the working mechanics of the AMS and shorten its lifespan so it's best to transfer non dual/tri/quad rolls to a plastic spool.
how do you like ur P1P's? do you ever find your self needing a X1C?
I love them! I only print pla so there’s no reason for me to spend the extra money
Print farmers should look at Mozaic Array 3d printer.
How much that system cost?
With you talking about doing some Harry Potter stuff I wondered if you are selling other stuff that you are using copyrighted or trademarked keywords cause I know they've been cracking down on fan art related stuff on etsy, so just wanted to know if you've had to deal with listing getting removed or not? Cause I've had a few things removed for copyright issues even though it was fan art they got taken down, which has made me remove anything that is copyrighted and of course it has killed my sales now.
I haven't actually listed the Harry Potter nameplate yet, and that's the only "trademark" type thing I've ever made. Everything else on my Etsy is something I've created myself.
@@macymakes3d Oh ok just wondered cause it seems rather random what really gets removed on etsy something I had up for 2 years got removed but I've even had something that didn't last more than 48 hours. Pokemon stuff seems fine which is surprising with how anal Nintendo can be. But stay away from "One Piece" related stuff and "Fortnite".
It is happening on eBay too
@@slicedpage Yea I was banned on ebay for what they called fake products even though it was fan art stuff.
Sorry about your ban, that would have hurt. My listing was removed because I used the word "Meta" in the description. I sell accessories for the Quest 2 VR headset. So, what am I supposed to say, Lens protectors for the company formally known as Oculus? LOL, terrible.
Which printer have you found to be the most reliable for your farm? The Bambus?
Definitely the Bambus. I run 4 p1ps and LOVE them! I had 3 anycubics before and these are SO much better. Faster and better quality.
@@macymakes3d have you considered upgrading to the P1s? Or are the P1Ps more than enough for your needs?
I almost bought one, but I kinda like the open feel of the p1p. I only print PLA, so it isn't too big of a deal for me right now. I might buy a p1s just to have one enclosed printer to experiment with, but the p1p works for what I need.
Why don’t you use the Bambu spools. I thought that the AMS system didn’t work with the cardboard spools.
it does work but the cardboard over time will damage your AMS as i found out and killed two AMS units so i wont run cardboard spools in the AMS anymore
You need plastic spacers for the spools.
I've just been willing to risk it with the cardboard for now since I don't do too many color changes. I only get 5-6 prints out of a roll anyways so it doesn't seem worth it for me to respool them onto the bambu rolls.
@@macymakes3d There's plastic rings you can print that clip on to the cardboard spools effectively converting them without having to re-spool.
How hard of a business is this to start? I’m getting more and more stressed out at my current job and have 1 Bambu p1p.
It takes a bit of time to figure out what you’re going to sell, but once you’ve nailed down a niche and couple products it’s pretty easy. I started out with 1 P1P and was able to build my business up to need 2-3 more printers within a few months. I sell on Etsy which is an amazing marketplace and my number one recommendation if you want to start a printing business would be to open an Etsy shop and start experimenting with different products/niches to see if you can get something to take off.
cardboard rolls in the ams?
excastly what i was thinking
Should have power washed those selves.
Why not just schedule free pick-ups from USPS? You can schedule a pickup the night before.
I live on top of a mountain and USPS will sometimes not even deliver my packages and I can’t risk them not coming up here to pick them up.
@@macymakes3d ok, I know some areas they dont offer it. Just thought I would mention it to help save trips
I genuinely thought the thumbnail was prison cells and it was "day in the life of a convict"
lol sorry to disappoint
Not sure why so many people like Bamboo labs for print farms. Sure the printers are good, and in your case it's probably fine. But if you ever needed to print something you had to sign an NDA for you would have to buy a new set of printers because anything you print on a bamboo labs printer would break NDA. I am also against them because the way the printers are made, at any moment they could flip a switch and make it so you can only use bamboo labs filament. Then you are locked into buying their filament.
PLA doesn't care about humidity in reality.
Then again, keeping a basement dry is good by itself.
If you don't want your empty bambu spools, I'll pay you shipping for them 😂
lol I’ll hang on to them for a bit. Hoping they come out with more refill colors
@@macymakes3d Also, if you end up continuing to scale... the empty spools really start to pile up. I sooooo wanna get into using spool-less rolls, but can't find a cheap supplier yet. It's so frustrating that spool-less costs me more than spooled filament! < grr! :) >
Can I as you how much you make from your Etsy store per month?
Who cares about dirty shelf’s and floors 😂 We want 3d print talk 🎉
doing things before your baby wakes up. Now I know its fake.