The days of industry grade SLA 3D printers are long gone. These days you can get a decent 3D printer for as little as 200 dollars. Thanks to the affordability and availability of this technology, we’ve seen a steady incline in businesses that offer 3D printing-related products and services.
To start a 3D printing business, you don’t need a huge budget. All you need is a decent 3D printer and materials for printing. You don’t have to invest in software because you can find free professional 3D modeling suites like SketchUp. In this article, we’ll give you a few profitable 3D printing ideas.
Why Start 3D printing Business and What’s the Industry Like?
The future is now. Today you can connect your computer to a device that will print a solid object. We live in an age where there is an abundance of online businesses that offer tangible goods as well as intangible services. 3D printing brings many business opportunities that will fill your bank account and will become even more profitable in the future as the technology improves.
3D printing represents the next step in the printing industry. Instead of printing custom banners, pamphlets, and other nicknacks, printing companies today can print anything from a custom part to a full-fledged prosthetic limb.
3D printing market is not insignificant by any means. At the time of this writing, the 3D printing industry is worth over 14 billion dollars worldwide. Conservative forecasts predict that this industry will grow to 17.5 billion dollars in 2020 and by 2021 it will grow an additional 4 billion dollars. Data like this should be more than enough proof that the market is viable and still unexplored.
When it comes to materials, the global 3D printing market includes polymers, metals, and ceramics. The main advantage of 3D printing is that it offers a wide array of applications in various industries. These include healthcare, education, consumer products, industrial products, defense, aerospace, and automotive industry, just to name a few.
An in-depth analysis quickly reveals the driving factors of this industry. Those are:
- reduction in printing errors
- high accuracy of printed parts
- efficient use of printing materials
- The ability to print customized products
- Simultaneous use of multiple materials for 3D printing
- Efficient use of production time
- Competency over the technology
The same analysis also reveals the main mitigating factors, which are:
- High production cost to the end user
- Lack of channel partner assistance
- Lack of skilled laborers
When it comes to the market itself, it is segmented based on component, application, and geography. The component-based 3D printer market consists of three branches, which are technology, material, and service. Application-wise, 3D printing market consists of a plethora of branches such as consumer products, aerospace, defense, education, research and development, automotive, industrial, and many others. Of all these segments, the consumer product segment has been generating the highest revenue and will remain the highest growing segment of this industry.
So, as you can see, 3D printing has become very popular, and the market is blossoming, which means that there are many lucrative opportunities for entrepreneurs who want to start a 3D printing business. If you are willing to set foot in this industry, here are six profitable 3D printing business ideas.
1. Print on Demands Service
The most obvious way to make money with a 3D printer is to print other people’s designs. The business model is painfully simple: just offer to print someone else’s 3D file. Unfortunately, this segment of the market is already flooded with thousands of print-on-demand services, which means you’ll have to be more creative.
The first thing you should do is establish yourself in a niche market. You won’t be able to please everyone, so it’s very important to form a group of loyal customers who’ll see you as a respectable vendor. The first step is to sign up on online marketplaces such as 3D Hubs or Shapeways and then expand beyond them once you gather enough experience and figure out what kind of customers you want to attract.
If working with end users isn’t your cup of tea, you can sell your services to other businesses. Usually, other businesses have much deeper pockets and a more consistent need for 3D printing services, and they also tend to order stuff in bulk.
You can start on 3D Hubs or Shapeways and gradually make progress from there after you’ve established a niche market. Having a niche market is imperative, you won’t be able to please everyone at the same time. After you’ve established a customer base, you can make a smooth transition to your own 3D printing brand and service.
A business that has successfully followed this business model is Stratasys. They have been pioneering the FDM 3D printing technology for more than 30 years. They offer both 3D printing and engineering services. We don’t guarantee you’ll reach their level of success, but you can surely learn a few lessons from them.
2. 3D Printing and Designing Service Center
A natural step further from just offering 3D printing services is to start a service that takes care of the whole process. With this business model, the customers come in and talk about what they want to print. Then you design the product they want and ultimately print it.
Since designing a 3D model and then later printing it, is quite a costly endeavor, you will grow faster if you target B2B customers. Alternatively, you can offer your services to people who are looking for someone who can design and produce working prototypes of future products.
Companies will always need prototypes. These prototypes can be very expensive. That’s where 3D printing comes into play because it significantly reduces the production cost and speed. You can start a business that exclusively makes prototypes for other companies. A good example of this type of business is Printotype. They started small, designing, and printing prototypes for their customers. Today, they are setting standards on how to set up a 3D printing business.
Besides rapid prototyping, you can design and 3D print products for online stores. E-commerce companies are in constant need of reliable manufacturers to avoid issues such as long production times and bad quality control. This is where you can jump in and offer a flexible and affordable solution to their problems.
By designing and printing products for online stores, you are providing a solution to a major problem in the e-commerce industry, while making some good profit from it.
3. Design 3D Printing Files
Do you like to design 3D objects? Then why not create and sell 3D designs online. This set-up is even more simple than setting up a 3D printing service. All you have to do is register an account on an online marketplace like Shapeways or create your own online shop.
Just like with the previous two business ideas, you have to find your niche. You can start designing specialized tools for carpenters or other makers. You can design custom hinges that will open doors in an innovative way. You can also design custom tools and then sell the design so other people (or companies) can print it for themselves.
Alternatively, you can design prototypes and sell those designs to other companies. In this case, you’re not printing designs, which means you can grow much faster than you would if you also printed the prototypes.
This also means that you can do something more artistic. Museums, architects, and interior designers are always looking for prototypes and other models. For example, the History channel uses 3D printed Viking models in one of their Vikings projects, and they need people to contribute to the project.
After you’ve established your niche market, you can scale up your business by moving away from online marketplaces and launch your own website. It is really important to have a loyal customer base before you decide to make that step because people don’t like buying from unverified merchants.
Thankfully, you don’t need a lot of money to start this business. Moreover, you don’t need any money to start this business because there are free 3D modeling software suites that are more than viable for professional use. The biggest investment it this type of business is time. If you want to turn a profit, you will have to spend a lot of time learning the secrets of 3D modeling.
4. Customizable Accessory Company
This type of business holds infinite opportunities. People like personalized items, be it pet collars, phone cases, glass frames, picture frames, you name it. This type of business has enormous growth potential, provided that you discover your niche.
There are a lot of these types of companies around the world, and because of this, it’s very important to stick out from the rest. For example, you can start your business by offering customizable phone cases. You can start by offering cases that can have custom inscriptions on them. Later, you can expand your offer by including phone cases with custom 3D graphics.
You don’t have to start your business with custom phone cases, your imagination is the limit. You can design customizable eyeglasses, for instance. You can let people choose what details they want on their eyeglass frames and arms. You can even let them custom 3D text on the arms.
This business model requires a bit more investment than others. For starters, you will need at least four 3D printers so you can deal with the demand. Next, you need to develop the customizable 3D models and all different iterations of it. You will need at least a dozen different designs and at least double the customization options. And it doesn’t end there. After you’ve done the design, you will have to launch your own online store. The store need s a preview feature, which means you’ll either need to hire a web developer to make it for you or you can do it yourself. The former will cost you money, and the latter will cost you time. The choice is up to you.
The most important thing is that you find a niche and stick to it. We cannot stress enough how important it is to start small. If you try to please everyone, you’ll just lose money, time and peace.
5. Spare Part Company
Technology progresses fast. Very fast, in fact. This means that spare parts are produced only while the device or the car is produced. After the product gets discontinued, the spare part production also stops.
Besides various IT devices, another industry that suffers from a chronic lack of spare parts is the automotive industry. Particularly the vintage car section. There are lots of car enthusiasts that want to bring back iconic cars back to the streets. The main issue with restoring old cars are spare parts. This is where you come in. You can start a business that builds and sells various spare parts for vintage cars. You won’t be able to print an engine or transmission, but you will be able to print just about everything else. You can print both polymer and metal parts, which means you can cover both the interior and the body of the car.
If you’re not interested in spare parts for cars, you can offer replacement parts for old hardware. Just like with old cars, there is a large group of vintage hardware enthusiasts. And just like with old cars, old PCs or other hardware oddities from the past suffer from a chronic lack of spare parts such as hinges, cartridge shells, front panels, etc.
This is still a fairly unexplored market, which means you have a good chance of growth. We recommend you start selling spare parts for just one type of device or device line such as Commodore 64 or Amstrad parts. You don’t have to offer anything revolutionary. You can start by offering keycaps and replacement chassis. Later, you can expand your business by offering parts for other types of hardware or even partner up with electronics stores and offer expansion cards for the Commodore or Amstrad PC line.
6. Customizable Toy Company
Just like with the customizable accessories, you are only limited by your imagination. You don’t even need a 3D printer to start your business. You can start selling 3D toy designs on online marketplaces so people can print them at home. Later, when you’ve gathered enough customers, you can move away from online marketplaces and launch your own website.
You don’t even have to design children’s toys, you can design toys for older folks. Old game consoles such as PS One and Sega Genesis have made a big comeback this year. Instead of game consoles, you can print old IBM PCs. PC games market was huge, at one point Doom was installed on more computers than Microsoft DOS.
For this, you’ll need a 3D printer and a supply of Raspberry Pi minicomputers. You can design a miniaturized version of the computer case and enclose the Raspberry Pi in it. You can load a DOS emulator like DOSBox and load it with iconic games like Commander Keen, Duke Nukem 3D, Doom I and II, Might & Magic Series, and many others. This is still an unexplored idea, and there is a good chance you’ll be able to turn a hefty profit from this idea.
If this idea seems like too much of a hassle, you can design customization parts for miniatures. Miniature hobbyist market is in constant need of various customization parts. To start, you can choose a miniature niche you like and start designing various accessories for the models. Not only that, but you can also design different parts of the scenery such as buildings, bridges, roads, barrels, and basically anything else.
This is a pretty competitive market, so before setting up the business, you will have to think hard about what type of customers you want to attract. After that everything else should come into its place, provided that you have some experience in 3D printing.
Conclusion
We’ve shown you 7 different business ideas for 3D printers. As you can see, you are only limited by your imagination.
You can offer your services to both other business and ordinary customers. Other than that, the ideas above are just ideas! If you have a 3D printer and the skill to create custom 3D designs, there is nothing standing in the way of you starting a business.
Before you start, do your homework. Research the market, see if there is a demand for a product you’re trying to sell. You should also ensure your business model is a good fit for the customer’s needs and wants.
Don’t be deterred if your business doesn’t start strong. Unlike other companies, you won’t have to order a shipping container of stock, all you have to do to change your business is to design new stuff that might be interesting to your customers. You can change the design until you find out what works for you and your customers. The opportunities are limitless, all you have to do is make the first step.
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