Need some 3d printing done? I can help!

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After a bit of acclimatizing I feel like I have a pretty good handle on this whole 3d printing thing. I am officially offering up my services if anyone would like to order from me. You all have been super helpful and supportive so I want you to have first crack at this before I offer the same deals at boardgamegeek.com (board game inserts are surprisingly well suited to 3d printing!). Currently I have a single Creality Ender 3 Pro with a 220x220x250mm print bed. I print with PLA by default which is best suited for panels, extensions, and things that don’t require extremely fine detail. I can currently print with most colors - and will likely be ordering more as the need arises. There might be additional wait times if I need to order something specific for you. You can see examples on my website:

https://www.mjsm.net/shop.html

Prices work thusly and all are in USD:

  • 10$ setup fee per print run.
  • 1$ per print hour.
  • ~10¢ per meter of material used. This depends on the specific material. Print times and material costs can be estimated in advance of printing but will vary slightly.
  • No charge for unsuccessful prints - that is prints that I made some avoidable error on.
  • Buyer pays shipping.

Any additional time required for designing parts, finishing/painting, and assembly is 15$ per hour.

I accept payments through Paypal, Venmo, Coinbase, and Second Life.

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drop this on the The BST Thread (Buy, Sell, Trade)
thread so we can find it later .

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WARNING: I have no experience with 3D printing.

Wow, I didn’t realize filament was that expensive.
Wouldn’t you print several meters worth in one hour, making the $1/hour negligible compared to the cost of the filament?

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Filament can absolutely get expensive quickly - which is why these projects tend to be best suited for small scale. I mainly buy from Amazon which is likely not the cheapest route, but it is the one that is most readily available and reliable for me and helps me maintain a certainly level of quality control. I also sometimes buy from my local Microcenter, but they do have the expected retail markup.

There are many ways to save on these costs. Adjusting what is called the “infill” of an object can adjust how much material is used at the expense of structural integrity. If its a thick object that has material all the way through with no voids inside, than yes, it can and will use material quickly! However, since most applications tend to be shells and panels there tends to not be as much material used.

To give a better idea - here are the records I kept for my first spool of grey material:

Sun, May 10, 2020 21158.80mm 6.37% $1.66 Mission Red Planet - Large Card Holder
Sun, May 10, 2020 13154.50mm 3.96% $1.03 Mission Red Planet - Small Card Holder
Mon, May 11, 2020 33960.00mm 10.23% $2.66 Mission Red Planet - Token Tray
Wed, May 13, 2020 2740.00mm 0.83% $0.21 Robinson Crusoe - Roof
Thu, May 14, 2020 37110.00mm 11.18% $2.90 Caverna - A1 - 7hr 33min
Fri, May 15, 2020 37950.00mm 11.43% $2.97 Caverna - A2 - 7.45hr
Fri, May 15, 2020 37200.00mm 11.20% $2.91 Caverna - A3 - 8.26hr
Sat, May 16, 2020 39650.00mm 11.94% $3.10 Caverna - A4 - 8.32hr
Sun, May 17, 2020 30310.00mm 9.13% $2.37 Caverna - B1 - 5.48hr
Sun, May 17, 2020 28110.00mm 8.47% $2.20 Caverna - B2 - 6.6hr
Sun, May 17, 2020 28910.00mm 8.71% $2.26 Caverna - B3 - 6.6hr
Sun, May 17, 2020 5480.00mm 1.65% $0.43 Failed File Holder
Mon, May 18, 2020 16266.70mm 4.90% $1.27 Caverna B4 - 5.5 hr

A spool is usually 1kg which is around 330 meters of material for around 25$. This price has been fluctuating a bit. I am also including the cost that it takes to ship to me.

The Caverna insert took quite a bit of material and a long time to print as it needed to be printed in eight pieces and then glued together. But there may have been ways to optimize and save.

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So $0.08 per meter? And not $10 per meter?

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$25 for 330 meters sounds more reasonable.
That’s about 7.5¢ per meter

Maybe you meant 10¢ per meter?

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Oh gosh! That did not copy paste from my other document >.<

Well that explains a lot! I edited the post!

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That’s really cheap. Where do you source this?

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Overture and Hatchbox work out well for me. If you get it at the right time, you can get 3 packs of some colors at a discount. Grey usually pops up from time to time for close to 19$ a spool.

I just realized - that is at 1KG, not two. Sorry!

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My brain is getting 1kg and 2lb mixed up. I blame the imperial system.

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You’re welcome to use any of my designs, Though they are currently in my own format (130mm) but im working on Kosmo and Euro versions.
Euro format will be easier to convert, ill get Kosmo done tho =P

The panel stands are pretty useful, im going to work on other HPsizes
While ive got Thingie open ill add the MikroPhonie panel i designed the other day =)

Edit: Ive just put up a bunch of untested Kosmo blanks, with a ‘slot’ rather than a bolt hole, MikroPhonie in Kosmo and 130mm and some PCB Mounts for the backs of the panels.
Useful feedback appreciated, if any. =)

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Thanks for that! I used to use 3ds Max for everything but have switched over to Blender due to cost constraints.

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No Probs, i like a bit of a blender session =) I got into it for making games… but thats hard. So trinkets it is XD

If theres any particular demand for something in Kosmo let me know =)

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Same as @willow2x for my 3D printed Kosmo panels - I have no problem with you printing them for people if anyone wants. I haven’t bothered to put them on thingiverse or prusaprinters.org yet but all of the STL’s, F3D files, and .m3f files for prusaslicer are in my github repo here https://github.com/jhitesma/Modular-Synth-Build Though they are mostly designed for two color printing. But - you can just print with the lettering suppressed and they’ll print nicely with 0.8mm embossed letting instead which can then be painted or filled with epoxy or something.

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Zorch, That is a nice selection of board games on your website! The painted stuff for Robinson Crusoe is awesome!!

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Can you do nylon prints with the E3? That might make nice panels.

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From a quick glance at an FAQ, no - nylon requires temperatures that are too hot for the nozzle to sustain.

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With any luck at some point I’ll be able to afford the Palette 2S - which enables two+ color prints. However, I have to start making money first!

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I was seriously considering one of those before I got my MK3s. It’s an interesting approach for sure.

Nylon is definitely tricky to pull off well. The e3 pro hot end seems to be rated for 265c max which might be able to print some nylons. But being at the lower end of the temp range it could be tricky. Bed adhesion with Nylon can also be tricky. When you get it printing well it’s great stuff though. One thing I really like about it is if you print in natural/clear Nylon you can dye it post-printing with many common dyes:

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All three of those were printed in the same Taulman 910 nylon. The quad frame and camera mount were dyed post-printing in Pysanky egg dyes I had on hand.

But Nylon is also really expensive (Taulman sells 1lb spools that cost about twice what a 1kg spool of PLA does so it’s about 4x more expensive) and keeping it dry is a real pain. Microcenter’s inland brand of filament has a cheap Nylon they sell which also prints at lower temps. But doesn’t seem to be as strong as Taulman’s.

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I have yet to run into a situation where regular old PLA wont work.

Well, this is not ENTIRELY true. I would love an SLA printer to get some really fine detail on miniatures.

Also, when I first picked up my printer, I got a spool of carbon fiber filament - but apparently it can wear out the nozzle quickly so I have been hesitant to break into it. Not to mention it was expensive!

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