Market Research

[jqavins]

I'm starting to consider doing a 3D printed parts service, perhaps just the printing, perhaps including CAD work. I know I'll receive lots of advice, but please not rignt here. The most important thing before launching a business is market research in support of a business pan, and that's what this is for.

What would you like printed for you? Nose cones^* are obvious, fin cans too. AV bay parts? What else?

What would you be happy to pay? Naturally, that depends on an item's complexity and size, so please give examples with what you think are reasonable prices?

* Nose cones can be of normal shapes but particular dimensions not available off the shelf (lile BMS used to do) but I suspect there's as much potential for truly oddball shapes.

 

[teepot]

I would like nose cones that look like aircraft noses or the front of a spaceship. I would think little more than a stock nosecone for retail cost. Maybe 10-20% over stock.

 

[neil_w]

Oddball nose cones are definitely a good possibility. Agree with what @teepot wrote there. But generally, my 3D-printed parts are almost all oddball 1-offs that enable a particular build. So it's hard to even give examples.

In general, set-up and/or NRE are the killers for commercially 3D-printed parts. If I want a single custom piece, it's often hard to justify the cost.

 

[cwbullet]

I have been doing this for a while. I have been quite successful.

 

[neil_w]

Almost forgot: jigs of various types (especially fin jigs)

 

[user 35280]

Motor adapters and retainers. Altimeter bay nose cones, payload nose cones, transitions, blocks, standoffs, rail guides and launch lugs, display stands, tube slotting/cutting guides, tail cones, linear rail lugs/guides.

 

[dr wogz]

I'm curious as to what a business pan is.. do you make office muffins on it?! Cookies for the accounting dept?!

 

[Funkworks]

I'm curious as to what a business pan is.. do you make office muffins on it?! Cookies for the accounting dept?!

This I know: business pans are to make plan cakes.

I'll see myself out now.


(Great initiative by the way, 3D printing sounds like fun. I don't need anything these days, but good luck)

 

[cwbullet]

I'm curious as to what a business pan is.. do you make office muffins on it?! Cookies for the accounting dept?!

Maybe that is the iron pan you enforce the rules with.

 

[neil_w]

This I know: business pans are to make plan cakes.

I am… that’s… it’s just…

 

[hball55]

I have been doing this for a while. I have been quite successful.

I really like those ramjet parts you produced for me.

 

[GlenP]

Special plastic fin cans, nose cones, nozzles, inlets from OOP LPR classic kits, some examples:

Centuri Screaming Eagle fin can

Estes Nemesis/Star Rider nose cone with canopy and canard fins

Centuri SR-71 nose, engine inlets and nozzles.

twist lock couplers.

 

[Fattbank64]

Transitions and reductions!

 

[Bill S]

I'd be interested in seeing more oddball nosecone types other than round, say elliptical in cross-section, maybe with various bulges for guns/lasers, etc.

I've been toying with the idea of a nosecone and body that are hexagonal in cross-section, but don't have a plan as to how to accomplish that.

Transitions that don't weight a ton, and are available in custom sizes would be nice.

 

[Orien]

Funny you should ask. Yesterday my friend and I came up with this:

Gonna need a transition and staging electronics bay. This way, I can crash two rockets at once.

 

[cwbullet]

I really like those ramjet parts you produced for me.

yup - thanks for the idea. I need to upload those to thingverse.

 

[jqavins]

OK, thanks for the list of items to consider. And for the proof reading assistance; that really touched my heart.

What about pricing? If I were to charge a hundred bucks a pop, no one would use my service. If I were to do all the printing and mailing gratis I'd be busier than I can handle. What does anyone think is fair and reasonable pricing? Considering size (mass) and complexity.

 

[cwbullet]

OK, thanks for the list of items to consider. And for the proof reading assistance; that really touched my heart.

What about pricing? If I were to charge a hundred bucks a pop, no one would use my service. If I were to do all the printing and mailing gratis I'd be busier than I can handle. What does anyone think is fair and reasonable pricing? Considering size (mass) and complexity.

There are a lot of calculators online. I have printed a bunch at cost and some free just to build a product line.

 

[afadeev]

I have printed a bunch at cost and some free just to build a product line.

And then, there is this $499.99 beauty:


https://northcoastrocketry.com/prod...8-66-super-scale-model-ships-december-15-2020

 

[mjennings]

Definitely account for material cost and labor time. Add in a few percent to account for the occasional run that gets scrapped. Plus a little profit. Stuff that you think you can sell a bunch of you can likely set lower margins on, than one offs. If you're doing the design thats more of your time,. If its just the slice conversion that's not so bad. Be very specific in the file formats you want. I'll agree there is a market for sci-fi and airplane style NC, also greeble packs would be great, antennas, tubes, widgets, etc.

 

[jqavins]

Definitely account for material cost and labor time. Add in a few percent to account for the occasional run that gets scrapped. Plus a little profit. Stuff that you think you can sell a bunch of you can likely set lower margins on, than one offs. If you're doing the design thats more of your time.

That's fine advice for the price we'd like to charge. How does that, the costs plus profit, compare to what the market will bear? It's the latter that I'm trying to ask about here.

Things like "Stuff that [we] think [we] can sell a bunch of" and "greeble packs" are not in the picture (at least for now). The idea is exclusively a custom one-off printing (and maybe design) service.

 

[boatgeek]

That's fine advice for the price we'd like to charge. How does that, the costs plus profit, compare to what the market will bear? It's the latter that I'm trying to ask about here.

Things like "Stuff that [we] think [we] can sell a bunch of" and "greeble packs" are not in the picture (at least for now). The idea is exclusively a custom one-off printing (and maybe design) service.

Is this intended as a money-making exercise or a hobby to keep you busy in retirement? That puts a very different spin on the amount you charge for your time. When my wife was working for a custom tap handle place, their business was charging about double what people on Etsy charged. They were just looking to cover materials and a bit of pin money.

I'm going to hazard a guess that you might want a mix of the two classes. Fin jigs are an obvious example of a mass-market item that people might throw into their cart if they already have a semi-custom item. I'd also think that every time you design something custom, you could add it to the catalog. Fortunately, storage is cheap so you don't need a lot of stock on hand.

On a more logistical front, I think you mentioned that you have pretty limited Internet at home. How will you deal with customer service etc. on that basis? People have pretty high expectations for how quickly people turn stuff around.

 

[Cl(VII)]

To directly answer your question I charge $4/hr actual print time of the finished part plus shipping. The cost of materials, failed prints, etc. is all rolled into that number. As for design time, it depends on how interesting I find the project. For most things I get sent I have to do a little cleanup/tweaking to make it print well. Some items I have nearly designed ground up because I thought the project was so cool I wanted to help out. I've never charged for design time because I think my time would not really be representative of the value because I'm not terribly quick at it, so I tend to just decline most jobs that require serious design work. I bet there is a market for it though, but I wouldn't know what to charge for that.

 

[jqavins]

Is this intended as a money-making exercise or a hobby to keep you busy in retirement? That puts a very different spin on the amount you charge for your time. When my wife was working for a custom tap handle place, their business was charging about double what people on Etsy charged. They were just looking to cover materials and a bit of pin money.

I'm going to hazard a guess that you might want a mix of the two classes. Fin jigs are an obvious example of a mass-market item that people might throw into their cart if they already have a semi-custom item. I'd also think that every time you design something custom, you could add it to the catalog. Fortunately, storage is cheap so you don't need a lot of stock on hand.

On a more logistical front, I think you mentioned that you have pretty limited Internet at home. How will you deal with customer service etc. on that basis? People have pretty high expectations for how quickly people turn stuff around.

Paragraph by paragraph:

1. The "business" is mostly someone else's side hustle, in which I'd be less involved. If it justifies buying a 3D printer, and pays for it after a couple of years, I'm happy. And I know that's part of his goal as well, though I think he's more interested in it as a money maker than I am. If left to myself, I'd never touch any sort of business of my own with a pole of any length.
2. "Between the two classes" sounds about right, except for the retirement part. If I ever manage to retire I'll have plenty else to keep myself busy, and all of it more fun than running a business. E.g., fixing plumbing and having root canals. (Edit: and building rockets. And designing and printing my own rocket parts, jigs, etc.)
   
   Adding things to the catalog? I don't imagine there being a catalog, at least not at first.
3. Skynet (oops) Starlink is coming.

 

[Bill S]

This might be of use to figure up print time...

https://www.3dprintingpro.info/3d-printing-cost-calculator/

As for design time, harder to find good numbers, but this might help:

https://www.cadcrowd.com/blog/what-...ng-design-costs-for-freelance-services-firms/