Quantity printing service?

Apologies if this question is off topic… Wasn’t sure where to go with it. :slight_smile:

I’ve designed a product with my Mini that I’d like to get 100 copies made. I’ve looked all3dp.com and 3dhubs, but their pricing is apparently not meant for quantity production as I can print it cheaper myself, significantly. My cost would be just over $1 per print, and the best price I could find was $15 per.

So, can anyone direct me to a service that provides quantity printing at a price lower than my cost? Is there such a provider? I was assuming someone printing in quantity could price better than I, but maybe thats not the case?

Thanks!

I’m not sure you will find anyone to print parts for less than $1 per part. How large is the part? I might have the capacity to print them for you but the part would have to be tiny to get them for $1 or less each. You have to remember that anyone printing as a service has to consider their time and overhead expenses, etc. It isn’t just the cost of the plastic.

Thanks, nopick. Its not tiny, measures about 10cm cubed, but uses little filament.

What you’re saying makes sense.

Is there any other options to go from stl design to mass production… some method beyond 3d printing?

Low volume injection molding pricing is coming down, but for that volume and price point, you’ll need to DIY.

Got cha. Thanks for the reply.

3D Hubs might be your best bet. You wont get it for $1, but probably way better than $15 depending. But i dont know.

You will run into large variations in quality from person to person, most decent, some terrible, and some excellent. Some way cheaper than others. The worst two experiences i had was one guy was experimenting with upgrading his printer from some other “so-called 3d printing experts” and the quality went down considerably and another guy that was trying to do it as a business (i guess to support himself and his whole family?? Dumb idea to me) and he tried to jack up the price unexpectedly and the quality was a little poorer than i expected in that it was colorfabb-xt and had some warping issues that i guess shouldn’t really happen with that filament (so maybe his printer was poor).

But you might find a good bargain and good quality if you look for it. The top person i found for both price and quality is a local member at the nearest creator/maker space. He turned out to be the closest person to boot. Plus he has access to the small 3d printer farm at the maker space.

Biolumo, thanks for the reply. Great info!

I agree with you completely :sunglasses: Cool news.

I print production parts daily on my farm of Taz’s. I may be able to help depending on your timeline\budget\QC standards.

I currently run all 6 of my 6’s 24/7 with PETG and few other smaller specialty printers If you want to send me a bit more info I wouldn’t mind helping you out- Have many can can you fit on a plate at a time? Do you already have your desired build strength\weight configured and tested?

Shameless plug of my product (www.tsunamiwaketechnology.com)

Thanks,
-Tom

EDIT//

I noticed you said cheaper than your cost- which I don’t think would be possible but we should be able to get fairly close. In my ad-hoc production world I’ve learned the most expensive thing is time. Its not so much how much the filament\electricity costs - its the time it takes the printers away from printing other items of value. As they say… If the wheels ain’t turning - you aint earn’n.