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