We are launching a new non-profit 3D Printing platform exclusively for students. The platform is called Printz! Printz lets students connect with each other to share, discover, and 3D print their cool designs.
Students with 3D printers can add their printers to Printz to allow others without 3D printers to print their designs. Additionally, students can upload their own designs for others to search, discover, and print.
The goal is to create a community of student designers and builders who can collaborate to unleash their creativity without being constrained by 3D printer availability. To help those without 3D printers, add your 3D printer to the platform today!
Even in an increasingly globalized world, we are defined by our local communities. Hence, all revenue generated will be donated to local school programs that help shape a thriving local community.
Hope you will play with the platform and provide us feedback to make the platform better.
Am I correct in understanding that you will print any part which can fit on your printer 15cm x 15cm x 15cm for $1.99 and ship it anywhere for another $0.99?
I think you are undervaluing yourself in more ways than one.
*Disclaimer: all the following math is janky, but I think you’ll see my point.
If I wanted you to print the Ultimaker robot at a size of 11 cm x 6.5 cm x 15 cm at 10% infill with other reasonable settings, my slicing shows it would take 115g of PLA and use a length of 38.56m. There are flaws in how the slicers determine those numbers, but let’s generously say that’s 20% of a roll of PLA. Let’s also charitably say that a cheap roll of PLA costs $15 if you’re able to find it.
20% of $15 is $3. You’re already spending 150% of the money coming in, just on filament. Not to mention other costs like repairs, machine wear, tools, supplies, packaging, etc.
This math is not a perfect example, but I think you’ll probably see the direction I’m going.
I also see that you’re charging a 3 cent service fee on the order of one part from your printer. I imagine this is your CC processing fee or something. That’s fine, but you really should consider if there are any costs to running your platform. If so, consider charging a service fee.
Lots of people get into the trap of thinking that a non-profit has to offer their services for free. This is simply not true. Shareholders shouldn’t be profiting off of it, but you can definitely charge what you need to get the job done.
You may also want to clarify what you mean by “50 kb of file size.” If this is the size of the stl, I would consider changing the pricing because file size is not even closely related to the filament the model will use. For example, if I create a 15cm^3 cube and export it as an stl, the file size is 1kb. This would undoubtedly cost more than $1 to print.
If this is the file size of the gcode, I would still consider changing the pricing because there are a myriad of variables that can affect the file size of the gcode. For example:
15cm^3 cube @2 walls and 20% rectilinear infill: 5,286kb
15cm^3 cube @2 walls and 20% gyroid infill: 320,599kb
As much as it seems like it may turn potential users of the service away, it’d probably be best to give quotes upon request (customers could submit an intake form where they provide pertinent print info). There are many print job calculators like this that can help.