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How should I monetize my 3D printer design?

7 points by matthewhall ↗ HN
I'm 16 years old and recently finished building a 3D printer from scratch. It's not revolutionary, but is quite good for the price range. I built it for 400USD. How can I make some money or profit somehow through this? My time is limited slightly by school but that's not much if an issue. You can email me directly at matthew349hall@hotmail.com

5 comments

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[dead] ChizenT
Hi, you can in principle monetize by listing the printer on 3Dhubs. However my experience is that just listing the printer will not be enough to get a flow of orders. You will need to advertise your hub somehow.
celticninja
Kickstarter as a project to build and produce it perhaps? You could just Kickstart it to make a working prototype and release the plans to backers instead of becoming a 3d printer manufacturer. Perhaps higher levels could be sent the necessary parts to construct their own.
taprun
Just because you don't think it's revolutionary, doesn't meet it might not sound revolutionary to someone else. Try getting some press from some news outlets that report "Young scientist builds new 3D printer technology in basement."

Tie this to a small online presence where you offer to print items for others (especially with sites focusing on youth education), and then you can describe yourself as a "Young scientist turned entrepreneur."

Take the articles/blog mentions about you received and get some funding from non-profits / local governments / big businesses that want to be associated with youth and entrepreneurship. Use that money to continue to work on your device and business.

Even if you don't wind up with anything revolutionary, you'll be able to write one heck of a college admissions essay, look great for future job prospects and have a pretty good business network. You could also take my advice, bundle it up into an ebook with your personal experiences and sell that too.

matthewhall
Thanks. I was thinking about setting up a booth at our local community college's Tech Fest (a child oriented tech fair) to draw attention and poll to see who would want one.
Ryanb58
I suggest you create a blog then populate it with your own content and experiences. Remember to use good SEO.

Then either sell things you make with it or sell it itself.