Do you own a 3D printer and are seeking additional income opportunities? Look nowhere else! In this article, we’ll look at 7 incredible suggestions to make money with your 3D printer.
There are a lot of opportunities, from launching a YouTube channel to discuss your ideas to selling your 3D drawings on well-known e-commerce sites like eBay. Even better, you can launch your own online 3D printing course or work as a freelancer developing and printing prototypes for entrepreneurs.
Stay tuned to discover more about how you can start using your 3D printer to earn money right away as we go deeper into each of these concepts.
7 Ways To Make Money With Your 3D Printer You Dont Want to Miss
Below is a list of some amazing ideas that will help you make money with your 3D printer.
- Sell Your 3D design on an Online Store
- Start a Youtube channel to share your ideas
- Sell your 3D Printed Products Online
- Start an Online Course For 3D Printing
- Start making money as a freelancer
- Create Workshops
- Create a Website to Sell your 3D Printed Product
Now let’s take a closer look at these.
1. Earn Money By Selling a design on an online store
You can sell your design on any of the popular e-commerce websites like eBay, Etsy or Aliexpress, etc. (I will recommend that you sell on Etsy). There are other websites where we can sell our designs but we are not sure about those sites so I will be recommending sticking with these two sites i.e. Etsy and Aliexpress.
You can get very good traffic on Etsy from users all over the world.
Etsy is the perfect place to start for a new seller as its policies are straightforward and easy to understand for sellers and buyers, unlike many other e-commerce websites. It has a number of marketing tools that can help you sell your product such as SEO, paid ads, optimized titles, etc.
This will help you reach more customers online easily through these marketing tools that Etsy provides free for you to use (These are not available on Aliexpress).
2. Sell educational models to school
One of the best ways to make money with 3D printing in 2023 is to sell educational models to schools. It is now widely accepted that 3D printing is an excellent learning tool that is widely used in STEM education. But not all schools have the funds to purchase 3D printers, or have trained educators who can teach 3D printing to students. Instead of selling them 3D printers – which already most businesses are pursuing – you can persuade schools to purchase educational models.
All schools use standard medical or science models to teach students, and these are mostly outdated and even loosely mended together to keep from breaking apart. So, replacing their existing models and more interestingly, offering them new and unique 3D printed models to enhance the students’ understanding of concepts, ideas and topics, is significantly interesting to schools.
3. Start a youtube channel
Start a YouTube Channel for 3D printing and earn money from there. Share your ideas for products you want to print, troubleshooting tips, and more.
Then sell them on websites such as Etsy, when people start buying your videos subscribe to your YouTube for more videos. This can be a great way to make money with a 3D printer!
4. Selling your 3D printed products online
You can sell your own or other people’s products by providing them with an ordering facility on your website. (This will help you earn good money).
5. Online course for 3D printing
You can start an online course for 3D printing from your experience and knowledge about 3D printing. You can also use your online course as an income-generating product.
With a little time and effort, you can start making money with 3D design and printing.”
6. Become a freelancer
By becoming a freelancer, Designing and printing prototypes for inventors, producing custom-decorated objects for designers, etc., You may make excellent use of a 3D printer and profit handsomely from it. You can also build a 3D Printing center for events like business expos, parties, birthdays, etc…
If you are an employer then you can hire a freelancer on freelance websites and make them work for you.
7. Creating workshops
Offer workshops about 3D printing to people who want to understand the basics of 3D printing and get trained in 3D printing cheaply. (This is the best) This can make you perfect as well as create a long-term business for you.
Start a subscription-based program for teaching people about how they can use their product to earn money only if they have access to the internet.
8. Earn by Creating a website
Launch a website that will help people know how they can use their products and earn money from them by working with their own 3D printer. (For e.g tutorials, guides, etc..)
Some Other unique ways to make money with a 3D printer
- If you are into Robotics then you can also print your product easily. (For e.g 3D printed robots, 3D printer parts, etc..)
- Post your design on forums, Facebook groups and ask people to support your design. Attach a tagline with your product saying that the product was made by you on your 3D printer i.e” This was made by me on my XYZ Printer”.(This will help you sell it easily).
- Making prosthetic limbs is also a very good option to make money with 3D printers. You can customize it according to the user’s shape, size, and skin tone which perfectly matches the opposing limb.
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Summary
After reading about this and knowing the uses of 3D printing and how you can money through it, I am very sure you never feel your 3D printer is a waste or a toy anymore. Moreover, some of these things are actually best to earn money, and if you have the talent for this, that cherry on the cake.
You can recover your 3D printer purchasing cost if you know how to use it and how can you utilize it with your skills.
FAQs
Can you make money with 3D printing?
If you want to earn from 3D printers then you have many opportunities to make money. There are many industries like manufacturing, Architecture, Medical, Engineering, Food, and Education that can use 3D printers to improve their efficiency and productivity.
What is the most profitable thing to make with a 3D printer?
Cosplay props, planters, and miniatures are some examples that give you the most profits. Selling Prosthetic body parts is also the most profitable business you can go with. You can create customized body parts for your customers.
What 3D printer software should I use?
There are many software available in the market for your 3D printer you can go with. Some of the tops are Fusion360, Solidworks, Onshape, Blender, Siemens NX, etc. Remember software is just a tool, it all depends on you how creative you can think and design.
What is profitable to 3D print?
Designing and selling 3D printing files
To succeed in this field, it’s important to identify profitable niches that cater to the interests of 3D printing enthusiasts. Gaming figurines, cosplay accessories, and architectural models are among some of the great niches.
