[kman1863]

I'm toying with a new concept-- what would you guys think of a service that allows users to customize prosumer FDM printers based on their needs-- that way, they get their mostly-ideal printer without paying for any components they don't want to pay for. It could apply to anything from nozzle type to materials capabilities, build volume, UI, what the printer looks like, etc.


Any thoughts?

[awerby]

I'm not seeing this as a viable business idea. Say someone buys a cheap little printer and wants it upgraded so they can print full-sized furniture. How's that going to work? What would be left of the original machine, and why would it be worth using that stuff? How would you be able to keep all the parts on hand to deal with all the different designs of printer there are? Many smaller printers are enclosed in boxes - do you plan to disassemble them, build a bigger box, put all their components back into it and somehow charge less than a factory in China that makes bigger printers in the first place? Where are you doing this, where skilled labor is so cheap?

[magicniner]

Any thoughts?

Stock levels? Delivery Times?
Do you have a massive CNC workshop you can't find work for, or are you thinking of everything being knocked up from ally sections, kinda like home-builds?

[the_real_skimmy]

3d printing is way less complicated. It is just to melt plastic and push it trough a nozzle. I had printers from 300€ to 4000€ delivering the same results.