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3d printed rack (1 Viewer)

Sparkynutz

Sparkynutz

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I am looking for input on 3d printed poker products.
I will be getting 1, possibly 2 or3 new 3d printers in the next few weeks and have 20-30 hours per week over the next 4 months minimum to dedicate to 3d printing to see if this could turn into a viable business.

I like many others on here have certain needs or wants that just have not been filled with mass produced products.

I would like to specialize in making poker products like-
Rectangle or round starting stack racks that fit your specific chip height. Similar to those widely available already but taller with or without carry handle or card slots.
Bounty chip, Dealer button racks.
Custom figures and maybe even join with table topper supplier to make horse racing games or chicken or donkey or whatever your heart desires.

My goal in these next 4 months is to create everything I want for my own personal poker needs while making enough profit to hopefully break even on Printer(s), materials, and electricity by supplying similar products to the pcf community.

My main questions are-

1. What materials are preferred from potential buyers?
Plain PLA?
Painted PLA?
PETG?
ABS?
Other?
(This will affect which printer(s) I buy)

2. What is a reasonable asking price for an item?
2x2x2 figures?
8 player starting stack carousel?
10 player?
Bounty racks?
Other ideas?
 
1 3D printer will not allow you to keep up with demand, the items that 3D3P was printing take too long, and we see how that turned out. The bulk of that 20-30 hours you have available every week will be watching your printer actually print. If you have 3, you may have a shot, as long as they're printing 500mm/s+. If you get 10+ printing at 200mm/s then you may actually have a chance.

A lot of us on the forum print, and there's a reason none of us are printing for money.
 
Venturalvn said:
1 3D printer will not allow you to keep up with demand, the items that 3D3P was printing take too long, and we see how that turned out. The bulk of that 20-30 hours you have available every week will be watching your printer actually print. If you have 3, you may have a shot, as long as they're printing 500mm/s+. If you get 10+ printing at 200mm/s then you may actually have a chance.

A lot of us on the forum print, and there's a reason none of us are printing for money.
Click to expand...
I'm hoping to be printing around the Clock and the 20 to 30 hours spent editing files and stuff like that.
For the first phase I'm not looking to replace my day job only help cover the cost of my own products and machines if possible since at this point it's more of a hobby than anything.

Everyone that is printing 3D products for poker what kind of materials are you using?
I'm a little hesitant about ABS since the need for ventilation and more of a fire hazard printing when I'm not home.

I'm also looking at getting a CNC machine to possibly make aluminum plates and parts for support underneath the racks if they're needed.

For the first phase in the next 4 months.
The turnaround will probably not be great and I would rather get a census of what kind of products people want and I will try and make that first and sell them as they are done instead of having people order and wait.

After that point I might be able to start offering one-off products
.
 
Sparkynutz said:
I'm hoping to be printing around the Clock and the 20 to 30 hours spent editing files and stuff like that.
For the first phase I'm not looking to replace my day job only help cover the cost of my own products and machines if possible since at this point it's more of a hobby than anything.

Everyone that is printing 3D products for poker what kind of materials are you using?
I'm a little hesitant about ABS since the need for ventilation and more of a fire hazard printing when I'm not home.

I'm also looking at getting a CNC machine to possibly make aluminum plates and parts for support underneath the racks if they're needed.

For the first phase in the next 4 months.
The turnaround will probably not be great and I would rather get a census of what kind of products people want and I will try and make that first and sell them as they are done instead of having people order and wait.

After that point I might be able to start offering one-off products
.
Click to expand...
I would say that for overall ease of use, flexibility and general cost effectiveness, PLA is certainly the way to go. Plenty of colors/finishes available as well.

Asking price should depend on the complexity and print time of each specific design, with the more time consuming options being priced accordingly.


Print speed, as @Venturalvn mentioned is a big factor to this endeavor becoming a business. You can add failure rate to that as well.

Excited to see what you make of it! It’s certainly an idea I’ve entertained in the past, especially with the increasing reliability and print quality of consumer grade printers.
 
improviseallday said:
Interested in some racker stackers.

My only opinion is you should charge way more than 3D3P did to make it sustainable.

Good luck! Following.
Click to expand...
Any suggestion on price point? I don't know what he charged and what part exactly you speak of.
 
In terms of dollars per hour, the viability is probably not there unless you have 4-5 printers running. I printed a bunch of custom sizes racks for some bike tire chips and it was approx 7 hours per rack. So for the 8 racks it took a little over 4 days with a few failed prints.

Cost for the 8 racks was roughly $18 in filament. I used a wood based filament to give them a nicer colour tone.

Your best bet is finding smaller pieces that are quicker to print with a more niche fitting like flattening racks, chip stackers, or something new! Good luck though! Lots of demand in the community for quality stuff!

PLA is probably fine for most everything.
 
Sparkynutz said:
Any suggestion on price point? I don't know what he charged and what part exactly you speak of.
Click to expand...
Minimum: (material costs + percentage of failed production print material cost) * (2 or 3) + print babysitting time

This is a racker stacker. (Pic from djfayze)

1699909387778.png


They're for getting the perfect barrel placement in the showcase threads. (Pic from jeepologyoffroad)

1699909642713.png


Was told in PM that 3D3P charged $14 for a 39mm pair at an unknown filament cost and 6 hours of print time. IMO people who are taking pictures like these are probably willing to pay more than that.
 
I don't have any long term reliability experience with PLA over more than a few years as a medium.

My hopes is that I can offer a superior long lasting product vs the typical plastic chip racks most of us have cracked or broken at one time or another.
PCFers in general spend thousands of dollars for peices of plastic, ceramic or similar.
Hopefully by offering a premium product many of us won't mind the slight increase in price over a typical $5 rack.
The demand is obviously here.
It sucks the availability just hasn't matched due to time and materials required to offer a good product at a reasonable price.

I will do my best to deliver both.

PLA would allow cheaper and easier printing to allow lower cost, but unsure if that will deliver the long term quality product offering I desire to demand a higher price.
Thoughts?

I just don't want to be that guy that delivers a sub par product.
Word of mouth goes a long way into business viability when quality can be given and maintained.

Is there a demand for painted PLA, PETG, TPU, ABS?

Would people be willing to pay a few bucks more for those materials?
 
Racker stackers seem to be a decent demand item.
Is there any way I could improve them?
Connect able to be able to do 10 stacks instead of 5?
Heavier or lighter?
Any other design options?
Injection molded or poured option could be cheaper long run if I made 1000 or more of them.
Thoughts?
 
Last edited:
Sparkynutz said:
I don't have any long term reliability experience with PLA over more than a few years as a medium.

My hopes is that I can offer a superior long lasting product vs the typical plastic chip racks most of us have cracked or broken at one time or another.
PCFers in general spend thousands of dollars for peices of plastic, ceramic or similar.
Hopefully by offering a premium product many of us won't mind the slight increase in price over a typical $5 rack.
The demand is obviously here.
It sucks the availability just hasn't matched due to time and materials required to offer a good product at a reasonable price.

I will do my best to deliver both.

PLA would allow cheaper and easier printing to allow lower cost, but unsure if that will deliver the long term quality product offering I desire to demand a higher price.
Thoughts?

I just don't want to be that guy that delivers a sub par product.
Word of mouth goes a long way into business viability when quality can be given and maintained.

Is there a demand for painted PLA, PETG, TPU, ABS?

Would people be willing to pay a few bucks more for those materials?
Click to expand...

PLA is super easy and non-toxic, but it can be brittle and it has a low melting point (so can deform if you e.g. leave it in the car in the sun).

PETG has a bit of flex and is thus is less brittle/more robust but it tends to string during printing. But maybe after you get your set up squared away this will be a non-issue. Least toxic to work with (it is what they use for plastic milk jugs).

ABS is pretty tough, but it is harder to work with, does best with a temperature controlled enclosure, and creates toxic fumes as it melts so you should have good ventilation.

I would go with PLA or PETG. Please recognize though, that the quality of a 3d printed part will never been on par with a factory injection molded piece of plastic. Quality, although something to strive for, is not the selling point - the selling point is that the item fits a custom niche.

Also, if you do not have one, you might want to consider a dehydrator for your filament. Moisture absorption will happen and it really hurts quality and structural integrity of prints.

Excited to see what you start turning out! Best of luck!
 
Sparkynutz said:
Rackers stickers seem to be a decent demand item.
Is there any way I could improve them?
Connect able to be able to do 10 stacks instead of 5?
Heavier or lighter?
Any other design options?
Injection molded or poured option could be cheaper long run if I made 1000 or more of them.
Thoughts?
Click to expand...
I was specifically looking for a 10 barrel solution!

Other than that, they could be a little lighter, but it's not that important.
 
Two ideas I have but know I don't have the time to try to print and sell:

1. A tray for holding setups, DBs, and maybe spare chips/bounties that will sit on top of a rack of chips so you can put them in a Versa bird cage. E.g., you put 8 racks of chips in a 1000 bird cage and then put one or two trays of these trays on top. You could make them inter-operable with Justin Racks by putting indents on the bottom of the trays.

2. Racks designed specifically to hold tournament starting stacks. Could be in horizontal or vertical position. Also would be nice if you could fit them into Versa birdcages.
 
GreekRedEye said:
Two ideas I have but know I don't have the time to try to print and sell:

1. A tray for holding setups, DBs, and maybe spare chips/bounties that will sit on top of a rack of chips so you can put them in a Versa bird cage. E.g., you put 8 racks of chips in a 1000 bird cage and then put one or two trays of these trays on top. You could make them inter-operable with Justin Racks by putting indents on the bottom of the trays.

2. Racks designed specifically to hold tournament starting stacks. Could be in horizontal or vertical position. Also would be nice if you could fit them into Versa birdcages.
Click to expand...
Post in thread 'OED's models for 3D printing poker stuff' https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/oeds-models-for-3d-printing-poker-stuff.50673/post-967604
 
@Sparkynutz ... Consider this decision carefully. I've been 3D printing things on in here for members for years and I've learned one thing: 3D printing and being a vendor will become a full time job.

It takes like 10 hours to print a single side of rack stacker. I've had printers catch fire, so my advice is to always be home and attentive while a print is running (not something most people can do).

If you're looking at printers, I would consider the Bambu Labs for it's sheer speed, but be prepared to spend $2k+.
 
BearMetal said:
@Sparkynutz ... Consider this decision carefully. I've been 3D printing things on in here for members for years and I've learned one thing: 3D printing and being a vendor will become a full time job.

It takes like 10 hours to print a single side of rack stacker. I've had printers catch fire, so my advice is to always be home and attentive while a print is running (not something most people can do).

If you're looking at printers, I would consider the Bambu Labs for it's sheer speed, but be prepared to spend $2k+.
Click to expand...
These things can catch fire? My kids got two going almost full time. I better get him an extinguisher :oops:
 
CraigT78 said:
These things can catch fire? My kids got two going almost full time. I better get him an extinguisher :oops:
Click to expand...
Definitely have one handy.
Safety precautions I'm taking-
Afci circuits with on off control from my phone.
Surveillance camera with phone access.
Room is 8x10 with concrete floor and all 4 walls except the door which is wood. Thinking of installing a steel door tho.
Insulated ceiling and planning on installing 5/8 sheetrock with steel or fiberglass milk board after whichever is cheaper.
2 fire extinguishers.

Also planning on keeping a dessicant dehumidifier in the room to maintain humidity levels below 30% 24-7

If I print abs I'll have to add ventilation or move printer location to garage. I'd rather only print abs items in summer months outside under a covered steel porch and not worry about ventilation or fire hazard of that as much.
Hopefully PLA and petg is durable enough I can avoid abs.

I also looked into injection molding a little bit. I did maintenance on one at a job a few years ago and always thought it would be cool to have one.

I have plenty of experience fabricating aluminum molds for pouring parts out of various durometer 2 part urethanes which also may be another option for stackers and other small parts.

Would a urethane or epoxy stacker be an acceptable alternative to 3d printed if the cost could be kept around $10-15 plus shipping per set?
With epoxy I could make some pretty cool color combos and make them quicker than 3d printing.
 
Don't let people order/backorder ahead of time with no limits. The time involved to 3d print in quantity is still way too high and will be a problematic bottleneck.

Figure out one item, make it bulletproof (in terms of print settings, filament and settings, post processing etc.) and then start small offering limited batches or pre-orders for that item. From that point you can rinse and repeat to expand your items available.

If you've never 3d printed before you'll find there's quite a learning curve. Walk before you run.
 
Plans in the works, printers and filament on the way along with some other ideas up my sleeve.

Quick question.
What color or colors would you want your poker products made from.

So far I only picked up a few limited basic colors and lots of black, white, silver and clear in PLA and PETG.
 

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