Yes, I'll throw my hat in the ring, I do filament or resin printing.

 

We had a thread of this nature in the Tracks and Scenery section a while ago. Rather than move it here and possibly have outdated information, I'll just pitch in here.

I'm happy to facilitate the realization of virtual models into IRL ones here in the states. I do primarily filament printing, but also have a resin printer that gets put to use from time to time. PM me for a price quote by sending me the URL for the model you're looking at.

 

Thank you very much Kevan and Greg. I put UK Greg as I guess due to postal costs. Good to keep in mind though, Now there are some options I can check out Thingiverse or whatever it’s called - I need to check out lighting poles for starters.

 

Yes, but that's not in the thread title. My assumption was that you were asking for everyone, but also for yourself.

How about this:

3D Printing Slotters

docs.google.com

With that link, anyone can add to and edit the spreadsheet. If you want to offer up your services for 3d printing, just click it and add. It's just a start and is really simple, and probably not as good as it can be, so feel free to edit for visual or functional optimization.

If you want to see who is offering services, click the link, just don't change anything.

 

As noted elsewhere, I have on occasion provided this service although I am also in the US.

 

I'm interested in maybe putting my name down but not sure how to charge the client for a print is there a thread about this ? If so please point me in the right direction!
Thank you,
John.

 

I’ve had repops of shoulders for Scalextric Super 124 track 3D printed. Found vendors through Shapeways.

 

John, generally your slicer will provide the cost of the print itself, based on the information you insert in the "Settings" portion regarding the cost of the filament/resin you're using. Any amount that you choose to charge for your time, and postage/packaging etc. is up to you. I have contemplated charging something like 5% of the materials cost, plus postage for jobs I've done for others. Not in this to make tons of money.

 

Okay, do you mean the box that tells you how many meters of filament it will take and how long it will take? Will this 5% cover the electricity too?

 

He means the slicer. For example, PrusaSlicer (a branch of slic3r) has a field where you enter material cost. When it completes the slicing, it will tell you how much material it used, and therefore the cost of the used material. If you want, you can mark it up however you like.

My rule of thumb is $2 per hour of print time. For smaller things, I usually mark it up more, and for larger things I discount it from that. A lot of times, it comes down to what I think a reasonable retail price of a thing is. If it's something I'm printing a lot of, so can just print the same thing over and over, the price comes down. If it takes a lot of set up or cleanup, the price goes up.

You don't have to be printing for profit (make a bunch of money) to charge more than materials alone. There are a lot of other costs involved that many people don't consider, from electricity costs to printer maintenance, not to mention labor for setting up the print to cleaning it up. What about waste from failures? That's where my $2/hr comes into play. Other people use more, or less, or if they're doing it for a friend or family member, a spool/bottle of material. It's up to you.

 

He means the slicer. For example, PrusaSlicer (a branch of slic3r) has a field where you enter material cost. When it completes the slicing, it will tell you how much material it used, and therefore the cost of the used material. If you want, you can mark it up however you like.

My rule of thumb is $2 per hour of print time. For smaller things, I usually mark it up more, and for larger things I discount it from that. A lot of times, it comes down to what I think a reasonable retail price of a thing is. If it's something I'm printing a lot of, so can just print the same thing over and over, the price comes down. If it takes a lot of set up or cleanup, the price goes up.

You don't have to be printing for profit (make a bunch of money) to charge more than materials alone. There are a lot of other costs involved that many people don't consider, from electricity costs to printer maintenance, not to mention labor for setting up the print to cleaning it up. What about waste from failures? That's where my $2/hr comes into play. Other people use more, or less, or if they're doing it for a friend or family member, a spool/bottle of material. It's up to you.

Righto, I understand now , I use flashprint slicer , it tells you how much material and how long in hour's, minutes but not the cost. So that will still work for quoteing someone for a job-print! (I'm not interested in making money just enough to not be out of pocket).
Thanks.
John.

 

My son at Aotrs Shipyards can print on demand using an FDM printer. Cost is by printer time which varies on what layer trhickness is required. typicaly large models like 1/32 he will use 0.2mm but if a rough finnish like a track boarder 0.3mm is better. I used 0.3mm for my pit exit hybrid that fittted an R2 corner. He is in the UK.

Edit: change to remove most ot the emal, see UshCha's correction below!

 

TYPO

Didn't work just now. Is there a typo?

 

Very good, but as an uninformed purchaser much on the table is beyond me and offputting.

All I need are contacts to ask: (for example):

“Hi, please quote for - 25 widgets, Thingiverse item no. 12345, with postage”.

Thanks.

K.

 

A lot of this banter is so we the 3D printer owner can do so ! There is a little bit more to consider when quoting a person a price than most people understand!
Cheers,
John.

 

Then ignore the rest of the stuff. Contact someone with your request for quote. If it's not obvious to them if it should be FFF or SLA, then they should ask you what the use case is, or what kind of finished product you're expecting, so that they can help you decide.

 

Yup Typo uses Simplify 3D which has a reasonable guess at printer time and material and a formulae we use to convert that to a quote.

Edit: (With UshCha's clearance) from said Aotrs Shipyards, since UshCha has had a light slap on the wrist for putting an email up directly (since it's not safe to do that any more with bots trawling for stuff like that).

Instead, contact me via Facebook via the send email button (in the event it works..) or messenger, or failing that the aforementioned email is on the last page of my catalogue (which is otherwise likely not of interest to you slot car folk!) here: AotrsShipyardsCatalogue0.946.pdf where it is at least marginally more secure! (And if you have the email already, that's fine; it's not the email itself, it's just internet spam/bot prevention safety. If I seem paranoid about it, it because I HAVE been spoofed and such before...)

 

It might seem a bit cheeky but I've had 3 bodies printed for me simply by contacting the member on the forum by pm and asking if (s)he would be so kind to oblige, and they have and we've worked out a deal that suited us both.

 

I would love to commission someone to print S1 and S2 Lotus Elise, as well as S2 Lotus Exige. All 1/32 scale.

 

Are the files available?

 

See there's another thing to consider, cost of a file if needed ,to find said file!

 

I know nothing about 3D printing, so I do’t know if this is workable.

Lotus Elise 3D model - STLFinder

Lotus Elise 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 sport fast racing coupe cabrio convertible roadster english england fun car

www.stlfinder.com

 

...and that's a 3D render for gaming purposes not 3D printable.

 

If you're searching for printable bodyshells we need files of bodyshells. This is a simple example:

 

And they have to be the right shell thickness for the desired scale. Most I’ve seen become way too thin to be durable enough when scaled down to smaller scales , if they are even printable at all. And many I’ve been sent by friends asking for help are pretty low-poly (low resolution/low quality). Facets look great on diamonds. But not so much on race cars. Most of the models I’ve seen on thingiverse are pretty bad. And many of the paid ones too. The sellers post screenshots with smooth rendering on. But the STL files can be a different story.

 

...or a file where the bodyshell is part of a kit like this:

 

That's always the most difficult part... finding the model, or explaining to the customer that what they found is either useless, or will take a LOT of work to make printable.

 

Yep!
Who would have thought that that a block East German car is harder than a Ferrari!
:-D

 

I believe I now have the appropriate .stl file for an Emira body.

 

How many other people here actually model their own print files from scratch? It’s time consuming, but fun to be able to create virtually any design you want. And not have to deal with repairing someone else’s files just to get them printable sometimes.

 

None for cars, but plenty for other things. It's very rewarding to work hard to create a virtual thing that is then realized overnight, or even in just a couple hours and immediately put into service.

 

Hi All,
As some might know, I've taken on a project for a 1/24 model of a Le Man's Cobra hard top. Unfortunately, my issue is time as it will take a while to mail a prototype for a test fit. I'd like to commission a print to be sent to Germany for that purpose. Once the bugs are worked out I will send the final product or may commission a new print.
Please PM me if your willing to take this project on.
Preferably, your location to be close to Germany.

Cheers
NimROD

 

I don't typically create from scratch. I do modify but I seem to lack the artistic eye needed for the complex curves of the cars I like.

But as @MrFlippant says....plenty of other things, sure.

Thickness is manageable, and sometimes even lower poly files can be re-meshed, but that does take time and effort. Not normally a customer situation, I do those for my own benefit since it's a car I want and can't have without the effort.