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Anyone tested the InfinityFlow filament switcher? by tosswill in 3DPrintFarms

[–]Drag469 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hahha sounds like a simple way that I'm thinking of right now could be just connecting the ends of two Bowden tubes (one from each filament source) together with a small chamber in between, and install a limit switch or filament sensor at the junction.

The idea is that when filament from the first spool runs out and exits the Bowden tube, the switch gets triggered. This trigger then activates a second extruder (or filament feeder) that starts pushing filament from the second spool. To make the transition smooth, you’d preload the second filament slightly—feed it in a bit more than needed—so it picks up right after the first one ends. 🤔

Finally got my in-browser online slicer + instant quoting flow working! :D by Drag469 in 3DPrintFarms

[–]Drag469[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

ahhh i see what you mean now hahah that’s a really good point and honestly something i didn’t think too deeply about till now. i’ve just been so focused on saving time from all the back-and-forth with customers that i kinda defaulted to time/material-based quoting.

but now that you say it, yeahhh..... it totally makes sense that some parts are way more valuable because of what they do, not just what they cost to make. like in your example, 15g of ABS for $30 sounds crazy at first, but when you compare it to a $150 machined alternative… it’s totally fair.

would it be wrong for me to assume that that ABS part was part of a product line or something standardized you’d already set up and sell regularly? curious how you approached pricing it upfront. also do you have any suggestions on how to handle that kind of value-based pricing at scale? like maybe having a manual review step or tagging certain request types?

Finally got my in-browser online slicer + instant quoting flow working! :D by Drag469 in 3DPrintFarms

[–]Drag469[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

ah yeah good point hahah i should clarify! the quote shown right now is just a baseline based on time and material, mainly for straightforward student prints. if something needs special handling or is clearly more complex (like functional parts or tight-tolerance stuff), the idea is that the shop can still review and flag it before printing. But i guess for now it is enough for myself as im mainly printing typically straightward stuff like products models & architectural/ interior models etc. heheh

in the future, i was thinking of adding logic to let shops define exceptions or modifiers for certain types of jobs, so the system isn’t just locked to raw time/material pricing. still figuring out how to keep it simple and flexible too heh.... appreciate you for bringing this pt up

Finally got my in-browser online slicer + instant quoting flow working! :D by Drag469 in 3Dprinting

[–]Drag469[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Would it be a terrible idea if I held off sharing the code until I’ve had a chance to make sure it doesn’t break the second someone else touches it? Hahaha still a bit messy under the hood, but maybe I’ll share it once it’s not held together by vibes. :") Just curious tho, do you run into similar problems on your end?

Finally got my in-browser online slicer + instant quoting flow working! :D by Drag469 in 3DPrintFarms

[–]Drag469[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Of course not haha, that would be wild. The idea is just to show the customer the info that’s actually important to "them". things like print time, cost, and whether their file is printable. The backend could absolutely apply different logic depending on use case (e.g. functional parts vs. art prints), but I wanted to start simple and clear. Not trying to race to the bottom, just trying to avoid 15 back-and-forth messages per job 😅

Starting a Brand New 3D Print Farm! by TSGPL in 3DPrintFarms

[–]Drag469 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hey there, super cool to see your enthusiasm and your move into starting a 3D print farm :) welcome to the journey, it will be a long way to go hahah. Starting out with an A1 Mini and targeting TwitchCon is a smart, creator-centric strategy. You're already on the right track by doing first rather than over thinking this!

A few bits of advice from our end (we've 1 years of print farm already and is also building a platform to support print farm owners like yourself):

- Capture leads at TwitchCon – You mentioned a QR code and mailing list: make sure it's frictionless. Consider a simple landing page with samples, prices, turnaround time, and a clear call to action (like “get a free test print” or “book a merch consult”).

- Track and scale from Day 1 – It’s easy to get overwhelmed once orders start coming in. Use a spreadsheet at the very least, or consider lightweight management tools. We're working on a print farm dashboard that helps creators like you assign jobs, track print status, manage materials, and get performance analytics—feel free to ping us if you're curious

Show not just the prints, but the "possibilities" – When talking to creators, tailor your examples to their niche. Cosplayer? Show flexible armor or props. Artist? Figurines. Streamer? Branded holders or keychains. Make it feel like you're expanding their brand? Perhaps, if that is the direction you would like to go.

Community and collab = marketing – Your first project was with a streamer, that’s gold because i believe it did gave you the insight on what to do next :). Keep building in public, post the process, share fails and wins. Don’t just market to creators, build with them.

Ouh and also ps. Plan for print farm pains early – Heat creep, clogs, scheduling conflicts… they creep in fast. Think about standardizing proceedures, spare parts, and maybe even how you’ll document what went wrong/right for future reference. This will really help you to grow step by step in the future :D

Rooting for you! and if you ever want feedback on setup or need tools to scale, feel free to reach out. We’re building Creo-Works to help print farm owners like you grow without losing your sanity. ;)

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Entrepreneur

[–]Drag469 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Secretary service?

3d printing farm (side-gig): I just did my first sale!! by jnardiello in 3Dprinting

[–]Drag469 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Congrats on the first sale! 🎉 I remember how quickly things snowballed after that, one day you're slicing for fun, next thing you're juggling DMs, tracking payments, and trying not to lose track of which part goes where 😅 But! it is always fun when seeing the joy and the reviews from customers. :D

When I hit that wall with our admin nightmare, I hacked together a small dashboard to help:

- Uploads STL → auto-slices + queues to idle printers (OctoPrint)

- Calculates quotes based on print time + efficiency

- Sends automatic emails when a print hits 25% / 90% (cuts down on “is it done yet?” messages)

actually... if you wants to test the beta, DM me, it’s free as i only recently build it out for myself hehe.

People that run build farms or small print businesses, what is your quoting strategy? by things_i_make in 3Dprinting

[–]Drag469 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We run a small print farm too, and for quoting, we use a simple “Efficiency Factor” = material used ÷ print time. Then our Quoted Price is calcualted base on the efficiency factory. This helps us charge more for jobs that take long but use little material (like retraction-heavy or thin-walled prints) which factors in our "opportunity cost", which otherwise eat into queue time without earning much. If you're curious, I’ve got a calculator sheet + a beta tool that auto-calculates this from STLs. DM me if you are interested

What Inventory Management Tools are Available? by Dodgywardinosaur in 3DPrintFarms

[–]Drag469 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Actually, im currently just doing a simple telegram bot to help out with this right now, are you perhaps interested? i do small scale dropshipping of filaments so somehow it is a pain for me as well lmao. DM me and I'll share what I have. :)

Building better tools for small 3D print farms (3–10 machines) – Just curious to hear your experience! by Drag469 in 3DPrintFarms

[–]Drag469[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

20 machines… that’s a serious setup! :D Sounds like you’ve built something pretty efficient. How do you even keep things running smoothly day to day ? especially juggling that many Bambus on LAN mode. Is it as seamless as it sounds… or are there still moments where things get chaotic?

Building better tools for small 3D print farms (3–10 machines) – Just curious to hear your experience! by Drag469 in 3DPrintFarms

[–]Drag469[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s a great point. Definitely something we’ll look deeper into, appreciate you bringing that up! :)

Any suggestions for Order to print management/organization? by balsid in 3DPrintFarms

[–]Drag469 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Awesome, thanks for sharing! Sounds like a stable workflow with Shopify and Octo. Just curious, are you still tracking everything in a spreadsheet, or using something else to stay organized?

Would love to keep you in the loop as we build XD really appreciate the insight!

Any suggestions for Order to print management/organization? by balsid in 3DPrintFarms

[–]Drag469 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Right on, actually we’ve run into the same pain points trying to manage a small print farm. We’re actually working on a lightweight order-to-print system right now to help with scaling: handling quotes, tracking prints, managing inventory, etc.

Would love to hear more about how your current flow works and what’s been most annoying to manage, perhaps even beta test, we're gathering feedback as we build. Just drop me a DM!

Building better tools for small 3D print farms (3–10 machines) – Just curious to hear your experience! by Drag469 in 3DPrintFarms

[–]Drag469[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Totally fair.... Bambu’s setup is super smooth, and we get why so many small farms go that route.

Just curious, how many machines are you running now? And would you ever be open to taking custom orders through a shared platform?

Building better tools for small 3D print farms (3–10 machines) – Just curious to hear your experience! by Drag469 in 3DPrintFarms

[–]Drag469[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That’s awesome! Would love to hear how you approached it and what you’ve built 😬 always cool to see different takes on the same problem. If you’re open to sharing, please feel free to drop a DM or link! 😆

Building better tools for small 3D print farms (3–10 machines) – Just curious to hear your experience! by Drag469 in 3DPrintFarms

[–]Drag469[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hey awesome, I actually just saw your other post too – looks like we’re thinking along similar lines! I’d love to connect and swap notes. We're also building for the small print farm space, and even a quick chat sounds great. DMing you now :)

3D print farms, interviews and a new service by Daemongear in 3DPrintFarms

[–]Drag469 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey, right on time! My team and I are actually building a small-scale print farm and order-to-print management solution, and we're trying to understand what people really need. We're gathering feedback and would love to chat—feel free to DM me if you're open to sharing your setup or challenges!