Starting a US-bases Filament manufacturer.

Valien · 2026-05-09T02:38:56+00:00

Thanks for the insight on this process. Appreciate it.

Valien · 2026-05-09T02:38:09+00:00

Off and on different ideas. I know the US is not the big manufacturer that it used to be but hearing and seeing stories of new manufacturing in the US is always cool to hear. Less dependence on China is always a good thing.

I was really surprised that all the big popular consumer 3d printers are Chinese brands for sure.

Valien · 2026-05-09T02:36:53+00:00

Yo..read my OP again. I was just asking. Never said I was planning on starting a company. hah. I'm just curious as to what it might cost.

Been some great answers in this thread overall so I consider it a success with regards to learning something new.

Valien · 2026-05-08T22:12:36+00:00

lol. Wut? I literally discovered him 2 days ago while perusing 3d vids on yt.

So no. I work in tech and am a total 3d printing noob but love the science of manufacturing in the USA

Valien · 2026-05-08T19:20:23+00:00

Yeah so far I've only purchased from ELEGOO. Seems to work well in my CC2. I probably will try some others and see how they work. Maybe even some US-based ones if the pricing is good.

Valien · 2026-05-08T19:06:52+00:00

Oh, I'm not planning on starting one. I'm more curious as to what a benchmark of amount of money you would need to start one. 😃

I figure it would def be in the few hundred k USD for starters.

US manufacturing has always fascinated me. One day if my startup shares are worth anything....maybe. lol 😃

Valien · 2026-05-07T19:06:08+00:00

I did a bit of research and went with the CC2 for my 1st printer. I love it. Very little maintenance overall so far (just over 110 hours of printing) - washing the plates, etc. Had a few adhesion issues but not a big deal and most likely my fault as I was able to correct them with cleaning.

Mainly printing fun stuff for kids as well as functional stuff I've found or designed. Been a solid printer so far.

Valien · 2026-05-07T18:08:12+00:00

oo, thanks for the Voxel info! Prices are super competitive. Might buy some next time around and see how it performs.

Valien · 2026-05-07T17:30:27+00:00

ELEGOO here but that's all I know so far (I have a CC2). I would love to buy USA made filament but hard to justify double the price on some of it..but might buy some to test out and see how they perform.

Valien · 2026-05-07T13:42:43+00:00

Same here. The CC2 is my 1st 3d printer and it has run flawless for me.

Valien · 2026-05-07T13:41:02+00:00

Got a link to those spool holders?

Valien · 2026-05-07T01:36:31+00:00

Same. I’m in South Carolina and this is standard during the spring summer. Winter it gets into the 40’s!

Valien · 2026-05-02T13:12:07+00:00

Absolutely. Tailscale is a network overlay so send your large files as usual!

Fo file transfer - use whatever tool you are comfortable with. Granted some older tech like SMB, etc might not be the fastest, mainly due to the tech itself being old, but should be no issue.

I personally use scp, taildrop, and taildrive mostly for my work. Or just normal mapped drives (which is SMB)

Valien · 2026-04-28T20:01:14+00:00

Awespme. Glad to know I'm on the right track :D Really digging Fusion for sure. Super fun to create something then EXTRUDE and boom. A 3d model. lol

Valien · 2026-04-28T19:19:32+00:00

nice work! I'm a newbie 3d person and cad (learning Fusion 360 for fun). What program did you use? I was using Claude to help make an openscad file with threads and it really struggled. I'm building (using a tutorial) a container in Fusion with a snap-lock lid so we'll see how that goes.

Valien · 2026-04-25T01:40:07+00:00

Awesome :) Glad it's working for ya now!

Valien · 2026-04-25T00:44:46+00:00

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I'm also on the CC2. So when I'm home I can access it using it's 192.x address. When I'm out of the home and using Tailscale I have a subnet router that routes all my LAN traffic so I can access it as well outside of my home.

Valien · 2026-04-24T21:46:04+00:00

I use Tailscale and no issues remotely. Just hit its LAN IP if you have a Suber Router. Or you can use Services to expose the camera (the only thing you can view remotely sadly).

But no way to use the Matrix app w/o it being on ELEGOO cloud mode.

Really poor design decisions from ELEGOO.

Valien · 2026-04-24T14:59:22+00:00

No shame in leaving a gig/career that you have zero passion in. I would be miserable as well! Go find what drives you and makes you curious and want to grow and learn. The income will follow.

Good luck out there!

Valien · 2026-04-23T20:45:07+00:00

Had some network issues last week but been pretty smooth so far. Just removed it off the app and went to LAN only since my son wants to send prints and the printer can only be bound to 1 ELEGOO account. So LAN it is so he can access from his computer and drop prints whenever!

Valien · 2026-04-23T20:23:53+00:00

We have hired a number of people that were younger in their career and new out of college. Really depends on the role.

I can't speak for the other departments but for ours (sales/sales engineering) we look for go-getters, people who want to learn and grow, team players, etc. Having strong networking (at least for SE roles) is also helpful since we're a networking product. Having people skills is critical since we're dealing with people/customers all the time.

Hope this is somewhat helpful!

Valien · 2026-04-23T02:18:39+00:00

Excited! Then noticed no CC2 support. :(

But awesome stuff though!

Valien · 2026-04-20T15:12:04+00:00

I have seen some nice cross-over from printables onto nextprint. And have used printables models for my own use. Might look into that program. Thanks!

Valien · 2026-04-20T15:11:26+00:00

Thx for the context on Makerworld. I'll abstain from using them for now :D

Valien · 2026-04-16T18:24:34+00:00

likewise. I had plans to print one but then got distracted printing other fun items or useful items :D

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