In this video I talk about the past year, in which I started with one 3D printer in December of 2019 and now operate a 3D print farm for my new business "New Tech Inventors" with over fifty 3D printers.
Hahaaa, I said “Cool check out what this old guy is doing”. My wife looked at you, looked back at me, and said “You’re The Same Age”! Zing!! Looks Great 👍
Don't count the old guys out just yet. We still have a little drive and determination left in us. Thanks for the comment. Your wife sounds a lot like mine....Ken
Great job! I'm nearly 70 years old and I sold over 35,000 parts last year that I 3D printed. I have 9 FDM printers and 2 resin printers. I have them running nearly 24/7.
Thanks for the comment Gene. If I still had my Silverado I would be using your "Railcaps" for sure. What a great idea and what a success story. Glad to see that your business is doing so well and I hope to start seeing sales of my products this year. Great to see another old guy doing well, we never run out of gas, RIGHT? Thanks for sharing that Gene and thanks for watching...Ken
All you guy let me feel bad (I just 33year old). Thanks your share experiences. I looked someone have real story like this. I should star my dream like both of You👍🏻
Ken, you are so inspiring, I’m 65 and retired May 2022. I just survived a next death health scare this summer through the Fall. So your message to me is get after while you can. My second Prusa arrives tomorrow. I taught 3D modeling and 3D printing. This opens up unlimited possibilities. Thank you for what you do!!
Thanks for your kind words, Richard. Glad to hear you are now doing well and getting another printer. At our age we have seen a lot and I think you will agree that 3D printing and being able to sell on the internes all over the world is better than anything we had in the past. I hope the younger generation will jump on this opportunity that is available to them. Loots of luck with your venture and thanks for your support...Ken
1959 was just two years before I got into Ham Radio at age of 14. Everything was vacuum tube and pocket transistor radios had just come out. The Dick Tracy comics had him wearing a wrist watch with video and voice communications. Very unbelievable at that time (Apple watch), who would have thought??? This 3D printer technology is going to be a game changer, so if your young, now is the time to take advantage of it and learn all you can, I think it will payoff down the road. Thanks for the comment and setting off a spark of my past....Ken
@@NewTechInventors I wish I was young but it all started in 1969 for me. Still though I’m starting out on my own in this technology and really looking forward to it. I really enjoy your videos and I take quite a bit of inspiration from you. Thanks for letting me ride along your journey!
YES!!! MADE IN AMERICA We are really lucky to be able to follow our dreams and have the freedoms that we all benefit from every day. I think I will have to deviate one day and do a patriotic video dedicated to all who have served and sacrificed to give us this opportunity. Thanks....Ken
Thanks for your comment. I hope the next few videos will be interesting. I am going to record the process of transforming a real mess in a building I used for my construction business before I retired in 2019. It has the potential to become a productive second 3D print farm for my business. I hope to get some help this summer after this covid is under control. Hope you will be watching. Thanks....Ken Weller
I really enjoyed listening to your story. My grandfather was also a ham radio operator. I still have a box of vacuum tubes in my garage! He also went into the Air Force around 1956-1958 in Dayton, Ohio. He later worked at Aerojet as an Electrical Engineer and helped get the rockets to space! Thank you for making this channel to share and inspire us to try new things! Keep up the good work!
Glad to here about your grandfather and I thank him for his service. I was born in Dayton Ohio and still have family there. It's a small world and interesting how much we all have in common. Thanks for your comments and I hope you will continue to watch as I try to do a better job of providing content that will help others start their own business using 3D printers. Thanks for watching...Ken Weller
Good job on the video Ken, Remember, you can sell your products on eBay or even amazon any time you like. You can make any amount of product you like available one piece, or a million pieces. And you can still sell on your website as well. I have a number of patents as well and I sell a product I designed and make called the "Winterset trap bed" on eBay. Its nice to have the exposure offered by that sales platform while driving business to the product with RU-vid. Good luck and keep cranking out the ideas and the products. -Shane
Thanks for the comment. I hope you will keep watching, I have a lot of cool things that I want to get recorded and posted. Thanks for watching....Ken Weller
Thanks for your comment Chuy. That first part did go through many revisions to get it right. Now that I have more experience with 3D printing and 3D cad I can design a part and print it with few revisions. Thanks for your support...Ken
Thanks for the encouraging words. It's great to hear form you there in Germany. I have had the opportunity to vacation in Germany twice and loved every minute of it. In fact My great great grandfather and my wife's great great grandfather, on our fathers side, both came from Germany. With last names of Weller and Wolfenbarger. It really is a small world. Thanks for reminding me of the good times I've had in Germany and for watching...Ken
Thanks for the kind words. I do plan to try various nozzle sizes and adjust settings as soon as I get a chance. Thanks for the input and for watching...Ken
Thanks for the well wishes. We should know in a few months how these current products will do. I am also working on other ideas to follow these. " If at first you don't succeed, try try again " Thanks for watching...Ken
Excellent video. I am just beginning a similar idea. I first tried a Creality CR-10. It was a piece of junk right out of the box. I sent it back scratching my head. So, I quickly bought another, this time a Winice. I can't say enough good things about the Winice. Seems like we are both 2 old guys that never stop learning.
Sounds like your on the right track and I wish you all the luck in the world. Even us old guys can still learn new things, ain't it great?? I have many different printers as you can see in my videos and they all have the same basic concept of operation. I found that I could get all of them to 3D print an acceptable part after enough adjusting and trial and error. I now prefer to buy printers that don't require a lot of assembly and adjusting to get them to produce good parts. I recently purchased a Anet A8 PLUS printer that required a lot of time to assemble. I think they now have a version that comes partially assembled, I would strongly recommend that everyone pay a little more and not spend hours assembling the entire printer. Thanks four comment....Ken
I will be using Anet ET4, ET4X,ET4 PRO, Tronxy XY-2-PRO and a few other printers at my new print farm. I have been laying out 12, 24, and 48 hour print jobs for these printers. After much tweaking I hope to only have to visit the 3D print farm twice per day. If all goes well I will get a large number of parts with little of my time required. It would be easier to have all printers of the same type, however that is not the way it is for me, so I will do the best with what I have. I'll let you know how they do under pressure. Thanks for the interest and comment....Ken
Thanks for the comment. I will soon be posting videos of the before and after transformation of my old construction company building into a secondary 3D print farm for New Tech Inventors. Hope you watch and let me know what you think....Ken Weller
Thanks for the comment. The 12 hour cycle will be very beneficial when I get my secondary 3D print farm going. I will only have to go there twice a day, unless there is a problem. It's only a two minute walk from my front door, but it should run without onsite supervision. My wifi cameras will keep me updated as to the status of the print farm. Thanks for watching....Ken
Thanks for your kind words friend. I wish I was better organized every time I work in my upstairs bonus room original 3D print farm. It is so crowded I have printers everywhere and can only run about 12 or 14 at the most at one time. I will be very happy to get the new print farm going and have room to work for a change. Thanks for allowing me to vent my frustrations and thanks for watching...Ken
The answer is no. My last transmission was from Keesler AFB in Biloxi Mississippi in 1967. I had a Heathkit 20 meter SSb transceiver. My call sign was WA4PJN. My remaining 3 years in the air force included one year at Nha Trang Air Base, Vietnam. So I really didn't have time to continue the hobby at that time and just never got back into it. I still Know Morse code _ _ . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . . . _ .. . . _ _ . _ . _ . _ GOOD LUCK with your antenna hobby...Ken
You should be using large format resin printers. You can fill an entire print bed and it doesn't change the print time. A bed of parts like the one shown there could be printed in 6 hours, and it wouldn't matter if you printed one or six.
I will be setting up my resin printers later this week at my new print farm location and will then do my first resin print. If all goes well I may be taking your advice and getting some large format resin printers for production. Thanks for the info and comment...Ken
Really enjoyed the video Ken. Wishing you the best of luck on your projects. If you haven't attempted it yet, you might want to try a .6 or .8 nozzle which will shave a lot off your print times. I was given a job by a customer who didn't have the time to run it on their own printer in house. With a .4 nozzle the job took over 23 hours and by changing to a .6 it cut the time down to 13 hours.
Yes!! I have had others also suggest that I try larger nozzle sizes up to 1mm. I am now experimenting to see how these larger nozzles will work with my parts. Thanks for the info and for sharing your experience with us. Wish you all the luck in your business....Ken
@@NewTechInventors The .6mm is a happy medium for me for finish and strength. In some instances you might have to tweak flow, temp or speed, but I've run with .4mm settings and no visible difference
I like your methodical approach sir. Keep up the good work. I have all the modeling and the 3D printing skills..... but I have yet to find something that I think people will buy. I think I resonate more with your approach rather than testing the market with random products of questionable usability.
Thanks for your comment Nick. Everyone has their own way of doing things and I encourage everyone to follow their instinct as far as how to accomplish their goals. The main thing is that they do something rather than waiting for something to come along. With your skills you can be successful by charging ahead and not waiting for the easy path to appear, you may stumble a time or two, but sooner or later you will be successful in finding that magic idea that will sell and make your venture a success. Good luck my friend...Ken
I've seen all of your video and your work is just amazing setting up this huge printing farm. I also have a little 3D company and I sell my own model too. But I started one printer after another to be able to keep up with the rising demand of my products. I'm asking how is it possible to set up a so huge print farm without having sold anything yet?
Glad to hear that you have watched all of my videos and hope that you have seen an improvement in both the quality and content. At least that is what I've been striving for. Sounds like you are doing well with your business and I wish you all the luck with it. To answer your question, when I first started my business I knew because of covid that I would have to do everything myself and because of that I had to come up with a plan that would work for me. I had to design and test my products, create a print farm that could handle manufacturing and do all the other things involved in getting the business going. My plan had to allow my to do everything myself without exceeding my limits. It's been a slow process but I am almost there. I have made a substantial investment which I will reveal in a future video that will probably be called " HOW MUCH MY 3D PRINT FARM BUSINESS COST $$$". Thanks for the question and for watching all those videos...Ken
A great aspect of 3D printing is that you can start small and quickly sell some product to "test the market", and use that to decide on a farm size, or perhaps a different manufacturing method. Was there a reason that you decided to make a whole farm before selling any?
YES! Glad you ask Matt. I could have made a few parts and started selling them, but without a well developed marketing strategy I might not know the true potential of the product. Also I am committed to making the business work, not just a single product, but an ongoing line of products. That is why I have other products and not expecting all of them to be successful. When my website is complete and new print farm ready I can concentrate on marketing, sales, production, shipping, and hopefully making some money. Thanks for your very good question and my chance to explain my plan....Ken
@@NewTechInventors Thanks. I will have to keep up with your channel. Im an engineer that has also been a bit of an "inventor", and its great to see different strategies. I think for most of us technical people, marketing is one of the most challenging aspects of making a business
Awesome setup! I have several ideas for niche parts, just have been reluctant to take the plunge on a printer. What model Tronxy are you using? Any issues with UL listing on your parts?
I have some older Tronxy acrylic frame printers and Tronxy X1. I would recommend the Tronxy XY-2-PRO, at under $200 and with a 255 X 255 glass heated build plate, resume print, filament break sensor, and heavy duty power supply, you can't beat it. I think you would be happy with this printer. Assembly is minutes not hours. All my powered products use low voltage from vendors power supply. Go ahead and follow your ideas, you might be surprised what you can do. Thanks for the comment...Ken
I started with a prusa in 2016 using fusion 360 and have designed a printed tons of stuff, but just now considering 3d printing for a business. Were you retired when you started doing this, what make you decide to do this at your age? Larry
I retired from the construction business as a residential custom home builder in 2020. In December 2019 I was looking at getting back into electronics as a hobby and found out that with my eyesight problems and macular degeneration I had problems soldering and never had enough light. I wanted to make a device that would hold items, provide additional light, magnify the area, and hold special tools as I worked. I had an idea in my mind of how the device would look but did not know how to make it. I had heard about 3D printing and though, that might work. I bought a $85 printer on eBay and downloaded Autodesk 123D design free software and was designing parts and printing in a matter of weeks. It was later I decided to try to make a business out of it. I was successful enough in the construction business that I did not have to rely on this business for income, so I could work at it at my own pace. Now at age 75 I am challenging myself every day to make this project into what I would call a success. Thats my story and I'm sticking to it. Thanks again Larry for your questions...Ken
@@NewTechInventors I think it is awesome that you are doing this after you retired. Tackling this an youtube at the same time is quite a challenge. I quit working when we hit the road a few years ago, i am 58 but i have had some health problems so RVing now before health prevented me from traveling was important. I want to start up a maker business when we stop full time rving next year. Your videos and your story are really inspiring me to take the plung. I have always worked for corporate medical device companies and never had my own business so this will be a new experience.
Hello my friend, If you are wanting to start a new business using 3D printers, You might want to watch my new video I am posting in a few hours on this channel. It is called "how I started a 3D printer based business during COVID 19". It show the many things I had to do and how I did them, including design, 3D drawings, patent process and much more. I hope you will watch and let me know if it was helpful. Thanks for the comment...Ken
Thanks for the comment. Yes, and I see a lot of that spirit in young 3D printing enthusiasts every day. To all of you, this is a great chance to use your imagination and create something that will forever be yours. Good luck...Ken
I truly wish you the best with those Anet printers, I get the amount it costs to get things up and going but those printers have horrible reviews. We went with QIDI Tech X-plus, i mate printers for our farm, they can print carbon fiber with flawless prints. than again we are spending $499 to $699 each depending on model so its been a slow start buying one or two a week and counting along with 2 resin printers a week. I just worry seeing you invest so much for all the same type of machines. I heard a lot of people say the Anet printers just totally died on them...
I have many different 3D printers, but mostly the Anet ET4 printers that work very well for me and all 35 of them are fully operational. Thanks for sharing and for your support...Ken
Great video and really inspirational one, I sold 1k parts in last 3 months with my 3 Ender 3 printers... I will be grateful if you make a video on how you manage the Inventory of filaments and spare parts. Any software available for free?
Good to hear your business is doing well with those Ender 3 printers. I will do a video soon on filament inventory and my spare parts as well as other operational aspects of my business. Thanks for sharing and for your support my friend...Ken
At this time all of NTI Helping Hand parts were printed using PLA filament, however since then many of the parts requiring more strength are now printed using PETG filament. Thanks for your question...Ken
Thanks for the question. I am currently making parts for four items that I plan to start selling this spring/summer. One is called "The Helping Hand", it is a multi tool holder device that helps hold items and tools while working on them. Good for hobbyist, repair, production, and other uses. I have a video posted called "The Helping Hand Demonstration Video" , check it out. I also make a device called "The Lap Diner". My next video will show all the parts that I make. Thanks for watching...Ken
First of all: I am impressed and glad to see your entrepreneurship and wish You all the best with your business. I do wanna mention that the phrase "YES!!! MADE IN AMERICA" is somewhat lessened by the fact You are using Shenzhen manufactured printers though. In this case, the dreams followed in freedom is helped by cheap Chinese machines. Again, it doesn't demeanor your business effort, I'm just balancing the "YES U.S."-part. If You feel that I someway disrespected You or Your Country, feel free to remove my comment - it was not in any way meant to be disrespectful towards You Sir, nor Your Country.
I am not offended by your comment Benny, and will not remove it. I use the phrase "made in America" as being supportive of others in my country that are making an effort to start a business. I am equally supportive of anyone on this earth who may be starting a business and for all of us "Made on Earth". I know that almost all business's around the world use products produced in other countries as I do. Thanks for the insight as to how my comments may be received around the world. I understand and as usual I have learned another something new this day. Thanks for watching...Ken
Thanks for the comment my friend. The answer is no! not out of the red yet. I hope getting the Amazon store going will help get me out of the red. Thanks for your support...Ken
