3D Printing Meetup Topic: Starting a 3D Printing Business

Thinking about making some money with your 3D printer? Whether you’ve already sold a few prints or you're just kicking around the idea, this meetup is all about sharing ideas, asking questions, and learning from each other. We’ll talk through some of the less fun but super important stuff—like what legal pitfalls to watch out for (are you familiar with copyright law?), and what to expect for overhead costs, customer interactions, and more.
We’ll also discuss:
• What’s working (and not working) on Etsy
• Whether farmers markets or flea markets are worth the setup
• Tips for building your own website or using niche platforms
• And how the heck do you figure out what to charge?

This isn’t a formal class—just a casual, collaborative meetup for people who love printing and want to explore the business side of things. Bring your ideas, your questions, and anything you've learned the hard way—we’re all here to help each other out. All experience levels welcome. If you’ve got a printer and a passion, you’ll fit right in. If you've established your 3D printing business already then we'd love to hear about how it went, what you learned, and what you would suggest others do differently.

For our Print-of-the-Month the group decided to incentivize people to check out an underutilized material--TPU (or anything flexible)! So instead of focusing on the model to print, the challenge for our August meetup is to simply print anything you want, as long as it is printed in TPU! It will be fun to hear what people think of this material, especially if you haven't tried it before. It may become your new favorite.

Meetup Address for in-person attendees is:
HartSmart Products
9850 Douglas Ave.
Suite 200
Urbandale, IA 50322