How can I sell 3d printed parts?

You did not ask yourself:
How do I prove that the part I am selling is up to industry standards?

Also, it sounds like you think you can do it in several/ any industry. Maybe you can. But you will have to prove yourself in every industry.

Have you considered selling your stuff to whoever these people buy their parts from already?

You convinced one of these to carry your part, you've convinced hundreds of end users. Animal was suggesting a JV, and this could really work that way.

I don't think 3D printed parts is an unproven concept, however, he needs to convince why corporations should buy parts from this bloke.

OK, so as I understand it, a so-called JV for you guys is a profit sharing agreement in exchange for a warm list of prospects?

So my process would look like this:
A)Ask the whale what ails them in the least threatening way possible
B)Go down one level
C) Sell my services to the piranhas and the salmons
D) go back up the food chain using the latter as social proof

?

Thanks for the reference.

I myself do not have either a machinist or a engineering background so they were very educational videos.

Rereading myself, I make it sound like I have a shop chosen already and I'm almost ready to go but I gave the wrong impression. In reality, I don't know.

The best I can do is bring people together.

There's a bit of a chicken and egg problem.

There are two avenues of approach:
a) Find a bunch of manufacturers ----> Find a pain point ---> Sell
b) Find some pain point ---> Find the manufactuers that can solve it. ---> Sell

a) seemed most attractive at the time of the OP, but after a lengthy discussion with my technical partner, he convinced me that b) is more appropriate because I can't vet for print shops independently.

I know my partner has experience doing design at scale within a corporate settings. 4000 parts a year is apparently a "very very low number" but from what I got from our discussion is that it depended on whom I am going for as the needs of any one client tends to be very specific.

There wasn't a manufacturer that was objectively better all the time, just ones that were better at that particular moment for that particular client. Another suggestion I got was not to be closed to the idea that another method like casting might be better alternative for a particular client.



Overall, I was mistaken: my focus shouldn't be so much on selling, but on making discovery calls to narrow down a single target market. At this point, it's a back-and-forth between the engineer, myself and the market.


That's a good point, I thought I could leave it purely to the 3d print shops to figure it out but now I'm not sure. Perhaps it's a bit naive but is it similar to car parts, where some shops might have parts but others might not?

How stringent are the proofs?

e.g. Would something like stress analysis be sufficient in most case? I can't imagine not.
I realize that could bump up the price quite a bit, but I hope by cherry picking the difficulty of my projects, I could keep it down to an acceptable level.

For proof of scale, would simply knowing the manufacturer to be used in depth be sufficient? I am told statistical controls and random sampling can be done to check if parts are to specs. An on-site qualitative assessment to make sure people don't fudge stats and have processes can also be done.

In one of the Titans of CNC video, the owner mentions he gives access to ERP data just to reassure people they actually have processes in place. He implies it is a common objection from their clients, and I assume it works.

Wouldn't something like the above weight more in the equation than brand? Maybe I'm naive but, I'm genuinely curious. If all these things are in place, what else could go wrong?

I was also kind under the impression that custom work inevitably had things like proofs baked in.

Is there any place this crowd likes to hangout at the local level?

I know a lab tech who was something of a Linux wizard at my alma mater, and he was in charge for a few semi-pro 3d printers,he has a pulse on the local tech scene so I was planning to ask him next.

All the guys in the videos have the "car guy" vibe tho lol.