Through out the three seasons of the Reptile Entrepreneur Podcast there have been a number of guests on because of what they have accomplished with 3D printing. Today I would like to talk about what you can do with a 3D printer.

This is Bill Strand, the host of the Reptile Entrepreneur Podcast. I highlight the twists and turns of the entrepreneurial journey with the intention of helping you get past the roadblocks.

I don’t think I am exaggerating when I say that commercial 3D printers are the most disruptive technological consumer advance in the last fifteen years. The smartphone was before that and the internet before that.

3D printers have given each of us the ability to manufacture close to any plastic product we can think of. As wonderful as it is to be able to print keyholders and figurines for your role playing game, today I am going to focus on what it can do for us in the reptile community. Mass producing a product requires a healthy amount of monetary investment and you have to sell enough to cover the monetary investment and bring back profit within a reasonable amount of time. So any product a company makes needs to either be expensive enough to justify making the small number that’s will sell or else be able to sell enough that the small profit on the large volume adds up to make the business case. And so the reptile community will see the most products for species which are represented in large numbers. If you have a special application, then your either have to make a product made for something else work or else you have to craft it yourself. Those of us in the more niche areas are well acquainted with repurposing items for our use. But, with a 3D printer we no longer have to wait for someone to make a product for us and we no longer have to pull out the bubble gum and duct tape to make stand off, cup holders, handles, feeder cups, mist nozzle brackets, fogger inputs, and even connectors to put together large cages. In fact, now is the time for us to break out of the mindset that we need to be passive in the equipment we use in our husbandry. My last interview with Colby Gingles of Thrive Ecosystems is an extreme example where he literally manufactured the LED light bar with the spectrum output he wanted. But this is exactly where we are today. You can take control of your equipment. 3D printing is a very manageable way to help you do this.

The reason why I am doing a solo episode on the topic of 3D printing rather than bringing on a guest is that I want to set the foundation of what being 3D printing capable can do for you personally in the care of your reptiles. And once you recognize that value you can quickly see how that can turn into value for other people in your niche. I make specialty chameleon products, but someone else will need to make specialty dart frog products and still others will be needed to make specialty tarantula products.

What is 3D printing?

But let’s take a time out here to make sure everyone is up to speed on what 3D printing is. It is simple. Imagine having a nozzle that produces a drop or line of liquid plastic on a flat surface that dries quickly. With that you can make any shape on the print plate. But then the nozzle raises up .1mm and then puts down another pattern layer. And by doing layer after layer you can create most any shape in 3D space. Okay, there are some shapes that are difficult and need to be made in parts. This is the real world and there always has to be real world limitations. But, there really aren’t many. This is called FDM printing, or Fused Deposition Modeling.

There is another process called SLA or resin printing which uses a resin liquid that hardens with UVB light. Resin printers allow more fine detail and there are some structural advantages. It is the technology of choice for small figurines that require detail in miniature or engineering projects that have structural or waterproof needs. But it does require the handling of solvents and a liquid resin which can cause and develop allergies.

FDM printing, which is usually what is meant when we say 3D printing, uses a plastic filament and is much simpler, safer, and easier. And if you are making parts to hold up lights, or cups, or make hides, FDM 3D printing is an excellent choice. Therefore, for the rest of this episode, when I say 3D printing I mean the FDM printing.

How much does it cost to get started?

Now a days, a decent 3D printer can be had for $200 and if you wait for a sale you can find them under $100. The mid range models are from $400 to $800 and you start to get into mass production capable printers at $1200 to $1500. Like everything, you can go as expensive as you want depending on the capability you require for what you are producing. 1kg of filament, which is what you print with is $20 to $30 and your part cost depends on how much filament you use.

Sounds intimidating to get started

One look at the 3D printers available and you will see a wall of options with thick marketing speak which confuses everything. As a Product Marketing professional I can see great attempts to impress potential customers with flashy graphics and made up words. And this just makes it incredibly confusing to start off. There are a number of important features, but the main two are the print volume, meaning how big an object you can print, and what materials you can use for the print. There are a number of plastics that have various properties of strength, flexibility, UVB resistance, and even glow in the dark. The secret to selecting a 3D Printer actually lies in selecting the filaments, meaning the plastic material, you want to use. And then selecting the 3D printer that can handle those materials.

3D CAD

More on that in a little while. But first lets discuss the most intimidating part of 3D printing. And that is designing with a CAD program in 3 dimensions. CAD is Computer Aided Design and is just the programs that allow engineers to design objects in 2D or 3D space. 3D design is complicated by the fact that we are trying to design it in 2D space and so the computer has to work hard to give our eyes depth and perspective. And we have to figure out how to build up our design in this environment!

Luckily things have developed. I graduated with a degree in engineering and have worked with CAD programs throughout my engineering design years. And I can tell you how amazing our progress has been to simply the process. Yes, you can get a professional level CAD program, but there are online design programs available to use for free online. I give a class on 3D printing for Reptile Keepers and I use TinkerCAD.com to teach the basics of 3D design. It is a program that is free and allows you to place blocks and other shapes on a 3D grid. This output goes into which is called a slicer program that breaks your design into the layers that will be printed. My main message here is that designing in 3D space will take a little getting used to, but it is surprisingly simple. With literally a couple of click on your mouse you will be able to design and print a block. I understand that your ambitions may go beyond printing out a simple block, but it doesn’t take a whole lot more mouse clicks to turn that block into a custom sized L bracket with mounting holes that allows you to connect two pieces of equipment that weren’t designed to go together. It is this easy to take control of the tools you use!

Now, you don’t actually have to design your own parts to get use out of a 3D printer. There are entire communities of enthusiasts that are constantly churning out designs for free and for sale that you can download and print. Literally everything from open source storage container systems to key holders to mounts for your smart phone to toys to…let’s just say you will never be able to print all the designs available to you. But I dedicate time in my class on the 3D design CAD program because my target audience for this episode is the people who want to do new things with their reptile husbandry. That means designing things that didn’t exist before! And, since this is a podcast dedicated to entrepreneurs, I know a healthy percentage of you are interested in creating products, both hardware and build files, for sale. So, the design of a unique object is a focus for us.

Design Ethics

3D printing is now available to just about anyone. Just look on Etsy and you will see shops dedicated to selling 3D printed products. Anyone can get a 3D printer and open up shop. You might ask, is it really that simple? The answer is yes, it really is that simple! Sure, that first weekend will be frustrating trying to pick out what YouTube videos are helpful and which ones are just garbage, but it won’t be long before anyone can pick up the basics and start creating. And then these online eCommerce platforms make it easy to set up and start paying them various creatively named fees.

So, here is where we need to have our first serious talk about ethics. With a community of people trying to figure out how to have a side income and the ability to make anything in their living room you can imagine the temptation to simply copy other products that are out there. Why go through the bother of being creative and working out all the bugs from a design when you can just steal someone else’s work? And, yes, unless a patent is involved, there is nothing in the law that stops you from doing this. And, yes, this happens all the time. I am hoping that my audience takes pride in creating what does not yet exist. Stealing other people’s designs is just being a parasite on the community instead of adding to it. Of course, you can call people names and try to make them look bad online, but it doesn’t do anything to stop them. I do have a patent on my design for the Dragon Ledge cage accessory and I have had to send cease and desist letters on a regular basis. It is sad how many people believe they are clever when they are just copying other people’s work.

So, let’s talk directly to the true entrepreneurs out there. I know you will be concerned about people copying your designs. And, yes, people will copy your designs. They will be blatant and unashamed. They will even present it as if they were the ones who invented it. If you are not aggressive in your marketing they may even accuse you of copying them and get you kicked off of eCommerce platforms. It is not fair and there is little you can do to directly combat this problem outside of getting a patent. And that is a bit of an investment both to get one and to enforce it. I had an episode here on the Reptile Entrepreneur Podcast that talked about patents that you can reference if this is of interest.

Outside of a patent, your only protection is aggressive marketing of your brand to develop trust. And that is an episode all of its own. Today I want to talk about the process of 3D printing and encourage you to get started! But, yes, 3D printing is a huge subject when you consider all the issues surrounding it and we will be touching on these issues over future episodes.

The bottom line is that, whether you go into a 3D printing business or not, integrating 3D printing into your reptile husbandry is a powerful tool to allow you to customize your husbandry and explore how to do things better for your particular niche interest. And, even if you didn’t go into this thinking about selling a product, once you succeed in making objects which help you give better husbandry you are likely to find that those objects can help other people in your niche community. And so selling or sharing is a natural evolution for any 3D printer hobbyist!

3D Printing for Reptile Keepers Class

Getting started with 3D printing can be confusing and there are many loose ends. I did a good amount of research before I got my first 3D printer, but looking back, I would have made different decisions if I had the benefit of the experience I have now. The problem is that even with all the YouTube videos out there, there is nothing that speaks directly to us as reptile keepers. And so, if you are interested in getting started with 3D printing and wanted to get off on the right foot, I am offering a live, interactive class entitled 3D Printing for Reptile Keepers. This will be a paid Zoom style class where we meet for four consecutive Saturdays. I will go over the basics of 3D printing, I will go over the actual models available and help you decide on the right 3D printer, I will lead you through creating your first 3D design, and then will discuss the basics of 3D printing as a business. And all of this will be done through the lens of what reptile keepers will be interested in. You can find more information on this class on the Reptile Entrepreneur dot com website. Check the website for when classes are held. As this is a live interactive class where you can and are encouraged to ask questions, the classes are given at specific times and dates. Check the website for the latest schedule. If you are listening to this upon release of this episode, there is a class starting this Saturday, August 19 at 2PM Pacific and there is still time to sign up!

Conclusion

I can’t overstate how useful 3D printing is to us reptile keepers in terms of our husbandry and potential for a side business. I encourage all of you to consider getting involved. There is an enormous trove of information on YouTube and you always have my class if you would like to bypass the shotgun research approach required on YouTube and laser focus your entry into the 3D printing world. My main message here is that you can do it. Do not let the technical terms and having to learn a CAD program intimidate you. Yes, it takes some time to get familiar and comfortable with everything, but that is the case with just about anything we do! So, I hope you consider this exciting new technology.

Maybe I can inspire you by sharing what I am doing with 3D printing within my community. Many of you know that my particular niche in our reptile community is with chameleons. I run the Chameleon Academy which has a massive informational website, podcast, YouTube channel, and now an online magazine that comes out every other month. I have used 3D printing to customize cages by designing and printing standoffs, plant holders, fruit fly cup holders, fogger inputs, cage mending plates, and my plan list has a number of other projects. In my semi-monthly digital magazine, the Chameleon Academy Journal, I will be having a special column dedicated to 3D printing where every issue my community will get another useful product they can download and print themselves. I will probably also offer these products printed on an e-commerce platform for people that do not have printers, but this is a way that I can use 3D printing to serve my community. Within an issue or two I will accept designs from other people in the community and offer a tip jar for people using their designs. And with this I can create a community around 3D Printing and there are projects we can work on together. My vision is to create an open source nursery cage system which will allow people to more easily create an baby chameleon raising system where each baby has their own cage. And so you can see how 3D printing can be more than just making cup holders and selling them on Etsy. You can develop community which can strengthen your niche. If 3D printing is not on your plate right now then just sit back and watch as things come together and develop. And know that it will be there for you to join in as soon as you are ready.

If you are working with 3D printing already, please email me and let me know what you are up to. My email is bill@reptileentrepreneur.com or you can just DM me on the Reptile Entrepreneur account on Instagram.

And, if you are wanting to get involved with 3D printing and want to be confident in how you start, check out the 3D Printing for Reptile Keepers class  at reptilenetrepreneur dot com. You’ll see a big image about it on the home page!

This is an exciting time for us! I am imagining what we can do as a 3D printing reptile community if we start working together! So, if you feel like getting involved with something at its grassroots beginning, this is a great opportunity! And, as for me, I need to finish designing all the 3D printed plates that will allow chameleon keepers to easily connect two large cages to make a huge cage! Just another day’s work in the life of a 3D printing reptile herpetoculturist!  And, you know how I end my podcast episodes with take care of yourself, take care of our reptile community, and let’s see what we can do? Well, this is the embodiment of seeing what we can do! Let me know if you have any questions. This is Bill Strand signing off, and I’ll see you next time.