OK, say you need something 3D printed. Now what?
Assuming you don’t have a printer yourself, you’ve got to find someone to do it for you. Who does it? Where are they located? If they are halfway across the country, how long is it going to take before you can actually get your do-dad?
That’s where maker6.com comes into play. Launched in August by the same people who created the cadcrowd site, Maker6 puts those who need something 3D printed in touch with local businesses that can do the work.
“The real goal is not to be the cheapest service, but to be the fastest,” maker6 co-founder Mackenzie Brown said.
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You type in your location and the Maker6 site comes back with a list of companies in your area that 3D print things for customers. Along with their proximity to you, the site also lists what type of materials each company works with and their prices.
“The real value of maker6 is that it’s local and it allows you to get an instant quote,” Brown said.
Visitors to the Web site can also get help from several hundred freelance designers, if they’ve got a design for a object that needs a little tweaking. The key word here is “tweaking” though.
Cadcrowd is still the better site for someone who needs something designed from scratch. The general idea behind maker6 is that you’ve already got a design and you just need someone with a 3D printer to make it for you.
Customers can order their prints from the manufacturer while on the maker6 Web site, then pay a small finder’s fee, usually about 9 to 10 percent of the price of the order.
Designers can also post their own creations on the Web site for sale.
“Some designers want to sell the file, some designers just want to sell the printed project,” Brown said.
The site boasts an array of odd-ball items from 3D printed fruit fly traps for $5 to toothpaste tube squeezers (yes, toothpaste tube squeezers) for $3.
“Say you want to combine three Nerf guns into one for the ultimate Nerf gun, we’ve got random stuff like that,” Brown said.
References
- cadcrowd (cadcrowd.com)