This topic is being generated to help point Kraftwurx members in the right direction of how to get a prototype produced on Kraftwurx with 3D printing mass produced.

Kraftwurx is willing to help those members who desire to take products to mass manufacturing to that point. We are able to do custom molds, tooling and offer traditional manufacturing sourcing from your products as they become popular.

In between is a place called Bridge Manufacturing and this post will focus on both early prototypes and bridge manufacturing. Early in your products life, it may not be wise to seek manufacturing in traditional ways because there is a cost associated with making your products in bulk.

A Typical Small injection mold cavity may cost $3000 to $30,000 and that cost is something most people cannot afford.

3D Prints can be used as tooling themselves. For example: Kraftwurx can make RTV Silicone Molds that you can produce tens or hundreds of copies of plastic items with.

Jewelry items can be made this way too. If you want hundreds of an item made, Kraftwurx can make an RTV mold for you and deliver the first batch, plus the parts you need to make your products or source the manufacturing for you.

In my former life as a Manufacturing Engineer, I have worked in product development and operations management for companies like Dell and Artcarved making everything you can think of.

Kraftwurx wants to be different by helping our members do more than just 3D printing products, we want to help you turn your ideas into reality as real products that you earn a living from.

If you have a need for more than just a single print or a few prints, let us know and we'll help you turn your 3D Model or 3D print into something you can sell at a price that will help you make more money from the items you sell.

3D printing can't compete on price with traditional manufacturing such as the injection molding processes - operating the 3d printers costs significantly more per part, and although we offer some discounts for volume, the process cannot compete with traditional means. But there is more to think about here:

With traditional means you will have to invest real money into the tooling and significant time to make the parts yourself or pay someone else to labor costs.

With 3D printing at Kraftwurx, we have minimal setup fees and our pricing is purely a function of the volume of material consumed and printing time Machine time).

The advantages of 3D printing over traditional means include freedom in the design. Many items that people print on Kraftwurx cannot be made easily with traditional means. With Injection molds for example, you must often have very fancy multi-part cavity molds with ejector pins, retracting features and other crazy mechanical things going on in the molds that drive the cost of the mold making up significantly.

With 3D printing, there is no concern with this but if you try to take a design from 3D print to producing it with traditional methods, you may find the item very hard or impossible to make.

At Kraftwurx, our 3D printing costs are simple, if an item uses $25 of material, that's the price you pay, for 1 part. Plus shipping costs of course. We do offer volume discounts however but you must email us to take advantage of those rates at this time.

One thing most people new to the world of making products have to consider is breakeven. If you make a mold, you have up front costs and recover that cost split out over making many thousands of copies of the part. Hopefully people buy enough to get your money back at the very least...if not, you lose out. With 3D printing, the only cost is the modeling time you spent designing the item.

If the item becomes popular, that is the best time to seek traditional means to make it. Of course there are other reasons why 3D printing may not be right for your product...such as engineering properties.

Have fun on Kraftwurx and let us help you wherever we can.

Let's 3D print the planet!