So -- I'm throwing around the idea of creating a network of printer-owners that

Haha, I love the moonshine analogy! It would be very similar, to what has happened on ebay or Amazon’s network of sellers.

+Kent Langley, I didn’t even think about bitcoin :slight_smile: Is the currency leveled out enough to be reliable?

@Chris_Hooker – there appear to be, yeah.

What if you have a network of 3d and 2d printers working together your 3d printer has a Que and once it’s done with a single print your 2d printer could print a shipping information that to person ordered and pays for. Then your 3d printer pushes the print off the bed and starts again. As a owner you would have the right to print what you want between your requests. Then all you have to do is take them all to ship at the end of the day

Raspberry pi has enough usb ports to run both printers

There is always this: http://makerfactory.com

It’s been out for like 2 years now.

@Billy you could have a webcam feed of your print bed.

and one should also merge this is a autonomous drone based delivery service to get the parts shipped out once printed.

When the doorbell rings there will be a matternet AR drone waiting just outside.

order > pay > print > deliver > confirm > rinse > repeat

if the orders are dynamically routed to the nearest printer with the needed capabilities as specified in the order then that’s even more nifty right?

+tharon rodriguez it seems to be picking up steam but does require analysis. If not, there are other means of payment that could be interesting as well such as Chirpify or things like it that are sure to follow.

@Kent_Langley Matternet is real?!?! The world is going to be awesome.

This would be a pretty social service, so like all social sites it would require a certain "critical mass’ to survive, since otherwise it will just be another empty community. I think it could only really be done as a business with high start up funds to advertise as a cheap alternative to Shapeways and the like.

This critical mass idea also applies to QA. I think a simple yelp system would make the amount of interest you need to get it going way higher, since in the beginning nobody is reputable in such a system and thus those first adopters are going to be even more hesitant.

I think it would have to start out very centralized, with every part shipping to a clearing house run by the website. They can either just check for obvious problems and send it off or they can hold the part and the money while sending pictures to the buyer so they can agree to the quality.

If you want to later adhere to the open ethos you can implement a new feature that’s basically the same as what everybody else here is talking about. Yelp style reviews (now seeded by existing reviews of printers in the old central system), direct shipment from seller to buyer, and the website only acts as a money handler and mediator in this shiny new system.

Anyone can start a printing service on eBay or Amazon, but at least on eBay, being a fresh seller, it’s rank will be low until there will be enough reviews. Pretty much same on Amazon. Paypal is the way people pay and collect the money, which makes payment fast and reliable. I would not start a print until I’d know I’ve been paid, but at the same time I would not ship a part that is not up to par. I would also not set up the par to be achievable by only a few people with high end printers, I would set it just so that the parts have good quality. An intermediary between the producer and the consumer will increase the price both for part processing and for shipping. For example, I live in Canada, which has expensive shipping fees, adding an extra shipping fee from the mediator to the end consumer will kill the business. There is no easy or safe way to run this, the weak producers will be filtered out by negative reviews, while start ups will be able to lower the costs to attract customers until the reviews are enough to get on the same level with established producers. High end producers might charge even more for their superior quality products. A variety of prices and quality is best for the customers, since some will have a tight budget. A requirement might be for the producers to post pictures of the finished product before shipping for each sale to be reviewed or endorsed by the specialists.

The most important thing is to start up such a site and adapt on the way to improve things. Definitely the customer needs to be able to filter the services either by price or by quality. The website might have related advertisement to be able to pay it’s bills or charge a fee from the producers to host them on the site, quite like Amazon or eBay. It is a business after all.

Thank you guys for all of your awesome feedback! It looks like there are several things that need to be worked out – logistics, payment, QA, and building the network being the most commonly mentioned. I’ll keep you updated on the progress!

it’s a good idea :slight_smile: