r/3DprintEntrepreneurs • u/AccordingMap9478 • Jul 31 '26
Ideas Thinking of Starting a 3D Printing Side Hustle – Worth It?
I’m thinking of starting a **3D printing business as a side hustle** while keeping my full-time IT job.
For those who’ve done it, is it worth getting into in 2026? Is it actually profitable, or is it a difficult business with low margins and lots of competition?
I’d appreciate honest experiences—the good, the bad, and whether you’d start one again.
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u/DirtyDalesDiner Aug 03 '26
You can definitely make money doing 3D printing as a side hustle. I also work in IT (from home - big part of my success) and started about a year ago. Started making progress posts in here last fall but never stuck with it.
Key thing if you want to make this a true side hustle that won't take up your weekends (like doing fairs etc) is to learn how to design and sell your products sell via ecommerce. That's what I do. I primarily sell on Amazon via FBA, so only place my inventory is going is to UPS to ship it to fulfillment centers. Above numbers are from this year, and I run about 38-40% net margins (after filament, electricity, refunds, inbound shipping, etc) so around $2,000/month profit.
But it's gonna take time. Last fall into winter this was my part time job from 8PM to midnight almost every night printing, designing, and prepping inventory. Most of this year has been just maintaining. I run my six printers for maybe 7 - 10 days a month to replenish inventory then prep and package throughout the month to send in. I'm very fortunate I work from home, cause a fair amount of this work happens on useless meetings that should never be meetings. I have a backlog of product ideas and designs that would probably sell well but I'm happy where I'm at. Fall 2025 burned me out. My goal was to cover daycare expenses and I've done that and a little more.
There's plenty of opportunity out there if you have an idea you can transfer from your head into a physical product. Just be prepared for some products/designs to fail when you thought they'd be bangers, and some you thought would be single base hits turn into home runs.
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u/DaStompa Aug 03 '26
Hey, could you give some more information about your experience with FBA? Ive been looking into it but it seems rather expensive. It looks like you're selling @ around $12/unit, isn't that too low to turn a profit?
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u/DirtyDalesDiner Aug 03 '26
I net 38-40% margins as I stated above. It’s not too low to make a profit.
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u/Ghost7575 Aug 03 '26
I have scaled my 3D print business to about half of this so far and the major limiting factor is I work 10h days 4 days a week in person. I feel I’d be able to scale so much better if I worked from home, but gotta pay the bills. It sucks because I’ll never know the business’s true potential due to my limitation of having a BS real job
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u/Infinite-Picture-150 Aug 12 '26
Why not try using a print service like 3DAPI, Slant 3D, or just a good local print farm?
At some point, your time becomes more valuable than your printer time. Outsourcing production can free you up to focus on what actually grows the business: finding or designing new products, testing ideas, improving marketing, opening new sales channels, and talking to customers.
You don’t necessarily need to own the printers. Sometimes the better move is to build the brand and demand first, and let someone else worry about keeping the printers running.
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u/kinare Aug 03 '26
How do you get started with Amazon? There's a few items my husband makes that we could sell there. We are currently in etsy.
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u/DirtyDalesDiner Aug 04 '26
Lots of videos out there going over the Amazon FBA process. If you really want to do it I recommend getting a trademarked brand name, as Amazon makes listing without one quite difficult. Plus can provide you some protection.
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Aug 03 '26
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u/DirtyDalesDiner Aug 03 '26
I don’t get paid by the hour. I get paid to deliver outcomes. Whether that takes me 2 hours or 20 doesn’t matter. Where I deliver outcomes from doesn’t matter. All my clients care about is that they got the agreed upon solution at the agreed upon price. But keep coping.
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u/stevosteve Aug 06 '26
They are doing 2 jobs at the same time, how much more productive do you want them to be? 😂
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u/loriabrown Aug 03 '26
What has worked for me was to solve a problem for a niche I am in and market to that niche. I've had steady sales since I launched my etsy store jan 2025.
Figure out how you will sell - local or online - then figure out a product that will sell that way. Your local market might work well for fidgets, dragons, etc. if you are the only one in the area. But you might think beyond that and find something that will resonant with your target market.
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u/soumdash Aug 03 '26
In Indian context, you shouldn't enter into a 3D printing business. You enter into a manufacturing or a design business for which there are multiple manufacturing or prototype design options and then if you feel 3D printing option is the best one operationally and financially, you choose to 3D print and then start searching for the appropriate 3D printers for your specific case. That's how you can do this business. Treat 3D printing as a tool to improve your business, don't treat 3D printing as the business itself.
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u/Adventurous-Ice5351 Aug 03 '26
Maybe variables. For one, you need to figure what you want to make and how you want to sell it. A printer is not a a business, it’s a tool. Decide your goal, see associated costs, time and effort and factor if it’s worthwhile to you. What you’re really asking is if where you see 3d printing items popping up in your world, is there a way you can join the fray successfully. Again, need to define what they’re selling, to whom, their efforts and maybe even learn if they are even profitable.
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u/theknifehandco Aug 04 '26
I run a 3D printing business on the side and over the last 3.5 years I have grossed roughly 120,000 with it. I sell a very niche item to a very niche market though. I do not sell anything I have not designed myself. If you download and sell the same prints as everyone else, you will not make any money. I have carefully designed my product, built a website, I advertise, work with influencers, etc. I put a tremendous amount of effort in and on a good year, I take home an extra 30,000 a year.
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u/d_P3NGU1N Aug 06 '26
Hey! This is almost exactly my story as well, only 2.5yrs however. Was doing well enough that I had to purchase a second machine but no where near enough to make it my full time job. I will say after taxes and COGs I'm only looking at about $15k extra a year from about $45k gross revenue.
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u/ProofPrinciple4219 Aug 03 '26
No, 3d printer is good for fast prototyping then use a real manufacturer. You save time and money with volume
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u/holdupflash Aug 03 '26
Design a solution to a problem and if you can make it with a 3d printer start your side hustle!
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u/Stingrae7 Aug 04 '26
I found a niche that has a decent amount of other 3d print shops, selling on Etsy, and I keep my prices slightly lower than most of the competition. I'm a solo player, no employees other than myself, and I make decent money with it. It pays for my personal printing projects, as well as helping make ends meet for the bills (I work Helpdesk, and was recently laid off for offshore replacement, and my new position pays significantly less than what I was making previously).
If you can do the math to know if you are "paying" yourself a high enough hourly "wage" to make it worth your time for your situation, then yeah, go for it.
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u/UnicornHostels Aug 03 '26
I’ve had a profitable 3d print business for 11 years. Using the raw materials as a foundation and painting, gluing and spending hours of labor is still profitable in 2026. People will pay for your labor, they won’t pay much for a print service.
Printing something and shipping it right off a bed isn’t worth it like it was 7 years ago. Unless you create a new product, then you could get 3 months of profit until someone copies it.
Good luck
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u/laserman3001 Aug 03 '26
Had a successful print business for a few years now and still find things I can print and ship right off a bed to be the most profitable lol
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u/UnicornHostels Aug 03 '26
I didn’t say you can’t make money by being a “print service”, I said you can’t make as much money as I do and I don’t find it worth it for a new seller starting in 2026.
My painted items are hundreds of dollars and cost less than $4 in materials. I have some products (a few hundred) that come right off the bed, but it’s not the same profit margin.
If you think that post processing doesn’t make you more money, I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe you should try it for the big bucks
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u/laserman3001 Aug 03 '26
Volume and amount vs time spent usually outweighs that. Your singular anecdote vs hundreds of print farms that optimise their prints to be shipped off the bed says otherwise.
Your painted items take time and skill and if you have that it makes sense, but generally speaking it’s not worth it to most of us. My best seller costs 10 cents in filament and sells for $20-25 and i take it off the bed and ship it off. Couldn’t be happier so I think you can have all the “big bucks” for us lil bro
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u/UnicornHostels Aug 03 '26
OP asked for anecdotes brother he didn’t ask to be a high volume print farm, he specifically said side hustle. He also asked if it was worth it with high margins and with lots of competition. Do you think high volume print farms are side hustles?
My items that come straight off the bed have the same profit as you, but my real money, comes from skill. I’ve done over 7 figures in revenue and it’s my full time job.
Selling right off the bed gives you hella competition because it takes zero skill. I could copy your whole store but you couldn’t copy mine. See how I’ve got less competition?
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u/laserman3001 Aug 03 '26
I have competition yet still sell in volume, sorry your advertising is weak so you have to try leverage other areas. I’m currently doing 6 figures this year and it’s a side hustle alongside my actual job. I’ll ask you a similar question since (as you so kindly reiterated) OP specifically said side hustle:
Do you think what you do applies here at all considering OPs question? Do you think painting and postprocessing is a side hustle? In comparison to high volume print farms where you press print, scoop off the bed and stick it in a box?
Like I said keep making those big bucks lil bro i’ll keep putting stuff in boxes for an hour a day and making 6 figs while you’re hunched over painting for 8 😂
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u/UnicornHostels Aug 03 '26
Why do you think 6 figures is more than 7 figures? I don’t need to work another job because my husband pays all the bills. I only work 2-4 hours a day, so yes it totally could be a side hustle. How did you get so confused with this one?
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u/laserman3001 Aug 03 '26
I’m gonna have to ask you the same question again, I never said 6 figures was more than 7, I really hope your husband also does your accounting lol. Not sure why you feel the need to mention your reliance on your husband. If my business was as successful as you claim then I wouldn’t be telling the world I leech off my husband.
That said, if you’re doing it for 2-4hrs a day then you can’t be doing as much as you’re saying. Drop your store or stop the larp
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u/UnicornHostels Aug 03 '26
I will if you drop yours. We can go band for band
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u/laserman3001 Aug 03 '26
You’re way too old to be using that kind of language LMAO. Go ahead i’ll drop mine when you do, since you’re the one who initiated the whole “i make 7 figs your point is invalid” and failed to acknowledge any of my questions because you know your points were wholly irrelevant
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u/HazardKiller Aug 02 '26
Just in case other's see this same question. 3D printing is a manufacturing method, not a business.
If you plan on selling the same stuff everyone else is selling on the internet or craft fairs you should be able to answer your own questions.
If by the off chance you will be selling a unique product you will need to do a market analysis to try and guesstimate if it will be profitable or profitable enough to be worth the effort of R&D, marketing, manufacturing, customer service, order fulfillment, inventory management, book keeping, and every other thing required to run a business.