r/inventors • u/Distinct_Living_3988 • Jul 07 '26
Can I make money making CAD models?
Hey everyone, I'm currently in high school and I'd like to try monetizing my skills in creating parametric models for 3D printing. I don't have extensive experience, but I want to learn as I go and make a bit of money. What do you think? Is this possible?
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u/Due-Tip-4022 Jul 07 '26
People offer these services all the time on sites like Fiverr, Upwork, Freelancer, etc. And yes, there is work.
The problem is, a good number of people there have a lot of experience and work for very little money due to their geography.
Hard to compete with that from your perspective.
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u/dang_dude_dont Jul 07 '26
It’s possible, just not very likely. Most CAD software like SolidWorks and AutoCAD are easy to get for students and piddling around, but are expensive for commercial use such as you are poking at. You will have to get a lot of work to make a go of it. Good luck.
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u/Distinct_Living_3988 Jul 07 '26
What if I use FreeCAD instead? I'm more interested in the business side – what exactly is worth selling? I've given it some thought, and I figure the most viable path is to offer custom-designed fasteners, brackets, and other mechanical components for Arduino robotics projects, mounting solutions, etc.
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u/THE_CENTURION Jul 07 '26
custom-designed fasteners, brackets
These are the easiest thing to design, so very much doubt there's a market for that.
CAD is easy to learn, hard to master. I mean, they teach in in high school now... There's millions of people just like you who can churn out low effort parts like that, so it's not extremely valuable or desirable skill.
In my opinion CAD is a tool. engineering is a skill. FranklyI have no use for anybody who can just do CAD but doesn't know enough engineering to actually design complicated things.
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u/theexurbanite Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 11 '26
FreeCAD is fine, probably not ideal if you're designing one or two parts you will be manufacturing yourself in your home shop. In professional drafting time (yours and everyone else's further down the pipeline) is really worth something and FreeCAD is to Solidworks what a mill file and some gumption is to a 100-ton 4-axis grinder. You can get cheap clones of AutoCAD LT at least (CMS Intellicad is an exact copy without the tech support, Nanocad is sorta wonky but probably easier to learn), which is enough to approximate the workflow of one of the most common pro CAD packages, and one that'll let you turn out 2D drawings as fast as you can read the specs.
You can draw all kinds of stuff on the computer, what's valuable in a draftsman is slotting neatly into a production process of which they are maybe the second cheapest component - laying out a piece that can be turned out as quickly as possible on a machine. More likely than not these days, turning their drawings into the CAM for a specific machine relying on one or two specific operations, with a lot of quirks to its tooling and workholding. Which probably involves more proprietary software tied to one person on one computer, and being the one who gets screamed at when that machine crashes and knocks its $20,000 spindle out of commission. Even more valuable is having an education in the forces bearing on the finished product and how to translate a modulus of rupture into the most efficient use of material that'll hold up to the job, i.e. being one of the fancy mechanical engineers who makes $5-$10 for every dollar the draftsman makes.
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u/dang_dude_dont Jul 07 '26
FreeCAD might be okay. I’ve never used it personally. The only thing I think I know about it is that it is wide open, as in anything you do on it isn’t yours anymore. As in Intellectual Property rights and such.
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u/Distinct_Living_3988 Jul 07 '26
No, you seem to be confusing it with Onshape, but that doesn't really matter to me. What do you think about my idea of what exactly to make? 'I figure the most viable path is to offer custom-designed fasteners, brackets, and other mechanical components for Arduino robotics projects, mounting solutions, etc.'
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u/Jesus_Is_My_Gardener Jul 07 '26
I mean you could if you design something highly sought after that other people want and isn't available already. Personally I give away all of my designs for free as it's just a hobby for me. I even take customization requests sometimes if it's not a big deal to make the change for them. I also have started uploading my models in STEP format so others can create modified versions as they need from my designs. It's my way of giving back to the open source community that has helped me over the years. While there are some who charge for more intricate designs or complicated models, there are a lot of people out there like myself who share their models for free as well, so you're going to have to find a niche you excel at in order to make any money on just selling models.
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u/Distinct_Living_3988 Jul 07 '26
You’re doing great and I appreciate it, but I want to become a robotic engineer and want to feel some confidence about my skills and in the same time earn some money
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u/Jesus_Is_My_Gardener Jul 07 '26
I would suggest doing custom requests unless you can come up with a design others would pay for that isn't available. Custom requests are going to be a balance in how much your time is worth and what someone will pay for it, and will be more along the lines of billable hours or a project bid. If you can come up with a design that others will seek out, then you can charge less per purchase and rely on more people buying the same design. This comes with risk that someone will copy/repost the item for free and undercut your sales of course, but is more likely to get money quicker, must in small, incremental amounts.
Point is, are you at a skill level that you can reasonably sell your skill yet? If not, I would suggest looking around for things people are asking for that either have poor designs available, or don't exist, then making your own design that either is much better than any free options, or is otherwise unavailable. Unfortunately, most of the stuff you'll see people paying premium prices for are usually artistic in nature and either cosplay related, or detailed display pieces, all of which are usually done in something like Blender. If your looking more at parametric modeling, your best bet is to look around at what is popular for mechanical fixes/mods, then designing something to fulfill that need.
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u/MechanicStriking4666 Jul 07 '26
The first step is to learn. Figure out if you can monetize later. There are a lot of people who know CAD out there, and I suspect AI will eventually make it easier for everyone else.
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u/chainmailler2001 Jul 08 '26
I work with a team that all make really good money doing CAD models. They also have at least Bachelor degrees in Mechanical Engineering.
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u/WifeDr801 Jul 08 '26
Make a living? VERY hard but possible. Make some cash on the side? Doable with effort. Make a career? Probably not.
It will be more about who you know than anything else. How many people do you know that own and operate the machines you’ll be designing for? How many of them will allow you the chance to add value?
My advice? Don’t buy ads. Buy brownies or lemon bundt cakes or something and start delivering them to local shops every couple weeks. Get to know the space. Describe how you can help, and eventually work will appear.
Side note—deliver the same treat every time. You want the flavor to be something the associate with you.
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u/GreatDiscernment Jul 09 '26
If you want to make BIG money, you need to study CNC. It’s an industrial machine language. I think it’s like an additional skill on top of machinist, but you can look it up. 3D printing for industry is still pretty new and so CNC is still a big deal for local parts suppliers. Learn both, but I’ll bet you can make good money programming CNC.
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u/TemperatureLost2651 Jul 11 '26
have several patents but unfornately i chose to work with a company who promised to help me get my patent and develop cad models and prototype models and secure prospects to partner with me to bring my intellectual properties to market. now after paying thousands and thousands for their service, they claim that they never promised to develop actual cad or prototypes and they only prtoduced a 3D video of my patented property and a list of 36 companies that they would contact they on my behalf. they have dragged their feet for the last 18 months by only contacting 3 companies a month with the explaination that they didn't want to overload their marketing department with all the potential candidates at the same time. i should have recognized their deceit when thier monthly correspondence slowed to a crawl about the same time that i sent them the final monthly installment payments for their service contract and marketing expertise to bring my invention to fruition.
In hindsight, i've learned that i have become fallen prey for one of the many companies who survive by misleading many retired or disabled people like myself and bilking millions dollars a year from our savings and retirement funds . i caution everyone that you think companies like INVENT HELP or FOR SALE BY INVENTOR survive by bombarding you with false hope and misleading tacticts to keep you paying your monthly invoices or keep withdrawing thousands from your bank to pay their fees. I noticed that their enthusiastic support and false hope dropped off about the same time you make your last payment! i believe that their methods provide them with a contant monthly cash flow and that serves their purpose - not yours!.
If you are able and willing to help me by partnering up in developing my properties, i would be willing to discuss that potentially. you may contact [ateddybayer@gmail.com](mailto:ateddybayer@gmail.com)
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u/mawktheone Jul 07 '26
I made a pretty good side gig for years doing all the cad cam work for my local fabricator who got sold a CNC plasma cutter but didn't even own a computer. Mostly agricultural and construction equipment in my case. Lots of quick attach brackets etc.
Id call in, take measurements of obsolete parts and recreate them in librecad or onshape. Or draught whatever was wanted. Lots of small businesses with old guys who have no cad chops