It doesn't get as many views but I know that some people really enjoy it! I personally also really enjoy watching this type of content. That's usually where the really interesting information is hidden :) Will do more! Thank you for watching
I am not sure how comfortable I would be handling lots of micronized powder in the space where I live, every day. One has to be very mindful of dust control, otherwise it will spread everywhere in the house, and then get airborne again later.
I agree dust control is definitely something to watch out for. Thankfully for me everything is contained in 'the lab', not where I live. I just took out the machines bc it was easier to record with more space. Looking into renting an industrial space in 2025 to move production!
You're doing a great job, really! Manufacturing anything is a non-trivial thing, and you make it only by yourself. And the product looks awesome! Especially polished ones
It's almost like an OpenAI SORA video, I can't figure it out either! btw, @ExploringTheSimulation, love your USB-C retrofit external adapter for AirPods Max, seeing your shop and backend processes. Wishing ALL the success to you, as you are keeping older technology technologically relevant for years to come! KEEP IT UP!
In an alternate Simulation where I sandblasted 1000+ parts by hand, I turned into dust midway through the process and then used that dust to print more cases 😇
Yes, for sure; the boxes stacked on each other are not optimal at all! My constraint now is space, but I am looking into moving to a bigger place next year, so I will definitely try to improve the box situation. Thank you for the suggestion. 🤝
I wear hearing aids, which gives me 5 days of Bluetooth music, so I don’t really need this item but boy, what an amazing setup you have! What a time to be alive!
We manufacture a lot with fdm and SLA. We looked into using SLS but the post processing blasting time (which you went through with a time lapse for a reason) plus the surface finish was not good enough. We weighed this against simply buying more SLS printers which produce flawless prints and the post processing is much lower. Oh and colouring is part of the printing process, all integrated.
I also didn't understand your comment, sorry. For the blasting, I used a timelapse for the same reason I don't record the whole 12 hours of printing-to make the video concise, not to hide anything. The blasting actually only takes about 20 minutes; it's not an issue for me.
Hey there, since you are already labeling each part, you might want to add a badge for the type of plastic used. It is actually required by law in some regions and will help to improve recycling a lot! :)
Awesome work! As an experienced mold maker based in India, I can offer you significant cost savings of 40-50% compared to your current quote. In addition to mold manufacturing, I can handle the production and shipping of molded parts exclusively for your needs.
My feeling is: keep it simple. Use as many common parts as possible and reduce complexity/variants. "You can have any color, as long as its black" - Henry Ford :D
I do want to keep it simple, I agree with you. The lanyard version here was more to demonstrate the flexibility of 3D printing for manufacturing. One comment I received a lot was that the dark grey color would mostly appeal to a male audience, and by asking around it does appear to be true. So I think it could be interesting to try to make a lighter color version! Thank you for watching :)
@@ExploringTheSimulation You can usually solve a problem for yourself and attract similar people like yourself to buy your product. But once that is saturated you got to talk to users you haven't been able to acquire and understand what their preferences and problems are. Don't make the mistake to branch out too much based on comfortable assumptions. rooting for you!
This was a great and inspiring video! No idea I could buy a pick and place machine. Thanks for doing what you do! What was your favorite part to design?
Technically, yes, but I need to rotate the lid 90 degrees. This means the lid and bottom part will not have the same layer lines and look, so I do not do that. Thank you for the suggestion!
Seems like there would be a good rotary screen (tumbler) solution for loosening the raw slugs that come out of the printer. Looks like the clean up solution on the machine is suited to one-off and larger parts.
This is definitely where most of the human work happens. I agree that I need to find a better solution. I mentioned trying to use a drill with a brush accessory. I will try to improve this by fixing the brush to the station and adding a foot pedal to turn it on. I also need a better brush. I also thought about a tumbler solution but haven't looked into it much. What kind of tumbling material would you use? I'm worried the powder might get contaminated with tumbling material residue.
Wow, I wish I could be like you someday. Can I ask you - what was your career path before this? I'm currently in college, but I feel like it just isn't for me. I have a couple of product ideas but I'm not sure if it's worth dropping out and pursuing my engineering dream. How did you get the courage to fully commit? Am I worrying about nothing and should do what I love or forget about it and focus on college? I understand that it's beneficial to have a day job that can keep you afloat, but then I'm afraid I won't have time for my projects. I feel like I already have all the knowledge I need, and I can just look on the internet for more if I have to. Am I wrong to think that higher education is overrated?
Thank you for the kind words. That's quite a heavy question, but I'll try my best to answer. I think it's really important to take online information (even from me) with a grain of salt. Everything depends on so many different factors, and what you see can often be chalked up to "survivor bias". I'm not sure where you're located since that could affect my advice, so I'll just share my experience. I did my bachelor's and master's in robotics in Switzerland. I was already really lucky since education is pretty affordable here, and most people around me (including myself) didn't need to take on debt for college. I worked part-time doing engineering gigs and had a supportive family. I know that puts me in a more fortunate position than 99% of people out there... But honestly, being debt-free alone wouldn't have been enough to make me fully commit. I was doing my master's during the pandemic, so I basically decided to go full nerd and just tinker at home every day trying to build something cool. I wanted to create an iPhone with a USB-C port - the first one ever. After two years of trying things, giving up for a few months, then trying again with new ideas, I finally succeeded! I posted a video here on this channel and it completely blew up! Changed my life overnight. Though it was more like an "overnight success" that actually took over two years to make. In the video description, I mentioned I was job hunting and got over 150 offers in about 3 weeks. I always knew I wanted to do my own thing, but this gave me confidence that I could find work pretty easily if things didn't work out. Then something unexpected happened - people who saw the video started emailing me asking if I could develop products/prototypes for them. So right after graduating, I already had several freelance design jobs lined up that helped fund my UA-cam work until about a year ago. Then through UA-cam, I started getting brand sponsorship deals, and now I'm selling kits and cases, which has made it possible to continue this UA-cam adventure for the foreseeable future.
College was important to me as a safety net - having that backup plan to find a job if the entrepreneurial path didn't work out. When you're young, it's tough to build credibility and trust, and having a diploma from a reputable college really helps with that. Plus, I built my circle of friends and met so many people I never would have connected with otherwise. I did think about quitting near the end, but I'm really glad I stuck with it. Looking back, my college experience wasn't overrated at all - it was challenging, but I had a great time. If it's possible in your situation, maybe consider taking fewer classes and staying an extra semester? That could give you more breathing room to work on your own projects and see if something clicks.
I glass bead blasted some factory made MJF Pa12 parts with a handheld station, and they turned out with a lot smoother finish and completely no visible layer lines. The particle size was around 150um, don't remember the pressure. Maybe that would be possible on a robot as well if the blasting angle and distance were adjusted?
The layers lines can disappear if I print the part at a different angle! But then I can't fit as many parts in the same small volume. I actually really like the layer small layer lines so I don't mind, I think they look cool. Handheld station is fine for a couple of parts but if you need to make 100 every day you will burn out very quickly :) Thanks for watching!
The surface finish of a 3D-printed metal mold would not be good enough and would require an additional CNC pass. By that point, it is not cost-effective; one might as well do everything on the CNC. Thank you for the suggestion!
It really depends on the complexity of the mold. The cases have cavities inside to put the electronics; that already complicates the mold drastically because you need to add sliders. Looks like you got a couple of new videos too! Excited to watch them 😊
I love your profile picture! Always wanted to ask, how exactly did you make it? (I tried a few ASCII-Art generators but they don't really look the part)
I made it years ago! If I remember correctly, I also started with one of those generators you mentioned, but I think the key is to have a very clean-looking picture. I used the same picture as my LinkedIn profile. Then I cleaned it up a little by deleting characters manually, and then I wrote a Python script to manually swap the existing characters with characters I had chosen myself. Hope this helps!
Hey, maybe you want to get in touch with the good people at Lockcard, they make 3D-printed wallets and similar things in Ulm, Germany. They have quite a big factory setup now, with tens of Prusas printing all day long. Seems like a good fit!
@@ExploringTheSimulation Thank you for your answer. Do you run it in your apartment? Are your neighbors not disturbed by the process, and how long does the post-processing take? I’m also interested in Formlabs devices and considering keeping them in an apartment.
Love the people and philosophy behind the PnP, but I outgrew its capabilities pretty quickly and also feel like they started selling the feeders too soon. The feeders are not good and not reliable enough for 0402 components (which I use almost exclusively). I need to watch them and fix alignment issues constantly. For the price they are selling them at, it's not okay. Now, I'm looking to buy a real industrial PnP.
Which one, though? Are you sure it's safe? I know you can do that with acetone vapor on ABS FDM prints, but haven't found a DIY method for SLS Nylon 12 yet.
Actually, yes, I try to be as transparent as I can. I even talk about the quantity of orders in the video. The setup paid for itself in the first week of orders; I was very lucky.
I'm working on it! I had too much work because of the quantity of orders that came in, but now I can focus on it again :) Still have one technical challenge to overcome.
@@ExploringTheSimulation Really waiting for it! I thought maybe some chineese companies already did something because we now have official type c parts for iphone but i was wrong and dind find anything on aliexpress
Admire your risk taking approach to run this business 3D printing and youtube. Not sure how you finance your business sustainably. The hardware you are using properly costs over 100k. You need to print and ship a lot of parts to make this work. Maybe you can share some insights how your business model looks like. Much appreciated.
There are definitely risks involved, but I'm in a good position because I have a very supportive and kind audience on UA-cam. So, if I make something new, I know that at least a few people will know about it, and I don't need to spend a lot of money on marketing. Regarding the printing setup, I was fortunate; it paid itself off (assuming my time is "free") within the first week of orders. It actually costs less than the number you gave, and I show the invoice in this video: ua-cam.com/video/GmK-1qVu7qc/v-deo.html Thank you for watching!
Yes, that can happen, but I have never had a complete print failure (where everything after a certain layer height is destroyed). At most, I get one or two cases with a small visual defect (on a 70-case print). Most of the time, there are zero defects. When there is a defect, it could be that something contaminated the powder (hair, debris, or whatever), or it is usually fixed by cleaning the optical cassette in the printer. I would say it is very reliable.
Why not FDM bambu printers. Get like 10 A1 create prints with support or the auto loader and have it run all day and night. No post processing and filament should be much easier to handle
Printing quality is still worlds apart. The supports would leave marks that I will need to sand down; otherwise, they might scratch the AirPods cases. Thank you for the suggestion!
Serious question. Are you planning to pivot to a different product line once Apple stops selling their dumb lightening cases? I love the Max conversion kit you sold me. So satisfying to see the announcement of the new headphones and be able to laugh at how slow Apple is.
TL;DR : Yes, I've got a list longer than my arm of stuff that would be cool to make! They actually already did stop selling the Lightning cases! It's all USB-C now. People would think that it means my adapters and cases will lose their appeal and become obsolete, but actually, quite the opposite is happening! Imagine someone getting the new iPhone but they still have their old pair of AirPods that works perfectly, but now it's the only device left with a Lightning port that they own, so one of my cases becomes the perfect solution. Now the opposite can happen too, where the iPhone becomes the last product they own with the old port. I am working on that solution too ;) And once a product has been invented and produced, it doesn't take much effort to keep stocking it, I can focus on inventing new stuff!
@ that makes a lot of sense. That’s actually exactly the reason why I was so excited for the AirPod Max conversion kit. They were my last lightning product. Thanks for the well thought out reply. I also have a small production product that sells okay, but I often wrestle with the decision on upgrading my production. Great videos. Thanks for sharing.
To be honest, i own a 3d printing farm, and my fdm printers would actually make a better finish then this SLS printer. Just produced 3700 parts this week, 100% B2B business. The fuse1 is not a bad printer, but the PA12 they sell is way to expensive…
The SLS machine + cleaning station and sandblasting robot cost more than molds for your entire product family (most of the small parts could go into a family mold, same for some of the cases and covers). If the SLS machine is used solely for production of this product family than Im not sure its was a smart decision, but if your sales are a few thousands per year than it probably is.
It doesn't? The bottom part for one case was already $15,000... There are 5 bottoms; that's more than the whole setup! And yes, you mentioned it correctly: price is one argument, but the fact that I can continue to produce new products (and I will!) is the real game changer. Thank you for watching.
@@ExploringTheSimulation I am saying that the 15K quote you got is an extremely overpriced quote. Lets say your current setup is worth around 100K$, you have around 15 parts? some of them can be molded into a family mold, you are talking about around 100-150K$ for molding (and that's at the expensive part of the spectrum, the design and molds can be optimized and a better mold manufacturer can be found to reduce the molding price dramatically) and then piece price is a few cents with almost 0 post processing. The main drawback is that changes are almost impossible, but once your design is completely finalized this is a much better option if you are producing more than a few thousands a year.
No disrespect but it doesn't "look way better than those conventional filament printers". At least not the newest, Bambu Lab, Voron, Rat Rig, etc, printers. There is a feature built into modern slicing software called "fuzzy skin" that eliminates layer lines. Modern FDM printers are so good these days. However, this job is begging for a resin printer. You could probably print 10 of these on one tray, at least. Something like the ELEGOO Saturn 4 Ultra MSLA would make short work of these.
Appreciate your suggestion! It's hard to tell on camera, but when you hold an SLS-printed part and an FDM part in your hand (even one with the latest technology you mentioned), they are truly worlds apart. The quality is incomparable. Also, FDM would probably leave support marks that would scratch the cases if not sanded properly. For resin, the resolution would be great, but there would still be support marks. The deal breaker with resin is that it solidifies when printing with UV light. The sun also emits UV light. So it's great for prototypes, but you can't sell consumer parts for outdoor use because they will continue curing in sunlight and become brittle. Thank you for the suggestion :)
I stopped caring about all these "3d print" start ups. Yall do the same thing. Type 3 lines into an Ai, it pops out a 3d model, you have the BALLS to try to copyright literally everything to ever be produced in the world and pull the ladder up behind you. So i just poach the shit out of it, make minor changes and get my bag. You cant copyright 99% of the things that are basically fair use or already existed. Ive read countless lawsuits on this, and the loss rate of the copyright claimer is astronomical. Because in reality it doesnt hold up. Thats like a company trying to use an NDA that breaks laws to go after someone, the NDA is now irrelivant BECAUSE of its contents. Same applies to copyrights, they are pretty weak actually.
ua-cam.com/video/ZF3XPORAF0A/v-deo.html bro please stop... I spit my coffee on my screen. :/ For real, great video, Will be taking some inspiration for my manufacturing line, but please don't do that AI "enhancements" :D
@ExploringTheSimulation if the plastic starts to melt due to malfunction of the device. You are responsible. I'm a product developer. Contact me if you like to know more.
@@Skanda5000 Appreciate your concerns! As I said I will make another video on this. On I side note for someone else reading this, the product is safe and you can't melt plastic with a 5V usb charger.
@ExploringTheSimulation that's not true. Of course you can melt plastic with usb. Watch what power can go through it. Multiply volt times amp and you have the power. That is exactly why does directives need to complied with...
I tried staying friendly to you but I don't like your tone. You are just spreading misinformation without having all the information. You should do the opposite, get the information and then start making claims... The product doesn't take more than 5V@0.6A. This is 3 watts. Now if you can hurt someone with 3 watts or melt plastic then I would advise you to patent your invention and you will make billions 😇
very strange chose to produce, super expensive, why you don't make form for EM from silicone (yes it's not such solid like steel, but for series 1-5k, looks like perfect cheap pick) if you take amortisation's and other spendings looks unprofitable, tell me, you just wanna buy this sls and need good reason?))
Replying to everyone for the next 24 hours 😎
New Lanyard USB-C cases for AirPods are here btw: SHOP.KENP.IO
Thanks for watching ❤
Nice
5:11 I love this 😂
Warum kein roots/schrauben-verdichter? Sind leichter zu dämmen, da höhere frequenzen, und du benötigst ja eher volumen statt druck
Maybe you can now also be a WHITE LABEL factory for some other similar DESIGN PRENEURS? Whatever free/ idle time your Manufacturing Flow/ Line has..
I love how calm and collected this guy is. No ragebait, no inflammatory commentary... just a cool dude making cool shit and doing damn well at it.
🫶
I love the process! That’s probably $100K worth of machines and printers.
I love the more behind the scenes look here
It doesn't get as many views but I know that some people really enjoy it! I personally also really enjoy watching this type of content. That's usually where the really interesting information is hidden :) Will do more! Thank you for watching
Smart Cookie! Version Stamp in the design is such a good idea!
glad you got something out of the video 💪
I received my case about a month ago and really love them. Well done my man.
I am not sure how comfortable I would be handling lots of micronized powder in the space where I live, every day. One has to be very mindful of dust control, otherwise it will spread everywhere in the house, and then get airborne again later.
I agree dust control is definitely something to watch out for. Thankfully for me everything is contained in 'the lab', not where I live. I just took out the machines bc it was easier to record with more space. Looking into renting an industrial space in 2025 to move production!
You're doing a great job, really! Manufacturing anything is a non-trivial thing, and you make it only by yourself. And the product looks awesome! Especially polished ones
Seriously impressive 1 man shop you've got going. Just found your channel. Going to poke around more!
What an incredible machine that automated polisher is.
ayy just in time. finally bro. thanks for listening! i saw my message on 6:53 XD
thanks for suggesting the lanyard!
@@ExploringTheSimulation cheers mate!
Wtf happened to you at 5:54 ?!?!?
It's almost like an OpenAI SORA video, I can't figure it out either!
btw, @ExploringTheSimulation, love your USB-C retrofit external adapter for AirPods Max, seeing your shop and backend processes. Wishing ALL the success to you, as you are keeping older technology technologically relevant for years to come!
KEEP IT UP!
In an alternate Simulation where I sandblasted 1000+ parts by hand, I turned into dust midway through the process and then used that dust to print more cases 😇
@@alliphantic thank you, really appreciate it!
Ai
😂
You need pick and pull shelving! This will give you another task optimization thing to explore which is huge in production logistics.
Yes, for sure; the boxes stacked on each other are not optimal at all! My constraint now is space, but I am looking into moving to a bigger place next year, so I will definitely try to improve the box situation. Thank you for the suggestion. 🤝
Great job. Hammered texture looks the best in a semi glossy finish. Eggshell finish is very practical.
I wear hearing aids, which gives me 5 days of Bluetooth music, so I don’t really need this item but boy, what an amazing setup you have!
What a time to be alive!
Thanks, glad you enjoyed the video!
So envious of the SLS setup! Getting a Fuse is on my list for the future eventually 😬
As always, du génie bro 😎
We manufacture a lot with fdm and SLA. We looked into using SLS but the post processing blasting time (which you went through with a time lapse for a reason) plus the surface finish was not good enough. We weighed this against simply buying more SLS printers which produce flawless prints and the post processing is much lower. Oh and colouring is part of the printing process, all integrated.
I'm a bit confused by the last part
More SLS printers that make flawless prints? Did you mean a different type?
I also didn't understand your comment, sorry. For the blasting, I used a timelapse for the same reason I don't record the whole 12 hours of printing-to make the video concise, not to hide anything. The blasting actually only takes about 20 minutes; it's not an issue for me.
love your work bro just keep those things organized. ! :)
ooooooooooooooooo super cool!!! cant wait to see what you come up with next
will try to release it as soon as possible! thank you for watching
Hey there, since you are already labeling each part, you might want to add a badge for the type of plastic used. It is actually required by law in some regions and will help to improve recycling a lot! :)
Excellent, very satisfying watching!
Awesome work!
As an experienced mold maker based in India, I can offer you significant cost savings of 40-50% compared to your current quote. In addition to mold manufacturing, I can handle the production and shipping of molded parts exclusively for your needs.
You can shoot me an email so I have your contact, but for now I'm committed to 3d printing :) Thank you for watching
This is awesome! Nice job! So jealous of your print / post processing setup!
It’s a work in progress, but I’m really happy with how it’s coming along! Thank you for watching :)
Proud to see this. Hope you make a good profit!
Thank you!! All profit goes back into the UA-cam channel 🫡
My feeling is: keep it simple. Use as many common parts as possible and reduce complexity/variants. "You can have any color, as long as its black" - Henry Ford :D
I do want to keep it simple, I agree with you. The lanyard version here was more to demonstrate the flexibility of 3D printing for manufacturing. One comment I received a lot was that the dark grey color would mostly appeal to a male audience, and by asking around it does appear to be true. So I think it could be interesting to try to make a lighter color version! Thank you for watching :)
@@ExploringTheSimulation You can usually solve a problem for yourself and attract similar people like yourself to buy your product. But once that is saturated you got to talk to users you haven't been able to acquire and understand what their preferences and problems are. Don't make the mistake to branch out too much based on comfortable assumptions. rooting for you!
This was a great and inspiring video! No idea I could buy a pick and place machine. Thanks for doing what you do! What was your favorite part to design?
Wow you also open sourced everything whaaaat? ❤❤
2:18 can you print even more in the same volume by having 2 lids half inserted into the body?
Technically, yes, but I need to rotate the lid 90 degrees. This means the lid and bottom part will not have the same layer lines and look, so I do not do that. Thank you for the suggestion!
This is incredible.
Now I'm beginning to think this kind of thing is possible
I'm doing it! It's possible :)
You are amazing, I love your content!
Thank you so much! I'm just getting started
Seems like there would be a good rotary screen (tumbler) solution for loosening the raw slugs that come out of the printer. Looks like the clean up solution on the machine is suited to one-off and larger parts.
This is definitely where most of the human work happens. I agree that I need to find a better solution. I mentioned trying to use a drill with a brush accessory. I will try to improve this by fixing the brush to the station and adding a foot pedal to turn it on. I also need a better brush.
I also thought about a tumbler solution but haven't looked into it much. What kind of tumbling material would you use? I'm worried the powder might get contaminated with tumbling material residue.
Wow, I wish I could be like you someday. Can I ask you - what was your career path before this? I'm currently in college, but I feel like it just isn't for me. I have a couple of product ideas but I'm not sure if it's worth dropping out and pursuing my engineering dream. How did you get the courage to fully commit? Am I worrying about nothing and should do what I love or forget about it and focus on college? I understand that it's beneficial to have a day job that can keep you afloat, but then I'm afraid I won't have time for my projects. I feel like I already have all the knowledge I need, and I can just look on the internet for more if I have to. Am I wrong to think that higher education is overrated?
Thank you for the kind words.
That's quite a heavy question, but I'll try my best to answer. I think it's really important to take online information (even from me) with a grain of salt. Everything depends on so many different factors, and what you see can often be chalked up to "survivor bias". I'm not sure where you're located since that could affect my advice, so I'll just share my experience.
I did my bachelor's and master's in robotics in Switzerland. I was already really lucky since education is pretty affordable here, and most people around me (including myself) didn't need to take on debt for college. I worked part-time doing engineering gigs and had a supportive family. I know that puts me in a more fortunate position than 99% of people out there... But honestly, being debt-free alone wouldn't have been enough to make me fully commit.
I was doing my master's during the pandemic, so I basically decided to go full nerd and just tinker at home every day trying to build something cool. I wanted to create an iPhone with a USB-C port - the first one ever. After two years of trying things, giving up for a few months, then trying again with new ideas, I finally succeeded! I posted a video here on this channel and it completely blew up! Changed my life overnight. Though it was more like an "overnight success" that actually took over two years to make.
In the video description, I mentioned I was job hunting and got over 150 offers in about 3 weeks. I always knew I wanted to do my own thing, but this gave me confidence that I could find work pretty easily if things didn't work out. Then something unexpected happened - people who saw the video started emailing me asking if I could develop products/prototypes for them. So right after graduating, I already had several freelance design jobs lined up that helped fund my UA-cam work until about a year ago. Then through UA-cam, I started getting brand sponsorship deals, and now I'm selling kits and cases, which has made it possible to continue this UA-cam adventure for the foreseeable future.
College was important to me as a safety net - having that backup plan to find a job if the entrepreneurial path didn't work out. When you're young, it's tough to build credibility and trust, and having a diploma from a reputable college really helps with that. Plus, I built my circle of friends and met so many people I never would have connected with otherwise.
I did think about quitting near the end, but I'm really glad I stuck with it. Looking back, my college experience wasn't overrated at all - it was challenging, but I had a great time.
If it's possible in your situation, maybe consider taking fewer classes and staying an extra semester? That could give you more breathing room to work on your own projects and see if something clicks.
So cool, makes me want to buy AirPods just to give them the USB C treatment 🤣
😅 I'll have tons of new stuff next year! Maybe there will be something for you :)
They do sell airpods with usbc now but this is so much cooler.
hmm, good job, have you tested the resin printer?
What happened at 5:55?
Ai
I explained in another comment :)
The "hammered" finish looks the best imho
I glass bead blasted some factory made MJF Pa12 parts with a handheld station, and they turned out with a lot smoother finish and completely no visible layer lines. The particle size was around 150um, don't remember the pressure. Maybe that would be possible on a robot as well if the blasting angle and distance were adjusted?
The layers lines can disappear if I print the part at a different angle! But then I can't fit as many parts in the same small volume. I actually really like the layer small layer lines so I don't mind, I think they look cool.
Handheld station is fine for a couple of parts but if you need to make 100 every day you will burn out very quickly :)
Thanks for watching!
great work
Thank you for watching!
How much the whole investement to start costed you?
I show the invoice in this video: ua-cam.com/video/GmK-1qVu7qc/v-deo.html :)
Why dont you print an SLS metal mould for injection?
The surface finish of a 3D-printed metal mold would not be good enough and would require an additional CNC pass. By that point, it is not cost-effective; one might as well do everything on the CNC. Thank you for the suggestion!
This was super cool inside look. Surprised to hear it costs $15k for a injection mold!! I thought they cost a couple of grand, but damn 😅
It really depends on the complexity of the mold. The cases have cavities inside to put the electronics; that already complicates the mold drastically because you need to add sliders.
Looks like you got a couple of new videos too! Excited to watch them 😊
I love your profile picture! Always wanted to ask, how exactly did you make it? (I tried a few ASCII-Art generators but they don't really look the part)
I made it years ago! If I remember correctly, I also started with one of those generators you mentioned, but I think the key is to have a very clean-looking picture. I used the same picture as my LinkedIn profile. Then I cleaned it up a little by deleting characters manually, and then I wrote a Python script to manually swap the existing characters with characters I had chosen myself. Hope this helps!
@@ExploringTheSimulation Thank you very much for the answer! I will look into it a bit more
Impressive!
Glad you like it!
Hey, maybe you want to get in touch with the good people at Lockcard, they make 3D-printed wallets and similar things in Ulm, Germany. They have quite a big factory setup now, with tens of Prusas printing all day long. Seems like a good fit!
Oops, they actually also have an SLS printer.
Yes, they probably have a similar setup to mine. Thank you for the suggestion!
Swiss PB screwdrivers? Best choice, ❤ from 🇨🇭 to 🇫🇷
🇨🇭🇨🇭
Which compressor are you using there? I saw german signs on it 😊
Yes, it's German! From a company called Implotex. I got the biggest one, 3000W, I believe.
@@ExploringTheSimulation Thank you for your answer. Do you run it in your apartment? Are your neighbors not disturbed by the process, and how long does the post-processing take? I’m also interested in Formlabs devices and considering keeping them in an apartment.
Great video ! But what is wrong with your current pnp?
Love the people and philosophy behind the PnP, but I outgrew its capabilities pretty quickly and also feel like they started selling the feeders too soon. The feeders are not good and not reliable enough for 0402 components (which I use almost exclusively). I need to watch them and fix alignment issues constantly. For the price they are selling them at, it's not okay. Now, I'm looking to buy a real industrial PnP.
İs it the opulo? I thought it was a good machine
bouta order 1000 of these
🔥
Great video!
you could use acid to make surface more smoother
Which one, though? Are you sure it's safe? I know you can do that with acetone vapor on ABS FDM prints, but haven't found a DIY method for SLS Nylon 12 yet.
I wonder how the 3d printed part would look sanded and mirror polished ! Also how are your neighbors not complaining ?
I'm not sure it's possible to mirror-polish them. Maybe through electroplating and then polishing?
love your videos!
Very cool video, but seeing the price of that 3d printer your use alone, I wonder, did you already manage to make those machines pay for themselves ?
Actually, yes, I try to be as transparent as I can. I even talk about the quantity of orders in the video. The setup paid for itself in the first week of orders; I was very lucky.
What about such iPhone cases? I really like my iPhone 13 mini but would like to have type c on it. Or maybe prepared part for swap in repair shop.
I'm working on it! I had too much work because of the quantity of orders that came in, but now I can focus on it again :) Still have one technical challenge to overcome.
9:41
@@ExploringTheSimulation Really waiting for it! I thought maybe some chineese companies already did something because we now have official type c parts for iphone but i was wrong and dind find anything on aliexpress
Admire your risk taking approach to run this business 3D printing and youtube. Not sure how you finance your business sustainably. The hardware you are using properly costs over 100k. You need to print and ship a lot of parts to make this work.
Maybe you can share some insights how your business model looks like. Much appreciated.
There are definitely risks involved, but I'm in a good position because I have a very supportive and kind audience on UA-cam. So, if I make something new, I know that at least a few people will know about it, and I don't need to spend a lot of money on marketing.
Regarding the printing setup, I was fortunate; it paid itself off (assuming my time is "free") within the first week of orders. It actually costs less than the number you gave, and I show the invoice in this video: ua-cam.com/video/GmK-1qVu7qc/v-deo.html
Thank you for watching!
Do you ever have print failures? If so, how many?
Yes, that can happen, but I have never had a complete print failure (where everything after a certain layer height is destroyed). At most, I get one or two cases with a small visual defect (on a 70-case print). Most of the time, there are zero defects. When there is a defect, it could be that something contaminated the powder (hair, debris, or whatever), or it is usually fixed by cleaning the optical cassette in the printer.
I would say it is very reliable.
@@ExploringTheSimulation That's outstanding, thanks for replying and keep exploring the simulation👌
3:04 when?
Maybe in 3-4 months? I want to change the pick and place before shooting. The rest of the setup works great, especially the vapor phase reflow oven.
How much did the 3D printer and other machines cost?
I show the invoice in this video: ua-cam.com/video/GmK-1qVu7qc/v-deo.html :)
What's the final price per piece? Nylon is an expensive powder material
He probably doesnt want to say exactly because people get weird and dont understand margins, but I would guess under $1/ea still
Why don't you like the Pick and Place machine?
Answered this in another comment :)
instant subscribe!!🙌
welcome to the group!!
Yeah
Yeah? Yeah.
very cool
glad you like it!
Why not FDM bambu printers. Get like 10 A1 create prints with support or the auto loader and have it run all day and night. No post processing and filament should be much easier to handle
Printing quality is still worlds apart. The supports would leave marks that I will need to sand down; otherwise, they might scratch the AirPods cases. Thank you for the suggestion!
Serious question. Are you planning to pivot to a different product line once Apple stops selling their dumb lightening cases? I love the Max conversion kit you sold me. So satisfying to see the announcement of the new headphones and be able to laugh at how slow Apple is.
TL;DR : Yes, I've got a list longer than my arm of stuff that would be cool to make!
They actually already did stop selling the Lightning cases! It's all USB-C now. People would think that it means my adapters and cases will lose their appeal and become obsolete, but actually, quite the opposite is happening! Imagine someone getting the new iPhone but they still have their old pair of AirPods that works perfectly, but now it's the only device left with a Lightning port that they own, so one of my cases becomes the perfect solution. Now the opposite can happen too, where the iPhone becomes the last product they own with the old port. I am working on that solution too ;) And once a product has been invented and produced, it doesn't take much effort to keep stocking it, I can focus on inventing new stuff!
@ that makes a lot of sense. That’s actually exactly the reason why I was so excited for the AirPod Max conversion kit. They were my last lightning product.
Thanks for the well thought out reply. I also have a small production product that sells okay, but I often wrestle with the decision on upgrading my production. Great videos. Thanks for sharing.
The only biggest issue is the price of the sls
To be honest, i own a 3d printing farm, and my fdm printers would actually make a better finish then this SLS printer. Just produced 3700 parts this week, 100% B2B business. The fuse1 is not a bad printer, but the PA12 they sell is way to expensive…
hoyl shit, people are paying 60$cad for a CASE?
For the iPhone ha 😏
A product for everyone is a product for noone.
That's why you make different products 😇
The SLS machine + cleaning station and sandblasting robot cost more than molds for your entire product family (most of the small parts could go into a family mold, same for some of the cases and covers). If the SLS machine is used solely for production of this product family than Im not sure its was a smart decision, but if your sales are a few thousands per year than it probably is.
It doesn't? The bottom part for one case was already $15,000... There are 5 bottoms; that's more than the whole setup! And yes, you mentioned it correctly: price is one argument, but the fact that I can continue to produce new products (and I will!) is the real game changer. Thank you for watching.
@@ExploringTheSimulation
I am saying that the 15K quote you got is an extremely overpriced quote. Lets say your current setup is worth around 100K$, you have around 15 parts? some of them can be molded into a family mold, you are talking about around 100-150K$ for molding (and that's at the expensive part of the spectrum, the design and molds can be optimized and a better mold manufacturer can be found to reduce the molding price dramatically) and then piece price is a few cents with almost 0 post processing. The main drawback is that changes are almost impossible, but once your design is completely finalized this is a much better option if you are producing more than a few thousands a year.
blud a une usine dans son appartement
presque !
No disrespect but it doesn't "look way better than those conventional filament printers". At least not the newest, Bambu Lab, Voron, Rat Rig, etc, printers. There is a feature built into modern slicing software called "fuzzy skin" that eliminates layer lines. Modern FDM printers are so good these days. However, this job is begging for a resin printer. You could probably print 10 of these on one tray, at least. Something like the ELEGOO Saturn 4 Ultra MSLA would make short work of these.
Appreciate your suggestion! It's hard to tell on camera, but when you hold an SLS-printed part and an FDM part in your hand (even one with the latest technology you mentioned), they are truly worlds apart. The quality is incomparable. Also, FDM would probably leave support marks that would scratch the cases if not sanded properly.
For resin, the resolution would be great, but there would still be support marks. The deal breaker with resin is that it solidifies when printing with UV light. The sun also emits UV light. So it's great for prototypes, but you can't sell consumer parts for outdoor use because they will continue curing in sunlight and become brittle.
Thank you for the suggestion :)
@@ExploringTheSimulation I see, thanks for the reply.
I stopped caring about all these "3d print" start ups. Yall do the same thing. Type 3 lines into an Ai, it pops out a 3d model, you have the BALLS to try to copyright literally everything to ever be produced in the world and pull the ladder up behind you. So i just poach the shit out of it, make minor changes and get my bag. You cant copyright 99% of the things that are basically fair use or already existed. Ive read countless lawsuits on this, and the loss rate of the copyright claimer is astronomical. Because in reality it doesnt hold up. Thats like a company trying to use an NDA that breaks laws to go after someone, the NDA is now irrelivant BECAUSE of its contents. Same applies to copyrights, they are pretty weak actually.
... 🤣
ua-cam.com/video/ZF3XPORAF0A/v-deo.html bro please stop... I spit my coffee on my screen. :/
For real, great video, Will be taking some inspiration for my manufacturing line, but please don't do that AI "enhancements" :D
Why not?
０．０
Ja. Certification? EM directive, CE, low voltage directive, productsafety?
Thank you for the recommendation. This video was about plastics manufacturing, but I do plan to make more videos in the "one man factory" series :)
@ExploringTheSimulation if the plastic starts to melt due to malfunction of the device. You are responsible. I'm a product developer. Contact me if you like to know more.
@@Skanda5000 Appreciate your concerns! As I said I will make another video on this.
On I side note for someone else reading this, the product is safe and you can't melt plastic with a 5V usb charger.
@ExploringTheSimulation that's not true. Of course you can melt plastic with usb. Watch what power can go through it. Multiply volt times amp and you have the power. That is exactly why does directives need to complied with...
I tried staying friendly to you but I don't like your tone. You are just spreading misinformation without having all the information. You should do the opposite, get the information and then start making claims...
The product doesn't take more than 5V@0.6A. This is 3 watts. Now if you can hurt someone with 3 watts or melt plastic then I would advise you to patent your invention and you will make billions 😇
First
Here's your medal: 🥇 :)
@@ExploringTheSimulation lol thanks, really enjoyed this video, can’t wait for your next one.
airpods 🤮, apple 🤮
very strange chose to produce, super expensive, why you don't make form for EM from silicone (yes it's not such solid like steel, but for series 1-5k, looks like perfect cheap pick) if you take amortisation's and other spendings looks unprofitable, tell me, you just wanna buy this sls and need good reason?))
Are you talking about vacuum/urethane casting?