For my application, it's much cheaper and I have the added flexibility of being able to adjust my design and rapdily prototype should the other components need to change due to unavailability -- I have already had to do this.
For something that costs me $0.17 at home, Etsy people want to charge upwards of $4 plus shipping and Shapeways or the like are $20+.
I’m very intrigued, as I have a couple ideas for things I could manufacture with my 3D printer + some custom electronics too, but have never invested the time into. Could you by any chance please share what you’re making? Or just a rough idea if you want to protect your niche? Thanks
I sell the only "generic" version of an item that is both costly in money and time to obtain.
Imagine you had a bunch of arcade machines with a proprietary button to turn each on. You can buy the button, but the manufacturer requires their service people physically install and bind it your arcade. Most operators want multiple buttons cause they always break, but they also don't want to deal with downtime during replacement.
I sell the button for 1/3 of the cost with modifications allowing anyone to install it.
Thanks for explaining! That indeed sounds like quite a niche. Can I trouble you to ask how you discovered this niche? Is it very difficult to interface to these propriety systems?
For something that costs me $0.17 at home, Etsy people want to charge upwards of $4 plus shipping and Shapeways or the like are $20+.