WTFFF?! 3D Printing Podcast Volume One: 3D Print Tips | 3D Print Tools | 3D Start Point

Food 3D Printing has come from a couple of times from listeners over social media asking us about the sugar printers and the chocolate printers. I promised we would follow up because I really want one. Of course, we went to CES at the beginning of this month, and there was quite a significant display of the food 3D printers at the 3D Systems booth. It’s the second year in a row; they had it last y...

In this WTFFF?! episode we decided to follow up withsomeone we met at SoCal MakerCon. Back then we didn’t have enough time to getin depth about what they do; the company is AstroPrint. In the SoCal MakerConinterview with him I said that their company is just apps and software, so it didn’tquite excite me. But now that we havelearned more about it, I actually think it really is exciting. Drew Taylo...

One of the greatest advantages of 3D Printing technology is the ability to make each pat you print unique. The amount of time to create and prepare each part to print can be complicated and time consuming. In this WTFFF?! episode Tom & Tracy discuss tips and best practices for customizing your 3D models to speed the process and achieve the best 3D Print results. To send us a message, go to 3ds...

If you need to make 200 of a napkin ring for a party that takes one hour each to 3D Print, should you 3D Print them all, or just one and then make a silicone mold to cast the rest? This is another great question submitted by Eduardo Martini of Brazil. In this WTFFF?! episode Tom & Tracy go over the details and weigh the options between speed, skills required, material quality, design limitatio...

A long time listener from Brazil, Eduardo Martini, has written in with a couple of good new 3D printing questions including, "If you need a quantity of 200, is it better to print them one at a time, or as many as you can fit on the build plate at once?" In this WTFFF?! episode Tom & Tracy discuss the pros and cons of this issue, because the answer is not as straight forward as you might think....

In this WTFFF?! episode Tom and Tracy discuss 3D Printer overload. After yesterday’s interview with Aniwaa and learning about how many printers, scanners, and software they have in their database as it exists today—926 3D printers alone—our minds are blown. We feel like we are having 3D printer overload right now. Every week on Kickstarter or in the media, there is another press release or announc...

In This WTFFF?! episode Tom & Tracy have an interview from across the pond over in France with two business partners and co-founders of a website called Aniwaa.com. They are Martin Lansardand Pierre-Antoine Arrighi. Aniwaa started out as a blog with product comp charts, which were awesome, because they would compare features between multiple printers, five or six of them at a time. Then there...

In this WTFFF?! episode Tom and Tracy discuss if the future market for 3D printing more consumer or prosumer? This question is coming up because of 3D Systems’ decision to abandon the consumer market, not sell the Cube 3D Printer, and go back to their roots of industrial 3D printing and the prosumer market in general. The prosumer may be the closest to the consumer market they are going to get bec...

A lot of people have asked us over recent months: “Can we buy your tie? Is it for sale? Where can we buy your 3D-printed tie?” In this WTFFF?! episode we discuss the options we considered for where to sell it, and reveal that it is finally for sale. We gave a lot of thought about where to sell it, and at one point, Amazon had a 3D-printed product store. We were very excited about that, and we got...

We have had some questions from listeners about some of the events happening locally and internationally. In this episode of WTFFF?! Tom & Tracy discuss the biggest question, which events are better to attend and participate in: Big show or little show? The problem is, it’s like a big fish, little pond, little fish, big pond kind of situation. It really depends on your goals. Doesn’t it depend...

My feet still hurt from walking seemingly endless rows of exhibits at CES as I write this. We just got back from CES, and while it’s fresh in our minds, we are going to recap the best and the worst of CES 2016 in regard to 3D printing. Let’s just say, that show is gigantic. Thank goodness the 3D printing related companies were not spread out so much. For those of you that did not have the opportun...

Last August we interviewed Colton Robtoy as he wasplanning the CD Printathlon. CD is the Capital District, which is the Albany,NY area. We were talking to him about the challenges of planning this Printathlon. He was trying to get the word out about it, and that is why he came on ourpodcast. Very recently we noticed that he had written some recap blogposts in the Pulse on LinkedIn. They were aweso...

Shapeways recently published a report on its top 10 most purchased products of 2015. In this WTFFF?! episode Tom and Tracy run down the top 10, and discuss what the most purchased products tells us about the customers who shop at Shapeways. Has the market tipped with mainstream consumers shopping in this marketplace, or is it still dominated by the 3D converted? To send us a voicemail, go to 3dsta...

The January Report from 3D Hubs was released last week. In this WTFFF?! episode Tom and Tracy discuss the highlights from the report, and have a deeper discussion on how useful this information is. Do the differences in the report from month to month signal significant shifts in the industry, or do you have to look at changes over a longer period of time in order to get a clear picture of how thin...

Last week MakerBot announced that this month they are releasing a new Smart Extruder, called the Smart Extruder+. In this WTFFF?! episode Tom and Tracy discuss if this is just another Band-Aid making an incremental improvement, or if this represents a major change for the MakerBot line of 3D printers? LINKS IN THIS EPISODE Yahoo Finance article cited To send us a voicemail, go to 3dstartpoint.com...

In this WTFFF?! episode Tom and Tracy discuss if manufacturers should use crown sourced designs to build your design library, or should use professional designers? It really depends on your business model, or your plan. In some cases crown sourced designs may not meet your needs, the old adage is still true, you get what you pay for. To send us a voicemail, go to 3dstartpoint.com or wtfffpodcast.c...

In this episode of WTFFF?!, 3D Printing Safety First, we have an interview from downunder with Gail Greatorex from Product Safety Solutions. We talked with her via social media a long time ago, when we first started the podcast. She was pointing us to materialsafety data because we were talking about filament, air quality, and some ofthose things at that time. She was also pointing out other signi...

In this WTFFF?! episode Tom and Tracy discuss how some 3D Printer manufacturers are building brand loyalty by providing exceptional customer service. One thing that we have learned in business is that you can not have exceptional customer service without allowing for "exceptions." Here is where US companies may have an advantage over foreign competition. It is hard enough to build brand loyalty wh...

In this WTFFF?! episode Tom and Tracy discuss how success in 3D Printing involves failing, but failing as fast as possible while spending the least amount of money possible. There are arguments to be made that you should not buy your own 3D printer, and just use 3D Hubs, the UPS Store, or a service bureau. Others would argue that having your own 3D printer is the fastest way to fail at the least c...

In this WTFFF?! episode Tom and Tracy discuss the value of 3D Print pictures. When you are trying to market your 3D Print designs, business, or event, publishing photos on social media is critical. In today's modern business climate, social media marketing is reaching more customers for far less cost than the old school traditional media opportunities of TV, magazines, and newspapers. Real world e...

Happy New Year! In this WTFFF?! episode Tom and Tracy discuss a key lesson learned in the last year. Taking Action is as important as anything else you can do to achieve success in 3D Printing education, or business. They dig deeper and share a formula for success they learned from Greg Reid, author of "Three Feet From Gold", Passion + Talent + Association + Action + Faith is the formula for succe...

Happy New Year! In this WTFFF?! episode Tom and Tracy discuss their New Year Resolutions for the podcast. Providing a more complete resource on 3DStartpoint of reviews, tips, and events is top on our list. A close second is maintaining the quality content, transparency, and integrity as we move toward taking sponsors to help support the podcast. Lastly, a sincere thank you to you, our listeners, f...

In this episode of WTFFF, 3D Printing Nerd Power Guides, we have an interview with quite a character, Joel Telling. His YouTube channel is “3D Printing Nerd.” We love that name! He really has a lot of fun with what he does here on his YouTube channel, and it’s all about 3D printing, as well as some things non-3D-printing just for fun. He has a lot of videos and 6,000 subscribers. No companies are...

Desktop 3D Printers are now manufactured all over the world. Is there any real benefit to buying one made in the USA? In this WTFFF?! episode Tom and Tracy discuss and debate the pros and cons of buying a made in the USA 3D Printer, and buying printers from any given country. Is where it is made the most important factor, or is quality customer support more important? To send us a voicemail, go to...

Several listeners have recently asked, "How do you create your time lapse videos?" In this WTFFF?! episode Tom and Tracy first discuss the benefits of creating a time lapse videos of your 3D prints, then get into the technical details of the equipment procedures, and suggestions for making your own. To send us a voicemail, go to 3dstartpoint.com or wtfffpodcast.com or shoot us a message at info@wt...