Back in April of 2021 I had just got a 3D printer and was getting bored printing other people’s designs.
I decided to learn CAD myself, fusion 360, it was quite a steep learning curve at first!
The first thing I made was version 1 of this joint and lighter case for kayaking. The top of the case looked like a frog face so I called it the FrogCase 🐸. I posted about it on Reddit at the time just to show it off and a bunch of people wanted the model and wanted me to print it for them.
So a business was accidentally born 😂 I started writing down people’s info in a spreadsheet but then eventually gave in and made a Shopify store.
The beauty of 3D printing is that you are not stuck making one product forever. The sales slowed down after a couple years, but the phone cases I made started picking up!
Don’t get me wrong the most I ever made in a month was $1,000 (average is $300). I’m definitely not getting rich off this but it’s letting me save a tiny bit in this wild cost of living area. And it’s fun to make new products!
Some of my products were born from suggestions from people who do not have the time or know-how. I love being able to bring something from an idea to a thing you can hold and that functions well. It really builds a sense of self-efficacy that I needed.
If you are at all interested in creating your own designs from scratch I suggest you start today! Start small, just watch some videos and lurk in different CAD subs, eventually it will start making sense. Before long you will be able to go from idea to prototype in your hands in an hour. It feels like magic.
I have completely ditched Reddit so I will be here now solely! Please let me know if I post too much lol
If anyone wants the Frog Case files, or the king size version, just let me know and I’ll send you each a one-time link. I just don’t want to have it permanently hosted online just in case.
Thank you for sharing! I talked to a friend about 3d printing on Tuesday, saw the cardboard cutter here Wednesday, and then ordered my first printer that afternoon. My Ankermake M5c arrives Tuesday. I’m super excited but i know nothing, so these ‘how I got started’ posts are very encouraging. I see people talk about Tinkercad. How is it? As someone who is completely new and not a tech person, is that the easiest place to start? Once i get the hang of printing patterns i find online, i want to make scary face parts for a pumpkin (think Mr. Potato Head) and spiral notebook covers with funny sayings. It doesn’t matter how bad the pumpkin face parts are - they’re just going on my porch for a couple of weeks and meant to look weird. I think the only hard part on the notebook covers will be getting the spiral holes correct and getting 20 made by Christmas for my coworkers. Sorry for rambling - I’m just excited and clueless and found your share encouraging. If i make a post asking people to share pics of their first items/ideas, would that be annoying?
Congrats!!
I just started with fusion360 so I can’t speak to tinkercad’s ease of use. Take it slow and make some simple stuff to begin with, like 3d letters or a guitar picks. YouTube is a treasure trove of CAD info if you get stuck
The spiral notebook cover will actually be easier than you might think. You just need to count the holes and the distance between the top and bottom hole, then make a ‘pattern’ of holes that goes between those points.
This might be daunting right now, but Hueforge would be perfect for the designs on the front. You could do full color detailed pictures!
If you have any trouble reach out to me and I can help!
Here is a Hueforge I did, they are only 1-2mm thick which is perfect for a notebook front.
Thank you! That looks awesome!