I am a student at Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management and I have to make a business plan for a course. My project is about 3D printed earphones, more exactly the earbuds that you put inside your ears. This piece is than mounted on a standard plastic piece that contains all the electronics and the cable. This 3D print will always be different, because it’s custom fit for our customer. However, I have some questions concerning the 3D-print technology:
Which 3D printer would be the best to print this earpiece and with which plastic material?
How much time would it take to print a set of earpieces?
How much would it cost to buy the best printer and the plastic?
Would it be possible to co-operate, that 3D HUBS has a partnership and print the earpieces for me?
If this wouldn’t be possible, could we rent the 3D printer because the purchase cost for a start-up could perhaps be too high?
thank you in advance
Fre
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There is not really a ‘best 3D printer’, it’s more how much you would like to spend on a printer and what you would want to achieve.
A friend of mine has printed earphones before, kinda the same idea you had.
I’d recommend printing those pieces probably on an SLA printer (like Form 2) in Flexible material. It wouldn’t take too long, maximum of 1 hour a piece I guess (probably even less).
If I were you I would just design some concepts, upload them to Online 3D Printing Service | Instant 3D Printing Quotes | Hubs, choose your printer and get them ordered. That would be the easiest way and you could also try different printers/materials. As it would be small pieces, I think it will be pretty cheap too!
Good luck.
