Hello from Nashville!

[jfryman]

Hi there!

Just wanted to stop by and say hello. My name is James Fryman, and I’m based out of Nashville TN. I’ve been 3D printing since 2011, first starting with the Makerbot, and have been printing and building custom 3D printers since then in one form or another. I’ve successfully modded an Anet A8 into an AM8 with a full Klipper rebuild, did a heavily modded Ender 3, and now for the last year I’ve been buildingVoron printers (Several different 2.4s, and a v0.1). I hope this year to build out a Trident!

I’ve started building Voron v2.4s for various clients in the mid-south region as a side hustle, James Prints, just so I can continue to build out printers for folks who just don’t have the time to build one themselves. I’m in the process of repairing an abandoned v2.4r1 for a client of mine who is looking to grow their own farm. 

I’m trying to figure out how to give back to the community, so I’m starting to record builds I’m doing for eventual publishing on YouTube, and trying to get involved in as many places as I can. Stopping in here to say hello as I continue to plug into various parts of the community. I’m on the official Discord and on Reddit as well under the same username. I look forward to chatting more with everyone!

Cheers!

-James

 

 

[mvdveer]

Hi James, welcome to the forum. What a source of knowledge we have here. Would love to see one of your builds in a build diary.

I am sure I, and many others will benefit from your extensive experience. 

[smirk]

Welcome aboard!  Your community-spirited desire to share will go down well here. I'm always amazed by what you can learn:

5 hours ago, jfryman said:

an abandoned v2.4r1

I genuinely never thought that such a thing could exist! Every day is a school day. Glad it's been rescued

[claudermilk]

Welcome to the forum. It's great to have another experience builder around.

[PFarm]

Welcome interesting that you build Voron's as a side gig.

[jfryman]

 

12 hours ago, mvdveer said:

Hi James, welcome to the forum. What a source of knowledge we have here. Would love to see one of your builds in a build diary.

I am sure I, and many others will benefit from your extensive experience. 

That's a great idea! I'll see if I can get my current restoration in a similar format.

57 minutes ago, PFarm said:

Welcome interesting that you build Voron's as a side gig.

I just don't have enough space/money to build out a farm for myself (yet), so it's a way I can keep up with the Voron project as it changes, write off taxes, and get folks involved with 3D printing that may have the ability to maintain a printer, but not enough time to dedicate to actually build one. 

A dream of mine is that I'll have enough time/space to build them on the regular for folks, but the demand just isn't there as of yet. More advertising and support work on my part to get to that point. For now, it's Good Enough. 

 

Edited April 17, 2023 by jfryman

[PFarm]

1 hour ago, jfryman said:

I just don't have enough space/money to build out a farm for myself (yet), so it's a way I can keep up with the Voron project as it changes, write off taxes, and get folks involved with 3D printing that may have the ability to maintain a printer, but not enough time to dedicate to actually build one. 

A dream of mine is that I'll have enough time/space to build them on the regular for folks, but the demand just isn't there as of yet. More advertising and support work on my part to get to that point. For now, it's Good Enough. 

Do you pre-build them or have the customer give you a deposit to get them ordered? Any concern with electrical certification? Do you carry insurance? I'm thinking of doing something like this in my area I'm 1 1/2hr away from two major cities. Do you help customers with setup?

Edited April 17, 2023 by PFarm

[jfryman]

3 hours ago, PFarm said:

Do you pre-build them or have the customer give you a deposit to get them ordered? Any concern with electrical certification? Do you carry insurance? I'm thinking of doing something like this in my area I'm 1 1/2hr away from two major cities. Do you help customers with setup?

It depends. I have running machines in my fleet that if someone wants NOW, then I sell them one that's running from my current fleet at cost. Otherwise, I'll negotiate 50% up front to begin building and then get the other 50% on delivery. It's 8-12 weeks to build and tune one - I'm certainly not putting out a quantity as much as I am a quality product at present. So far, I am trying to come up with a "golden build" that I can both churn out and optimize in the same way Prusa does with their machines. I also take custom orders (for example - my current build for a customer is going to include an ERCF, CAN, and TAP as addons). I'm constantly trying to optimize and standardize my own fleet for max reliability. 

With regard to electrical certification, I don't do that at present. That'd be an extra charge if someone actually wants that (and so far, the overlapping folks who want Vorons and who I'm selling to understand that the liability would be the same if they built it themselves). As such, clients assume all liabilities for the machines on delivery. I do offer 30 day warranties if there are any failures, but there is a signed release of liability on delivery along with the return policy. Part of my build though is me running some 50+ hours of prints to ensure the machines are in good shape before releasing them, so there's some amount of assurance there that I'd burn my own house down before theirs.

Given I'm still only doing sales in my network, I haven't carried any insurance. It's still a trust based game. So, I'll offer support of setup (including getting slicers setup and doing walkthroughs of how to use the machine). I also probably spend more time than I should talking with the same folks about using the printer and answering any random questions that they have - but I actually really love this hobby so it's no skin off my back. If I actually take off beyond selling to folks that I already know, then I'll start carrying insurance.

I'm contemplating actually building out a user manual and am pulling together materials for this as we speak for a future when I can't sell to my network anymore based on my experiences thus far with answering questions, but it's been fairly straightforward in terms of support. The other thing I've been thinking about is Klipper support over time. I feel like having a well tuned machine in software is just as important as having a well build physical machine. I need this for my own fleet of printers, so why not offer it to customers and see how it lands.

Appreciate the questions! I actually think the more folks that can have a 3D printer in their own home, the better. Vorons specifically meet with my own ethos of Open Source, so the value add is time saved and support.

Edited April 17, 2023 by jfryman

[PFarm]

@jfryman Thank you so much for the info greatly appreciated! Gets me closer to making a decision to build one for resale and see how much interest there is in my area. Worse case it will become my second Voron. One more question what size seems to be most popular?

[jfryman]

1 minute ago, PFarm said:

@jfryman Thank you so much for the info greatly appreciated! Gets me closer to making a decision to build one for resale and see how much interest there is in my area. Worse case it will become my second Voron. One more question what size seems to be most popular?

So far, 350s are what I'm selling. The cost is not cheap, so there's not a desire to go "half-way" if that makes any sense... they go for the big boi. To that end, I'd recommend ensuring Gates belts for X/Y, and I've started experimenting with Titanium Backers to minimize twisting/warping on the gantry.