Personal 3D printers weren’t as
revolutionary as some had hoped. There was a time in the early
2010s when manufacturers thought it possible that, as technology
advanced, every household would own one of these devices capable
of creating nearly anything imaginable out of plastic. But the
demand never materialized. While increasingly cheaper, faster and
easier to use, 3D printers remain largely the domain of dedicated
hobbyists. However, in recent years, 3D printing has led to a new
kind of service, one that entrepreneurs in the Capital Region are
cashing in on.

When customers want 3D-printed
products but aren’t interested in making them themselves, then
there’s money to be made. And nowhere is this more prevalent than
in games, specifically, games like Dungeons & Dragons, where
plastic miniatures are used to represent players, enemies and
terrain. Sometimes, the only way to get a specific piece is to go
online and download the digital file, often for a small fee.
Printing it isn’t straightforward, but a few local services offer
to handle the hassle.

An open
niche

“It was just a market that no one
in town was doing, so we decided to get in on it,” says Anthony
Martinez, store manager of Great Escape Games
in Arden Arcade. During the
pandemic, Martinez said there was an uptick in gamers using
online services like Hero Forge and Eldritch Foundry to design custom miniatures and then either
buy the finished product or pay for the digital file at a greatly
reduced rate.

Store staff realized they could
offer locals a cheaper and faster 3D printing service than online
retailers. Customers can email the files to the shop and pick up
the finished miniature in about two days. Prices start at around
$6 per miniature, with a discount for bulk purchases. Martinez
said the service quietly launched in 2021 and has since become
“decently popular.”

Great Escape Games will print
anything that’s a few inches in size, just so long as it’s
“Nothing nude, nothing lewd, nothing weapon adjacent or anything
like that. And if it is IP infringing, we probably won’t print
it,” Martinez says.

Could other hobby shops nearby
soon launch their own 3D printing services? Martinez doesn’t
think so. Not everyone has the space and technical knowledge
needed. Plus, quality machines aren’t cheap. The shop bought a
printer for around $3,000. The owner also loaned his personal
printer, and a third was donated by a customer “who’s used our
service a lot and just wanted to help us out a little
bit.”

From characters to
camembert

One Elk Grove couple operates a
3D printing service out of their home. Audrey Hawkes and her
husband, James Geary,
launched Simon’s Magic Shoppe
in 2020. Customers can email them digital files
and then receive the printed miniature in the mail. Hawkes says
Geary is an IT worker and tech enthusiast who used 3D printing to
bring their D&D characters into the physical world.

Audrey Hawkes and her husband, James Geary, run the 3D printing
service Simon’s Magic Shoppe out of their home. Customers can
send digital files to be printed as miniatures like this unicorn.
(Courtesy photo)

“You’ve got this character
that you imagined and made stories about, and you’ve taken that
from your brain, and now you can hold it in your hand,” Hawkes
says, ”and that’s my favorite part of it.”

Launching this business was a
means to justify Geary’s expensive hobby. They currently own six printers: three
resin and three filament. Both have pros and cons. Resin printers
use a type of liquid plastic that solidifies when exposed to UV
lights. It allows for finer detail and a smoother finish, but is
more expensive and more fragile. Plus, liquid resin can irritate
the skin, and its fumes are toxic. Filament printers involve
melting plastic threads, like a soldering iron or a hot glue gun.
It’s more durable and easier to work with, but the print lines
are more visible.

Only a quarter of business comes
from printing files sent by customers. Selling completed
3D-printed products, for which they pay a commercial license, is
far more lucrative. Hawkes says their online store rarely breaks
$1,000 gross a month. Usually, they sell a few miniatures a week.
Recently, the couple branched out into selling cheese presses,
both the digital file and the tool itself. They’ve created their
own design, one they believe is improved and cheaper.

Hawkers and Geary recently launched a 3D printed cheese press,
which they say is their best seller. (Courtesy photo)

“Since the cheese press was kind
of our best seller, I think what we’re focusing on is trying to
learn more, to get better at designing our own things,” Hawkes
says. They’re currently developing a new cheese mold and press
specifically for camembert.

Building better battle
wagons

Not every modelmaker is head
over heels for 3D printers. Christopher Clarke of Elk Grove prefers to
work with his hands when creating miniature post-apocalyptic cars
for the game Gaslands, a cross between “Mad Max” and D&D.
Clarke takes store-bought Matchbox or Hot Wheels die-cast toy
cars, removes the paint to reveal the fine detail, then
customizes them.

Christopher Clarke of Elk Grove makes post-apocalyptic cars for
the game Gaslands, a cross between “Mad Max” and D&D.
(Courtesy photo)

Clarke enjoyed the craft in
retirement, and after he had stockpiled about 40 cars, his wife
encouraged him to start selling them. In 2019, he launched his
own Etsy shop called
Gaslands
NorCal. He makes about
a dozen cars a week and so far has made 1,400 sales. A highlight
was when “Twisted Metal” showrunner Michael Jonathan Smith hired
him to make about 60 car models to gift the cast and crew after
filming wrapped for the show’s second season. “Yeah, it was
insane,” Clarke says.

Clarke uses a 3D printer to make
wheels, drivers and other accessories for his builds. Customers
frequently ask him where they can buy 3D miniatures online and
become disappointed when he tells them only the STL file is
available. Because of the demand, he also sells commercially
licensed miniatures that he 3D prints himself.

“Most people don’t have 3D
printers, even though they’ve come down in price so much, “
Clarke says. “They don’t have the room to do this type of thing,
so good for me.”

Clarke was hesitant to buy a 3D
printer. He didn’t want to spend time learning a complex new
skill. “It can be very, very frustrating. And I held off going
into 3D printing for a long time because of the learning curve,”
he says.

Gaslands NorCal has made 1,400 sales on Etsy. (Courtesy photo)

He was also worried about
misprints. Clarke uses a cheaper printer, and cold weather or
humidity can cause deformities that aren’t apparent until a job
is finished after a few hours. Residue or an improper setup could
cause a print job to break the machine. This has happened a few
times to Clarke, who’s on his sixth 3D printer.

“It’s a lot easier than it used
to be, but it’s still not plug and play like a regular printer
and hit the button,” Clarke says. “There’s a lot more to
it.”

Finishing
touches

Creating original designs is a
specialty of Sarah Malcom, a professional 3D artist in Sacramento
who creates digital art for video games, like the upcoming

Wizard Cleaning
Simulator. In 2023,
she launched her Etsy shop, Banana Art By
Sarah, to sell
keychains, stickers and enamel pins featuring her 2D
artwork.

Malcom also offers a complete 3D
model service, from design creation to printing. The listed price
is $150. She said there’s been some interest, but no takers yet.
Her main 3D products are artisan keycaps, which are figurines
that attach to computer keyboards. Overall, her Etsy shop isn’t
lucrative, but it’s fun and helps pay for hobbies. “I’m looking
at it more as an artist and an expression of art than a way to
make quick money, I guess,” she says.

Malcom said making 3D designs
isn’t easy. It’s something she studied at university, but it’s
not impossible for a dedicated enthusiast to learn from home.
(The Sacramento Public Library offers free use of a 3D printer
through its
Makerspace and
occasional introductory classes.) She uses programs like ZBrush
and Maya to create the designs, then puts them through a slicer,
a software application that converts the STL file into
instructions for the printer. Malcom could sell her digital files
online but is worried about piracy and counterfeits.

She prefers to sell the finished
miniatures. A few local hobby shops carry her wares, and she
sells in person at conventions and expos. Malcom said many other
vendors specializing in homemade 3D-printed products tend to use
cheaper filament printing to make children’s toys and trinkets.
Printing a licensed model is easy. But sanding, adding primer and
varnish — that’s work. Malcom uses expensive resin printing and
specialized sanding tools to turn her work into proper display
pieces.

“There is a stigma,” Malcom says.
“A lot of people think that 3D printed stuff is really cheap, and
it is, but it’s what you do afterwards to get it to that high
quality.”

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