I, a middle-aged unemployed investor, made 20,000 yuan in half a month by setting up a stall selling small commodities made with a 3D printer.
An investor lost their job. The last research report they wrote during their employment was about 3D printers. So, they bought one to explore potential investment opportunities.
As a result, after much research, the keychains and dolls they made caught the eye of their neighbors. Their friends all said, "You should try setting up a stall at the night market."
This person originally hadn't shed their "intellectual pride," but perhaps after seeing too many "restart life" posts, they decided to start a stall business. Within a few months, they had earned back the cost of the machine...
3D Printers Are Really Popular
On social media recently, a national craze about "3D printing" has been quietly unfolding.
Almost every few days, new bloggers share the small items they've "created" with 3D printers. Some print figurines, badges, car models, and trendy collectibles, while others make earrings, phone cases, keychains, card holders, pen holders, and even night lights. What's most unexpected is that these once "nerdy" 3D printed works are now becoming "hot commodities" at stalls. At city night markets, university campuses, and weekend markets downstairs from companies, young people are making real money from the products printed by their printers.
Linlin (a pseudonym), a post - 90s investor, bought a desktop 3D printer in her free time, originally just wanting to "dabble" in learning 3D modeling. But the trendy figurines she printed caught the eye of her friends, who suggested she try setting up a stall. To her surprise, she sold out on her first outing. "I used to invest in projects, but now I'm investing in a printer," Linlin said.
This "resurgence" is not accidental. 3D printing technology itself is not new. More than a decade ago, it was hailed as a key technology of the "Fourth Industrial Revolution." However, in the past, 3D printers mainly served industrial design, prototype manufacturing, and scientific research experiments. They were expensive, complex to operate, and limited in materials. Now, this technology is undergoing a "democratization revolution." The price of desktop 3D printers has dropped to the thousand - yuan level. Materials have expanded from industrial resins to biodegradable plastics, nylon, metal powders, and even colored composite materials. In terms of operation, from modeling to slicing and then to printing, the software has become more user - friendly. Even users with no prior experience can master the basic process within a week.
More importantly, social platforms and the e - commerce ecosystem are providing "fuel" for 3D printers. On Bilibili, Xiaohongshu, and Douyin, topics such as "side jobs with 3D printing" and "diaries of setting up a stall with a printer" have hundreds of millions of views. People share modeling resources, printing parameters, and stall - setting experiences with each other, forming a community ecosystem full of creativity and practical experience. Some print "AI - style trendy collectibles," some make "anime - themed merchandise," and others combine AI painting to create unique shapes and then use the printer to generate physical products. This "virtual creativity + physical manufacturing" model allows ordinary people to have the ability of "small - scale production" for the first time.
Different from traditional handicrafts, the charm of setting up a stall with 3D printing lies in its almost zero inventory and infinite customization. The printer is like a "mini production line." With just a few grams of materials and a few hours, it can produce a unique product. After customers place an order, the stall owner prints on the spot, which not only meets personalized needs but also increases the sense of interaction. Some even turn the printing process into a "performance" to attract onlookers and photographers, thus obtaining multiple benefits in terms of traffic, sales, and attention.
Behind this craze, there is also a deeper social psychology. Young people are trying to escape the high - pressure and competitive work mode and turn to a more free and creative lifestyle. 3D printers happen to provide the imagination space for "low - cost entrepreneurship." You don't need a factory, don't need to stock up on goods, and don't even need artistic skills. As long as you have creativity and enthusiasm, you can complete a closed - loop of personal manufacturing from virtual models to physical products. For young people with certain aesthetic and marketing abilities, this is not only a way to make money but also a form of self - expression and a social business card.
The Past and Present of 3D Printers
If today's 3D printers are the "dream - making tools" in the hands of young people, then their origin was actually a "dream - making experiment" in an industrial laboratory.
As early as the 1980s, American engineer Charles Hull first proposed the concept of "Stereolithography (SLA)" - using a laser to solidify liquid resin layer by layer to form a three - dimensional object. This idea was revolutionary at the time. It made people realize for the first time that manufacturing didn't have to rely on casting, cutting, or molds. Instead, any shape could be achieved by "stacking" materials, just like printing a document. Hull is therefore known as the "father of 3D printing" and founded 3D Systems, which launched the world's first commercial 3D printer.
At that time, 3D printing was called "additive manufacturing" and was mainly high - end equipment for industrial prototypes. In the aerospace, automotive, medical, and military industries, it was used to print models, verify structures, and shorten the R & D cycle. It was an expensive and professional world. Machines cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, materials were as expensive as gold, and the technical threshold was so high that ordinary people were almost deterred. The earliest mission of 3D printers was not for mass entertainment but to accelerate industrial innovation.
However, the story of technology is always rewritten by capital. The first "3D printing craze" occurred around 2010. At that time, the open - source hardware movement emerged in Europe and the United States. A group of geek engineers transformed industrial - grade technology into "consumer - grade" equipment. The most representative one was the open - source project RepRap, a 3D printer platform that allowed anyone to freely download design drawings and assemble their own printers. It ignited the spark of the Maker culture and made the slogan "everyone can print" be shouted for the first time. From 2012 to 2014, American companies such as MakerBot, Stratasys, and 3D Systems were listed on the stock market after raising funds. In China, new brands such as FlashForge, Creality, and Raise3D also emerged. With the capital boom surging, global media shouted that "3D printing will revolutionize the manufacturing industry."
The imagination at that time was extremely grand. Houses, organs, clothes, aircraft parts, and even space colonies - there was almost nothing that 3D printing couldn't "create." Investment institutions flocked in, and startups mushroomed. However, just two or three years later, this craze quickly cooled down. The reasons were also very practical: the technology maturity, cost, and demand failed to form a closed - loop.
First, early devices had low precision and slow speed. Printing a complex model could take more than ten hours or even days, and the printing failure rate was as high as over 30%. Second, materials were limited. Consumer - grade devices mainly used plastic filaments such as PLA and ABS. The finished products were fragile and had a rough appearance, making it difficult to meet practical applications. Although industrial - grade printing had high precision, the cost of equipment and materials was too high, and it was still limited to a few high - value - added industries. The most crucial issue was the dilemma of the business model. When the printing technology couldn't form a stable demand scenario, 3D printing could only be a "show of skills" rather than a "business."
So, since 2015, the global 3D printing industry has experienced a cooling - off period. Many startups went bankrupt, stock prices plummeted, and capital left. At that time, the media began to joke that "3D printers are just one reliable application scenario away from revolutionizing the manufacturing industry." But during this "quiet period," real progress was quietly taking place - the printing speed increased, precision improved, materials became more diverse, the software ecosystem was perfected, and the cost decreased significantly. 3D printing was no longer a monster in the laboratory but began to become a truly useful tool.
Especially in the B - end industrial field, 3D printing is quietly taking root. The medical industry uses it to print prosthetics, dental models, surgical guides, and even human organ models. The aerospace industry uses metal printing technology to manufacture engine parts to reduce weight and increase strength. Automobile manufacturers use it for rapid prototyping to shorten the development cycle. Jewelry designers and architects also use it to achieve complex shapes. Leading domestic and foreign companies such as GE, Airbus, Boeing, BMW, and Huawei are all building their own 3D printing centers to produce customized parts.
Meanwhile, the recovery on the consumer side is also happening. After 2018, as the price of desktop printers dropped to within a few thousand yuan, and with the addition of AI modeling, image recognition, and cloud platforms, 3D printing finally reached the masses. The new - generation machines are smaller, easier to operate, and quieter. They can even print models in the bedroom. Short - video platforms, Taobao, and Xianyu have become new display and sales windows. A printer and a mobile phone are enough to start an "individual manufacturing revolution."
From a macro - industrial perspective, 3D printing has gradually integrated into the new manufacturing system. Its commercialization no longer relies on "hyping concepts" but is truly blossoming in niche areas. For example, in the medical field - personalized prosthetics, dental brackets, surgical guides; in education - maker classrooms, STEAM teaching tools; in cultural and creative and trendy collectibles - figurines, accessories, blind - box models; in industrial manufacturing - prototype verification, small - batch part replacement; in architecture and home furnishings - concrete - printed houses, artistic decorative pieces.
The common feature of all these is small - batch, high - customization, low - inventory, and high - creativity. This is exactly the blind spot of traditional manufacturing and the fertile ground for 3D printing.
Today's 3D printing is no longer the "revolutionary fantasy" of the past but has quietly penetrated into daily life as the "new normal." It is both a supplementary tool for the industry and the underlying support for the creative economy. Printing a part, an accessory, or a model - behind this is actually a transformation of the manufacturing logic: from "mass production" to "personalized production," from "enterprise manufacturing" to "personal manufacturing."
The past of 3D printers was a bubble of capital and ideals; its present is a down - to - earth and practical reality after precipitation. After the ups and downs, it has finally found its rhythm - no longer shouting "revolution," but quietly changing the way of human manufacturing in countless stalls, factories, classrooms, and workshops.
New Opportunities in the Resurgence
The resurgence of 3D printers is not only a return of the consumer - level trend but also a full - chain recovery from upstream materials to downstream scenarios.
Different from the "capital - bubble craze" a decade ago, this time 3D printing has returned to a more solid real - world context. It is no longer just the fantasy of "printing everything" but has become a new manufacturing tool that can truly leverage industrial chain opportunities.
The first to benefit is the equipment and materials industry chain. As desktop printers become popular among individuals and penetrate the education sector, the market capacity of printers themselves has expanded rapidly. The sales of domestic brands such as Creality, FlashForge, and Anycubic have been rising continuously in the past two years. Some models have even been exported to the European and American markets, becoming part of the "new small home appliances" category. This popularity has directly driven up material consumption and innovation. The single - color plastic filaments mainly made of PLA and ABS in the past are being replaced by new materials with better performance and aesthetics, such as high - strength nylon, carbon - fiber composite wires, photosensitive resins, metal powders, and even biodegradable environmental - friendly materials. Upstream enterprises have transformed from single - raw - material suppliers to ecological players providing a complete set of material solutions.
Second, the growth of the software and content ecosystem is reshaping the industry landscape. In the past, the threshold of 3D printing was in the "modeling" stage. Ordinary users without 3D design skills could hardly create printable works. Now, with the rise of AI - generated models, open - source community model libraries (such as Thingiverse, Printables), and domestic cloud - modeling platforms, "content" has become the core asset. While people download, re - create, and share models, a new creative economy has emerged. Some people earn tens of thousands of yuan a month by selling model files, and some specialize in customized IP figurine modeling services. 3D printing is no longer just a hardware business but has become a digital content distribution system, full of imagination like the early App Store.
Looking further down, small and medium - sized manufacturing enterprises and maker companies are using 3D printers to find new paths for flexible production. In traditional manufacturing, the cost of molds and the batch threshold made "small - order customization" almost impossible, but 3D printing has broken this barrier. Now, more and more factories are using 3D printing for prototyping, spare parts, rapid tooling, and non - standard part production. Some startups even use 3D printing to directly manufacture small - batch finished products to test the market or verify concepts. Especially in high - creativity industries such as personal care, beauty, trendy collectibles, and outdoor equipment, the demand for "small and refined" manufacturing has exploded, making 3D printing their natural partner.
In the education and science - innovation fields, the "resurgence" of 3D printers has also brought new popularization dividends. It has turned maker education from a concept into practice. More and more primary and secondary schools and universities are introducing printers into the classroom to teach engineering thinking, design aesthetics, and mechanical principles. For this generation of students, 3D printing is no longer "future technology" but an accessible experimental tool. This means that the next wave of "maker entrepreneurs" is being quietly cultivated.
From a more macro perspective, this craze has also redefined the boundaries of "manufacturing." The greatest potential of 3D printing is not just "creating new things" but lies in its ability to form a closed - loop after combining with digitalization, AI, and the Internet of Things: full - chain digitalization of design, simulation, production, and distribution. AI can automatically generate 3D models, cloud platforms can distribute printing tasks in real - time, and printers themselves can be connected to the Internet to receive orders, schedule, and provide feedback. This will make future manufacturing no longer concentrated in factories but distributed in countless people's homes and studios, forming a "decentralized manufacturing network." Some scholars even call it the "Uberization of manufacturing": each printer is a micro - factory node.
For the industry, this trend means huge imagination space. Upstream equipment manufacturing, raw - material R & D, mid - stream design software, modeling platforms, cloud - printing services, and downstream e - commerce channels, customized consumption, and cultural and creative brands are all facing new growth opportunities. What's more promising is the new services derived from these ecosystems, such as printing task outsourcing, model copyright trading, AI - assisted design, education and training, and maintenance and leasing. It is foreseeable that in the next few years, a complete "3D printing ecosystem" will gradually take shape, and its scale may far exceed the current "stall - setting craze."
Of course, opportunities come with challenges. 3D printing still faces technical bottlenecks in speed, precision, cost, and material compatibility. At the same time, issues such as model copyright, product safety, and intellectual property protection urgently need to be improved by policies and industry standards. But precisely because of this, its future is even more worth looking forward to - because it is not just an upgrade of tools but a turning point in the manufacturing paradigm.
When 3D printers are once again pushed to the center of the craze, what we see is not just the 20,000 yuan earned by young people from setting up stalls but a micro - sample from personal creativity to industrial transformation. In the past decade, it has moved from the dream of capital to real - world implementation. In the next decade, it may grow from a personal toy to the "new manufacturing infrastructure."
And all this starts with these buzzing little machines. Between the booming market and the quiet printing sounds, new opportunities have been printed out.
This article is from the WeChat official account "Rongzhong Finance" (ID: thecapital). Author: Lü Jingzhi, Editor: Wuren. It is published by 36Kr with permission.