It doesn't get as many views but I know that some people really enjoy it! I personally also really enjoy watching this type of content. That's usually where the really interesting information is hidden :) Will do more! Thank you for watching
You're doing a great job, really! Manufacturing anything is a non-trivial thing, and you make it only by yourself. And the product looks awesome! Especially polished ones
It's almost like an OpenAI SORA video, I can't figure it out either! btw, @ExploringTheSimulation, love your USB-C retrofit external adapter for AirPods Max, seeing your shop and backend processes. Wishing ALL the success to you, as you are keeping older technology technologically relevant for years to come! KEEP IT UP!
In an alternate Simulation where I sandblasted 1000+ parts by hand, I turned into dust midway through the process and then used that dust to print more cases 😇
Yes, for sure; the boxes stacked on each other are not optimal at all! My constraint now is space, but I am looking into moving to a bigger place next year, so I will definitely try to improve the box situation. Thank you for the suggestion. 🤝
I am not sure how comfortable I would be handling lots of micronized powder in the space where I live, every day. One has to be very mindful of dust control, otherwise it will spread everywhere in the house, and then get airborne again later.
I agree dust control is definitely something to watch out for. Thankfully for me everything is contained in 'the lab', not where I live. I just took out the machines bc it was easier to record with more space. Looking into renting an industrial space in 2025 to move production!
My feeling is: keep it simple. Use as many common parts as possible and reduce complexity/variants. "You can have any color, as long as its black" - Henry Ford :D
I do want to keep it simple, I agree with you. The lanyard version here was more to demonstrate the flexibility of 3D printing for manufacturing. One comment I received a lot was that the dark grey color would mostly appeal to a male audience, and by asking around it does appear to be true. So I think it could be interesting to try to make a lighter color version! Thank you for watching :)
@@ExploringTheSimulation You can usually solve a problem for yourself and attract similar people like yourself to buy your product. But once that is saturated you got to talk to users you haven't been able to acquire and understand what their preferences and problems are. Don't make the mistake to branch out too much based on comfortable assumptions. rooting for you!
This was a great and inspiring video! No idea I could buy a pick and place machine. Thanks for doing what you do! What was your favorite part to design?
Hey there, since you are already labeling each part, you might want to add a badge for the type of plastic used. It is actually required by law in some regions and will help to improve recycling a lot! :)
Wow, I wish I could be like you someday. Can I ask you - what was your career path before this? I'm currently in college, but I feel like it just isn't for me. I have a couple of product ideas but I'm not sure if it's worth dropping out and pursuing my engineering dream. How did you get the courage to fully commit? Am I worrying about nothing and should do what I love or forget about it and focus on college? I understand that it's beneficial to have a day job that can keep you afloat, but then I'm afraid I won't have time for my projects. I feel like I already have all the knowledge I need, and I can just look on the internet for more if I have to. Am I wrong to think that higher education is overrated?
Thank you for the kind words. That's quite a heavy question, but I'll try my best to answer. I think it's really important to take online information (even from me) with a grain of salt. Everything depends on so many different factors, and what you see can often be chalked up to "survivor bias". I'm not sure where you're located since that could affect my advice, so I'll just share my experience. I did my bachelor's and master's in robotics in Switzerland. I was already really lucky since education is pretty affordable here, and most people around me (including myself) didn't need to take on debt for college. I worked part-time doing engineering gigs and had a supportive family. I know that puts me in a more fortunate position than 99% of people out there... But honestly, being debt-free alone wouldn't have been enough to make me fully commit. I was doing my master's during the pandemic, so I basically decided to go full nerd and just tinker at home every day trying to build something cool. I wanted to create an iPhone with a USB-C port - the first one ever. After two years of trying things, giving up for a few months, then trying again with new ideas, I finally succeeded! I posted a video here on this channel and it completely blew up! Changed my life overnight. Though it was more like an "overnight success" that actually took over two years to make. In the video description, I mentioned I was job hunting and got over 150 offers in about 3 weeks. I always knew I wanted to do my own thing, but this gave me confidence that I could find work pretty easily if things didn't work out. Then something unexpected happened - people who saw the video started emailing me asking if I could develop products/prototypes for them. So right after graduating, I already had several freelance design jobs lined up that helped fund my TH-cam work until about a year ago. Then through TH-cam, I started getting brand sponsorship deals, and now I'm selling kits and cases, which has made it possible to continue this TH-cam adventure for the foreseeable future.
College was important to me as a safety net - having that backup plan to find a job if the entrepreneurial path didn't work out. When you're young, it's tough to build credibility and trust, and having a diploma from a reputable college really helps with that. Plus, I built my circle of friends and met so many people I never would have connected with otherwise. I did think about quitting near the end, but I'm really glad I stuck with it. Looking back, my college experience wasn't overrated at all - it was challenging, but I had a great time. If it's possible in your situation, maybe consider taking fewer classes and staying an extra semester? That could give you more breathing room to work on your own projects and see if something clicks.
Awesome work! As an experienced mold maker based in India, I can offer you significant cost savings of 40-50% compared to your current quote. In addition to mold manufacturing, I can handle the production and shipping of molded parts exclusively for your needs.
great video man the final finish with the polishing agent look fantastic! if you don't mind me asking which air compressor did you get? having a loud one too right now and thinking of switching
The surface finish of a 3D-printed metal mold would not be good enough and would require an additional CNC pass. By that point, it is not cost-effective; one might as well do everything on the CNC. Thank you for the suggestion!
Love the people and philosophy behind the PnP, but I outgrew its capabilities pretty quickly and also feel like they started selling the feeders too soon. The feeders are not good and not reliable enough for 0402 components (which I use almost exclusively). I need to watch them and fix alignment issues constantly. For the price they are selling them at, it's not okay. Now, I'm looking to buy a real industrial PnP.
I'm working on it! I had too much work because of the quantity of orders that came in, but now I can focus on it again :) Still have one technical challenge to overcome.
Hey, maybe you want to get in touch with the good people at Lockcard, they make 3D-printed wallets and similar things in Ulm, Germany. They have quite a big factory setup now, with tens of Prusas printing all day long. Seems like a good fit!
I love your profile picture! Always wanted to ask, how exactly did you make it? (I tried a few ASCII-Art generators but they don't really look the part)
I made it years ago! If I remember correctly, I also started with one of those generators you mentioned, but I think the key is to have a very clean-looking picture. I used the same picture as my LinkedIn profile. Then I cleaned it up a little by deleting characters manually, and then I wrote a Python script to manually swap the existing characters with characters I had chosen myself. Hope this helps!
It really depends on the complexity of the mold. The cases have cavities inside to put the electronics; that already complicates the mold drastically because you need to add sliders. Looks like you got a couple of new videos too! Excited to watch them 😊
Yes, that can happen, but I have never had a complete print failure (where everything after a certain layer height is destroyed). At most, I get one or two cases with a small visual defect (on a 70-case print). Most of the time, there are zero defects. When there is a defect, it could be that something contaminated the powder (hair, debris, or whatever), or it is usually fixed by cleaning the optical cassette in the printer. I would say it is very reliable.
The SLS machine + cleaning station and sandblasting robot cost more than molds for your entire product family (most of the small parts could go into a family mold, same for some of the cases and covers). If the SLS machine is used solely for production of this product family than Im not sure its was a smart decision, but if your sales are a few thousands per year than it probably is.
It doesn't? The bottom part for one case was already $15,000... There are 5 bottoms; that's more than the whole setup! And yes, you mentioned it correctly: price is one argument, but the fact that I can continue to produce new products (and I will!) is the real game changer. Thank you for watching.
Serious question. Are you planning to pivot to a different product line once Apple stops selling their dumb lightening cases? I love the Max conversion kit you sold me. So satisfying to see the announcement of the new headphones and be able to laugh at how slow Apple is.
TL;DR : Yes, I've got a list longer than my arm of stuff that would be cool to make! They actually already did stop selling the Lightning cases! It's all USB-C now. People would think that it means my adapters and cases will lose their appeal and become obsolete, but actually, quite the opposite is happening! Imagine someone getting the new iPhone but they still have their old pair of AirPods that works perfectly, but now it's the only device left with a Lightning port that they own, so one of my cases becomes the perfect solution. Now the opposite can happen too, where the iPhone becomes the last product they own with the old port. I am working on that solution too ;) And once a product has been invented and produced, it doesn't take much effort to keep stocking it, I can focus on inventing new stuff!
@ that makes a lot of sense. That’s actually exactly the reason why I was so excited for the AirPod Max conversion kit. They were my last lightning product. Thanks for the well thought out reply. I also have a small production product that sells okay, but I often wrestle with the decision on upgrading my production. Great videos. Thanks for sharing.
To be honest, i own a 3d printing farm, and my fdm printers would actually make a better finish then this SLS printer. Just produced 3700 parts this week, 100% B2B business. The fuse1 is not a bad printer, but the PA12 they sell is way to expensive…
@ExploringTheSimulation if the plastic starts to melt due to malfunction of the device. You are responsible. I'm a product developer. Contact me if you like to know more.
@@Skanda5000 Appreciate your concerns! As I said I will make another video on this. On I side note for someone else reading this, the product is safe and you can't melt plastic with a 5V usb charger.
@ExploringTheSimulation that's not true. Of course you can melt plastic with usb. Watch what power can go through it. Multiply volt times amp and you have the power. That is exactly why does directives need to complied with...
I tried staying friendly to you but I don't like your tone. You are just spreading misinformation without having all the information. You should do the opposite, get the information and then start making claims... The product doesn't take more than 5V@0.6A. This is 3 watts. Now if you can hurt someone with 3 watts or melt plastic then I would advise you to patent your invention and you will make billions 😇
th-cam.com/video/ZF3XPORAF0A/w-d-xo.html bro please stop... I spit my coffee on my screen. :/ For real, great video, Will be taking some inspiration for my manufacturing line, but please don't do that AI "enhancements" :D
Replying to everyone for the next 24 hours 😎
New Lanyard USB-C cases for AirPods are here btw: SHOP.KENP.IO
Thanks for watching ❤
Nice
5:11 I love this 😂
Warum kein roots/schrauben-verdichter? Sind leichter zu dämmen, da höhere frequenzen, und du benötigst ja eher volumen statt druck
I love how calm and collected this guy is. No ragebait, no inflammatory commentary... just a cool dude making cool shit and doing damn well at it.
🫶
Smart Cookie! Version Stamp in the design is such a good idea!
glad you got something out of the video 💪
I love the more behind the scenes look here
It doesn't get as many views but I know that some people really enjoy it! I personally also really enjoy watching this type of content. That's usually where the really interesting information is hidden :) Will do more! Thank you for watching
I love the process! That’s probably $100K worth of machines and printers.
I received my case about a month ago and really love them. Well done my man.
You're doing a great job, really! Manufacturing anything is a non-trivial thing, and you make it only by yourself. And the product looks awesome! Especially polished ones
Great job. Hammered texture looks the best in a semi glossy finish. Eggshell finish is very practical.
Wtf happened to you at 5:54 ?!?!?
It's almost like an OpenAI SORA video, I can't figure it out either!
btw, @ExploringTheSimulation, love your USB-C retrofit external adapter for AirPods Max, seeing your shop and backend processes. Wishing ALL the success to you, as you are keeping older technology technologically relevant for years to come!
KEEP IT UP!
In an alternate Simulation where I sandblasted 1000+ parts by hand, I turned into dust midway through the process and then used that dust to print more cases 😇
@@alliphantic thank you, really appreciate it!
Ai
😂
You need pick and pull shelving! This will give you another task optimization thing to explore which is huge in production logistics.
Yes, for sure; the boxes stacked on each other are not optimal at all! My constraint now is space, but I am looking into moving to a bigger place next year, so I will definitely try to improve the box situation. Thank you for the suggestion. 🤝
Seriously impressive 1 man shop you've got going. Just found your channel. Going to poke around more!
I am not sure how comfortable I would be handling lots of micronized powder in the space where I live, every day. One has to be very mindful of dust control, otherwise it will spread everywhere in the house, and then get airborne again later.
I agree dust control is definitely something to watch out for. Thankfully for me everything is contained in 'the lab', not where I live. I just took out the machines bc it was easier to record with more space. Looking into renting an industrial space in 2025 to move production!
ooooooooooooooooo super cool!!! cant wait to see what you come up with next
will try to release it as soon as possible! thank you for watching
My feeling is: keep it simple. Use as many common parts as possible and reduce complexity/variants. "You can have any color, as long as its black" - Henry Ford :D
I do want to keep it simple, I agree with you. The lanyard version here was more to demonstrate the flexibility of 3D printing for manufacturing. One comment I received a lot was that the dark grey color would mostly appeal to a male audience, and by asking around it does appear to be true. So I think it could be interesting to try to make a lighter color version! Thank you for watching :)
@@ExploringTheSimulation You can usually solve a problem for yourself and attract similar people like yourself to buy your product. But once that is saturated you got to talk to users you haven't been able to acquire and understand what their preferences and problems are. Don't make the mistake to branch out too much based on comfortable assumptions. rooting for you!
hmm, good job, have you tested the resin printer?
ayy just in time. finally bro. thanks for listening! i saw my message on 6:53 XD
thanks for suggesting the lanyard!
@@ExploringTheSimulation cheers mate!
love your work bro just keep those things organized. ! :)
This was a great and inspiring video! No idea I could buy a pick and place machine. Thanks for doing what you do! What was your favorite part to design?
Wow you also open sourced everything whaaaat? ❤❤
Hey there, since you are already labeling each part, you might want to add a badge for the type of plastic used. It is actually required by law in some regions and will help to improve recycling a lot! :)
Proud to see this. Hope you make a good profit!
Thank you!! All profit goes back into the TH-cam channel 🫡
Wow, I wish I could be like you someday. Can I ask you - what was your career path before this? I'm currently in college, but I feel like it just isn't for me. I have a couple of product ideas but I'm not sure if it's worth dropping out and pursuing my engineering dream. How did you get the courage to fully commit? Am I worrying about nothing and should do what I love or forget about it and focus on college? I understand that it's beneficial to have a day job that can keep you afloat, but then I'm afraid I won't have time for my projects. I feel like I already have all the knowledge I need, and I can just look on the internet for more if I have to. Am I wrong to think that higher education is overrated?
Thank you for the kind words.
That's quite a heavy question, but I'll try my best to answer. I think it's really important to take online information (even from me) with a grain of salt. Everything depends on so many different factors, and what you see can often be chalked up to "survivor bias". I'm not sure where you're located since that could affect my advice, so I'll just share my experience.
I did my bachelor's and master's in robotics in Switzerland. I was already really lucky since education is pretty affordable here, and most people around me (including myself) didn't need to take on debt for college. I worked part-time doing engineering gigs and had a supportive family. I know that puts me in a more fortunate position than 99% of people out there... But honestly, being debt-free alone wouldn't have been enough to make me fully commit.
I was doing my master's during the pandemic, so I basically decided to go full nerd and just tinker at home every day trying to build something cool. I wanted to create an iPhone with a USB-C port - the first one ever. After two years of trying things, giving up for a few months, then trying again with new ideas, I finally succeeded! I posted a video here on this channel and it completely blew up! Changed my life overnight. Though it was more like an "overnight success" that actually took over two years to make.
In the video description, I mentioned I was job hunting and got over 150 offers in about 3 weeks. I always knew I wanted to do my own thing, but this gave me confidence that I could find work pretty easily if things didn't work out. Then something unexpected happened - people who saw the video started emailing me asking if I could develop products/prototypes for them. So right after graduating, I already had several freelance design jobs lined up that helped fund my TH-cam work until about a year ago. Then through TH-cam, I started getting brand sponsorship deals, and now I'm selling kits and cases, which has made it possible to continue this TH-cam adventure for the foreseeable future.
College was important to me as a safety net - having that backup plan to find a job if the entrepreneurial path didn't work out. When you're young, it's tough to build credibility and trust, and having a diploma from a reputable college really helps with that. Plus, I built my circle of friends and met so many people I never would have connected with otherwise.
I did think about quitting near the end, but I'm really glad I stuck with it. Looking back, my college experience wasn't overrated at all - it was challenging, but I had a great time.
If it's possible in your situation, maybe consider taking fewer classes and staying an extra semester? That could give you more breathing room to work on your own projects and see if something clicks.
Awesome work!
As an experienced mold maker based in India, I can offer you significant cost savings of 40-50% compared to your current quote. In addition to mold manufacturing, I can handle the production and shipping of molded parts exclusively for your needs.
You can shoot me an email so I have your contact, but for now I'm committed to 3d printing :) Thank you for watching
As always, du génie bro 😎
great work
Thank you for watching!
great video man the final finish with the polishing agent look fantastic! if you don't mind me asking which air compressor did you get? having a loud one too right now and thinking of switching
The "hammered" finish looks the best imho
You are amazing, I love your content!
Thank you so much! I'm just getting started
Why dont you print an SLS metal mould for injection?
The surface finish of a 3D-printed metal mold would not be good enough and would require an additional CNC pass. By that point, it is not cost-effective; one might as well do everything on the CNC. Thank you for the suggestion!
Great video ! But what is wrong with your current pnp?
Love the people and philosophy behind the PnP, but I outgrew its capabilities pretty quickly and also feel like they started selling the feeders too soon. The feeders are not good and not reliable enough for 0402 components (which I use almost exclusively). I need to watch them and fix alignment issues constantly. For the price they are selling them at, it's not okay. Now, I'm looking to buy a real industrial PnP.
İs it the opulo? I thought it was a good machine
What about such iPhone cases? I really like my iPhone 13 mini but would like to have type c on it. Or maybe prepared part for swap in repair shop.
I'm working on it! I had too much work because of the quantity of orders that came in, but now I can focus on it again :) Still have one technical challenge to overcome.
9:41
So cool, makes me want to buy AirPods just to give them the USB C treatment 🤣
😅 I'll have tons of new stuff next year! Maybe there will be something for you :)
They do sell airpods with usbc now but this is so much cooler.
Hey, maybe you want to get in touch with the good people at Lockcard, they make 3D-printed wallets and similar things in Ulm, Germany. They have quite a big factory setup now, with tens of Prusas printing all day long. Seems like a good fit!
Oops, they actually also have an SLS printer.
Yes, they probably have a similar setup to mine. Thank you for the suggestion!
What's the final price per piece? Nylon is an expensive powder material
I love your profile picture! Always wanted to ask, how exactly did you make it? (I tried a few ASCII-Art generators but they don't really look the part)
I made it years ago! If I remember correctly, I also started with one of those generators you mentioned, but I think the key is to have a very clean-looking picture. I used the same picture as my LinkedIn profile. Then I cleaned it up a little by deleting characters manually, and then I wrote a Python script to manually swap the existing characters with characters I had chosen myself. Hope this helps!
@@ExploringTheSimulation Thank you very much for the answer! I will look into it a bit more
you could use acid to make surface more smoother
Great video!
This was super cool inside look. Surprised to hear it costs $15k for a injection mold!! I thought they cost a couple of grand, but damn 😅
It really depends on the complexity of the mold. The cases have cavities inside to put the electronics; that already complicates the mold drastically because you need to add sliders.
Looks like you got a couple of new videos too! Excited to watch them 😊
How much did the 3D printer and other machines cost?
I show the invoice in this video: th-cam.com/video/GmK-1qVu7qc/w-d-xo.html :)
Do you ever have print failures? If so, how many?
Yes, that can happen, but I have never had a complete print failure (where everything after a certain layer height is destroyed). At most, I get one or two cases with a small visual defect (on a 70-case print). Most of the time, there are zero defects. When there is a defect, it could be that something contaminated the powder (hair, debris, or whatever), or it is usually fixed by cleaning the optical cassette in the printer.
I would say it is very reliable.
@@ExploringTheSimulation That's outstanding, thanks for replying and keep exploring the simulation👌
I wonder how the 3d printed part would look sanded and mirror polished ! Also how are your neighbors not complaining ?
I'm not sure it's possible to mirror-polish them. Maybe through electroplating and then polishing?
How much the whole investement to start costed you?
I show the invoice in this video: th-cam.com/video/GmK-1qVu7qc/w-d-xo.html :)
love your videos!
bouta order 1000 of these
🔥
instant subscribe!!🙌
welcome to the group!!
Yeah
Yeah? Yeah.
very cool
glad you like it!
The SLS machine + cleaning station and sandblasting robot cost more than molds for your entire product family (most of the small parts could go into a family mold, same for some of the cases and covers). If the SLS machine is used solely for production of this product family than Im not sure its was a smart decision, but if your sales are a few thousands per year than it probably is.
It doesn't? The bottom part for one case was already $15,000... There are 5 bottoms; that's more than the whole setup! And yes, you mentioned it correctly: price is one argument, but the fact that I can continue to produce new products (and I will!) is the real game changer. Thank you for watching.
3:04 when?
Maybe in 3-4 months? I want to change the pick and place before shooting. The rest of the setup works great, especially the vapor phase reflow oven.
Serious question. Are you planning to pivot to a different product line once Apple stops selling their dumb lightening cases? I love the Max conversion kit you sold me. So satisfying to see the announcement of the new headphones and be able to laugh at how slow Apple is.
TL;DR : Yes, I've got a list longer than my arm of stuff that would be cool to make!
They actually already did stop selling the Lightning cases! It's all USB-C now. People would think that it means my adapters and cases will lose their appeal and become obsolete, but actually, quite the opposite is happening! Imagine someone getting the new iPhone but they still have their old pair of AirPods that works perfectly, but now it's the only device left with a Lightning port that they own, so one of my cases becomes the perfect solution. Now the opposite can happen too, where the iPhone becomes the last product they own with the old port. I am working on that solution too ;) And once a product has been invented and produced, it doesn't take much effort to keep stocking it, I can focus on inventing new stuff!
@ that makes a lot of sense. That’s actually exactly the reason why I was so excited for the AirPod Max conversion kit. They were my last lightning product.
Thanks for the well thought out reply. I also have a small production product that sells okay, but I often wrestle with the decision on upgrading my production. Great videos. Thanks for sharing.
The only biggest issue is the price of the sls
A product for everyone is a product for noone.
That's why you make different products 😇
hoyl shit, people are paying 60$cad for a CASE?
For the iPhone ha 😏
blud a une usine dans son appartement
presque !
To be honest, i own a 3d printing farm, and my fdm printers would actually make a better finish then this SLS printer. Just produced 3700 parts this week, 100% B2B business. The fuse1 is not a bad printer, but the PA12 they sell is way to expensive…
Ja. Certification? EM directive, CE, low voltage directive, productsafety?
Thank you for the recommendation. This video was about plastics manufacturing, but I do plan to make more videos in the "one man factory" series :)
@ExploringTheSimulation if the plastic starts to melt due to malfunction of the device. You are responsible. I'm a product developer. Contact me if you like to know more.
@@Skanda5000 Appreciate your concerns! As I said I will make another video on this.
On I side note for someone else reading this, the product is safe and you can't melt plastic with a 5V usb charger.
@ExploringTheSimulation that's not true. Of course you can melt plastic with usb. Watch what power can go through it. Multiply volt times amp and you have the power. That is exactly why does directives need to complied with...
I tried staying friendly to you but I don't like your tone. You are just spreading misinformation without having all the information. You should do the opposite, get the information and then start making claims...
The product doesn't take more than 5V@0.6A. This is 3 watts. Now if you can hurt someone with 3 watts or melt plastic then I would advise you to patent your invention and you will make billions 😇
th-cam.com/video/ZF3XPORAF0A/w-d-xo.html bro please stop... I spit my coffee on my screen. :/
For real, great video, Will be taking some inspiration for my manufacturing line, but please don't do that AI "enhancements" :D
Why not?
airpods 🤮, apple 🤮
First
Here's your medal: 🥇 :)
@@ExploringTheSimulation lol thanks, really enjoyed this video, can’t wait for your next one.