Turning a 3D Print Farm Into A Full Time Business - MTM #33 Nerdy_Chicken_Schmidt

In this episode of Meet the Makers, we sit down with Blair, a successful 3D printing entrepreneur who turned her burnout into a thriving full-time business. Blair shares her journey from initially acquiring 3D printers for family projects to transitioning them into a profit-generating operation during the pandemic. She delves deep into the specifics of her print farm, currently running 60 diverse machines, and offers insights on the best printers for beginners and the unique challenges of managing a large print farm. Additionally, Blair talks about her passion for chickens and how it has become a relaxing hobby outside her busy print business. Join us to learn more about Blair's unique blend of technical expertise and artistic vision in the world of 3D printing.
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Where to find Blair
Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nerdy_chicken_schmidt?lang=en
Tiktok (business): https://www.tiktok.com/@acriticalhit20?lang=en
Website: https://acriticalhit.net/ 
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Come be a guest on meet the makers: https://forms.gle/wTqzxqGpsu9hZ39F6
Follow misfit printing on Tiktok:  https://www.tiktok.com/@misfit_printing
Support the show / Misfit at The Harpo:  https://theharpo.com/ 
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Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Special Guest
00:14 Blair's Journey into 3D Printing
01:05 Scaling Up: From Hobby to Business
01:43 Diverse Printer Fleet
04:01 Choosing the Right Models for Shows
05:34 Navigating the 3D Printing Market
08:31 Printer Recommendations for Beginners
11:31 Managing Costs and Setup
15:03 Challenges and Rewards of the Business
19:15 Optimal Print Time and Filament Management
20:26 Filament Consumption and Sourcing Strategies
22:10 Background in Numbers and Business Management
25:03 Evolution of 3D Printing Machines
26:10 The Impact of Bamboo Lab Printers
30:17 Life as a Chicken Owner
33:43 Advice for Aspiring 3D Print Farm Owners
34:58 Where to Follow the Journey

Transcript

riverside_blair_& kate _ nov 9, 2024 001_misfit_printing's s 
[00:00:00] Welcome back to another episode of Meet the Makers. Today, I have Blair with me and a special edition, our first ever chicken on the podcast. So very excited for this episode Blair, so excited to have you here todayI'm excited to be here. 
awesome. We're glad to have you.. Can you just tell us how you got into 3d printing and. For you, I know that you've transitioned this into a full time business so maybe, like, how you got into 3D printing initially and then what kicked started you to do it on the business side?
My husband convinced me to get a 3D printer because he wanted to make jeep parts. he and my kids were very into it. I don't think they ever made a jeep part. And so through COVID, we had all these printers and they were constantly making things.
I was working 60 hour works weeks because I was what was considered a what did they call us at the time? An essential worker. So I was suffering some really bad burnout. I looked at my husband, we went camping up in Michigan as my first vacation on two years. And I was like, [00:01:00] so I want to quit my job 
Take over the printers. And that's pretty much how it happened. Man, I can totally relate to being burnt out during that period, and it's really cool that you've been able to transition into doing this as a full time thing.
 A lot of people I think who have printers it's like the dream to, Do this full time So many questions there, but I guess starting out what printers are you guys running in the day to day? How many printers do you guys have to keep this operation going?
And what does that side of things look like? Just for perspective, I have replaced my corporate income with this I do show every weekend and I was brutally reminded by my friend Kyle, who is STL life on tick tock. He brutally reminded me a couple days ago that I'm up to 60 printers versus 50.
I run all different kinds of machines. my theory is a lot of people run the same machine, but as a business, a carpenter has several different types of saws. And 

several different types of hammers. So we have bamboos, we have stovels, we have anti cubics. We have a little bit of [00:02:00] everything. 
Truly, a little bit of everything. I think a lot of times when we see these print farms, people assume, you've got to have one type of machine or a bunch of a single machine.
 it's interesting to hear that you've had a whole different variety of things for you in running those different machines. Has there been anything that you have found certain machines maybe have been better for certain types of prints or any machines that maybe you would err on people away from?
Absolutely. Of course, BambooLab is like the go to standard for everybody right now but. As everybody knows, Bamboo Labs has several different types of machines, a lot like buying a car. We have four of the X1s that are originally from the Kickstarter. And we have actually managed to figure out a way to run multicolored TPU with those machines, which is really cool.
So that's what they do. That's their job. They run multicolored TPU. Interesting. Now, I I have I do have the EMS system and I've been convinced that you can't run TPU is it inside the EMS that you're running the TPU or do you have a [00:03:00] different method for how you're doing that?
Yes, so these are the X ones. It's basically a P1S, but before the P1S existed, it's just got the LiDAR in it. what we have learned is that the tooling in the stepper motors, don't get as hot. for some reason, they're not running as much power and TPU melts at a lower point.
when you're running it through your regular AMS, it's melting and getting soft, and that's why you can't run it in those machines. But we've there's something different about the X1s. We have not like The regular X ones, we've not taken it apart, butwe just got lucky.
 I've never, out of all the people I've talked to, nobody has brought that up before. very cool. I've learned something new today. That's why we have so many different machines because my husband's a tinkerer at heart. and I am definitely an artsy person. we have all these different machines because he wants to tinker with them.
I'm like, let's make this massive dragon skull, so we're a dangerous combination 

between the 2 of us because I'm like, here's my vision. He's [00:04:00] okay. I think that's perfect. 
For you being more on the vision side, the art side of things, something I'm always so curious about for people who, especially people who go to shows or they're doing in person events, things like that, especially when you guys were newer to this, how were you deciding what files to bring to shows and what to stock at your shows?
I tell everybody print what you love. what actually started my business and made me say, I can do this is that everybody's familiar with Matt Meyer. He's huge. I was one of his first 100 Patrion subscribers, and he had that axolotl Model with the little smile. And I was like, this is it.
This is what's going to launch. This is just the model. we still print that model to this day with a little smile on it. I paint the tongue and I paint the eyes. I don't run it on the AMS just because I feel like it gives it a little bit more of an organic feel. I do approach the business a little bit differently.
I'm definitely more of an artist. Then I am I'm making parts and [00:05:00] I'm making, just cranking it out. Every model I changed the paint job. There's just, it's a little touch of me and Matt versus just the generic. I want to say that's a huge part of what's led to our success in this is that we've taken it and made it our own is what I really think that's something I hear a lot of people struggle with when they're first getting into selling princes.
It can be saturated, especially if you're selling the more popular. Cinderwing Dragons or Batman Remake stuff there definitely can, I've heard, be competition when you go to the different shows, but I agree. I think just having those little things that make you stand out are really important.
 Now going off of that too, for people who don't know and maybe you're new, maybe people newer to 3D printing, or newer to selling 3D prints a lot of times people will subscribe to Patreons, or different places where you get the licenses to sell these different types of models.
For you guys, today there's so many options out there and there's so many people offering files. do you stick to what you know or do you find it tempting to dabble in different things? And how do you decide on what's worthwhile and what's not worthwhile to subscribe [00:06:00] to?

A lot of these patreons are so inexpensive and it's relative. It depends on what your startup capital and what that person starting their business needs. But so when we 1st started, I think we started with 6 different so we were at 60 bucks a month. on Patreons and subscriptions 
we printed what spoke to us and very rarely did we not make the 60 bucks back when we first started. We don't print all of one artist We cherry pick what we really like and that's what we print. And we do sell a lot of articulated toys and we do sell the dragons because The artist, and I love to use pie games as an example.
He just struck gold and his success has made success for everybody in truth. So , I do my best to follow the trends and then I put in things that are a bit of me as well. I know a lot of people don't want to sell the articulated dragons, but I feel like at this point, it doesn't matter what kind of 3d prints you're selling.[00:07:00] 
We sell a lot of gaming terrain. But we still take dragons with us everywhere we go, just because that's what's hot right now. the dragons seem to be through the test of time. When I first got into 3D printing, I initially thought to myself, how much longer could dragons be popular?
But even today, they still seem to be a very popular choice, and people still seem to really love them. they really stood the test of time for 3D printers. I think they made a resurgence. they were very difficult to print before the bamboo era. The bamboo came out and made them easier to print.
The same thing with the axolotl. My husband and I was like, there's no way we can conceive. We've sold the axolotl by Matt Meyer for 30, 000. 3 years now. And so we're going on 3 years and now I'm like, okay, so we don't have to carry around 27 gallon tote of these things. And, so I just think everything kind of phases in and phases out.
I do think different types of machines will change what becomes popular. Cinder wing was hard to print 3 years ago. You're an ender [00:08:00] girl, it was hard to print, but the bamboo labs has made it easier and more functional and more affordable. Back when I started tick tock.
People were selling dragons for 60 and 70, where they don't cost that to make anymore. I can definitely relate back to my first dragon that I made on my Ender, and at that point it felt like such a big accomplishment. I remember 

pulling it off my build plate, and I was so proud of myself. 
Nothing went wrong, and yeah, it's definitely, the game, even, I've only been 3D printing for a couple years now, and it's completely changed with Bamboo Labs coming onto the market. I think that's a good point for us to pivot the conversation a little in terms of printers that are out there for hobbyists like myself, for people looking to get into it nowadays you have experience with a lot of printers out there.
the holidays are coming up, if they're looking for kids or maybe a family member or different people out there, is there any maybe one printer or a couple printers that you would in particular recommend for beginners out there to start out with? Yes, but my first question is always what are you trying to print?
Because everybody is trying to print something different. When I [00:09:00] have a parent come to me with a youth, it's always the A1 mini. I, this may make some people cringe and I'm sorry, but I always recommend it without the four color system. Start with a single color. The four color system is very cool, but it just adds a layer of complexity that especially youth Don't seem to have the patience for so I always recommend starting with a single color and then those who are just looking to add to their farm.
We get a bit more spicy with the civil or we start talking about the larger format printers. And of course, the P1S is where we typically go to start. I'm excited to see some of the new things that Sovel has coming out. But the ecosystem for BambooLab is just so smooth. I get a lot of questions about the anti cubics, and they're just not as polished of a product.
a lot of people really like that price point, but they have a lot of what I like to call, Creality quirks, the software's just not as polished as a BambooLab. you're [00:10:00] going to save yourself a little bit of extra headache by spending the extra couple hundred dollars.
Yeah. I will say I've gotten very spoiled recently by being so used to printing out my bamboo. I also have stamp makers and I just recently got a new one that I've been printing on quite a bit and it's a great machine. I love it, but from a software standpoint, It's not as well rounded, and it's not as it's not as, out of the box for a beginner as simple.
for somebody like me that's fine and I'm, able and willing to overcome those, 

but for somebody who's newer out there and kids and all that stuff, I think Bamboo is, it does work. It does really have a very seamless experience, which a lot of people enjoy. For a first printer, it's very seamless. 
I, I've, I'm having a lot of fun experimenting with the Anycubics but I definitely think the price point is very exciting to a lot of people. I think that's a great second machine. Yeah. I really do. But but yeah I am on the bamboo train. Hey, you and me both. I'm not gonna knock you on that one.
Yeah, they're great machines and I actually do agree [00:11:00] with what you say. I don't have the A1 series, but I do have the standard AMS on my P1. out of all the problems that I've had with this printer, I would say 99 percent of those problems have come from the multi color. I know it's really tempting for, when you're new to printing, I thought it was just such a cool feature, and it's really tempting to want that multi color, but I agree, if you start with just the printer.
It's going to give you a much better foundation before you're adding complexity I think the multicolor is awesome. But I don't recommend starting with the multicolor units for anybody. Now pivoting back. We've talked about printers, but pivoting back to your business.
Something interesting that you had mentionedis running costs, and especially in the beginning, you had mentioned I think at the time you had six different Patreons you were subscribing to. We'll call it about 60 per month in cost for that, and then the cost of your initial printers.
Would you say those are mostly the hard costs that people have to come up with when they're starting that business? Or any other I guess filament too, any other costs that were unexpected or investments that you had to make at the beginning of this process? Yes. So [00:12:00] when we started, we dove right in.
We took a huge risk and invested a lot in printers to start up with. And so my dad was big and saying, high risk, high reward. So we were very careful. But the printers are the hugest cost. Anybody who's looking to start their print farm now. I would add the cool plates to their machines as a startup cost.
It's something we're adding to 60 machines now, which is quite expensive, but we have found that. In the long run, it's going to help adjust your utility cost. The printers themselves don't add a whole lot to our utility bill, because we have them all placed in our basement. 

So it's not affecting the temperature of my household. But that is something that I, where your printers is placed is really important. If they're right next to your thermostat and you've got 15 printers running at 55 degrees on the bed. Plus a heated nozzle, your home gets really hot, really fast. 
That's actually, I never thought of that. being a [00:13:00] hobbyist, I have about six machines now, but I typically will only run one at a time, so I never really thought about that, but yeah, if you've got 50 plus machines in there, you probably got your own personal sauna in some of those rooms.
It is so hot in that room. I have a set of clothes that I keep down in the basement because it's cold upstairs. And then I go downstairs and I'm sweating. And so I have to change clothes because it's just like I changed between going in the basement and going upstairs. But yeah, I have had a lot of people who've bought printers who are like, my electric bill went through the roof.
Where was your printer sitting? It was in my living room. I was like, is your thermostat in the living room? Yeah that's why. I never thought of it from that perspective. I guess I had always wondered if running that many printers, it feels like it would be a high draw machine and probably pull a lot of power, but I guess it's more so probably that, that heating and cool, I guess it would be the cooling costs that's more so affecting people's bill.
That's interesting. Yeah, so we have them all crammed into a small room in the basement. The door stays closed. It's always very warm. [00:14:00] So our machines are not drawing a lot of power heating up and cooling down because it always stays very warm down there. It's having my own little heated chamber.
I guess but yeah, so utility costs, and it can vary everybody's state has different utility costs, but that's the biggest cost you need to factor in, is where are you going to keep them? How are you going to keep them? And shelving so we've probably got, or five thousand dollars invested into shelving to hold all the machines.
Wow, yeah, yeah, I, that's another thing I often forget, again, having just a couple machines, you can throw them on this table and that table, but. Those shelves that you guys have probably have to be pretty high quality to not have them shaking all over the basement. Yeah, it's industrial shelving.
So that's another cost. that's another thing that people forget is where you're 

gonna store your machines. The filament storage is easy. We just use shoe racks from Walmart, but putting your machines up is costly. 
 it's so interesting talking to you. There's so many things I would have overlooked For you guys, I know you mentioned the axolotl sounded like a tipping point where you were like, [00:15:00] Yes, this is going to be successful.
Was there any point in you guys doing this? I feel like everybody for business there's good days and bad days, but was there any, ever a point where you felt like, I'm not sure if this is going to work, I'm not sure if this was the right decision or all the time.
making your hobby, your business is definitely a choice, which is how I ended up with chickens because I had made my hobby, my business, it can be exhausting when you have a bad show that you've spent, 1, 500 to go to, and you make only 1, 500.
It can be very frustrating. But there's so many factors that are beyond your control. You just can't let that bring you down. A lot of people I know who are trying to start up on the internet is very hard just because the competition is so stiff It can be very discouraging.
I refer to my friend Kyle a lot because he's in the startup phases and we're talking it through and I've been through it, but you go to the show or you get this high of, say, you have [00:16:00] sales that are just astronomical. And then the next month there's nothing. And it can just wear you down as the adrenaline rush comes back Yeah, no, it totally makes sense and I guess something I didn't think about with the show is there's a lot of elements that are outside of your control with something like that.
For you guys having done this for a couple years now, like I'm sure there's been times where you guys have gone to shows and maybe the weather's bad or the turnout's just bad. In situations like that, how do you decide Is this a bad show to go to in general, or was this just like a fluke bad time for that show?
Is that ever a hard decision to go back to a show in the future? It can be a hard decision. Especially when it's weather related. But I've learned that good shows, people are going to turn out, we did a show in the middle of Helene came up in Indiana, brought wind and rain and it was awful.

But the show went on. It was rain or shine and it was a great show because it was a community based show. They did a parade and they had a, All the kids are out [00:17:00] there. It was hard to decide to go and power through 60 mile an hour winds. Yeah, and we did it and it was great. But then we've gone to shows where it's been super sunny outside and just nobody has shown up. 
 Don't want to put it on the promoters. It's not always their fault, but a lot of times it is because, There's too many things going on in the community on that weekend, or I live in Indianapolis. There could be a cults game and I didn't know there was a Cults game. And yeah, nobody goes anywhere when there's a cults game.
, there's just a lot of things that can factor into it. I'm originally from Buffalo and if it's a Sunday and the bills are playing, nothing else is happening. Nothing. It's a religion there. we usually do a show 2 or 3 times before we give up on it.
We have some gaming conventions that we won't be going back to this year. Not because they were bad shows, but because it's hard to justify the money that we made going, so we usually go 2 or 3 times before we say no. Makes sense. For you, having done this for a while now, and you've had good days, you've had [00:18:00] bad days, would you say that there's any type ofpersonality that lends itself really well to getting into this?
And any buddy who you think might struggle a little more doing this type of business? I've learned that it's definitely a game of time management. So time management is a core personality trait. I think that a person has to have in order to do this and be successful.
You can do it and you can love it and you can do it as a hobby and a side hustle, and that's great. But anybody who's looking into doing it full time biggest personality trait, they're going to have to be successful is good time management. That's managing the printers. I quickly learned that if I was running a print that was five hours, I spent way too much time in my print room swapping machines, and then I wasn't spending enough time, working on my website because I was swapping machines too much.
So it's definitely an art of time management in order to truly be successful. Now, it's interesting hearing you say a print that's five hours. You said that as though that was a short print. Whereas for me as a hobbyist, if I run a five hour [00:19:00] print, I'm like, Yeah. It's a long print that I'm running, am I accurate for saying that's a shorter print for you guys to run?

That is a shorter print for me. If I slice it and it says five hours, I'm like, it's I want to print to run 12 hours. That's what I want. Ideally 20 hours because. Then I can start it, it'll run, and then it'll be finished by the time I wake up the next day. That's what I really like. 
But yeah, if I run a print that's five hours on a single machine, it doesn't really work for me. My machine has to be running, netting about 75 a print. For it to be worth the time, If I'm printing little tchotchkes, like the little dinosaurs that everybody sells, or Zao 3D I need that machine to be running at least 12 hours for it to make sense for my time.
When you're running 60 machines, and constantly swapping prints, it can be exhausting, especially on Filament Change Day. I dread Filament Change Day now Film and Change Day, is that, how often does Film and [00:20:00] Change Day come for you guys in a week or in a month? Every two days.
Wow. Every two days is filament change day, And now the AMS is, I change more frequently, but they're so much easier to change. All my systems that are single color, we've got like little mounts that we have to hang up, we gotta feed it through. And I don't, the am MS is just easier to change the filament on.
It doesn't stress me out as much as changing the single color machines. You seem like a numbers person. You seem like you might know the exact number. How much filament do you guys go through in maybe a course of a month or a week? Let's go for a week
But 150 to 200 rules. Wow, man, , that's honestly probably more spools than I have gone through since I've started 3D Printing. Yes. It's a lot for you guys. Are you just buying outta micro center? Are you guys buying in bulk? That's a lot of filament. this is where the artist side of me comes out.
My husband is very tolerant with me in this. I order. [00:21:00] My poor Amazon guy, I probably should get him a Christmas gift because Every morning when I'm doing my stuff I am searching for filament deals on Amazon when micro center. puts their filament on sale for 14.
99. I am, I buy them out. they know me. I go to the Indianapolis one. the Sharonville one and then Black Friday. I actually have a tour day micro center planned for Matt. he'll be going to all the various micro centers to pick up filament because there's particular filaments that I just really and you can only get them certain places. And while I know that Micro Center, some of their 

stuff is by Polymaker, and I could order it through bulk through Polymaker, it's still cheaper to buy it on the sales through Micro Center. I have just recently started ordering bulk through Ameline because Ameline now has all the colors that I really like. 
Yeah. So that hopefully that'll help.
That is a lot of filament. I was not expecting that. I didn't realize how much it was until I did my first [00:22:00] bulk amylin order.
And then I went to look for a specific color and I was like, Matt, where did all the, cause he sorts it all for me. I was like, where did this color go? And he's you used it all. Do it again. Now, going off of that, you mentioned time management being a really important, crucial skill that somebody should have getting into probably not just 3D printing businesses, but any business 
But you also seem to know your numbers really well. You know how much a plate has to be worth to make it worthwhile. You know your filament, how many orders are coming in. are you natively somebody who's really good at numbers is that nat is that natural for you, or was that something you had to learn and get used to doing this?
It's something that I've done all my life. My dad was an entrepreneur My husband, he's also very numbers minded, ever since college, I have worked in distribution I was a grocery broker for the defense commissary agency and managed grocery items for Unilever and, who else? Sorry. There's 50 or 60 brands that I [00:23:00] managed just their warehouse inventory and how it went from commissary to commissary on the Air Force bases. my next job after that, I did the same thing through for Pepsi. I was managing their Gatorade and all that stuff. So in an so the in and out is what makes sense to me.
This sounds terrible, but a lot of the people who worked for me, they were paid by the amount of cases that they put out. So I had to make sure that I ordered, if I order five cases of shampoo, it wasn't going to be worth their time because they're going to make five bucks. So I guess it all tied into this to where I figured out, okay, I can do this and make it work. it doesn't sound like it all linked together. But when I really sat down and thought about it, I was like, okay. Yeah, this makes sense to me. No, it totally makes sense. And I think for me I still work, I don't know if I would call it a corporate job or a startup company, but I still work a normal job, there's so many skills I do in my day to day there that translate into other things that I do.

 do you think [00:24:00] having that background in in like those skills that you learned at your previous job not to say that like you couldn't have done it without those, but do you think that was a good path, before coming into this business? It was a good path into teaching me how to run my own business. 
It really did help me. I've always wanted to own my own business and treated the businesses that I worked for, how I would treat my own business. So that's how it prepared me for doing this on my own business. Yeah, I, without those previous jobs, there's no way I could have done this.
No way. I would have been completely clueless. I wouldn't have understand how to calculate my loss. Our math goes down to how much filament and fails we have. and then everybody asks me how many fails I have, and I don't really have a whole lot of them. But then I do, because I catch them.
This is my full time job. I can see it failing before it fails. Does that kind of make sense? I'm trying to think of this timeline for you. If I'm remembering the timeline correctly, you said that you've been doing this for three years full time now? Or am I messing that up?
This has been my full time job for [00:25:00] three years, And we've been printing for about ten years. gotcha. With that timeline, when you guys first started getting into this, were most of your machines bamboo labs at the time, or were you guys doing different machines? Our first machine was basically a a set of instructions that my husband bought and an extruder.
And then the instruction told us what pieces he had to go buy at Home Depot. I don't have the photo with me, but if you scroll through my social media, there's a picture of my son. It's basically a Delta printer. So an FL sun, if you're familiar with that it had cork on the bottom of it and these metal plates, and we use tape and we used glue and my house was covered in these X, Y, Z cubes.
It was not for me at that point in time. I was like, this is great. You guys can I believe they were using weed whacker wire. Oh, that's the limit. Yeah. Yeah. So when my husband got our first Sovel, the SVO one pro that was when I was [00:26:00] like, okay, this is manageable. that was the first machine for me.
that was about seven years ago. We got the SVO one pros. Gotcha. Yeah, I was, I guess I was curious when the bamboos got introduced did that I know for me that significantly cut down on how often I was experiencing fails. Was that a game changer for you guys, or how did that kind of affect things?

it was a game changer. the true game changing machine for us was the Sovel SVO6. It's basically a Prusa clone it was a 250 machine, no bed leveling knobs. 
It had a dual Z accesses. It had stepper motors on each side. And my husband and I looked at each other and said, are we going to take this gamble? we had already ordered at that time is the Kickstarter right around the same time as a, The bamboos, we had ordered six off the Kickstarter and I said, yeah, let's do it.
So we ordered 15 of those Sovel SVO6s and those [00:27:00] were the true game changer for us. And then the Bamboo Lab showed up six months later and that was a new game changer. But at that time, all they had was the X1 Carbon. So you're talking about 1, 500 for a machine, whereas those Sovels were 250. they're basically Prusa clones.
They're wonderful. I still have them running to this day. They just print little sea creatures is all they do now. And I don't know if you, Spin City, you might be younger than me, but there's this dog on Spin City and he's that's my Sofals at this point. They're like, just put me in retirement. Yeah.
Yeah, that's cool that you still have those and they're still running when the bamboos first came out. That's when I first got into 3D printing and maybe it was a different experience for me because I was so new to the hobby at the time.
But for me at the time, I was like, I can't imagine spending that much on a 3D printer. When you guys first got thosewas that crazy buying those? Or did you guys feel confident in that purchase We felt confident in that purchase just because Kickstarter is always a gamble, but the amount of work Bamboo put into putting [00:28:00] the machine out there during the Kickstarter for everybody to see made us very confident in the machine.
We had no problem pulling the triggers on the bamboo. Where we really struggled with pulling the trigger was the Prusa MK3S Plus, because you're talking about like a 30 hour assembly time on that machine, beautiful quality prints for the time. But they were just so hard to put together and you could buy them assembled, which was fantastic, but it was 1, 200.
It was the same price as the bamboo. When we were deciding which route we wanted to go, at the time we bought our first bamboos, we had four of the Prusas, and then we had the 15 Sovels. And when the first bamboo came, my husband was like, we're not buying any more Prusas. Sorry Prusa gang, but 

yeah, we were like, no, we're not buying any more of these. 
We're sticking with this. And when the Mitten K4 came out, I was pretty excited But I was already married to that Bamboo Lab ecosystem. And I got, it's like another piece of the puzzle that I [00:29:00] didn't think about, but probably when you have that many printers, like assembly time on a printer is, I have to imagine it's a big deal when you're assembling that money.
Is that something you guys have to factor in now when you're buying these printers of just that time alone? Three years ago. Yes. Now, no. Now most printers just come out of the box. Bamboo Lab changed that the 30 hour assembly time is no longer. Actually, I'm really going to say Sovel changed that because when we bought our Sovels, we ordered 15 of them and that had them all put together in two hours, which in that time, that was absolutely unheard of.
 The technology has changed so much. I tell people, if you're buying a printer, expect it to be like a cell phone. You're going to hear about the next latest and greatest in the next, year and be like, dang it. I bought my P1P and I knew something was brewing.
It was right when they initially dropped the price on them. about a week later, the P1S had come out. It was like. Dang it just missed it. But yeah, it's always something new is gonna be coming out and there's always the next greatest and latest thing. But even being an older model printer, [00:30:00] I'll say I love this thing no complaints.
Yeah, It's fun. I enjoy it. I'm very happy to be doing something that I love, not that I didn't love my job before, I did, Short of my oldest son, everybody in my household likes it. And he doesn't dislike it. He's just too cool for us. If that makes sense definitely makes sense. We wrap things up here, and pivot out of 3D printing, I do have to ask, because you've chonk over here, I have to know more about Life as a chicken owner, that is one of my dreams in life in the future to live on a piece of land with chickens and all kinds of other animals.
It sounds like it's become like the replacement hobby for 3D printing for you. How is chicken ownership life for you? It's awesome. I was very anti chicken. We moved to Indiana, we have five acres of property, and my husband and my sons were pushing me for chickens.
And they're pushing me and I was like, I can't have chickens. Not because I 

didn't like chickens, but because I knew what I would become. I knew that they were just going to make a monster. So they're wonderful. If you're [00:31:00] not dog owner, they're like, we have dogs. I love dogs. I got chickens. It's no more dogs, only chickens. 
they're just so easy. They just hang out outside. They poop a lot. They're smarter than I thought they were. I thought they were going to be dumb, but they're not. you're our first guest to have a chicken with you.
But, I'm I'm surprised how, I don't know if tolerant is the right word, but surprised how happy they are. It is to just hang out in your arms. my husband was like, what have you done to our roosters? And I was like, no, I haven't done a thing. He's stop holding them. They're supposed to be me.
I was like, no, I'll hold them forever. Isn't that right? I hear you talking about me. I'm over it now. Yes, so I think, my working knowledge of chickens is very limited, but I think he's a rooster, so I don't think he lays eggs, do you have any chickens that lay eggs for you?
I have two roosters and 10 hens right now.
So 10 that lay eggs. Do they lay eggs, every day? Is that a regular thing that just happens? Or is there like a time [00:32:00] period? Different chickens lay different eggs it's just different chickens do different amount of egg laying.
most of them lay one to two times a day. We have a lot of eggs which has led me down this I've got my chicken conspiracy theory hat. It definitely it is that hobby that leads you down into the, what is in my food train?
Yeah. So I've started like making bread and doing all the homesteading things. I was like, what has happened? I don't have time for this, but yeah they're gateway to all the other stuff. Yeah, it's I can see it being a slippery slope. I'm got into it the opposite way. I started making bread this year and then similar to you, I was thinking all this stuff in this food is so bad.
If, I don't know if you have the same experience, but when I make my bread at home, I can eat a whole loaf of bread and feel just fine, which sounds crazy, but if I eat a loaf of store bought bread, I feel terrible. So yeah, it got the wheels turning and I was like, maybe chickens will be the next step.

I spent a lot of time working in grocery, so I know way more about food processing and food shipping than I think any one person should [00:33:00] ever know. I'm not that kind of person where I'm like, only eat organic, only that's not who I am. But at the same time, a chicken is cheap and they are a food source. 
I have slaughtered a chicken. It's like the next level of independence. Does that make sense? My mom thinks I'm absolutely nuts, I'm not dependent on anyone for anything now I can raise my own food, even if I choose to just eat eggs forever.
Yeah, no, it totally makes sense. I grew up in a family of hunters I took for granted my whole life having access to really great quality meat that was, basically free my whole life until I was an adult and moved out and had to buy my own groceries.
it totally makes sense. My dad is also a hunter. here's a bunch of deer chili to take home. it's great. I've learned so many interesting things here today as we wrap up, any final piece of advice for people who either generally are looking to start a business as a maker, or maybe more specifically get into a 3D print farm style business?
Just do what you love. [00:34:00] Cause it's a, it's your job. if you're doing stuff that you don't like, it's, going to ruin the whole thing for you. My husband and I have a regular debate because we are big nerds in our house and we do a lot of wargaming and all that kind of stuff. And we do sell the terrain, but I don't love printing the terrain.
I love doing the dice towers So he's taken that over because that's what he loves. So that's what he does and it's enjoyable for him. And you're going to have an easier time selling what you love versus, Oh, this is the cool viral thing. Hate selling dragons. I sell them, but I hate selling them.
I'm terrible at selling them. So that's my advice. if you love what you're printing, then you're going to love what you're doing versus doing it just for money. in the groups, you see a lot of people say, what's the best thing that sells so I can make money.
That's not the way to look at it. Print what you love and you'll make money. I think that's great advice. For people [00:35:00] who want to follow along with your journey, maybe they want to follow along with some of the things you 

guys are offering, where can people find you online? 
I am nerdy chicken Schmidt because they won't let me use the other word on those. So that's my personal accounts. That's where I do all my business advice, talking to people who want to start a business. And then my business is a critical hit, which you can find as a critical hit 20 on everything.
So that's like my actual business where I don't post all my personal stuff. Blair, it was so much fun getting to know you a little better today. Knowing about chickens, knowing about your business I appreciate you so much for taking the time out of your day to come and do this. And with that said, that is Meet the Makers.