The 2020 toy and game market is projected to be US$135 billion. To determine if 3D printing could affect these markets if consumers offset purchases by 3D printing free designs, this study investigates the 100 most popular downloaded designs at MyMiniFactory in a month. Savings are quantified for using a Lulzbot Mini 3D printer and three filament types: commercial filament, pellet-extruded filament, and post-consumer waste converted to filament with a recyclebot. Case studies probed the quality of: (1) six common complex toys; (2) Lego blocks; and (3) the customizability of open source board games. All filaments analyzed saved the user over 75% of the cost of commercially available true alternative toys and over 90% for recyclebot filament. Overall, these results indicate a single 3D printing repository among dozens is saving consumers well over $60 million/year in offset purchases. The most common savings fell by 40%–90% in total savings, which came with the ability to make novel toys and games. The results of this study show consumers can generate higher value items for less money using the open source distributed manufacturing paradigm. It appears clear that consumer do-it-yourself (DIY) manufacturing is set to have a significant impact on the toy and game markets in the future.
- MyMiniFactory
- Lulzbot Mini - source code: http://download.lulzbot.com/Mini/
- Save the planet board game
Keywords[edit | edit source]
distributed manufacturing; additive manufacturing; 3-D printing; consumer; economics; open-source; toy industry
See also[edit | edit source]
- Economic Impact of DIY Home Manufacturing of Consumer Products with Low-cost 3D Printing from Free and Open Source Designs
- Emergence of Home Manufacturing in the Developed World: Return on Investment for Open-Source 3-D Printers
- Life-cycle economic analysis of distributed manufacturing with open-source 3-D printers
- Distributed Manufacturing of Flexible Products- Technical Feasibility and Economic Viability
- Quantifying the Value of Open Source Hardware Development
- Open-source, self-replicating 3-D printer factory for small-business manufacturing
- Distributed manufacturing with 3-D printing: a case study of recreational vehicle solar photovoltaic mounting systems
- Global value chains from a 3D printing perspective
- Economic Potential for Distributed Manufacturing of Adaptive Aids for Arthritis Patients in the U.S.
- Low-cost open source ultrasound-sensing based navigational support for visually impaired
In the News[edit | edit source]
- 3-D Printing Sweeping Toy Industry Off the Shelves - MTU News, MTU Facebook, Eureka Alert, Newswise, Phys.org, Science Daily, ECN Magazine, R&D Magazine, MihanMag, domain-b, Controlled Environments Mag
- Researchers run the numbers on cutting the cost of toys by 3-D printing them at home - Geekwire, High Tech Newz
- How DIY 3-D Printed Toys are Impacting the Multi-Billion Dollar Toy Market - Globalspec 360
- Should Toy Manufacturers Be Worried About 3D Printing? Engineering.com
- DIY 3D printed toys are taking $60 million a year from major manufacturers, according to recent study -3ders
- 3D printing becoming major competition for the toy industry - Earth.com
- How 3D printing toys and games saves users $60 million a year - Long Room
- Consumer 3D printers may finally be useful for something: DIY toys Quartz(1870), Trends in Nigeria
- 3D Printing Toys Isn't All Fun & Games: Michigan Tech & MyMiniFactory Discuss New Study Detailing 3D Printed Disruption - 3D Print (36583)board
- Does Desktop 3D Printing Pose Threat to Toy Manufacturers? - All 3DP (16309)
- Study by MTU Professor Joshua Pearce Shows Cost-Efficiency of 3D Printed Toys -3D Printing Business
- Making toys at home with a 3-D printer using open source designs from a free online repository Innovation Toronto
- 3-D Printing Taking a Bite Out of $135 Billion Toy and Game Market Ideas, Inventions and Innovations, Before it is News
- How 3D printing could save consumers millions in toys and games 3D Printing Industry
- 3-D Printing Taking The Toy Industry By Storm -Fox Weekly(1.2m)
- MyMiniFactory: 3D Printing Trends for July 2017 -3D Print
- Will 3D Printing Disrupt the Board-Game Market? Machine Design
- The Toys "R" Us Bankruptcy and the R&D Tax Credit Aspects of 3D Printing - 3Dprint
International[edit | edit source]
- Stampa 3D manda in crisi mercato giochi- Ansa (Italy, 1908), Tiscali (Italian) (2476)
- La stampa in 3D minaccia il colosso Lego e il mondo dei giochi - Attualita
- Spielzeug aus dem 3D-Drucker: Selbermachen ist bis zu 90% billiger Win Future (German, 9308)
- Stampa in 3D: a breve potrebbe mandare in crisi il mercato dei giochi MeteoWeb (Italian 42086
- Macht 3D-gedrucktes DIY Spielzeug Herstellern Konkurrenz? - 3D Ruck (German, 215000)
- Pearce quotes - Euro News (3512)
- Home 3D printing poses a threat to toy makers - The Weekend Australian(8790)
- Spielzeug aus dem 3D-Drucker bis zu 90 Prozent preiswerter -3D Grenzenlos
- Вокруг света с 3Dtoday: новый гидрогель для костной биопечати, итоги первого конкурса Hyperloop и исследование экономии от бытовых 3D-принтеров 3D Today (Russian)
- 最贵的就是最好的？北鼻的皮卡丘马上就要换变形金刚了，你还买得起吗？ Sohu(China) (16)
- 节省90%的成本，DIY 3D打印玩具将颠覆传统玩具制造业 CIF News (China)(11,870)
- 3Dプリンティングが玩具業界を席巻 - Express Japan
- Stampa 3D, dalla medicina ai trasporti ma non solo: il "fai da te" tecnologico potrebbe minare l'industria dei giochi - Urban Post (Italy)
- Spielzeuge selbst 3D-drucken und Millionen einsparen -3D Natives (Germany)(103070)
- 节省90%的成本，DIY 3D打印玩具将颠覆传统玩具制造业 Myguancha
- Stampa 3D a misura di bambino Centropagina (Italy)
- Minek vegyek Legót? Kinyomtatom otthon! Origo (Hungary) (3,666), game pictured in *Magyarországon is növekvő biznisz lett a társasjátékozás Origo
- Spielgerät mit dem 3D-Drucker: Selbstgemacht ist bis zu 90% günstiger 3D Drucker Empfehlungen
Social Media[edit | edit source]
- 3-D Printing Sweeping Toy Industry Off the Shelves - MTU Facebook,
- DIY 3D Printing Demolishes Costs of Toys - Slashdot
- Edison Nation Forum