Where to manufacture 3x3s

[MInerboihere]

I am making my own 3x3, I have all the designs, logo name of cube etc, but I can't find a manufacture that can put in the system I have in their cube, 99.99% of the manufacturers have premade cube just for you to make custom box and logo. Any manufacture suggestions that is cheap, and you have full control over the cube design and doesn't require you to buy like 20000 cube at once (preferably 500-700 cubes).

 

[abunickabhi]

If it is a small batch of cubes, I suggest renting or buying a small single nozzle 3D printer.

 

[Nooby-Cuber]

If it is a small batch of cubes, I suggest renting or buying a small single nozzle 3D printer.

That wouldn’t work very well…you couldnt make a very good cube unless you had a very expensive 3d printer

 

[Eli Apperson]

I am making my own 3x3, I have all the designs, logo name of cube etc, but I can't find a manufacture that can put in the system I have in their cube, 99.99% of the manufacturers have premade cube just for you to make custom box and logo. Any manufacture suggestions that is cheap, and you have full control over the cube design and doesn't require you to buy like 20000 cube at once (preferably 500-700 cubes).

Unless you're trying to start your own company, I'd say 3d printing is your best/only option.

 

[Sion]

Have you started prototyping? Before you consider mass production, you should prototype your designs extensively.

Take it from someone who went through the journey of making a 3x3 himself. It's fun, but it's definitely a long process of trial and error.

 

[Thom S.]

The thing is, I don't know how percice home shop printers like the Ender or Prusa are in terms of precicion needed for a cube to function properly. So sanding, filling and coating may still be required to get at least decent results.
Years ago, Shapeways was the go to place for 3d Printed putzles because their method archieved far better results.
If you believe your first draft cube is already very good(which I doubt), you can give it a go asking small startup-companies that utilise plastic parts to print a small batch. Those companies always need a way to get their machines to keep running.
Or you have a crack at sending those plans to cube manufacturers and have their designers say what they think about it.

 

[MInerboihere]

The thing is, I don't know how percice home shop printers like the Ender or Prusa are in terms of precicion needed for a cube to function properly. So sanding, filling and coating may still be required to get at least decent results.
Years ago, Shapeways was the go to place for 3d Printed putzles because their method archieved far better results.
If you believe your first draft cube is already very good(which I doubt), you can give it a go asking small startup-companies that utilise plastic parts to print a small batch. Those companies always need a way to get their machines to keep running.
Or you have a crack at sending those plans to cube manufacturers and have their designers say what they think about it.

before I mass produce, ofc I will ask for some samples

Have you started prototyping? Before you consider mass production, you should prototype your designs extensively.

Take it from someone who went through the journey of making a 3x3 himself. It's fun, but it's definitely a long process of trial and error.

NO but do you have any app suggestions? And I have no experience with prototyping, so should I pay someone on Fiverr or just slowly figure it out myself

 

[Sion]

The thing is, I don't know how percice home shop printers like the Ender or Prusa are in terms of precicion needed for a cube to function properly. So sanding, filling and coating may still be required to get at least decent results.
Years ago, Shapeways was the go to place for 3d Printed putzles because their method archieved far better results.
If you believe your first draft cube is already very good(which I doubt), you can give it a go asking small startup-companies that utilise plastic parts to print a small batch. Those companies always need a way to get their machines to keep running.
Or you have a crack at sending those plans to cube manufacturers and have their designers say what they think about it.

Even if slim, there are chances a first prototype can be good. suffice to say, my first few certainly weren't .

Id be willing to appraise the design for free and give input on it though, on a serious note.

 

[MInerboihere]

Even if slim, there are chances a first prototype can be good. suffice to say, my first few certainly weren't .

Id be willing to appraise the design for free and give input on it though, on a serious note.

but do you have apps suggestions cuz I have never done smthing like this before

 

[Thom S.]

Even if slim, there are chances a first prototype can be good. suffice to say, my first few certainly weren't .

Id be willing to appraise the design for free and give input on it though, on a serious note.

Sure, history is full of people that did something once and where instandly good at it.
But, not testing/prototyping your cube and getting it produced is kind of asking for trouble if you then sit on 500-700 subpar speedcubes.

 

[Nooby-Cuber]

Sure, history is full of people that did something once and where instandly good at it.
But, not testing/prototyping your cube and getting it produced is kind of asking for trouble if you then sit on 500-700 subpar speedcubes.

True. However, 3D printing a speedcube is not gonna give you nearly the same precision and speed. There's not really a great solution: 3d printing will need a ton of post printing work - even then it won't give you very good results and using a manufacturer will lead to spending very large sums of money, just to be left with left over bad prototypes

 

[Sion]

before I mass produce, ofc I will ask for some samples


NO but do you have any app suggestions? And I have no experience with prototyping, so should I pay someone on Fiverr or just slowly figure it out myself

NKCubed's tutorial is my go-to suggestion for how to do it on your own.


However, you're going to need to learn how to design products for injection molding separately.

As for an app, I suggest onshape, as it's what I used. However, you'll need to pay for a standard license before you go into a period of mass production.

 

[CaptainK]

The only mid-volume plastic manufacturing process I've heard of is polymer casting. It's like injection molding but the master is 3D printed, so the start-up cost is cheaper, but it only yields a limited number of pieces before the master degrades too much. I have no actual experience with it though, sorry.

anyway, you should definitely start by 3D printing prototypes to verify functionality, check clearances, and optimize the design as much as possible. There should only be minor tweaks needed to the first run of cast or molded samples. It would also be really helpful to have a prototype to demonstrate to the manufacturer, so they understand the application.

Do you have 3D models of the parts? If not there is some free software like TinkerCAD, but I think commercial software like Onshape or SolidWorks is more powerful and flexible.

Are you self-funding and/or crowdfunding? Getting ahead of ourselves here, but consider selling the design once it's sufficiently mature. Nothing wrong with being a puzzle inventor and leaving the mass production to someone else.

 

[qwr]

China. There are small scale printers and if you have bigger plans you can contact QiYi.

 

[Atharv Mantri]

but do you have apps suggestions cuz I have never done smthing like this before

You can use the microsoft 3d builder and order the prototype cubes from there

 

[OldSwiss]

What are your exact plans? I don't think that you can make your own core mechanism and everything.

So i think it would be the easiest to buy a large bunch of your favorite brand cubes, peel off the stickers and then bring it to a copyshop to print your design on it. That's basically what JPerm or Cubehead do with the cubes they sell under their name.

If you want to start a completly new brand, then you have to do the complete development find factorys to produce them...
Maybe you need a couple of millions to do this and I wouldn't bet that you could be successful

 

[Qzinator]

I am making my own 3x3, I have all the designs, logo name of cube etc, but I can't find a manufacture that can put in the system I have in their cube, 99.99% of the manufacturers have premade cube just for you to make custom box and logo. Any manufacture suggestions that is cheap, and you have full control over the cube design and doesn't require you to buy like 20000 cube at once (preferably 500-700 cubes).

What is the name of the cube going to be?

 

[MInerboihere]

What is the name of the cube going to be?

I think I am going to name it NF31 cuz why not and cube names are stupid, any better suggestions?

 

[G DA CUBER]

Try the Miner Cube (like ur name) and then base of other names from that (Miner Cube 20 Maglev)