My Kids Started a Business in my Basement

TL;DR

A dad's Christmas 3D printer gift accidentally turned his kids into real entrepreneurs, making $500 selling fidgets to classmates and teachers.

Key Points

• 1.Randy (the son) sold nearly all his inventory at a school entrepreneur fair, earning $500 total — with teachers being the #1 customer for fidget prints
• 2.The basement "print farm" expanded from one Bambu P1S to multiple machines including three retired Bambu X1Cs from LTT's office and a Prusa Core 1, requiring a full workspace overhaul
• 3.A destroyed hotend on the P1S (melted temperature probe from torch misuse) was replaced with a BQ Panda Revo system featuring brass and obsidian nozzles — obsidian nozzles cost ~$75 each
• 4.Key print quality fixes covered: open door printing for PLA to avoid overheating, using mild detergent (not isopropyl alcohol) on textured beds, and letting prints cool before removal to prevent warping
• 5.Multi-color AMS filament waste is a major cost issue — a 125g model wasted 500g of filament; fixes include enabling long retraction, purging into infill, and cutting the flushing multiplier to 0.5
• 6.Future upgrades discussed include automated print removal (AutoFarm3D or OctoPrint's continuous printing plugin), a filament drying queue system, and hardened nozzles for more material types