And if you know me at all, you probably will not be surprised I called it “3d Printing Dragonfly“.
I’ve been wanting to get my 3d printers to earn their keep more than the occasional commissioned print jobs I have been doing, but couldn’t figure out what I wanted to print. I really didn’t want to do the same old fidget spinners, articulated dragons, or trademarked cosplay items so many others do. Not that those items are not cool, but I knew I really wanted to design my own items even though my 3d modeling skills were rusty at best. I got frustrated by several things I tried to make and the whole idea was just on hold since I got my first 3D printer in 2017.
Then I accidentally discovered the perfect niche for me – something I was interested in, could model in my favorite 3d program, Lightwave 3D, and that would actually sell! I discovered the world of Miniverse! Specifically, the Harry Potter Miniverse collectibles by MGA.
When I was a kid, I used to make dioramas for school projects like a complete Bedouin village around 5th grade for a Social Studies class. I used to assemble models from Star Trek, Star Wars, etc and made a few Star Wars dioramas from scratch for a contest once. Later on, I painted DnD figures and other things, so always had an interest in miniatures.
The Make it Mini Potions collection are tiny potions you make out of UV curing resin and these little sets are just the cutest things ever! They combine my love of crafting, miniatures, Harry Potter and witchcraft in one tiny little package. They are fun to make and it got me thinking about how I wanted to display them. So I fired up Lightwave and started designing my own potions classroom modeled after Professor Snape’s classroom in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
I also found an awesome group on Facebook of Miniverse makers and joined it to see the creative makes by other collectors and trade some of my duplicates. I happened to mention I was working on a 3d printed display for the set and shared an early design idea for the potions classroom below. It got a ton of great response, but then MGA actually released their own Harry Potter classroom display set and I went off track trying to figure out how I might be able to extend their version instead to add some of the extra details and maybe lighting I originally envisioned. I ran into a few snags trying to fit around their pieces and sort of put this design on hold til I could improve my modeling skills.
But following the success of their Make it Mini Potions, MGA released the Honeyduke’s Sweet Shop and that got me excited again thinking how I wanted to display it.
I went back into Lightwave and started to build display pieces, a floor and walls and came up with an interior of the shop as seen (briefly!) in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban. I shared it in the Facebook group and everyone went crazy for it!
The response was seriously overwhelming, and I realized what I originally thought was going to be something for me only could become something I could sell putting my 3d printers to work! I got busy and release the first part, the shelving unit, right around the first of the year to my brand new Etsy shop. I IMMEDIATELY got sales and realized I am really onto something.
The display case took me several tries to get right in terms of the scale and I added a hard acrylic top so you can display items both inside and on top. The top of it actually lifts off to letting you store the molds and other pieces from the set.
I went a step further and designed the flooring pieces to be linkable – you can easily use little guides I provide with them to align and glue them together to form larger displays in any configuration you want. As 3D prints can be painted (acrylic paints and sealer recommended), you could use the checkerboard pattern inscribed on it as a guide for painting. (wall panels are coming soon too that will also be able to be glued to the floor and each other).
The store window was the last piece I finished with both top and bottom being removable for storage or for a battery pack so you could add lights to the set (I am working on figuring that part out and will post a tutorial when it is ready).
Each piece has been enthusiastically received and I so many sales so quickly, I honestly was afraid I wouldn’t be able to get them all done. Though I have 3 printers – my original Ender 3 and 2 CR-6-SE models by Creality – they were all older and slower machines from 2017 – 2020. I lucked out and found another CR-6-SE for sale on Facebook Marketplace I snapped up and thru a weird twist of fate, found a larger CR-10S Pro V2 I got the same day. Still older machines, but being able to spread the print load across 5 machines I thought would be enough.
So I found the perfect matte teal green filament from Elegoo and ran my printers hard to get the orders out. Being older machines though, I almost immediately had issues of failed prints, clogged nozzles, and other issues that made me realize I needed a faster, better printer.
Thankfully, Creality had a sale they started for the holidays and I ordered my first “modern” 3D printer – the Ender-3 V3 Plus. It had a larger print volume than most of my printers and printed 6 times faster than any of them! After assembling it and starting to print on it, I fell in love! In fact, I have now ordered a second one while the sale is still on. The shelving unit that takes 23 hours to print on my older printers prints in only 7 hours on the new printer!
As I write this, all 6 printers are printing like crazy to get more than 38 pieces that have been ordered done and I am shipping every day! I have moved 4 of the printers off into my other spare bedroom which was mostly storage to break up the electronical load in my house (I already tripped the breaker for my art studio once!) and will be adding a better rack and cleaning up the room as I go.
And I’m also working on designs for other Miniverse displays including ones for their Cafe and Diner series in addition to other Harry Potter ones. I am going to get back to my version and add ons for the Potions Class set too once I get caught up on orders.
I am so excited by all the ideas I have for this set and cannot wait to get more done! If you are interested in purchasing this set, please visit my Etsy Shop. I am also documenting setting up my 3D printing business at my Youtube channel and I would appreciate your likes and follows.
And if you are a Miniverse maker and have an idea for a display you would like me to make, please let me know in the comments below. If I end up making what you suggest, I will send one to you for free!