Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrew Smith
Hi Andrew, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I first picked up 3D design when I was 13 years old. My dad brought home a 30 day trial CD of a 3D design program thinking I might get a kick out of it just for fun. That became an addiction, and shortly after I was designing game assets for popular games like Half Life, Counter Strike, and worked on a handful of free games that never made it out, among many other projects over the years.
When 3D Printing really started popping up about 10 years ago, I jumped on board and fell in love with that instantly too. It’s very rewarding to design something from nothing and be able to hold it or use it. That snowballed into wanting to share my love for the hobby and my experience to help others get into it, so 3D Print Orlando was born.
Unfortunately, Covid happened just 8 months after opening. What was supposed to be a community focused business with in person events, classes, meetups, etc were all stopped, which really hurt the business. We shifted a lot of our focus to 3D Printer repairs at that time. My Technician’s name is Anthony, who is responsible for the overwhelming majority of the thousands of printers we’ve fixed for area hobbyists and businesses. We’re currently developing a 3D Scanning booth, which should be able to capture people, pets, and other similar sized objects. We’re hoping to have that up and running in the next couple of weeks!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Not exactly. Covid hit 8 months after opening our doors, so basically the entire concept of the business was immediately cut off at the knees. We also experienced difficulties with suppliers, as most of these machines/parts come from China and elsewhere overseas. There’s no distribution network here in the states, so it often requires large bulk quantity orders to get any sort of price discount. The industry also has been moving so fast that by the time we could move that inventory they would have released a new model and lowered the one we bought to less than what we paid, so there’s been some struggles there.
As you know, we’re big fans of 3D Print Orlando. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
We’re the area’s only specialized hobby shop for 3D Printers! We offer repair services, classes, filament, and most common replacement parts. We also host monthly meet-ups so our customers can get together and show off their projects and discuss the hobby. As far as we know, we’re the only hobby shop in Florida that offers repairs, and has brought us people from Georgia all the way down to Miami bringing us their machines to fix. I’ve always been most proud of our customer service, Anthony and myself try to go above and beyond to show people this hobby isn’t as intimidating or expensive as a lot of people think.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
I’ll reference YouTube for specific things I want to learn usually. I’ve also used ChatGPT for research and design advice for 3D modeling.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.3DPrintOrlando.com
- Instagram: 3DPrint_Orlando
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/3DPrintOrlando
