🎙SMB15: Starting a 3D Printing Business from Scratch with Ryan Baskins, Owner of Chatelet Manufacturing

This is SMB15, a rapid-fire interview series featuring small business owners, investors and service providers. We dig into different industries, business models, and SMB topics. Hosted by Will Fry, founder of Mainshares.

Listen now on Spotify or YouTube.

When COVID hit, Ryan Baskins was selling HVAC systems to hotels — not a great place to be. Over beers with a friend, he had a realization: 3D printing had finally gotten good enough to launch physical products without a factory. That spark led to Chatelet Manufacturing, a fast-growing additive manufacturing business with 80 printers and a thriving B2B and consumer arm.

In this episode, Ryan breaks down how they built the business from scratch, what makes additive viable for short-run production, and how they support inventors and manufacturers with rapid prototyping and bridge manufacturing. We talk materials, pricing, automation, the rise of print farms, and how American manufacturers can compete on speed, quality, and customization.

Some takeaways:

1. Additive manufacturing eliminates expensive tooling costs. Traditional manufacturing often requires costly molds and machinists before you can make a single part. 3D printing lets you go from CAD file to finished product the same day, making it ideal for short-lead time needs or prototyping for inventors or physical product creators.

2. Consumer ideas can be live on Amazon the same day. Ryan’s team initially started by using 3D printing to make their own product ideas, prior to expanding into B2B contract manufacturing. The process is so fast that they have gone from morning concept to live Amazon listing — and even first sale — within hours.

3. Pricing starts with dollars per hour, not just materials. Ryan prices work by assigning an hourly value to each printer, then factoring in material cost, build volume, and batch size. If a job takes 12 hours to make and can only sell for $15, it’s off the table. This allows them to factor in the capital expenditure needs along with more variable energy and design service costs.

4. Pick the right equipment — or risk expensive obsolescence. In their first two years, Ryan’s shop invested in what was then top-tier gear, only to have new technology render it outdated. Staying competitive means being ready to rotate equipment quickly when the industry leaps forward and having the capital to do so.

5. Traditional machine shops serve as great channel partners. Many machine shops don’t have additive capabilities but encounter jobs that are better suited for printing. By acting as their recommended 3D print partner, Ryan wins recurring work while helping them serve customers more efficiently.

6. There’s no single “best” manufacturing method. Ryan’s philosophy is to ultimately expand to support all methods — additive, injection molding, CNC — and steer each project to the best one. The goal is not to replace traditional manufacturing, but to integrate it.

Where to find Ryan and Chatelet Manufacturing:

• X: @BaskinsRyan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-baskins/

• Website: https://chateletusa.com/

In this interview, we discuss:

• 0:00 What Is Additive Manufacturing?

• 2:29 Intro to Ryan Baskins

• 4:19 Starting the Business Over Beers During COVID

• 6:49 Building Out a Print Farm

• 9:09 Design Services

• 11:01 Acquiring Injection Molding Capabilities

• 12:12 Custom Manufacturing Jobs

• 14:08 Billing by the Hour

• 15:34 FDM vs SLA vs SLS Printing

• 19:15 Misconceptions About 3D Printing