3D Printers, on buying

[DreamThinkBuild]

Hi All,

I just want to put up some thoughts on those who are looking into buying a 3D printer.

While I cannot recommend a printer as it depends on the capabilities and price range you want, I can give some tips/opinions on what to look out for.

First a really good place to get a feel of the 3D printer landscape is 3DHubs printer trends.

https://www.3dhubs.com/trends

Even with good reviews when determining what to buy it's always good to do some homework.

- Most 3D printers are not consumer level like a standard paper printer. There are always some layer of having to tweak with something to get a good print. Most of it just comes down to having proper temperature for the material, correct speed, good extrusion and most importantly a level printer bed. The learning curve is not bad, start with small prints and work your way up.

- It is always a good idea to check the companies forum. This is where I usually go first is the forum and directly to the support or troubleshooting section. What I look for is that there are active replies to issues and to see if the issues are just minor tweaks or major machine issues. Try to aggregate through to see what the most common issue is and active fixes. Ask questions on any issues you'll usually get an answer.

- I noticed that some printers are using proprietary filament rolls that only fit their machine. This is something to be aware of if you don't want to be locked to expensive limited material selection. Also check to make sure that it can handle multiple filament types and isn't locked to just one type, unless that is what you are after.

- Also see how easy it is to repair and obtain parts to fix the printer. Extruder tips wear out after a while but are fairly easy to replace. I noticed that some printers are starting to make their print head expendable then you have to buy a whole new one but it pops back in easily for convenience. Some want you to sign up for there care packages for $$$ but others sell individual parts which makes it less expensive to repair. It's more of preference on how handy and type of printer you want.

- Another place to be aware of is in the software for their slicing engine. This is something I make sure that the printer can be used with open source slicer software that can run on almost any machine and support the standard CAD formats(OBJ, STL, etc). This helps also when new filament comes out and you need to tweak settings without limitations.

These are just my preferences so I'll just list them, again it all depends on what you're trying to make.

- Speed is not everything, some material actually prints better at a slower speed.
- A heated bed is always helpful.
- An enclosed print chamber is useful for large prints to reduce warping.
- Dual head printing is a mixed bag in my experience, I prefer a single extruder.

That's all for now, hopefully this info will help give you a more informed direction to look when buying a 3D printer.

If anyone else has thoughts feel free to add them.


Happy Holidays.