3D Printing 101: 7 Things to Know Before Buying a 3D Printer
Knowing what is the best printer to fit your specific needs. Whether you’re a hobbyist buying your first printer or a large business purchasing a printer for mass production of materials; it is very important to know which printers do what and how the applications are different for each type. Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), or Material Extrusion, is the most commonly used type of additive manufacturing process. It is the most cost-effective, lead times are usually shorter, and there are a wider range of materials for usage for FDM printers. There are also 6 other types of 3D printing, including Stereolithography (SLA) and Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), which are typically very costly and not used as often.
Price Price is typically based off of the level of output from the printer, so once again this just all depends on what exactly you want your printer to be capable of. The average person would probably classify 3D printing as “expensive”, but that is not always the case. Industrial grade printers tend to be $5,000+, so any cost for a printer below that is usually your basic desktop printer.
Materials The two most commonly used materials for FDM are thermoplastics, Poly Lactic Acid (PLA) and Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS). PLA is environmentally friendly and is beneficial for creating simple items, and cools quickly to prevent warping of your print. ABS is strong and flexible, although it doesn’t cool as quickly and could be more susceptible to warpage of material. SLS and SLA machines typically use liquid resin materials to create their prints.
Safety Regulations Working with 3D printers can be very risky due to the amount of heat involved in the processes of the printer. It is very important to keep your printer in a well ventilated room, keeping safety equipment nearby (such as safety goggles and a fire extinguisher). Also, if you are using any sharp objects to remove your creation from the build plate or to remove support material you should wear cut resistant gloves to prevent cutting your fingers off (this is very serious, we’ve watched it happen before)!
Printer Settings Knowing how to manage your print resolution and print speed are key in successful prints. The resolution determines the level of detail and the speed determines how fast the extruder moves. The faster the extruder moves, the faster the printer will create your object, as long as there are no limitations with the material. It is very important to read up on these settings in your user manual of the printer.
3D Modeling Learning to model is very difficult to learn and takes a lot of time and effort to be good at. The best option for learning is watching YouTube videos or asking an experienced individual for assistance.
File Types/Slicing Software Essentially, slicing software tells your printer how exactly to print your object. STL files are the most common files uploaded into slicing software. A simple google search can help you find the right slicing software to fit your needs.
