It’s been a while since 3D printers became available and started allowing people to create 3D objects in the real world right from their own home.
If you’re interested in getting a rundown of what 3D printers are, how they work, how much they cost, and what you could do with them, you’ve come to the right place.
What is a 3-D printer?
3D printers are devices that create objects physically from digital files. Plastic is the most common material. The result is usually plastic. It may have rough edges or be a one-color product. Despite those limitations, holding a real-world copy of a 3D model makes it easier to get a sense of what works and what doesn’t.
Even the best 3D Printers create components that are durable enough to be used every day. Long-term, the goal is to prolong the lifespan of consumer goods by allowing everyone to print the crucial parts that the manufacturer does not keep in stock.
The 3D printing technology is great for rapid prototyping, as it allows quick changes to refine the design before committing to expensive injection molds and high-volume production. Rapid prototyping is possible with this technology, which allows for quick design changes before investing in expensive injection moulds to produce high volumes.
In commercial manufacturing, 3D printing is also a viable option. Sometimes, when producing small quantities of goods, the high-quality but expensive and relatively slow 3D printing parts makes sense over traditional methods that have high costs initially and low unit cost.
How does a 3D printer work?
Fused Deposition Modeling, the most popular 3D printing design is very similar to inkjet. FDM’s printhead is a side-to-side moving device that deposits material onto a platform. Inkjet printers spray ink drops onto the paper. 3D printers extrude hot plastic into a glass plate or metal building platform.
Two computer controlled motors control the plastic flow, one to the build plate and the other the the printhead. For height, the third motor elevates the rail across which the printhead is positioned.
3D printers are slow compared to other manufacturing processes. They can take up to hours to create an object in the third dimension. It can be made faster by using more material, but this increases the layer height. The result is a rough print. The vertical curves and angle have more steps than the flat surfaces or smooth surfaces of many manufactured products.
This is the second most popular type of consumer 3D printer. Instead of using heat, it uses light to create shapes from plastic. This type of 3D printer is known as resin. It uses UV lights to create an image on liquid resin, which reacts with the wavelength and then solidifies.
The resin 3D printer is usually faster, as it cures an entire layer all at once. However, UV resin usually isn’t as durable as the thermoplastics used for FDM 3D printing.
FDM filaments are available in a variety of materials, including metals, wood, ceramics, glass and more. This 3D part mimics the look and feel of each material. With specialized 3D printers, it’s possible to create objects in a variety of materials, even cheesecake.
What is a 3D Printer capable of?
Commercial 3D printers are capable of producing almost anything. Some 3D printers melt metal using powerful lasers, producing strong parts that can be used in rockets or other robust machinery.
Size and material limitations are common with consumer 3D printers. Size of build plate will determine the maximum size and width for a 3D printed part. Height of printer can affect the 3D object’s height.
3D printing can be made to fit within the palm. The larger consumer 3D Printers are capable of handling objects that measure a bit more than a cubic feet. It’s also possible to make a large object by assembling several smaller parts.
The most popular 3D products include the whistle, a smartphone holder that can scan objects using a turntable, an innovative digital sundial which uses the sunlight to cast shadows in order to tell the time, as well as a mini-octopus without assembly.
There are no limits to the possibilities. For example, Thingiverse is one of the largest libraries of 3D objects designed for 3D printing, with over 2.5 million digital files — and most are free.
With the rise of generative AI, it’s now possible to create 3D objects with text prompts. At present, AI isn’t creating designs optimized for 3D printing, so you would need to convert the file to a compatible format and process it through a 3D-printing app before use.
How much do 3D printers cost?
3D printers can be purchased for less than $100. It’s an unbelievable bargain considering their power. The more advanced models come with larger print plates and higher speeds but are also costlier.
You can buy a good 3D consumer printer for around $300. For those who print a lot, you can buy a larger and faster 3D Printer for between $500 and $1,000. A commercial 3D Printer can cost anywhere between a few hundred dollars and over $1 million.
Be aware you’ll need supplies and might want accessories for your 3D printer, so keep a little more in the budget for those added costs. FDM filaments and UV resin are relatively inexpensive, but are sold in bulk, so you’ll spend at least $20 to get the necessary supplies.
Accessory items include enclosures to quieten an FDM 3D Printer, improved build plates, cooler fans for faster printing, ultraviolet lights to harden the resin and tools to clean and maintain 3D printers. You usually don’t need accessories to get started, and some 3D printers come with a small amount of filament or resin to create the first few prints.
A 3D printer unlocks the potential to inexpensively create replacement parts, duplicate designs that are available online, or prototype entirely new products that don’t yet exist. It’s been around since the 1990s, but has only become more affordable and easier to use over the past few years.
If you haven’t explored 3D printing recently, it’s time to take another look. If you’re new to 3D printing, now is a great time to get started.
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