Hardly any other technical field has developed as rapidly in recent years as 3D printing. Especially in commercial, technological, industrial and scientific use, 3D technology has become indispensable. But 3D printers have long since arrived in private households and are more popular than ever. Public interest in 3D printing is growing rapidly, as is the variety of 3D printers for private use.
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If you are reading this article, you are probably one of those people who are toying with the idea of getting such a device. If you have decided to buy a 3D printer or if you are at least considering it, you quickly realise that choosing from the many different devices is not that easy.
We want to show you what you have to consider if you want to buy a 3D printer and thus make your choice a little easier.
In order to really understand the following properties and differences, let's first briefly deal with the necessary basics and take a look at current printing technologies. We limit ourselves here to the two most popular techniques that are most used in the private sphere.
To keep it simple, we basically differentiate between FDM printers (filament printers) and resin printers (SLA / DLP / LCD).
FDM printing process
FDM (Fused Deposit Modeling) or FFF (Fused Filament Fabrication) are 3D printing processes in which a filament in the form of a thermoplastic strand is heated in a print head and printed on a printing platform through a nozzle.
In this process, the selected model is built up layer by layer. When talking about 3D printers, in most cases an FDM printer is meant.
What is the filament in FDM printing?
The so-called filament is a material that is available wound on a spool and processed in the FDM printer. There are a number of different filament materials (PLA, PETG, ABS, nylon, etc.), which differ significantly in their properties. Filaments are also available in various diameters and numerous colours.
Special filaments for special models
There are now numerous special materials in which wood, metal, carbon or stone have been processed.
If you want to buy a 3D printer, it is extremely important to find out which materials the desired printer can process and which diameter is required.
Advantages of FDM printing
Areas of application for FDM printing
Resin printing process (SLA / DLP / LCD)
Resin printing processes are further subdivided into SLA printing (stereolithography), DLP (digital light processing) and LCD technology. All variants are very similar, which is why we will only briefly discuss the differences:
In all cases, liquid, photosensitive resin is used.
In SLA printing, this resin is cured with a UV laser.
DLP printing uses a so-called DLP projector, which projects the print object or the layer to be printed onto a pixelated screen. Only the required area of the display is illuminated for each layer. As the name suggests, LCD technology uses an LCD screen and a UV light source.
Benefits of SLA / DLP / LCD printing
Areas of application for SLA / DLP / LCD printing
You should ask yourself these questions before buying
Now we've already learned a few basic facts about 3D printing. But before you blindly decide on the best device, you should still ask yourself these 4 basic questions:
1. What is your budget? / How much are you willing to spend?
If you want to buy a 3D printer, the budget also has an impact on the purchase. Think about how much you are willing to spend on a 3D printer. The price range is very wide in this industry, but there are numerous inexpensive models that are impressive.
Especially in the area of FDM printing, you get a decent set of basic equipment for little money. The running costs are also manageable with FDM printing: You can get good filaments in our shop for around 20-25 € / kg, for example.
For special materials such as wood, metal or flexible filaments, you have to lay down a little more. You will definitely get inexpensive but good basic equipment (printer and material) from 300-400 euros.
Resin printers are now also available inexpensively. You can find affordable entry-level models for less than 400 euros. Of course, as with FDM printing, there is no upper price limit for resin printers either.
If you decide on a resin printer, you should only take into account that in addition to the printer itself, you also need other devices for post-processing.
An inexpensive SLA printer including curing machine and material will cost you around 500-600 euros in our shop.
In contrast to filament printing, you have to expect higher running costs with resin printing. 1-litre bottles of the printing material start at around 30 euros. In the case of SLA printing, the resins often cannot be replaced with materials from other manufacturers and you are bound to one manufacturer. If you print with the DLP or LCD process, this is usually not a problem.
2. What do you want to print? What are your ideas?
The choice of the 3D printer depends a lot on what you want to print with it. For example, if you mainly want to print parts for your car or if you need heat- or weather-resistant models, the printer should also be designed to process the respective materials.
Depending on the purpose of the models, there are different requirements for the material and 3D printer, here are some examples:
3. What properties do you expect from your 3D printer?
Should it print particularly quickly, be very quiet or is it important to you to be able to print large models?
In addition to the intended use of the print models, there are also other properties that significantly differentiate 3D printers from one another:
To print a model, not only the 3D printer itself, but also a computer / laptop with USB connection and / or WLAN or an SD card is required to transfer the desired model to the printer.
3D printers can be purchased fully assembled or as a kit.
A 3D printer kit is usually cheaper than a finished, assembled device, which is why many customers choose it. The assembly can be challenging for a beginner, but it can also help to better understand the 3D printer and its spare parts.
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If you decide on a fully assembled device, you don't have to worry about a correct assembly, you set up the 3D printer and can start printing straight away. If you want to be on the safe side as a beginner, it is advisable to use a fully assembled device. This costs a little more, but you can't go wrong and slowly approach the printer and its parts.
We mention the printing speed here, because for many people who want to buy a 3D printer, it is initially an apparently important comparison value for different products. At the same time, however, we would like to point out that it makes less sense to put the printing speed in the foreground when buying. Here's why:
First of all, it should be noted that the printing speed of an FDM printer does not only depend on the device itself, but also on factors such as the temperature of the printing nozzle, the material to be processed, the thickness of the filament, the layer thickness and the number of supports required.
In addition, there are other general factors that affect the speed of printing. This includes, for example, the orientation of the object and the amount of material to be printed. If you want to increase the printing speed, it can be helpful to change the height of the model by adjusting the orientation.
With resin printing, the printing speed depends on the light output of the printer and the properties of the material.
The print size is an important comparison factor in 3D printers, as it determines the maximum size of the printed model. The print volume is calculated in XYZ: X = width, Y = depth, Z = height.
If you don't want to print several small parts and then connect them together, you should use a larger 3D printer right away.
A direct-drive extruder is built into the hotend, the filament is pushed directly into the nozzle - all filament processing elements are in place in one place. In addition to “normal” filament, this is also suitable for processing special filament types.
The Bowden extruder is located on the frame of the 3D printer, which also has advantages (less weight on the print head = clean movements), but it is more suitable for processing standard filament types such as PLA.
If you would like to find out more about the differences between the two extruder variants, you can also find the article “Direct extruder vs. Bowden extruder - these are the differences” in our guide
If 3D printers are equipped with two extruders, different colours or materials can be used for the same print model during printing. A major advantage of dual extruders is the possibility of combining different materials, e.g. an additional, dissolvable material for support structures, in one print.
Since the layer height depends on the 3D printer used, it is one of the most elementary properties of 3D printers. It is the height of a single layer that the printer will use to build the model. Basically, the lower the layer height, the finer and smoother the surface of the 3D print will be. With commercially available 3D printers, the average layer height is 0.1 mm to 0.32 mm.
The layer height is not only dependent on the 3D printer used, but also on the software with which a model is sliced. Good 3D software nowadays has hardly any restrictions on the layer height.
The heating bed is a heatable print bed with which the processed plastic does not cool down as quickly. This avoids warping of the material and unwanted bulges. While some materials (e.g. ABS or PETG) require a heatable print bed, it is not absolutely necessary when printing PLA.
If you want to process different filaments, we think: A heating bed is nice to have!
4. Where do you plan to print?
You should also think about the location of your future printer. Ideally, you have a work room or workshop in which you can place your 3D printer. Although it is safe to use it in the living room with most materials, there are some factors that speak against it:
Depending on the size of the printer, you need enough space to accommodate the device itself, as well as the material and any tools. The printer should also be on a stable table so that it makes less noise.
As already mentioned, most printers create background noise. Even if many 3D printers have now achieved a very low level of noise, they cannot be completely ignored.
While 3D printing doesn't really create “dirt”, you can expect to have to remove support material from time to time or have to sand something. So it can happen that one or the other small material falls on the floor and does not end up in the trash can.
After you pick a 3D printer, the first decision you'll have to make is what type of filament you want to use. Look deep enough, and you'll see several dozen varieties—even setting aside the numerous colors they come in. Wading through them surfaces a string of chemical-sounding names: polylactic acid, polyvinyl alcohol, carbon fiber, and the tongue-twisty thermoplastic elastomers, for example. They go by a dizzying variety of acronyms: ABS, PLA, HIPS, CPE, PET, PETG, PETT, TPE, PVA, and PCTPE are just some of them.
But don't be dismayed by this alphabet soup. Only a few types are in everyday use. Also, manufacturers tend to avoid these overly geeky monikers in favor of more descriptive names alluding to an essential quality of the filament, such as flexibility (NinjaTek's Ninjaflex and Polymaker's Polyflex, for instance) and strength (Makerbot, XYZprinting, and Ultimaker all market filaments called Tough PLA).
Filaments used in 3D printing are thermoplastics, which are plastics (aka polymers) that melt rather than burn when heated, can be shaped and molded, and solidify when cooled. The filament is fed into a heating chamber in the printer's extruder assembly, where it is heated to its melting point and then extruded (squirted) through a metal nozzle as the extruder assembly moves, tracing a path programmed into a 3D object file to create, layer by layer, the printed object. Although most 3D printers have a single extruder, some dual-extruder models can print an object in different colors or with different filament types.
The process of printing with plastic filament is called either fused filament fabrication (FFF) or fused deposition modeling (FDM). They're the same thing; 3D printing pioneer Stratasys Corp. trademarked the FDM acronym, so other manufacturers created their own names to describe their printers' technology. FFF is the one that caught on. Even today, except in some manufacturers' brochures, you'll see the names used interchangeably.
(Credit: Tony Hoffman)Filament is sold in spools by weight ranging from 0.5 kilogram to 2 kilograms. The filament comes in two thicknesses, 1.75 millimeters and 3 millimeters. (The latter is in reality a little thinner than 3mm, at about 2.85 millimeters.) The vast majority of filament is of the 1.75-millimeter type; Ultimaker and LulzBot are among the few manufacturers whose printers use the thicker size. Weight and diameter are almost always listed in metric units.
Next, let's take a look at a few of the more popular and important filament types.
The most common filament types, by far, are acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and polylactic acid (PLA). Most basic 3D printers are designed to use these filaments exclusively. Part of their appeal is that they're relatively inexpensive, costing as little as $20 per kilogram.
Don't be put off by ABS's unwieldy chemical name; it's the same plastic used in Legos. Objects printed from ABS are tough, durable, and nontoxic. It has a relatively high melting point, with a print temperature ranging from 210 degrees to 250 degrees Celsius. The bottom corners of objects being printed with ABS have a tendency to curl upward a bit, especially if you are using a non-heated print bed. During printing, ABS can emit an acrid, unpleasant odor, so it's best used with a closed-frame printer in a well-ventilated room.
PLA has a relatively low melting point, with usable temperatures between 180 degrees and 230 degrees Celsius. It is plant-based and biodegradable. It's harder than ABS, prints without warping, and is generally easy to work with, although in rare cases it can cause extruder jams. PLA is often used as the base material for more exotic, composite materials, which we will discuss in a bit.
In recent years, PETG (polyethylene terephthalate glycol) filament has grown in popularity for general-purpose 3D printing due to its affordability, durability, and ease of printing. This recyclable thermoplastic is odorless, strong, and recyclable. Is PETG stronger than PLA? It depends on the type of object you're printing, but one thing is clear: PETG filament's strong print-bed adhesion can occasionally lead to problems in removing printed objects from the bed.
Nylon is an incredibly versatile synthetic material, developed in the s, that has found use in everything from toothbrushes to parachutes to tires to stockings, and now 3D printer filament. At heart it's a polymer, or plastic (or, more precisely, a family of plastics). It is strong and durable, yet flexible, and among the lowest-priced 3D printing filaments. It melts at a higher temperature (about 240 degrees Celsius) than most filaments. Not all 3D printers are built to handle that heat—some commonly used substances in the extruder emit fumes at that temperature. Like with ABS, objects printed with nylon have a tendency to warp, which can be mitigated by using a heated print bed.
TPEs (or thermoplastic elastomers) are thermoplastics with high elasticity (though still far short of, say, rubber bands); objects printed with them are relatively flexible. One common TPE type is thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), of which NinjaFlex is a popular example. TPU filament is perhaps the easiest to print with of all flexible filaments.
One of the catchier acronyms, HIPS, stands for high-impact polystyrene. HIPS is moderately priced, lightweight, and can be sanded, glued, and colored with acrylic paints. It is similar to ABS, except that HIPS is soluble in Limonene, a citrus-based solvent, making it a good choice—when printing with a second material (such as ABS or PLA) with a dual-extruder printer—as a support material that could be dissolved after printing. It also prints well on its own.
Another soluble filament is PVA (polyvinyl alcohol), which conveniently dissolves in water. PVA is odorless, nontoxic, and biodegradable. It has a low melting point, and can jam an extruder nozzle when overheated. It is often used as a support material in dual-extruder printers; I have tested them by printing a test object—a box within a box—using PLA for the box itself and PVA as the support. After the object is printed, I immerse it in warm water, and the PLA gradually dissolves, leaving the pair of nested boxes.
(Credit: Tony Hoffman)Composite filaments have a base of PLA or other thermoplastic into which particles, powders, or flakes of other materials have been mixed. Some are wood blends, while others include sandstone or limestone, and still others contain various kinds of metals, including iron, aluminum, brass, bronze, and copper. These filaments take on some of the properties of the materials they have been mixed with. Another popular composite is carbon fiber; objects printed from it take some of the strength of the fiber. A downside to these composite filaments is that they cost considerably more than non-composites.
With today's proliferation of FFF printers, it's easy to overlook the fact that there are models on the market based on other technologies that don't use filament. Chief among them is stereolithography (aka SLA), the first 3D printing technology to have been developed, and which is capable of very detailed, high-resolution prints. Although price tags for SLA printers for commercial use can run well into five figures, many lower-priced models, suitable for hobbyists and artisans, can be had for under $1,000, with basic models starting at about $300.
(Credit: Prusa Research)In SLA printing, an ultraviolet laser traces the shape of the object to be printed, layer by layer, on a UV-sensitive resin (aka photopolymer, or photopolymer resin) housed in a tray or vat, and the resin exposed to the laser hardens to form the printed object. The resins come in 500g and 1kg bottles, with prices from printer manufacturers starting at about $20 per kilogram. Some manufacturers have formulated resins for strength, flexibility, rigidity, and other qualities, and such resins tend to sell at a premium. Resins come in a wide range of colors, including metallic hues.
DLP is a form of stereolithography that uses a projector in place of the laser as a light source, using visible light instead of ultraviolet. The projector, which employs Texas Instruments' DLP (Digital Light Processing) technology, projects a series of images into a vat of photopolymer resin similar to the resins used in SLA printing to build the object, layer by layer.
No one filament is best for all users, printed objects, and scenarios. The right one for you depends on which printer you've got and how to plan to use it.
(Credit: Ted Needleman)Now that you know everything you need about the most popular filaments, you'll want to read our 3D printer buying guide, which includes reviews of the best models we've recently tested. Looking to get into 3D printing without breaking the budget? Then you'll want to check out our guide to the best cheap 3D printers.
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