3D printer
Introduction
This article shortly introduces 3D printers and provides some advice on selecting a printer. The original article, created many years ago, listed many printers, but I stopped upgrading systematically around 2016. The old version is still around. There are no endorsements, since I only owned a RapMan (2010), a fabbster (given away), a Creality (2015, given away), four different Felix printers (1.0, 2.2, Pro2 and Tec4.1 (I still use the latter two), a Fokoos Odin-5 F-3 (2002, bought on sale). I also use Prusa mini and I3 printers in our fablab.
According to Wikipedia, retrieved 11 April 2023, 3D printing or additive manufacturing is the construction of a three-dimensional object from a CAD model or a digital 3D model.[1] It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is deposited, joined or solidified under computer control,[2] with material being added together (such as plastics, liquids or powder grains being fused), typically layer by layer.
See also:
- 3D printing (explains some principles).
- 3D food printing
- Fab lab (for a wider technical picture)
- 3D printers in education and fab labs in education (for a wider picture in education)
- Printer-specific articles: Felix, RapMan, and Fabbster
- Software (listed below)
- Hobby milling (an alternative subtractive technology)
- (Micro) Fablab TECFA, our own little gear
- Slicers and user interfaces for 3D printers
3D printing technology
The most popular 3D printing techniques are:
- Fused deposition modeling (FDM), also called Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF). A typical example of the first available low cost kit that required a few days of assembly was the RapMan. As of 2023, entry level printers are cheap (around 300 Euros) and are assembled fairly quickly. Consumer-grade quality machines cost around 1000.
- Stereolithography (SLA): “is a form of 3-D printing technology used for creating models, prototypes, patterns, and production parts in a layer by layer fashion using photopolymerization, a process by which light causes chains of molecules to link, forming polymers.[1] Those polymers then make up the body of a three-dimensional solid.” (Wikipedia, Aug. 2017). SLA machines use a laser to harden selected areas.
- DLP (Digital Light Processing) works, like SLA, with resin. As opposed to a laser that will solidify very specific areas, a DLP printer projects an image onto the pool of resin which then hardens each layer, one at a time.
- Selective laser sintering (SLS): “an additive manufacturing technique that uses a high power laser (for example, a carbon dioxide laser) to fuse small particles of plastic, metal (direct metal laser sintering), ceramic, or glass powders into a mass that has a desired 3-dimensional shape” (Wikipedia, retrieved 14 October 2011)
- Syringue-based systems like the early Fab@Home can print Epoxy (composites), ceramics or food and these materials are pushed down with a piston.
Most hobby 3D printers use FDM, i.e. an extruder (i.e. a kind of gun) that heats up plastic filament which is then deposited layer by layer. They can print different sorts of Polymers. In the early years, the two following plastics were popular.
- ABS (used for Legos and car parts) is solid, but warps when printed a room temperature. I.e. it is difficult to print objects that have a larger than 4cm footprint.
- PLA (polylactic acid) is made of starch (i.e. plants). It doesn't warp, but it was not very solid and started deforming (melting) at relatively low temperature. As of 2023, more solid PLA filaments are available.
As of 2015 a much wider range of 3D printer filaments are available, including PET-G, PET, Nylon, TPU, TPEs, and various PLA-particle composites.
Type | FFF | SLA | SLS | Piston |
---|---|---|---|---|
Material | rolls of various types of plastic | Liquid resin | Various powder (only Nylon or similar for low end machines) | Anything that can be pushed down (e.g. chocolate or Epoxy resins) |
Durability | OK (depending on type of plastic) | Low | High | depends on material, very little for printed food :) |
Precision | 0.05 mm | high | good | |
Post-processing | Easy (except when dealing with support materials) | Treatment is require to improve solidity | Blasting is required to remove bits of loose powder | |
Freedom of forms | No.
Somewhat if soluble support is used in dual head printer. |
limited | yes | very limited |
Heat resistance | Depends on the plastic. Popular PLA is starts weakening at 60 and melting at 160. PETG has a higher melting tempurature. Some plastics like nylon are difficult to print but more resistant | limited | good | |
Unit cost | very low | low | high | medium |
Material cost | very low to low (15-100 Euros/kg) | 30-250 Euros / litre | 100 - 1000 Euros / kg. (directly from China, Nylon PA12 is 100$ else it will be double or more) |
The opposite of additive manufacturing is subtractive manufacturing that takes away material from an initial form. These alternative technologies include:
- Laser cutting, a fairly simple to use technique for creating "flat" 3D objects by cutting "sheets" like wood or plexiglass. One can create designs that involve sticking or gluing components together.
- Milling, a process where parts of an object (e.g. a cube) are removed by drilling. For example, parts of car motors are produced like this. Milling is a fairly dangerous process, however hobbyist models that carve out from plastic or wood are safe to use in a classroom for example.
Filement printer features you should you look for
Must have features:
- A strong extruder including a good filament intake system (you should be able to walk away from the printer and be sure that plastic is always extruded, even after 20 hours or printing). Newcomers don't often get the fact, that even a fairly small piece takes many hours to print !
- A good board and firmware (as above, there should be no mistakes, i.e. a print head that stops moving at some point)
- A heated platform up to 80 degrees at least
- Ability to print 0.1mm layers accurately
Nice to have features:
- Support for multiple types of plastic, in particular PLA and PET-G, but also some stronger plastics like ABS or Nylon (for some, this is a must-have feature). Some people also want to print with flexible polymers, i.e. TPU or TPE. That requires a direct extruder where the motor sits on top of the nozzle (i.e. so-called Bowden extruders are not very suitable for TPU and not suitable for TPE)
- Extrusion and printhead movement speeds as slow and as fast as possible. Typically the first layer should be printed at 10-15mm/s but prototype quality should be printable at 150mm/s.
- A heated chamber (or at least a closed box) for printing plastics that warp, e.g. ABS.
- Accuracy (both detail and movement) down to 0.1mm resolution if possible
- Two print heads (for printer either two color models or designs that need support. In the latter case, there exit soluble plastics.
- Included easy-to use printer control software
- Support for a good machine code generation software (i.e. a slicer). Most printers work with open source slicers but the vendor should nevertheless provide some good standard settings.
- Support for standard RepRap g-code (in order to avoid slicer software lock-in)
- Control hardware/software that allows to pause/resume a print and to manually extract filament.
- As many standard hardware parts as possible (this will allow for quick replacement) and allow you cope if the company goes out of business. This includes the control board.
- Use of open source software for controlling the printer. Except for very few exceptions, opensource solutions like Repetier Host are simply better since you can still use your printer after the company and its software go out of business
- Automated bed leveling or model correction. Adjusting the bed (1-2 sheets of paper distance from printhead to bed in every position) is something that beginners have trouble with.
- A wide printing area (as wide as the objects you plan to print). 25x25x25 is OK as of 2023.
Comparisons
Comparing 3D printers is very very difficult for several reasons:
- Some do better than others with respect to different sorts of objects. Do the benchmark pieces represent what you would like to print ?
- Calibration is essential. Only a real expert can get the most out of a machine.
- How do you weight various factors ? (Reliability, smoothness/accuracy, min. layer size, speed or less obvious stuff like does the first layer stick, warping, dealing with overhangs, stringing)
- How do you account for the interaction between slicing software and printers, and between slicing parameters and printers ?
On of the first serious comparisons was done by Make Mag in nov 2012. One of my printers (the Felixprinter 1.0) came out ok. Nevertheless the author complained about assembly that was more difficult than expected and glitches with some delivered parts (like calibration of the stepper motors) and he is right to do that. However, why compare a non-assembled printer with assembled ones. I bought mine assembled (400 Euros extra) and it worked out of the box! In addition, the testers used default settings of the slicer software. Had they selected a different profile they would have obtained widely different results. I was able to print a test design that failed without problems. The Make Mag test was serious, but far from perfect. - Daniel K. Schneider 17:53, 22 November 2012 (CET)
Do not trust marketing hype. In any case, filament printers do have inherent flaws that no design can solve. Only trust reputable online sites (most receive something in exchange for rewiewing). Also, understand that some cheap printers start degrading after a few weeks and that others have poor quality assurance (i.e. some machines work fine but others need to repaired when you open the box).
History
Below, some consumer-grade 3D printers that made early history.
Reprap 3D FDM printers
RepRap, a British project, is short for Replicating Rapid-prototyper. They all can be assembled from parts bought in various places. As of Sept. 2018, there were several different Reprap Designs. The classic ones are the following:
- Darwin. The design that inspired current (2010/11) Rapman and CupCake designs
- Mendel Overview (second generation Reprap)
- Prusa Mendel Overview (improved easier to build Mendel)
- Huxley Overview (travel sized mendel)
- Delta / Rostock, a documented build is here, commercial kits also exist
- RepRap Snappy (2018, most 3D printable printer).
All RepRap printers can built with spare parts available from many places. However, this requires good "bricolage" skills. For those who don't have these, there exist many commercial kits that are relatively easy to assemble and also fully assembled kits (see below).
Resources:
- RepRap wiki. It includes many resources, like:
- RepRap Official Blog
- RepRap Project (Wikipedia)
Candyfab printers
Candyfab was one of coolest projects in the beginning. It did sugar sintering.
Note: As of oct. 2011 this project seems to have stalled (no wiki update since 2009).
Bits from Bytes printers
Bits from Bytes did produce and selle Reprap derivatives. The company is now dead, i.e. it was absorbed by 3D systems.
Hardware (history)
- RapMan v3.11 (£750 / CHF 1270) is a device we acquired in January 2010. It was assembled by end of Feb 2010 Read the RapMan article. - Daniel K. Schneider Nov 2009/Feb 2010.
- Print area: 27 x 20.5 x 21 cm, not heated platform
- 3mm nozzle
- Resolution: x&y axis = 0.2mm, z axis = 0.7mm (roughly)
- A1 Technologies is a UK reseller
- Materials: ABS (warping for bottom surfaces larger than 4-5cm), PLA of various sorts.
- The Rapman was one of the first commercial kits for the RepRap v1 and it's probably one of the most beautiful designs. Assembly is rather difficult, but very well documented. All you needed was good reading skills. It works well, but does need what we could call "RepRap printing skills". Some design elements could be improved, in particular: filament intake (extruder), connectivity (USB instead of a SD card), portability (after transport the structure may need adjustment), (optional) heated platform. The commercial 3D Touch solves some of these problems.
- 3DTouch 3D Printer was an assembled 3D printer and costs £1,995.00 (single head) or £2,245.00 (double head). The Education pack (£2,484.00) included double head and plastic rolls. This model seems to be the successor of the BFB 3000 (or the same design ?). It includes "industrial" parts, i.e. it's rumored to be reliable.
- Resolution: same as RapMan v3.11
Unfortunately, 3D systems killed all the forums and the wiki which did include valuable information for other people using other 3D printers (www.bitsfrombytes.com/forum Forum and wiki.bitsfrombytes.com) or maybe I just can't find them. I do not like marketing managers since they love to make interesting information go away just for the sake of "branding" and other sales concerns. Anyhow, at least they seem to provide good support for the Rapman, 3D Touch and BFB-3000, e.g. this wiki. Let's hope that it will stay. Finally, some people did save some of the old contents, e.g. google for ""bits from bytes" forum"
Fab@Home 3D printers
Fab@Home, is marketed as "personal fabricator". As opposed to RepRap designs, Fab@Home uses a syringe system and can print a large variety of materials, including silicone, cement, stainless steel, cake frosting, and cheese. Hardware designs and software on this website are open source. This printer can include a dual syringe tool for printing two materials simultaneously.
Hardware:
- Fab@Home Version 2.0 - Kit for Single Syringe System costs $2125 (oct. 2011)
- Accuracy: Depends a lot on the materials, with a fine nozzle about 0.1mm in theory (+/- 100 micrometers according to the website).
- An assembled Fab@Home V1.0 - Assembled Two Syringe System would cost $3500
Resources:
Makerbot printers
MakerBot Industries sells other RepRap-inspired designs. Like other Reprap derivaties, their 3D printers include a plastruder and an Arduino-compatible microcontroller and they work with several kinds of plastic, e.g. ABS (Lego-like) and HDPE (milk-jug like). The founder of this company also is involved in the RepRap research project.
Hardware: Currently, (2012) there are several versions, see also the closed source Replicator II (somewhere below)
- A free design called CupCake CNC and and its current (2011) Ultimate. Makerbot will sell the parts. I don't know if there is any difference in design with respect to the Thin-O-Matic kit.
- MakerBot Replicator
- $1,749.00 fully assembled
- dual head is possible (+$250)
- 225 x145 x150 milimeters printing area
- Layer thickness: .2-.3mm with 4mm stock nozzle.
- Speed: 40 mm/s
- MakerBot Thing-O-Matic® Kit (formerly called Cupcake?)
- Between $1225 and $1300 for the kit
- 3mm extruder
- 9.6 x 10.8cm print area
- Fully Assembled MakerBot Thing-O-Matic
- This is the old (well known) model
- out of stock (was $2500)
Other devices are in development as documented in the Makerbot wiki (oct. 2011)
Mendel Parts
- Mendel-Parts is a Dutch one-man company that started by selling parts for the Mendel design.
Hardware:
- Orca v0.3
- Mendel-inspired design, but the big parts are laser-cut aluminum (and therefore "non-replicatable", but easier to assemble)
- $600 EUR
- ABS and PLA
- Print size: 210x210x165mm
- Choice between 1.75 and 3mm hot end.
- Speed: up to 300mm/s
- The V 0.2 is still available and costs slightly less (oct. 2011)
- Note: Very new as of oct. 2011. I couldn't find any detailed reviews, but the design looks good - Daniel K. Schneider 20:44, 19 October 2011 (CEST).
- Mendel v2
- €699.00
- I'd rather get the "non-replicating" Orca since it's much easier to assemble. Folks who want to play with the printer design itself, may look at this model or other Mendel Prusa kits.
Resources:
Makergear
Makergear sells two kits as of oct. 2011. One is rather destinated to people who want to play with the Mendel Prusa design and maybe do creative modifications. The other, i.e. the Mosaic is more an end-user product.
Hardware:
- Prusa 3D printer kit
- $825 for a complete kit
- 8 x 8" Heated Build Surface PCB
- Either 1.75mm or 3mm hot end (allowing to print either more precisely or faster). Most current printers feature a 3mm nozzle.
- supports both ABS and PLA
- Mosaic 3D Printer kit
- $999
- (Probably) fairly easy to assemble
- Mosaic 3D Printer fully assembled
- Price is unknown, since out of stock on oct. 19 2011
MakerGear also sells various sets of printed parts and other gear for assembling your own.
Resources:
- Home page (Includes a blog and instructions)
Printrbot
Probably was one of the most popular 3D printers as of summer/fall 2012. S
Hardware:
- printrbot.com
- Open Hardware Design
- z axis: printhead moves up (not the platform)
- Heated platform that moves in the y axis (or x axis depending on how you look at it)
- Cheap, i.e. between $400 (smallest, print bed not heated) and $700 (largest)
- The large Printrbot PLUS has a 8x8in heated bed
- Claimed to be fairly easy and quickly to assemble
Documentation:
- backers at KickStarter
- Asssembly instructions
Ultimaker
As of Oct. 2011, the Dutch Ultimaker seems to be the favorite open source design kit. It's fast, can print big and it's easy to assemble (compared to a RapMan for example). Ultimaker focuses on speedy PLA printing. PLA doesn't warp like ABS, it is ecological but fragile. ABS is very solid, not ecological and would require a heated bed for larger prints. Therefore, if you need to produce tough objects, Ultimaker may not be a good option.
Hardware:
- The Ultimaker 1 Kit (a + variant is still sold) costs EUR 1200.
- Reprap design
- It can print 21x21x22 cm volumes
- USB connectivity, drivers for Win/Mac and Linux
- 0.4mm nozzle The theoretical resolution: 0.0125 mm for the X and Y axis and better for the Z-axis. Don't know what the practical one would be.
- User-friendly feed mechanism
- No heated bed (?)
- Ultimaker 2 is again a very popular machine in Fablabs, because of its good design, reliability and precision.
Resources:
Web services for 3D printing
There several companies who fabricate 3D objects from models created by the public. Typically, online 3D printing services also include a store where users can both upload and sell designs. Some sites also offer other manufacturing and commercial services and most also provide free resources for learning how to create things
Note: The laser cutting and engraving services will be moved once I decide to start resources on that topic.
- They take STL, VRML, Collada & X3D formats with some constraints, e.g. less than 500'000 polygons, a watertight mesh, etc.
- Similar as Shapeways
- Your can sell your models, buy printed objects. Some models are free for download.
- 3D printing service
Software and formats
Roughly speaking, the production pipeline looks like this:
- Model something or find a model
- (Merge/adapt models)
- Translate to a printable model, e.g. STL or and other format
- Translate the printable model to machine code, e.g. g-code
3D modeling Software and file formats
For more detailed information, see:
File formats
The most popular file format is the .STL file format: “An STL (“Stereolithography”) file is a triangular representation of a 3-dimensional surface geometry. The surface is tessellated or broken down logically into a series of small triangles (facets). Each facet is described by a perpendicular direction and three points representing the vertices (corners) of the triangle. These data are used by a slicing algorithm to determine the cross sections of the 3-dimensional shape to be built by the fabber” (The StL Format, retrieved 17:25, 24 June 2009 (UTC)). STL files can be created with most CAD programs. Alphaprototypes provides instructions for several popular CAD applications.
3D Printing software
We distinguish between three kinds of "printing software"
- Preparation software will take a 3D model, allow you to make some adjustments (like repairing) holes, positioning and rotation and then output a clean printable format, in particular .STL files. The most popular software in that category was Netfabb Studio, now integrated in
- Slicer software will take as input an .STL model (or similar) and then produce machine code according to various parameters that you can set.
- Control software, can send print files to a printer and control the printer otherwise (e.g. manually move the print head, change temperature, etc.)
- In principle, some software could do all
See: Slicers and user interfaces for 3D printers
Special-purpose software
- STL Generator CandyFab developed CandyFaboulous, written in Processing, an open source programming language and environment for people who want to program images, animation, and interaction.
Related EduTechWiki articles
In EduTechWiki, we provide a few overviews and/or beginner's tutorials. See the category 3D printing. For example:
- Printers
- Modeling software
- OpenScad beginners tutorial (3D modeling with code) and Doblo factory OpenScad routines for creating DUPLO/LEGO clones
- Sketchup 3D printable objects tutorial (3D modeling with this Google tool)
- Sculptris (3D modeling by sculpting)
- Meshlab for RapMan tutorial (translating file formats, mesh merge)
- Preparation and Slicing
- Slicers and user interfaces for 3D printers
- Netfabb Studio tutorial (positioning, dimensioning of STL files for printing, simple object creation/merge)
- Skeinforge for RapMan (G-code generation for the rapman) and G-code (overview)
- Netfabb engine for RepRap and Netfabb engine for fabbster build styles
Links
3D objects can be found in various repositories
See also the Fab lab and 3D printers in education articles which also includes bibliographies or reviewed articles and books.
Repositories
See 3D assets
General
- Fundamentals: 3D Printing of Digital Models at graphics.com, excerpted from [Digital] Modeling (New Riders). This article explains how a commercial "powder-based" 3D printer works.
- 3ders.org “latest news and developments of 3D printing technology, and informations of 3D printers.”
- Which is the best 3D printer? Detailed list of low and mid range printers.
- 3D Printing (Explaining the Future, oct. 2011). Includes a review of both commercial and open source printers.
- Three dimensional printing Laboratory (MIT,last update 2000)
- The next Napster? Copyright questions as 3D printing comes of age by Peter Hanna, ArsTechnica, 2011.
- Fabbaloo is a blog with news about personal manufacturing and 3D printing. See for example their very good list of personal 3D Printers (Dec 2011).
- Planet Reprap - A RepRap blog aggregator
- Reprap development and further adventures in DIY 3D printing (Interesting blog)
- Open Design: Products in a networked culture @ Fabfuse 2012 (Good video talk by Ronen Kadushin / Vimeo)
- L’actu de l’Imprimante 3D, mostly in French.
- PRIMANTE 3D, site média spécialisé dans l'impression 3D
- 3D printing for beginners (Blog)
- FDM vs. SLS 3D Printing - What They Mean and When to Use Them (Sculpteo, 2015)
On wikipedia
- 3D printing
- additive manufacturing
- selective laser sintering
- fused deposition modeling
- laminated object manufacturing
Acknowledgments
- Pictures are reproduced without permission. I don't think that any non-open source Maker should complain. After all, these may help selling.