3D Printing, a Beginners Guide
So you think you want to do some 3d printing because you saw something somebody made or you saw an advertisement or you visited your local computer store and saw a demo of items printed with a 3d printer. The good news is you can make some truly amazing items. The bad news, it is not as simple as printing on your regular printer.
I don’t want to be discouraging here as I have found 3d printing to be an amazing and creative outlet. Starting either from a simple idea of my own or something I find on thingiverse.com, I am able to turn a roll of plastic filament into something amazingly beautiful or amazingly useful. I do want to be practical though. There is quite a bit to the hobby or process as it were.
Lets start with the printer. Picking the right printer can mean the difference between sweet success and complete failure. You need to start by determining your budget for this hobby. I started with a small printer in the under $200 range. You can start any where from this range up to thousands of dollars. Keep in mind you will have additional expenses in the form of supplies, accessories and electricity.
Wherever you start, pick a printer that is either fully or mostly fully assembled. Believe me you will have to make adjustments as is, so you don’t want to start with a printer you have to put together. Do your research, read reviews and pick something in your budget that will meet your needs.
Some of the important things to consider are build size, filament types, heated bed, type of print bed surface and the ability to be upgraded. You may not start off thinking about upgrading, but omce you get going you are going to want to upgrade so get a printer that will allow this. I made the mistake of choosing price over expandability and eventually ended purchasing a second, slightly more expensive but much more upgradeable printer.
Build size is one of the most important decisions. Think about what types of things you want to make and if they will fit within the dimensions of the printer you are looking at. You can resize items or print them in pieces but they don’t always connect together the way you want due to expansion or contraction of the plastic during printing or after cooling. Resizing may cause you to end up with odd dimensions or gaps and holes where you don’t want them. So get a printer that fits your needs, quite literally.
Filament types are important depending on what you want to print. All printers will print PLA plastic but this isn’t always as strong or as flexible as you may need it to be for the application your piece will be used for. Pick a printer that can handle low and high temperature filaments along with at least semi-flexible filament.
Getting a heated bed is a must. It is not really even much of a budget decision as the difference in price between a heated and non-heated bed is usually very minimal compared to the overall coast of the printer. If you try to save money by opting for a non-heated bed you will end up spending the difference, and then some, in wasted filament when your print fails. Also, choose a glass bed if possible. I didn’t start with a glass bed, but once I upgraded, the prints came out so much smoother and I rarely have to re-level the print bed like I did before the upgrade. Also check the out this site for some great 3d printing tips.
Now that you have chosen your printer, take your time, follow the directions and make some awesome things. Welcome to the world of 3d printing. Here are some sites you should familiarize yourself with:
I hope this article has been helpful, please let me know if you have any questions.