How to choose a 3D printer?

3D technologies do not stand still, and if films in 3D format have long been included in our lives, then 3D printing will become a mass phenomenon tomorrow.

And today’s 3D printing service is both popular and cost-effective! The use of a 3D printer to produce a 3D model has become an integral aspect of the contemporary manufacturing process. But how to choose the right 3d printer?

3D printers come in a variety of shapes and sizes.

• The following features identify the main types of 3D printers, despite the fact that the number of types of 3D printers is continually increasing:
• With a table on a horizontal plane moving (designed by Josef Pryusha). The most straightforward and cost-effective. Due to the difficulty of maintaining the requisite temperature regime, they have limited precision and constraints on the types of plastic that may be employed.
• With a table that could only move up and down (H-bot, CoreXY, Ultimaker and variations). Each subspecies has its own set of benefits and drawbacks, but in general, this class of 3D printers prints better than the previous has a lot of room for advancement and supports the whole range of current plastics (theoretically).
• Delta jobs and printers The quickest of the FDM models, but with extremely high requirements for frame stiffness, precision in the manufacturing of supports and guides, the weight of the moving element, power of the “brains,” and so on.

The early stereolithographic printers were extremely expensive and relied on the science of polymerization of a particular resin under the influence of laser light of a specific wave. In theory, only the price of photopolymers has altered in the last few years. The excellent printing precision of this group of devices is an undeniable benefit, adequate for master modeling, jewelry industry duties, and top dentistry.

Stereolithographic 3D printers may now be manufactured for a fraction of the cost by using high-power LEDs instead of lasers. Laser printing technique operates with wavelength, and LED with the pixel size of the projection LCD-screen, resulting in a partial loss of precision (currently equal to about 50 microns). Various simultaneous parasite consequences further exacerbate the issue. The dispersion of an unfocused light beam, in particular.

Materials

The materials used are the second, and no less significant, part of 3D printing quality. Their abundance is substantially higher for FDM printers. Take a look at a few examples of engineering plastics: glass- and carbon-filled, refractory, conductive, flexible, and so on. Naturally, all of these riches are only useful if the proper temperature conditions are maintained during the printing process, which is mostly accomplished in closed constructions of the “cube” type.

Things are considerably worse in the photopolymer camp, where the selection is far more limited. Furthermore, the printing duration is affected by the color of the material (wavelength), with a significant variation. And the price tags can only be described as “humane” when it comes to “consumer products.” Simultaneously, the rate of development of this category of consumables is faster, as is the cost-cutting dynamics.

How to choose best 3d printer?

In order to select the finest 3D printer, you must first determine why you are purchasing it. If you’re looking for a printer for your house, you may pick one from a lower price range.

Small company representatives are a different story. They require a result “right now,” with as little more time spent reworking this manufacturing tool as feasible.

The top 3D printer firms are listed below.:

• 3D Systems;
• Z-Corporation;
• Stratasys, Inc;
• Phenix Systems;
• Optomec, Inc.;
• geometries;
• EOS Electro-Optical Systems;
• Object;
• Microbot.

The popularity of 3D printers is constantly growing, and therefore prices are gradually decreasing. But professional 3D printers remain quite expensive devices, the high manufacturability of which requires special knowledge and skills!