I now see a growing number of friends and family that want a 3D Printer in their household to make whatever they need at a low cost. So now you want a 3D Printer to do the same, so you buy one on Amazon. Easy right? 3D Printing is actually more difficult than it actually looks but it can be rewarding. We will explain and point you in the right direction.
What is 3D Printing? "FDM 3D printers work by extruding thermoplastic filaments, such as ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene), PLA (Polylactic Acid), through a heated nozzle, melting the material and applying the plastic layer by layer to a build platform. Each layer is laid down one at a time until the part is complete." It is essentially additive manufacturing as you continue to add to each layer. It is a powerful way to manufacture models and goods without the hassle and the cost of an assembly line of machines. The flow of the printer occurs very simply: the plastic moves through the hotend and is laid down layer by layer based on an x,y,z coordinate system. It is not just limited to plastics either there is ceramic, cement, metals, and other various materials. This allows to 3D Print houses, jewelry, rockets, and many others. 3D Printing is now more widely used all over the globe even ON THE SPACESTATION! You now you understand what it is and the basics of how it works what is the best beginners 3D Printer?
A good printer to start off with is the Creality 3D Printer Ender 3 Pro listed in our 3D Print section. It is small, affordable, and easy to use for someone who is starting off. Download the free software from Ultimaker and you are setup! You can download templates from Thingiverse or create your own 3D files. You save the project onto a scandisk which is the lines of code that Ultimaker generates and then pop the scandisk into the printer and locate the file and click PRINT. The best temperature setting should already be set via Ultimaker (200C for the hotend and 60C for the printing bed). Once you become more advanced you can get the CR10S and CR10 V2.
Why is it difficult? Why cant anyone do 3D Printing? It is not the setup that drives people away but the maintenance and troubleshooting. Printing layer by layer has tons of room for error along with your print not sticking to the print bed, uneven layers, printer jams, and uneven heating, and many more. Many of these issues can be fixed by leveling your bed, replacing your hotend, keeping the hotend fan clean, and keeping your print bed clean. However there are other small problems that can occur that require you to take things and replace them yourself which most people are uncomfortable with doing! We will guide you each step of the way with our blog post on your 3D Print journey. We want to welcome you to the 3D Print community and we will continue to post new entries!