Why do I need a 3D Printer at Home?
3D printing at home is becoming an increasingly popular hobby because of the rising affordability of buying 3d printers. The resources are vast, you can find plenty of tutorials on YouTube or other platforms about how to create things with your printer.
Have you ever had a good and funny idea that sparked your enthusiasm to make a product? The threshold to go ahead and create your idea is smaller than ever. With almost no extra investment, except for some filament, you can bring your ideas to life.
You can create almost anything you want and with the help of YouTube tutorials, the result will most likely totally fine. Remember when you forgot somebody’s birthday and there is no way you can get something personalized delivered in time? There are some platforms online that have many interesting 3D objects, free to download.
With the option of having your own printer, you don’t have to wait for any delivery. That is the beauty of it. You are your own manufacturer and the internet is your designer.
Different Types of Materials for Your Home Printer
3D printing can be used to create anything from small trinkets to furniture pieces, prosthetic body parts to jewelry pieces, toys to working car parts. This list goes on and on!
The section topic is about different types of materials for your home printer. There are many different types of materials that you can use with your printer including filaments and printable materials.
After the introduction of 3D printers, more and more companies are coming up with new materials for 3D printing. This is because people are demanding more and more things that they can print at home.
In general, we can find those materials to be most commonly used:
ABS - Great allrounder with low cost
TPE or TPU - Flexible material to stretch and bend
PLA - Most common material, easy to use, low cost, and high accuracy
PETG - Easy to print, smooth surface, and water-resistant
Nylon - Tough material that is somewhat flexible. Great to print durable parts
Polycarbonate - Strong and durable with a high heat resistance
Carbon Fiber-filled - Stiff and hard, provides great strength
If you would like to see some real-life applications with those materials, check out the Top 15 injection molding materials.
How do You Choose a Printer to Use at Home?
So, you're looking for a 3D printer. You want to create things that are new and exciting - but you don't know what type of 3D printer to buy. Let’s take a look.
Consumer 3d printers are more affordable than industrial-grade ones and they are easy to use too. This is what you are looking for. Most of them range in between $150 and $800.
Before blindly buying the first offer you find on Google or Amazon, take some time and explore 3D printing channels on YouTube. It can make a difference if you like to mainly print miniatures vs robust utensils for your garage.
Luckily, almost every printer that comes from a bigger brand, has plenty of testing videos on YouTube. This is a great help to find a good printer within your budget.
3D Printing and Home Manufacturing - The New World of Making Stuff at Home
Once you have a 3D printer at home, you probably have plenty of ideas flying around. This is a great opportunity to learn something new and bring your creativity to the test. Instead of just printing out objects that somebody else has designed, how about learning the design process yourself?
There are a few free tools out in the market that can help you make a design in no time. Take a look at my personal top 3:
Luckily there are plenty of tutorials out there that will help you with your first projects and to get a hang of it. If you ever want to step up, there is professional software out there that has almost no design limitation (Siemens NX, SolidWorks, Autodesk, AutoCAD, etc.). If your business benefits from a 3D printer, you better stay with one professional software, as most designers specialize on only one platform.
Did you know that most successful product designers realized how useful a 3D printer at home can be to test out their ideas? It helps them to get a better understanding of the product and how it feels.
3D Printed Products You Can Make At Home Today!
Here are some ideas that you can print at home as your first project. All those files are actually available on grabcad.com, just follow the link and you can download it directly.
This pencil holder looks like a gun barrel and is quite easy to print.
Finally Print Anything At All From Your Very Own Living Room!
Isn’t it great? Having your own printer allows you to print anything you want from the comfort of your living room. All that while learning new technology and how to handle 3D files. Eventually, 3D printing in various forms, for all kinds of materials, will accompany us for our whole life. Participating at the beginning of it helps you to have a good understanding of how this technology works. At some point, it will not be strange to you to just pay for a design and print it at home. The possibilities in the realm of 3D printing are huge.