Learn what a 3D printer is, how it works, and how much it costs. 3D printing is helpful for personal use, prototyping and manufacturing.
It’s been a while since 3D printers became available and started allowing people to create 3D objects in the real world right from their own home.
If you’re interested in getting a rundown of what 3D printers are, how they work, how much they cost, and what you could do with them, you’ve come to the right place.What is a 3D printer?
A 3D printer is a device that can create physical objects from a digital file. The result is usually plastic. It might have rough edges and is often a single color. Despite those limitations, holding a real-world copy of a 3D model makes it easier to get a sense of what works and what doesn’t.
The best 3D printers can create parts that are sturdy enough for everyday use. The long-term goal of the industry is to extend the life of consumer products, allowing anyone to print a crucial replacement part that the manufacturer no longer keeps in stock.
While recreating a missing or broken part is useful, a 3D printer can also create enough parts to assemble entire products. This technology is great for rapid prototyping, allowing quick changes to refine the design before committing to expensive injection molds for high-volume production.
And 3D printing also has a place in commercial manufacturing. When producing a small number of products, high-quality, but relatively slow and expensive 3D printing of parts sometimes makes more sense than traditional methods with high initial costs and a low cost per unit.How do 3D printers work?
The most common 3D printer design, Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), is similar to an inkjet printer. The FDM printhead moves side to side, depositing material on a moving platform. While an inkjet printer sprays drops of ink on paper, a 3D printer extrudes hot plastic onto a glass or metal build plate.
Two computer-controlled motors direct the flow of plastic along the length and width of the finished object, one for the printhead and another for the build plate.
