What to know before buying a 3D printer
If you are thinking of buying a 3D printer there are a few things you should know beforehand. Knowing them in advance will help you make better choices and take into account some things that nobody talks about.
- How much space will the 3D printer take up?
- Where you will keep the filament rolls (well organized).
- The location of the tools.
- What noise will the printer make when working?
- Expenses in improvements, unavoidable.
- What power consumption will the printer have?
- Are 3D printer spare parts sold in your city?
- Is there enough information online about how to repair the 3D printer you want to buy?
How much space will the 3D printer take up?
The physical space that your printer will occupy is one of those topics that nobody talks about, and unfortunately many people can making the mistake of buying a printer and then not knowing where to put it.
If you already know which printer you want to buy, then you should take into account its size and what space it will occupy at your destination.
If you still do not know which printer you want or is the right one for you, then you should find out since it is vital to know what the width, height and depth of it will be.
by Woody1978
Where you will keep the filament rolls.
Where will you put your filament rolls?
When buying a 3D printer the first thing you do is to experience and you do it by trying different colors, types of filaments and when you realize, you have a bunch of rolls lying everywhere.
by rodrim September 28, 2018
The correct storage of the filaments will largely depend on part of the quality of them, since there are filaments capable of absorbing a large amount of humidity of the environment, which will have its side effects when printing with them. You can read an article about it here
by bumster August 09, 2015
Tool Location
When working with 3D printers you will necessarily need to carry out maintenance and as you learn, you will choose to experiment with different types of nozzles, improvements that you will want to make to the printer.
You should take this into account before choosing your printer. Some, like the Ender 3, have spaces in which you can integrate some drawers, which can be printed from thingiverse.
With other printers you will have to find a way to organize your tools, since having them all lying around is not something you want to do.
by Cassin December 22, 2019
Noise
3D printers for those who don't know, they are very noisy.
Perhaps during the day it is not noticeable due to the movement at home, but at night when silence occurs it will be inconvenient.
So if you are married, in a relationship or living in a single environment, you should take this into account.
In these cases you should consider buying a slightly more expensive printer that includes silent drivers or change the motherboard of the 3D printer for one that already includes them (which will cost extra money).
Expenses in improvements
This is very important and we must take it into account. The cheapest 3D printers will always be cheap for a reason.
The reason many 3D printers are cheap is because their manufacturers use cheap, poor-quality parts.
In my case, I bought an Ender 3 Pro and after a month my extruder arm, which is made of plastic, broke and I had to replace it with a much more expensive and better quality aluminum one.
Things like this make expenses do not end at the time of buying the printer, but continue buying (higher quality) parts until you have the printer correctly assembled and without faults.
electrical expenses
It may not be such an important thing to take into account, since a single printer may not have as much impact on your electricity bill, but you must understand that electricity does not cost the same in all countries.
you shall make a consumption analysis of the printer you choose to buy, even more so if after a while you want to buy other printers, or if you decide to undertake 3D and want to have a printer farm.
Before buying a 3D printer make sure there are spare parts in your city.
Yesterday I had to print a high volume job, at the request of a friend client and it turns out that I had sub extrusion problems.
This printer is not an Ender 3 that is already super popular and parts are found everywhere, but a Wanhao D9 Mark2.
The issue is that only yesterday I realized that you don't get spare parts like any other printer in my city.
Had I known this, I would have considered other options before buying it.
Find enough information online
If you are going to buy a 3D printer for the first time, you will surely need the help of videos or websites to clear up all the doubts you have.
This is something to keep in mind if this is your first time. When you want to buy a printer make sure you find enough information
YouTube channel: Xataka TV
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