Best Personal 3D Printers: Guide to DIY 3D Printers
Posted By Romain Cabanis on Feb 10, 2015 | 9 comments
There’s a 3D printer for everyone on the market today. It doesn’t matter if you’re an individual designer looking to hack objects around the house, a large company looking to manufacture goods for a global market or anyone in between – there’s a printer for you. But it can be a bit confusing having to choose between all of the printers that are available and that’s why we’ve put together this guide to personal 3D printers (if you’re looking for a guide to professional printers that’s available here).
We’ve arranged the information into the following categories:
- 3D Printers for Beginners
- DIY 3D Printers
- Best Valued 3D Printers
- Connected 3D Printers
- Resin 3D Printers
- Hand-Held 3D Printers
From there we give you the price of the printer, the printer bed size and a quick review of the printer qualities.
Most of the printers under $10,000 use either Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) or Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM). Both of those technologies rely on extruding a heated plastic filament from a nozzle which creates a model layer by layer in varying layer thicknesses. These printers are particularly versatile, as the filaments used during the print can range in material from plastic to ceramics, metallics, and even wood variants!
More recently, stereolithography has emerged as another exciting type of at home 3D printing. These printers feature extremely fine resin prints, utilizing a liquid base which is solidified using a UV light to create the solid objects.
Personal 3D printers differ from professional-grade printers, in that they are much less expensive and the software needed to run them is much more user-friendly. Those factors come at the compromise of quality finishes. Prints from a professional grade SLS printer (like those used at Sculpteo) allow for much greater quality and freedom in design.
We hope this information can help you make the best decision when it comes to a personal printer – but keep in mind that Sculpteo’s 3D printing service is often cheaper and higher in quality (especially when you take the high startup cost of buying a personal printer into consideration).
« 3D Printers for Beginners »
3D Printers for Beginners is a kind of melting pot which contains at the same time good quality printing and good ergonomic. Moreover, some of them can be modified or upgraded. Their handiness is as adapted for beginners for designers, hobbyists and even small businesses.
Makergear M2 (Intermediate)
Price: $1,475
Build area: 254x203x203(mm)
Material: ABS, PLA
Minimum Layer Height: 20 microns
Ultimaker 2 3D Printer review (Everyone)
Price: $2,500
Build Area: 230x225x205(mm)
Materials: ABS, PLA
Minimum Layer Height: 20 microns
Zortrax M200 (Everyone)
Price: $1,990
Build area: 200x200x185(mm)
Minimum Layer Height: 25 microns
Materials: ABS
Price : $1699
Build area: 190x135x125(mm)
Minimum Layer Height: 50 microns
Materials: PLA
Stratasys Mojo Professional 3D Printer Starter Package (For everyone)
Price: $5,999
Build volume: 5x5x5 inches
Minimum Layer Height: 178 microns
Materials: ABS
« DIY 3D Printers »
DIY category concerns 3D printers sold in kit. Rather reserved for 3D printing practitioners, the render and quality depend of the machine driver talents. The 2 strong points of DIY 3D printers are that you can totally customize your printer with modifications and upgrades and that prices are kinda accessible.
Rostock MAX (Intermediate/Pros)
Price: $999
Build are: Ø 280mm, h 375mm
Minimum Layer Height: 20 microns
Materials: ABS, PLA
MakerGeeks RepRap Mini Kossel (Intermediate/Pros)
Price: $799
Build area: Ø170mm, h 240mm
Minimum Layer Height: 30 microns
Materials: ABS (optional), PLA
Printrbot Simple Maker (For everyone)
Price: $349
Build area: 150x150x150(mm)
Minimum Layer Height: 100 microns
Materials: ABS (optional), PLA
« Best Valued 3D Printers »
BPBP category lists all the best values for money at the market. For relatively attractive prices, and without necessary pass by 3D printers in kit, you can get 3D printers which give you satisfaction according to the sum of your expenses.
Sharebot KIWI (Beginners/Intermediates)
Price: $860
Build area: 140x100x100(mm)
Minimum Layer Height: 100 microns
Materials: PLA
Printrbot simple metal (Everyone)
Price: $599
Build area: 150x150x150(mm)
Minimum Layer Height: 100 microns
Material: ABS (optional), PLA
Up Mini (Beginners/Intermediates)
Price: $599
Build area: 120x120x120(mm)
Minimum Layer Height: 200 microns
Material: ABS, PLA
« Connected 3D Printers »
Connective category contains largest connective supports. All in plug-and-play, this category includes all 3D printers which have WIFI, Ethernet and USB access.
Makerbot Replicator Z18 (For everyone)
Price: $6708
Maximal printing: 305x305x457(mm)
Min Layer Height: 100 microns
Materials: PLA, ABS
Makerbot Replicator 5th generation (Beginners/Intermediates)
Makerbot Replicator 5th generation (Beginners/Intermediates)
Price: $2,799
Build Volume: 252x199x150
Min Layer height: 100 microns
Materials: PLA
AIO ROBOTICS Zeus (For everyone)
Price: 1,824
Build volume: 145 x 204 x 153(mm)
Min Layer height: 80 microns
Materials: PLA
« Resin 3D Printers »
Resin category contains special machines which can print in resin. Resin is the third big type of Materials and is used commonly to make transparent prints.
Formlabs F+1 (Intermediates/Pros)
Price: $3,299
Build area: 125x125x165(mm)
Material: Resin
Minimum Layer Height: 25 microns
B9 Creator (Intermediates/Pros)
Price: $3,490
Build area: 104x76x203(mm)
Material: Resin
Minimum Layer Height: 5 microns
« Hand-Held 3D Printers »
Tiny 3D printer category is the youngest concept of 3D printing, the 3D “Pencil”. You now can print forms directly by your hand. The print quality is essentially based on your ability and in your drawing skills.
Price: $118
Size of strands: 1,75(mm)
Price: $116
Size of strands: 1,75(mm)
Materials: ABS
3Doodler
Price: $75
Size of Strands: 3(mm)
Materials: PLA, ABS
Having said that, Sculpteo stays a good mean to print your objects in 3D if you look for a good render quality and an affordable service.
Thanks to Ckab and 3Dhubs for their pictures.