3D printers; are devices used to create three-dimensional objects from digital 3D files (CAD), toys, tools, model aircraft parts. About 10 years ago 3D printing was relatively unknown and not used beyond the professional community. The machines were very expensive and complex, designed specifically for industrial use and were not really affordable for the general user. It was mostly used by designers and engineers to build prototypes or one-off devices before complex manufacturing.

Nowadays, 3D printers have become more accessible to the end user, with competitive prices, low maintenance and numerous features. However, there is a huge variety of 3D printers on the market, with new printer models being released almost every year. In the near future, having a 3D printer at home will be as common as owning a TV or a computer. However, many questions come to mind; How do you choose the 3D printer that suits your needs? Which 3d printer is the best for you? What materials needs for printing?

Which 3D Printer to Buy?

One of the most frequently asked questions when researching 3D printers is which 3D printer to buy. When choosing a 3D printer, it is very important to determine the purpose of use clearly. There are many 3D printer models and many types of raw materials (filaments). For this reason, you must first determine the exact job you will be doing, then decide which 3D printer is suitable for the job you set. There is often the misconception that the most expensive 3D printer will do your job best. Are you going to make an architectural model, you should choose a 3D printer accordingly. Are you going to produce precision prototypes in engineering, you should choose a 3D printer accordingly. Or will you use it in the education sector, you should choose a printer accordingly.

3D Printer Technologies

The first thing you should know about 3D printers is that not all printers use the same printing technology. Most desktop 3D printers use a process called “Fused Deposition Modeling” (FDM), also called “Fused Filament Fabrication” (FFF) or “Plastic Jet Printing” (PJP). This printing technology is the process of creating a three-dimensional object by laying successive layers of a certain material (normally plastic) until the object is complete. Layers are similar to horizontal cross sections of the object; These are created by 3D modeling software and are formed by extruding plastic using a heated tip (nozzle) that hardens immediately after extrusion. Other desktop 3D printers use a process called “Stereolithography” (SLA); In this process, a laser solidifies the layer on the photosensitive resin layer to form the part.

Answer These Questions Before Buying a 3D Printer

If you’ve decided to buy a 3D printer and don’t know which of the available printers on the market to choose, you can start by answering the questions below.

1) Why You Want To Buy A 3D Printer?
There are many reasons to buy a 3D printer. The happiness of producing your designs and the desire to explore your creativity with 3D printers that have the ability to produce anything you can imagine may be the reason to buy a 3D printer. Another reason is that you can produce your digital 3D designs (CAD) in real sizes and develop prototypes in your work, you can experiment as much as you want for the production of the final product and make improvements with your colleagues more easily. You can get information about the usage areas of 3D printers from this page.

2) Who Will Use The 3D Printer and Where?
You? Your partner? Your children? Engineers? Designers? People in the public library? The recommended 3D printer for a printer to be used in a maker workshop will be different than the 3D printer recommended for a classroom full of ten-year-olds. 3D printer choices are important in situations where there may be hazards such as supervised and unsupervised use, dusty or clean environments, risk / health / injury.

3) For What Purpose Do You Want to Get These Prints?
You may not know what filament / material you need, but you always have a goal for prints. For example, you may want to print food safe containers or remote control car parts more powerfully and precisely. Some printers may have a large print area or print fast, but they may not do that well with detailed models.

Just as computers are a valuable tool in the education industry, 3D Printing is now a powerful tool. That’s why you’ll need a 3D printer as long as you have a project. Considering the projects you will do is also very important for choosing the right printer. You can review our article on “Using 3D Printer in Schools”.

4) What Sizes of Prints Will You Get?
Depending on what you want to do, the size of the model you want to print is limited by your bed size. If you are planning to print small trinkets or models, having a large print area is a luxury for you. If you want to print larger items in a single print, you will need more volume. Generally, there are printers with bed dimensions of 200mm (Width) x 200mm (Length) x 200mm (Height). Some brands also have printers with a larger printing area, but prices are also increasing accordingly.

Of course, the larger the printing area, the larger the printer’s outer case dimensions will be. Think about what you want to print and make some guesses about what their size might be. You may have purchased a standard sized printer thinking that you will produce in small sizes, but when you encounter models larger than your printing volume in Thingiverse models, you can divide or scale your model into multiple parts.

5) How Experienced Are You?
Will this be your first 3D printer? Have you ever used a 3D printer before? Do you have other electronic or mechanical expertise? Are your hands suitable for this? If this is your first printer, or if you do not have the time or patience to experience and experience all the features and behaviors of the printer, you should choose a plug’n play and easy-to-use 3D printer.

6) Is Ease of Use Important to You?
Ease of use is a very important factor as not all 3D printers have the same usage. Some 3D printer manufacturers work to make users use printers more simply and clearly. Make sure you have an advanced screen and interface that allows you to print easily and quickly while allowing you to control print quality.

You can get your prints much easier with a good screen on the machine that guides the user through every step, such as filament changing or extruder (print head / extruder) adjustment. Printers that are affordable, often come from China, can be quite difficult to use, and you may need to control the printer through lines of code, read long tutorials.

7) Which Filaments Do You Want To Print?
Usually people initially print using vegetable-based plastic, called PLA. However, day by day, you will not want to be content with just PLA filament. For special models that you cannot obtain with the mold method thanks to highly flexible flex filaments, strong prototypes with stronger and stronger filaments (ABS, PETG, Carbon Fiber and Nylon) or models with stylish visuals; You may want to print with filaments such as wood, bronze, brass, copper. Depending on the material you will use, there will also be some features you will need, such as a heated bed, heat-resistant motion system, and a high temperature that your heating block (hotend) can safely reach.

8) Is The Number Of Extruders Important? Are Your Parts Complex?
The part where the 3D printer melts and pushes the plastic is called an extruder. The rest of the printer is only there to support and move the extruder. Would you like to print models with more than one color or filament type? If so, you should choose a printer with multiple extruders (for example Plus Size A1 Pro). 3D printers can print with as many filament types / colors with how many extruders they have. However, it should be noted that increasing the number of extruders causes the 3D printer to print a model more slowly.

For example, if your model has complex structures and support structures to be removed later, you can print with PVA or HIPS filaments that can dissolve with water or other chemicals to clean these support structures. If you want to produce a moving part and need gaps between parts, you can precisely fabricate your part using the soluble filament with the second extruder.

9) Is A Heated Bed and Closed System Required?
Heatable bed and closed system are a must-have feature to produce higher quality models. It also prevents lifting and cracking in large and flat prints. It also makes it easier to get prints with ABS and Nylon (PA), which tend to bend more than PLA. Some printers usually have an open top case with the side windows closed. However, the important thing is that all windows must be closed and the internal temperature must be adjustable according to the ventilation system and filament type.

10) At What Sensitivity Do You Want Prints?
Various resolutions can be printed on 3D printers. Of course, like a regular paper printer, the higher the resolution the slower the printing. The resolution you need depends on what you want from the printer. Want to print tiny figures or oval pieces? You will probably want a better resolution so the layering lines will be less pronounced. If you want to print larger objects / things like arduino protection boxes, you probably won’t care about the resolution. Most printers can print with maximum precision, typically 100 microns (or 0.1 mm). Some printers can print with precision of up to 50 microns (0.05 mm).

11) How Important Is The Print Speed?
Speed of a 3D printer; It depends on the model you plan to print, the layer thickness and the precision you want. Will you print dozens (or hundreds) of compatible prototype parts for a project? Then you have to reduce your printing speed. You may want a printer that will print out as quickly as possible. Are you a normal person who wants to hit the print button and finally produce something? Then probably the sensitivity is not that important to you. Then produce fast.

12) Would You Like to Get More Comfortable and Comfortable Prints with Additional Features?
Besides printing models, 3D printers offer many interesting features that can make the printing experience quite easy and enjoyable. Some of these features are listed below:

Aesthetic and Stylish Design: While not a technical feature, the appearance of a printer can play an important role and influence your choice. Therefore, the new 3D printers have attractive exteriors and the printers no longer look like they were put together in a garage. Instead, it adds a professional and aesthetic look to your office, workshop or classroom.
Touchscreen Color Screen and Simple Interface: It is a pleasure to download a model, upload to the printer and easily control production on the large color touch screen. In addition, the simple and one-click printing feature of the interface will not tire you.
Remote Control: Many 3D printers need to be connected to a computer via USB to print an object using slicing software. When the connection is lost or your computer turns off, printing is interrupted and you have to restart printing, which takes hours. Using an Ethernet or WiFi connection; We recommend that you choose printers that can print from a computer, tablet or mobile phone.
Camera: It can often be useful to view the print live via a camera positioned on the 3D printer. For example, you can print a print at the end of a working day and view it at home or elsewhere. You can access your remote-controlled printer with a computer, tablet or mobile phone, so you can browse your ongoing prints from anywhere at any time and avoid wasting both filament and time by observing whether there are problems with the final print.
Filament Weight Measuring: Generally, filaments are sold in 500 g or 1 kg spools. Although you know how many grams of filament are in your reel at first, you will forget how much filament is left in your reel as you produce different models and as time passes. Thanks to the filament weight measuring system, no matter which brand of filament you use, you can produce your models with peace of mind without interrupting your prints.
Filament Detection: Most users continue printing without knowing or guessing how much filament is left on their reel, and both money and time are wasted when the filament runs out during 3D printing. Thanks to the filament detection system, your printer pauses the printing when your filament runs out, and the printing continues from where it left off when you load the new filament.

13) Does Your Printer Work Quiet?
You may be frustrated when you put your printer in your room or in a classroom and hear the noise, as manufacturers often do not write down the noise level of 3D printers in their manuals and websites. Before purchasing printers, you will need to read reviews and watch Youtube videos to learn about their sounds. Note that this is very important depending on where you plan to place your printer. If you have a garage or workshop area, who cares about the “loud operation” of the printer? However, if you are going to put the printer in an office with people working in a small space, perhaps a quieter printer (such as Plus Size 3D Printers) will suit you better.

14) Have Your Printer Safety Precautions Taken CE Certified?
Some safety precautions are required when it comes to 3D printers. Because 3D printers have too many cables and high currents. There is an extruder that heats and moves the plastic between 200-270 ° C and a bed that heats up to 100 ° C. If you are not careful and your printer is not a closed system, you can burn your hand very seriously. In addition, we recommend that you do not choose printers that do not have CE certification, whose cables, circuit board and power supply can be easily accessed by hand, for your life and property safety.

15) Would You Like To Be Protected From Toxic Gas / Fumes?
It is important to keep your 3D printer in a well-ventilated room. During the printing process, toxic gas / particles / smoke is generated, especially when you use ABS plastics. Although there is little or no research showing the effects on general health of these fumes, it is reported that they can have very serious consequences. However, especially if you are going to use 3D printers a lot, we recommend that you take the necessary precautions and use ABS, carbon fiber and nylon-style filaments by choosing 3D printers with HEPA and active carbon filters.

16) Do You Want Your 3D Printer To Have A Warranty?
Many printers have no or 1 year warranty from the importer company. Expensive and long-term spare parts are expected under the guarantee of the importer company, since the manufacturers of the machines are generally abroad. If you have a printer with no warranty, you have to order your spare part from China (if you can trust the manufacturer in China) and install it yourself, at least 20 days. Please note that 3D printers contain high current parts. In a wrong installation, both your life and your property can be damaged with the danger of fire. For this reason, you should prefer closed system insulated 3D printers with CE certification in European standards.

17) How Important Is It To You To Instantly Reach Customer Service By Phone And E-Mail?
When people usually choose cheap Chinese printers, they cannot find a contact person to solve their problems. Before you can enjoy the 3D printer you purchased, you may need to throw it away when it becomes inoperable due to your inexperience or a part of the printer is broken. Instead, the technical services of 3D printers you will buy from corporate manufacturers can help you 24/7 via phone or e-mail and provide on-site technical support.

18) Do You Have Specific Software / Compatibility / Accessibility Requirements?
Are you using the Windows, Mac or Linux operating system? Depending on your operating system, you should check your 3D printer and check if there is compatible software for slicing your models. If you want to control your printer remotely, pay attention to whether it is also compatible with Android or IOS operating systems.

19) How Much Budget Can You Reserve?
3D printer prices can range from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands of dollars. Specifically, there are a lot of options in the $ 400 to $ 1,000 range, but there are some things you need to compromise.

You can often get more features and better quality by spending a little more money, but this is not always true. This money issue can sometimes be the only big factor in deciding what type of 3D printer to buy. You can find reasonable 3D printers half-assembled for as little as $ 250 in China. However, you can assemble these 3D printers yourself, and you can get bored and throw your printer aside because there is no guarantee (which will break down very often because Chinese parts are used). Unless you are dealing with a tight budget, if you can be a little more flexible, it is possible to find 3D printers that will not tire you at all, plug-and-play, stable and that can print many materials / filaments smoothly and precisely.

There are many brands and models in 3D printers, whose place in our lives is increasing day by day and their usage areas are expanding. So it can be difficult to determine which 3D printer is best for us. In order to remove your confusion, we share our article on 3D printer recommendations.

3D Printer Recommendations First Step: Determining Usage Area

Before getting lost in many 3D printers with very different features, it is necessary to answer the following question: What will I produce in a 3D printer? The expensive 3D printer does not mean the best quality 3D printer. A 3D printer with sufficient features according to your area of use can be of high quality. The important thing is to determine what you will produce in a 3D printer and decide whether a 3D printer is suitable for your production area.

If the most defining feature for you is that the 3D printer is affordable, we can recommend you to read our Affordable 3D Printers article.

Is high surface resolution what matters in the three dimensional model you produce? Is your prototype a functional prototype or an aesthetic one? Are you really going to print a product that will go to the end user on a 3D printer? Should it be suitable for your students’ use? Or will you just produce 3D figures as a hobby? Whichever you choose, you can find the right 3D printer for all segments in 3D3 Technology. Let’s first determine the 3D printer suitable for your area of use.

Is High Surface Quality Important?

If you want the three-dimensional part you will print on a 3D printer to have both solid and high surface quality, the most suitable 3D printers for you are 3D printers that use resin as a material. With these printers using SLA or DLP technology, you can get high surface quality down to the smallest details and still test how robust they are.

We can recommend Formlabs Form 3, Zortrax Inkspire models from 3D printers using SLA technology. If these models exceed your budget, the Anycubic Photon S model can be an option where you can get high performance at an affordable price.

These 3D printer models are very often preferred and used by jewelers in jewelry designs and by dentists in the health sector.

Functional Prototype or Aesthetic Prototype?

One of the areas where 3D printers are used most frequently is prototype production. Prototype production is of great importance in order to test and see the final product before mass production with large budgets. It may be necessary to make a basic distinction when making a decision here. Will your prototype perform a mechanical function or is the surface quality important to the prototype?

If it is a functional prototype and will be used mostly for engineering works, the Zortrax brand is definitely among the brands we recommend. If you need a large print volume, if you want to print your models in one piece, Zortrax M300 Plus is Zortrax’s largest print volume 3D printer with a print volume of 300 x 300 x 300 mm. Apart from this, you can increase the printing quality thanks to the double extrusion feature of the Zortrax M300 Dual model, and you can easily rinse the support material thrown into your 3D model.

If the large print volume is important for you, you can also examine the Raise 3D Pro, Raise 3D Pro 2 models. Raise 3D brand, which has almost the same quality as the Zortrax brand, may also be an option for you.
If you are interested in Zortrax and Raise 3D brands, we can direct you to our 3D Printer Brands page to examine all their models and features.

If the above-mentioned 3D printer models exceed your budget, the models that stand out with affordable prices that we can recommend for functional prototype production are Anycubic Mega S, Creality CR 10 V2 and Creality Ender 5 Plus. These two models are semi-disassembled 3D printer models.

However, if you are going to use ABS, PETG, PC, PP, PCABS filament as printing material, we recommend that you choose a closed cabinet 3D printer in terms of both print quality and user experience.

For Aesthetic Prototypes

The brand that stands out among the 3D printer recommendations we will make for aesthetic prototypes is the Ultimaker brand. You can actually print your functional prototypes with Ultimaker, which is used very often in printing architectural models and artistic three-dimensional designs, but if the three-dimensional part you will print is an aesthetic prototype, we definitely recommend Ultimaker. Especially with the dual extrusion system found in Ultimaker 3 and Ultimaker 3 Extended models, you can easily print complex models and clean support materials easily.

Of course, SLA / DLP type resin 3D printers will also be able to provide excellent surface views (Formlabs Form 3, Zortrax Inkspire, Anycubic Photon S). Moreover, if functional engineering resins are chosen, you can obtain both aesthetic and functional properties together.

For Advanced Production
If 3D printers will have a lot of place in production processes and you do not have any budget constraints, it is useful to examine advanced 3D printers.

Ultimaker S5 Pro Bundle
The Ultimaker S5 Pro Bundle is a production beast that offers an advanced printing experience for professional use. Together with the Ultimaker air manager and Ultimaker material station, it is designed to improve the printing experience and increase working efficiency.

If FDM 3D Printers will not be enough for you, you can go for SLS type 3D printers. It is possible to produce high-strength automotive and aerospace products with SLS 3D Printers. This technology, which is in a higher segment as a budget, is frequently preferred in stages close to the end product side or in functional prototypes. Sinterit Lisa is one of the SLS 3D printers that we can recommend.

If you want to produce SLS quality end products or produce models with advanced engineering features, but you can not allocate enough budget to spend on SLS technology, you can benefit from some professional 3D Printing service.

STEM Movement in Education: 3D Printer Recommendations Suitable for Use in Schools

One of the recent educational reforms began to be considered as STEM understanding of education system. With this change in educational understanding, one of the areas of use of 3D printers has become schools. Just as a generation has learned to use computers in schools, we believe that the new generation will meet 3D printers in schools and then start using them individually.
Generally, the budget allocated is the most determining factor when deciding on 3D printers to be used in schools. In this article, we will make suggestions for schools, basically considering this distinction.
If your budget is under $500, the Anycubic and Creality brands that produce 3D printers that offer high performance at an affordable price may be the first brands you will look at. Creality Ender 3, Creality Ender 3 Pro, Anycubic Mega S and Creality’s new printers Ender 5, Ender 5 Plus, CR-10 V2 models are affordable 3D printers that can show high performance for your area of use. These 3D printers are semi-disassembled 3D printers and their print areas are not in a closed cabinet.

If the allocated budget can be increased, buying a closed cabinet 3D printer will be a factor we recommend in terms of user experience and more reliable use for students. Again, the 4 Max Pro model of our price performance brand Anycubic will be the most affordable among the models we will recommend.

Dremel Digilab 3D printers, developed especially for use by teachers and students in schools, stand out among our 3D printer recommendations to be used in schools. It is a 3D printer that can be easily included in training processes with its automatic calibration feature and easy use in both the Dremel Digilab 3D45 and Dremel Digilab 3D40 models.

Suggestions for the Use of University Students
These 3D printers that we recommend are mostly 3D printers with sufficient features for pre-university students. In other words, they will be insufficient for university students who receive vocational training. If 3D printers are to be purchased for students in design-oriented departments such as architecture and industrial design, it would be more logical to choose more advanced 3D printers. At this point, you can also choose 3D printer models from brands such as Ultimaker, Zortrax, FlashForge with advanced features.

What about the Maker Movement? Recommendations for Individual Users

If you have decided not only to consume but also to produce, if you want to have a hobby for the future, if you want to produce the figures of your favorite movie characters with 3D printers, what is the most defining feature for you? 3D Printer recommendations continue with recommendations for individual users.

Large Print Volume

If you want to print large-sized objects in one single shot, Creality 10 S 4 offers the possibility to print large-sized models with a printing volume of 400x400x400 mm, and Creality 10 S 5 with a printing volume of 500x500x500 mm. These models can continue to print after power failure, and in case of a power failure, they can stop the printing at the point it comes from and resume printing without any loss when the power returns. Especially for individuals, this feature is often a life-saving feature for 3D printer users.

Reasonable Price High Performance

In most people’s eyes, 3D printers are very expensive technologies, but in fact, it is possible to find a suitable 3D printer for every budget. If the important thing for you is to get high performance at an affordable price, the first price / performance printer we will recommend will be the Anycubic Mega S. Anycubic Mega S, which comes in two parts, semi-disassembled, can be easily assembled. It increases the printing quality with its ultrabase tray. With its filament sensor and its feature to continue after power failure, it minimizes the problems that may occur during printing.

Our recommendation list continues with Creality Ender 3 and Creality Ender 3 Pro after Anycubic Mega S. These 3D printers, which are slightly more affordable than the Mega S, are also semi-disassembled printers. Installing these 3D printers with roughly the same quality as the Mega S can be a bit more complicated than the Anycubic Mega S.
When you increase the budget by one click, the new Creality models, Creality Ender 5, Creality Ender 5 Plus, Creality CR-10 V2 models, which have been updated and developed to get more stable prints compared to the old models, may be suitable for you.

As a hobby user, if you are going to use the 3D printer only to produce mock-ups, but if you need an affordable 3D printer with a large print volume, you can check out Creality CR-10 Max.

Printers Keeping User Experience Ahead
If the user experience is important to you, if you do not want to deal with assembly operations, an unassembled closed cabinet 3D printer will be suitable for you. Closed cabinet 3D printers will look more elegant and increase print quality compared to 3D printers without cabinet.

Dremel Digilab 3D45 and Dremel Digilab 3D40 are the leading 3D printers that put the user experience first. These printers, which provide accurate calibration for a stable 3D printing experience with their automatic calibration features, also stand out with their high printing performance.

One of the most suitable closed cabinet 3D printer models is the 4 Max Pro model from Anycubic. Apart from that, you can determine the most suitable for your budget among other closed cabinet printers according to the other variables you are looking for.

Other Recommendations for Individual Users
If you are going to start 3D printing with your 3D printer for the first time, we recommend that you choose PLA filament as the printing material until you get rid of your novice. ABS filament is a material that we do not recommend to beginner users because of the harmful gases that it will scatter during printing.

If you are not very good at technical issues, we recommend you to choose closed cabinet 3D printers instead of disassembled 3D printers where you can purchase all parts assembled, which you can plug in and start 3D printing immediately.

Switching to production with 3D printers is perhaps one of the most interesting and research-intensive hobbies. If you have obtained your 3D printer from us, we support you in the learning process with our free remote technical support service.

Best 3D Printers in 2021