3D Printing Costs a Pretty Penny, but Options Abound

by Nathan Eddy

Taz is one of the desktop 3D printers that can print with more than just your run-of-the-mill plastic. Create with ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene), PLA (polylactic acid or polylactide), PVA (polyvinyl alcohol), high-impact polystyrene and wood filament. But don’t stop there. With add-ons, you can print with nylon and more.

For $1,599, Afinia offers an array of plastic filament colors, including natural, black, red, blue, yellow and green, and the printer weighs just under 11 pounds, making it easy to transport. Design files for 3D printing can be created using online software, professional software such as SolidWorks, or by downloading from the extensive online 3D printer community for free.

This 3D printer can print three colors at one time. The Website also has more than 15 different colors to choose from, even glow-in-the-dark colors. This one will set you back $2,499, comes in three configurations and can print an object the size of a basketball—and with multiple materials, too.

Starting at $2,199, the Replicator 2 enables users to make big objects, up to 410 cubic inches in volume and is one of the more elegant designs on the market. In addition, MakerWare software lets the machine make multiple models at once.

With a bigger printing area for larger objects, Magicfirm’s Cube 2 is an affordable personal 3D printer with single or dual extrusion (two-color printing). A changeable printer-board also offers a good way to improve the surface clearance and also much easier to reset.

The enclosure guards against room drafts to help minimize temperature fluctuation, and helps reduce operational noise and odor. The included printer management software runs on a Windows or Mac OS X computer. Amazon has the printer listed for $925, making it one of the least expensive.

Whatever your chosen CAD package—from Google Sketchup to Alibre, Solidworks to Inventor—you can 3D print your models with the Bits From Bytes 3DTouch. Bits From Bytes 3D printers have evolved quickly from the Reprap project at Bath University just a few years ago.

The Solidoodle 3 is the latest in the Solidoodle lineup of 3D printers, incorporating the company’s latest advances and boasting a larger 8- by 8- by 8-inch build area. In addition, the printer is designed by aerospace engineers to be extremely strong and precise at the same time.

If you’re still not sold on dropping a grand or more on an emerging technology, businesses like Sculpteo can make your designs into a 3D reality. A Web portal team designs and operates online services; it is in charge of promoting the Sculpteo brand and enhancing the customer relationship. The workshops perform the actual printing of 3D designs and handle all shipping aspects.

“The MakerBot Experience,” the company’s in-store 3D printing demonstration at the Microsoft retail store, is expanding from its roots in Seattle and in San Francisco and Palo Alto, Calif. Stores across the country will offer customers the chance to see 3D printing in action as well as purchase a Replicator 2 desktop 3D printer and PLA filament right in the store.