Clearing Up the Confusion: 10 Common 3D Printer Misconceptions

Science always never has its own route of clarity, which leaves behind crumbs of alternate theories and myths for scrappers to pick up and inflate. Technology also suffers a similar fate, but here one just can’t speculate its functioning, rather can believe in some popular “what ifs?”. The origin of 3D printers has indeed revolutionized the whole industrial development. 3D printers have helped manufacturers and engineers of many 3D Printing companies to procure their desired design as a final product. It has also cut massive production costs for mini or micro-manufacturing industries that provide parts for big-scale manufacturing units. Anything that begins to take over the market, comes with its own set of goofed up myths and beliefs on its functioning and its abilities. Well, instructions and articles read over the internet can’t represent the wholesome facts of the mechanism. Let’s discuss some popular misconceptions assumed for a 3D printer used for online 3D Printing India.

#1 3D Printers are Expensive

This is one of the most common misconceptions when it comes to 3D printing in India. Well, it isn’t. There are several Do it yourself videos on how to make your 3D printers from scratch using sticks and motors. However, the heat sink is something you need to purchase for material melting. 3D printer prices range from INR 12999 to printers that cost even more than a lakh and a half. Pricing varies from print life, warranty of the printer, warranty of the sink, application it is used for, and the type of mechanism. Generally, delta printers cost more than cartesian 3D printers due to their complex mechanism and spare parts for delta printers are also not easily available. On the contrary, cartesian printers are easily available and the construction and troubleshooting are simpler than delta printers.

#2 3D Print materials are Expensive

People always find a way to cook up myths, rather than going down the field and doing some research work on price estimation for 3D printers. This myth is baffling since 3D print materials are easily available at affordable prices in India and abroad. An average 2m ABS filament is available at many stores for just INR 1500 under various colors. You can pay a visit to many of the ones that stop online 3D printing companies such as Makenica, and check for the prices yourselves rather than trusting the cooked-up myths. Makenica offers several materials such as PLA, FDM, ABS, HIPS, and PLA+ in various colors and lengths at a much more affordable price than in the market for 3D Printing Bangalore. Do check on them for more insights on material pricing and other online 3d printing services.

#3 3D printers will substitute Large scale production

The main concept of implementing 3D printers is to reduce the costs invested in parts manufacturing for large industries to offer affordable 3D Printing services. However, after the ascension of 3D printers, several startup 3D Printing companies have begun to perform printing and processing works for large scale manufacturers. Another point we need to mention is the production rates in large industries. Large scale industries tend to have higher work volume and throughput, something which can’t be assured by 3D printers in the current scenario. However, as technology expands horizons, the usage of 3D printers for mass manufacturing is something that can’t be ruled out. 3D printers are very optimum for medium scale and large-scale industries that manufacture parts and products at a genuine throughput rate for a good 3D Printing quote. These types of industries generally won’t have much of a compressed process timeline as mass manufacturing industries, which certainly makes 3D printers apt for manufacturing.

#4 3D printers can print anything

Now, this is a very intriguing myth that surrounds 3D printers. 3D printer software is designed to provide users with the estimated view of the print, layer-wise, and provide an estimation. A 3D printer can’t just print the drawing that you have on paper.

3D printers have certain dimensional constraints, and it will print anything that is within their acceptable limits. You can’t print the part for engine assembly using a normal cartesian printer of fixed bed size. The design must be perfect enough for 3D Printing in Bangalore and must be optimized using support materials in case of complex parts.

#5 3D printed parts are weak

This was a fact until the late 2005’s and 2006’s, however times change, and rapid development of technology just doesn’t stop with that. In general conception, a 3D printer is still viewed as a manufacturing process for weak plastic materials and parts. But it has a lot more than that. 3D printing materials have more chemical resistance and mechanical cohesion once the number of layers is widened. 3D printers are now capable of printing parts using robust materials. Some of the robust materials include carbon fibers, Nylon, and much more suiting the needs of the industry. The addition of composite materials such as continuous carbon fibers has provided more scope and ability for part manufacturers of 3D Printing companies to print parts on reinforcement with carbon fiber that can have material strength as strong as aluminum grades.

#6 3D printing is a rapid process.

One of the major misconceptions in the usage of 3D printers is that 3D printers are used on a large-scale manufacturing process due to its rapid processing speed. No! Not at all. This is a contradiction of myths, to be honest. 3D printers consume a chunk of time for printing parts, based on their dimension and complexity. A simple 10mm thickness L bar can take up 20-30 mins in a standard cartesian printer, whereas it can take up a maximum of 5 -10 mins in an advanced printer. It is time-consuming and won’t suit the rapid manufacturing and assembling process. However, 3D printers are the messiah for small scale and medium scale industries. These industries won’t have higher throughput and can use the time to make their finest of products using 3D printing service in India. So far, several medium-scale R&D companies have developed their product using indigenous 3D printers, which in turn has boosted the startup culture in economically locked countries like India.t Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ2YwTvD5X8

#7 3D printed ammunitions are unsafe

We spoke about how 3D printers’ applications have gone beyond its circumscribed horizons. One such rare application of 3D printers in online 3D Printing services is the manufacturing of ammunition such as pistols, rifles, etc. Questions will be raised on its legality, but hey, it’s something not in our hands. Ammunition manufacturers should have a license from the government to manufacture guns and pistols. Under liability, they are the sole holders of design files and will face severe consequences if it is leaked out. However, what remains funny is people’s assumption of ABS and PLA printed ammunition. For those, we have already mentioned the growth of 3D metal printing machines, which are widely used in many industries of late. Ammunition manufacturers promptly use these printing machines for chassis manufacturing and sometimes even manufacturing of body and shell for rifles. From our perspective, it is an unnecessary take, as we aren’t legalized by government authorities to manufacture guns. As a law-abiding citizen, stick to your rules and don’t go overboard. However, if you’re still adamant about it, a  metal 3D printer costs as much as 10 pistols in the market. The choice is yours!

#8 3D printers are hard to operate

The evolution of 3D printers has witnessed an exponential growth from the early 21st century to date. The old model of 3D printers required specialists to study its mechanism thoroughly to convert the design file to STL format and orient it properly. The technician should manually set the home position for the printer and begin the printing process. As days passed by, printer size reduced along with the complexity involved in operating a 3D printer. Many design software developers such as Dassault Systems and Autodesk began to reorient their software structure that can convert the part file to STL format. The printer manufacturers ensured that the STL file used to generate the model generates G-code on its own for printer operation. Once, what used to be a tedious process is now dissolved into a simple one, thanks to the involvement of adequate software and evolution in hardware. Any mechanical designer can design a part, convert it to STL, and generate the G-Code for the printer using adequate software licensed by the printer client to get their model printed. There is also a possible expansion of 3D printing online operations from AR and VR models, which is under the research and development stage in many universities. The rapid growth of 3D Printing services in India has indeed gifted the common man to operate complex pieces of machinery easily.

#9 3D printers can deposit only one material at a time.

This has been a popular belief in 3D printing online for quite a long time. However, it is not completely true, as we have state of art technologies that enable multiple material printing for a single part. For complex and robust models, it is suggested to use a combination of materials, and we have several printers to cater to the needs. Multi-material 3D printers allow the combination of two or more materials for additive manufacturing of a single part. The process is, however, very much like that of single material 3D printing in India but involves additional concepts for the addition of a multi-material layer. Some of the concepts used by multi-material 3D printing services in India include Fused Filament Fabrication, SLA 3D Printing service, and material jetting. The print Slicing and G-code generation process for these types of 3D printers depends largely upon the hardware used. The Fused Filament Fabrication process involves additional instructions for a material change, which needs to be added to the existing layer. Often, multiple slicing comes with computational problems when it comes to head position synchronization without interference and material clearance on the melting chamber. The SLA  3D printing service has an additional load to compute the movement of print from one tray to the next one. Multiple material printing requires some specialized attention while generating the slice and G-code for the print due to its complexity.

#10 3D printing industry isn’t stable

The stability of an industry depends on its demand and the need in the market. Of late, many small scale and medium scale manufacturers have started to delve into the market in search of success. Being it manufacturing or design, 3D printers have certainly caught the eye of upcoming entrepreneurs as it is the cheapest and most viable option of manufacturing. The number of 3D printer manufacturers has also increased to a greater extent, where indigenous 3D Printing companies manufacture their model in accordance with open-source software. There is a plethora of 3D printer manufacturers all around the globe, which rightly suggests the beginning of a revolution. As the companies begin to revolutionize their manufacturing methods, the demand for state of art technology to aid manufacturing has become steady.

There is indeed a steady market for 3D printers in India.

Read More: PEI 3D Printing : A Comprehensive Overview