In any business, it’s important to have a good understanding of our customers; understanding your pains and needs, help us to serve you better.

As a consumer, before we made any purchase or approach the company for services, we will do online research or approach our peers for advice.

The word “3D printing” looks simple but it can quite broad; there are many areas that we need to consider and look into before we came to a conclusion whether to buy the 3D printer or 3D printing services.

Let’s sit back and consider what I want for 3D printing…

1. Material

Each 3D printing materials has their own features, strengths and weakness. Sometimes it is not easy to choose the most suitable material for our parts. Below are some of the 3D printing materials available:

  • Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS)
  • Polylactic Acid (PLA)
  • Nylon
  • Wax
  • Resin (3D Printing Liquid)
  • Polypropylene (PP)
  • Polycarbonate (PC)
  • Polyethylene terephthalate (PET)
  • Ceramics
  • Sandstone
  • Wood
  • Metal

2. Functional or Non-functional

Before we choose our 3D printer or 3D printing services, we need to know whether the 3D printed parts need to be functional or just for viewing purpose. Are we looking for prototype or production parts?

For prototyping and production parts, we need to look out for 3D printers that can produce parts with high quality, tough, fit and function test, and so on. For viewing purpose only, we will have a wider range of 3D printers to choose.

Now we shortlist the materials, the next consideration we need to look into is the technology.

With this in mind, we will shortlist the list of 3D printers from the types of 3D printing technology that suit our needs.

Some of the 3D printing technologies in the market are:

3. Quality

The 3rd question that we need to ask ourselves other than technology and material is the quality of the 3D printed parts. What kind of appearance can we accept? What type of quality are we expecting? We need to know the print resolution and print speed of the 3D printer.

Print resolution determines the level of detail that the 3D printer can produce; the smaller the microns, the higher details we can create. Print speed determines how fast the printer can move its extruder, it also helps in producing the quality of the part. The higher the print speed, the faster it can print, the higher quality the part.

4. Cost

Last but not least, the price of the 3D printer is a major consideration when choosing a 3D printer. For home use, small objects or for fun, you can choose a lower range of 3D printer. For better quality and functional use, we need to consider the professional 3D printers at a higher price.

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