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3D Printing At Home

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There are probably 50 3D printers available sub $1000, but the most popular are these

  • RapidBot Kit
  • Cube
  • UP! Mini 3D Printer
  • MakerBot Replicator 2

RapidBot comes in kit form so needs assembling, about 6 hours work they suggest but Ikea also quote recommended times that most people don’t achieve! It looks like a clunky sewing machine and comes with everything you need to get started except software. It is reliable, reasonable fast and cheap. Open source software is available, see footnote.

Cube is already assembled, wireless connected and plug-and-play making it easy to get started. It can print different plastics, such as ABS used by Lego, in a range of 16 colours. Objects up to 5.5 inches cubed can be created. It does come with design software, a bit clunky but kids can cope with it. It is good for simple objects but the quality drops off as you get more complex, however for chess men, figures and other relatively simple shapes it is a good starter. Material is a bit pricey, £32 or $50 a cartridge, which makes having all 16 colours a substantial investment.

UP! Mini 3D Printer is also easy to setup and use and is a bit smaller than the Cube. Pretty much everything is included, like thermal gloves. This 3D printer uses ABS plastic that comes on spools and a 1.5Kg white one is included. The software is intuitive and similar to early AutoCAD and can also import files (STL) from other packages. The spools are not cheap, about $100 each, with 6 colours available. It is more expensive than the first two models discussed.

MakerBot Replicator 2 is more professional and dearer making it a bold choice for the beginner. It also uses spools to feed the material, PLA rather than ABS, which is more energy efficient. A 1Kg spool costs about £55 or $85. It can print bigger objects (11 x 6 x 6 inches) and is a more commercial unit. The software is really good and everything is designed for ease of use It is fast but the quality is not as good as the price would suggest.

This is not an exhaustive list and other units like RepRap are worth considering.

What about software?

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2 thoughts on “3D Printing At Home”

  2. Yes, the price of a spool or cartridge of plastic is astonishing when you consider that ABS plastic is less than $3000 (£2000) per ton. This is £2 or $3 per kilo and they are charging $50 plus for a 1 Kg spool. Hopefully, this will change soon as the competition hots up because it can’t cost much to create a spool.

    Then, 3D printing will be more viable as a hobby interest.

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