[Robznob11]

Originally Posted by hewittca

I've printed many parts for various projects, and I will say that it is awesome for prototyping and test fitting, but not so great for longevity if it's a part that is going to be subject to any sort of stress. If you're trying to replace a part that broke over time or during normal operation, your printed part is sure to fail as well. A mould plastic part is always going to be considerably stronger than an identical printed part. Eventually, the layers that compose the print start to break apart under stress. There are ways to design the print so you can optimize strength, and you just have to keep this in mind when choosing what applications you want to utilize your 3D printer for.

I have several 3D printers at work, all of them the standard layer by layer extruded plastic type. These are the most common and readily available. Ours are either Makerbot or FlashForge (improved version of original Makerbot). FlashForge is an Amazon company, with Prime shipping you can have it and start printing in two days. This printer has been very dependable but it starts at about $1,000. There are many other options for much less than that, several of which are simply parts lists with build instructions for you to construct your own printer. We have one of these and it works but is very temperamental. There are plenty of printer comparison articles out there. This article is pretty good. I've used a few on this list and have found you get what you pay for, to a point. Anything under about $500 and it's going to require a fair bit of maintenance and supervision. Anything over about $1200 and you're just paying for extra (nonessential) features and maybe higher resolution.

Ok, that's enough about 3D printers for now.

Thank you sir!