An overview of some printers and printer types

I figured something useful to talk about on this blog would be types of printers available, and the
general cost of them and their materials.


Types of 3D printers:

Extrusion Deposition-
These printers work by having a roll, or a spool, of material, which it heats up and extrudes through a nozzle onto a surface. It prints the piece by doing layer after layer of this material, building it up slowly until the entire piece is complete.

Source: Wikipedia

Wikipedia has a fantastic image showing how this is done:



Some good examples of 3D printers that use Extrusion deposition
are:

Cubify - $1299 - http://cubify.com/cube/
In my opinion, this printer is a bit expensive and seems only super useful for making trinkets and costume pieces.

RepRap - $500-$900 http://www.reprap.org/wiki/Main_Page
This is a great cheap 3D printer, and not only that, but it can print out all of its
own parts. Meaning you can print more 3D printers and sell them! The level
of detail achievable is fairly good too.

MakerBot Replicator 2 - $2199 - https://store.makerbot.com/replicator2.html
While very expensive, the level of detail and quality with the models available
from this printer is astounding. It can print with a 3D resolution of 0.1 mm! The
printer seems to be high quality, and I think, if money is not an issue, it is entirely
worth it.

Granular material binding:
What this means is, the printer has a box of granular material, generally fairly fine
and in powdered form. Then the printer can use a laser to melt some of the powder
to bind it together for one layer. Then it is lowered into the powder a bit, and it will
solidify the next layer. This can also be used with sugar to make tasty 3D printed
treats.

This is a great video showing the process:

Video found on http://roboylabs.com/3d-printinters/#B3

Examples of Granular Materials Binding 3D printers:

The Zcorp Zprinter series - Price on request - http://www.zcorp.com/en/Products/3D-Printers/ZPrinter-150/spage.aspx
These printers seem very very high quality, and are most likely expensive. However, they are
speedy, have high quality models, and offer a HUGE variety of colours. They seem to be oriented
towards selling to companies and schools. They even have a page talking about Architectural
and Engineering... http://www.zcorp.com/en/Solutions/Architecture/spage.aspx

There are more granular materials binding 3D printers, but mostly industrial use only.

Photopolymerization
 This printing technique takes a vat of liquid polymer, and exposes it to light from a DLP (digital light processing) projector, to harden small bits of the liquid polymer into a solid. This method can
achieve extremely precise models, with high levels of detail and quality.

Another video from http://roboylabs.com/3d-printinters/#B3 shows how this works -- I find this method to be mind-blowingly cool.

Examples of printers that use photopolymerization:

FormLabs Form1 - $2299 - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/formlabs/form-1-an-affordable-professional-3d-printer
http://formlabs.com/pages/our-printer

This seems like one of the very high quality, not overly bank breaking options for 3D printers that use
photopolymerization. From the video on the kickstarter, it appears to have a fantastic resolution capability.


 There are more photopolymerization printers, but most of them tend to be for industrial use only.