We’re here to help. We continuously update this best 3D printer guide with the latest 3D printer reviews, and we’ve tested over a dozen 3D printers on this site to create this buyer’s guide.

Best Budget Resin	Best Budget FDM	Best Fast 3D Printer
Anycubic Photon M3 Resin 3D Printer	Anycubic Kobra 2	Creality K1
Primary Rating: 4.5	Primary Rating: 4.7	Primary Rating: 4.6
$209	$249	$499
Build Volume: 163.9 x 102.4 x 180 mm	Build Volume: 250 x 220 x 220 mm	Build Volume: 220 x 220 x 250 mm
Printing Speed: 50 mm/h	Printing Speed: 300mm/s	Printing Speed: 600mm/s
Anycubic Store here	Anycubic here	Creality here
Amazon here	Amazon here

Best Budget Resin

Anycubic Photon M3 Resin 3D Printer

Primary Rating:

4.5

$209

Build Volume:

163.9 x 102.4 x 180 mm

Printing Speed:

50 mm/h

Anycubic Store here

Amazon here

Best Budget FDM

Anycubic Kobra 2

Primary Rating:

4.7

$249

Build Volume:

250 x 220 x 220 mm

Printing Speed:

300mm/s

Anycubic here

Amazon here

Best Fast 3D Printer

Creality K1

Primary Rating:

4.6

$499

Build Volume:

220 x 220 x 250 mm

Printing Speed:

600mm/s

Creality here

We’ve split our recommended picks into different categories to help you find the best 3D printer based on your needs. Then, below are our full product reviews of each printer with the full details, and where to get the best price.

Why Trust Us?

Over the last 5 years, the 3DSourced team has tested more than 25 different 3D printers to recommend our favorites. We include images of our real reviews and real thoughts on which to buy or not buy, and we pride ourselves on being unbiased.

Formed of 3D printing fans and experts, our team has a combined 30+ years of hands-on 3D printing experience. Some 3D printers we’ve owned and used extensively that feature on this list include multiple Creality Ender 3 models (S1, V2 Neo, etc), Elegoo Mars models (2 Pro, 4 Ultra), the Toybox printer, Anycubic Kobra, Sovol SV04, Snapmaker 2.0, and many more.

You can read the full product reviews below for our in-depth reviews and recommendations.

Here’s the full list:

1. Best FDM Under $300 – Anycubic Kobra 2

• Price: Check price at Anycubic here / Amazon here
• Build Volume: 250 x 220 x 220 mm
• Speed: 300mm/s

The Anycubic Kobra 2 is a successor to the Anycubic Kobra, which launched in 2022 and wowed us with its advanced features like automatic bed leveling and a direct drive extruder. 

The Kobra 2 makes improvements where it matters, upping print speeds to 300 mm/s, an enhanced LeviQ 2.0 automatic bed leveling to auto-calibrate the 220 x 220 x 250 mm build volume, an improved extrusion system and cooling, and various improvements to the overall design such a dual z-axis rods for better stability and performance at higher speeds.

These are features that pack in a huge amount of value for under $300. Specs and hardware are one thing, but the Kobra 2 follows through with excellent print quality, especially if you’re willing to tinker and refine. 

It’s far more user-friendly and hands-off, and the path from assembly to printing a quality part is much easier than the Ender 3. However, it’s not as simple and reliable as pricier printers like the AnkerMake M5C.

Another option in this price range is the Sovol SV06, which, for around $200, offers specifications almost identical to the Anycubic Kobra 2. But, worse build quality, a less pleasant UI and user experience, and trouble printing with materials beyond PLA and ABS make the Sovol SV06 a worse choice than the Anycubic Kobra 2. Both machines have the potential to produce quality prints, but it’s easier to get there with the Kobra 2 in my opinion.

Best FDM Kit Under $300

Anycubic Kobra 2

Improved, upgraded version of the original Kobra, with much faster print speeds, good auto leveling, and a reliable direct drive extruder.

Anycubic here Amazon here

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2. Best Resin Under $300 – Anycubic Photon M3

• Price: Check price at Anycubic here
• Build Volume: 163.9 x 102.4 x 180 mm
• Speed: 50 mm/h

The Anycubic Photon M3 is sturdy and compact, and prints detailed miniatures, figurines, and other decorative models. 4K was great a year or so ago, but now even 12K is fairly common, but resolution isn’t the difference-maker companies make it out to be, and it’s difficult to see the difference.

You only need a simple manual leveling routine to get started and fire up your first print. The 102 x 164 x 180 mm build volume is on the smaller side (though bigger than previous Anycubic resin printers like the Mono 4K) and there’s no automatic vat refilling, Wi-Fi, etc. 

But, for $200… you can’t expect the world!! What you do get is a fast, reliable printer that just works. No hassle, no tinkering – just high-quality prints reliably.

The Elegoo Mars 3 is an alternative to the Photon M3, and is similarly priced. But the larger build volume Photon M3 means more space to work with, especially if you’re batch print minis. If you’re a stickler for detail then go with the Mars 3, as it has a very marginal extra 5 microns of detail – 35 microns compared to Photon M3’s 40 microns.

Best Budget Anycubic Resin Printer

Anycubic Photon M3 Resin 3D Printer

$209

This budget-friendly powerhouse delivers an extra-large 180 x 163 x 102mm build area perfect for printing batches of detailed miniatures.

Experience speedy 50mm/hr print speeds and crisp 40 micron resolution from the impressive 4K LCD screen.

Simple, reliable, and user-friendly, the Photon M3 makes resin printing more accessible than ever.

Anycubic Store here Amazon here

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3. Best For Kids – Toybox 3D

• Price: $299 – Available at Toybox Official store here
• Build volume: 70 x 80 x 90 mm
• Speed: 60mm/s

The Toybox is not a high-tech, workhorse 3D printer with which to start a business.

But, it is one of the simplest 3D printers I’ve ever used, and I highly recommend it for your kids and beginners looking for a stress-free start to 3D printing.

The build volume is small at just 70 x 80 x 90 mm, but if you just want to print miniatures and other fun characters, it’s a great option. 

Toybox have partnered with numerous big players to bring you a huge range of free models you can 3D print too, from Batman and Wonder Woman, to fun 3D printable dragons, tanks, cars, and so much more.

My first print was a cute seal I found in their repository, which you can see below:

For kids it’s super safe: it only prints low-temperature PLA, and any hot parts are kept well away from prying hands by the enclosure. However, you cannot print with ABS or other higher-temp filaments with the Toybox.

You get many small spools of different color filaments to print away with, which Toybox affectionately calls “3D printer food”. These are simple to set up and change, so your kids can easily print in different colors.

If you’re a beginner, want hassle-free fun, or want to get your kids into 3D printing cheaply, I highly recommend the Toybox. You can also read my full Toybox 3D printer review.

Best 3D Printer for Kids

Toybox: 3D Printer for Kids

4.8

$299-349

Super easy to set up, comes with different filament colors to get started, and a huge range of 3D printable files (including licensed Batman models!) that your kids will LOVE.

Pros:

• Very simple smartphone interface suitable for all ages.
• Fully enclosed design keeps hot parts away from fingers.
• Easy to switch between colors of PLA filament

Cons:

• Can only print PLA, not higher-temp materials like ABS.

Toybox Store here

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4. Best Resin Under $500 – Anycubic Photon M5s

• Price: Check price at Anycubic here / Amazon here
• Build Volume: 218 x 123 x 200 mm
• Speed: 105mm/h

The Photon M5s features a range of sensors, self-checks, and monitoring tools – resin level, pre-print diagnostics, force sensors, print separation detection and alerts, and more. 

All these work to make printing on M5s easier and faster while losing less resin to failures and botched prints. There’s no manual leveling either, as the sensors and detectors remove the need for tedious pre-print bed leveling. Resin is a messy business, so any printer that reduces the stress gets points in my book.

It’s as close to plug-and-play resin printing as I’ve seen. I also liked the compact design, the Wi-Fi connectivity, and the fact it has a 10.1” 12K LCD screen. 

There are other 12K resin printers now like the Elegoo Saturn 3 and Phrozen Sonic Mini 8K (with a 12K upgrade), but they don’t have these extra diagnostic and monitoring features like the Photon M5s has.

The Photon Mono M5s has an ACF film instead of FEP, which delivers faster print speeds (using fast resin) thanks to lesser peel force than typical resin films, although it will need replacing more often. Though, when I was testing the Elegoo Mars 4 Ultra, the ACF did cause occasional issues – though this isn’t the case with the M5s Pro.

The M5s is my recommendation under $500 for ultra-fine print quality overall.

Anycubic Photon Mono M5s

Anycubic here Amazon here

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5. Best FDM Under $500 – AnkerMake M5C

• Price: Check price at AnkerMake here
• Build Volume: 220x220x250mm
• Speed: 250mm/s

After reviewing the AnkerMake M5C, I genuinely think it’s one of the few printers that really delivers a hassle-free, set-and-forget printing experience. 

It just works, saving the frustration-inducing tinkering and fine-tuning I’ve had with so many other FDM kits.

It includes spot-on automatic bed leveling, a PEI-coated removable print bed (with positioning notches on the heated plate as well), a direct drive extruder capable of speeds up to 500 mm/s, and an accompanying app that is among the most intuitive and pleasant I’ve come across. 

It also has a one-click button to fire off, pause, and otherwise control prints, which the Bambu Lab A1 and Creality Ender 3 V3 SE don’t have.

The AnkerMake M5C is well-built, mostly made from flush metal and high-quality parts throughout, and it handles the vibration of fast print speeds well. Even at high speeds, nothing I tried to print with the AnkerMake M5C came out badly.

Fastest Low-Cost 3D Printer

AnkerMake M5C 3D Printer

4.6

$399.00

We also have an exclusive discount code: 3DSM5C.

Use this code and get $80 off!

Pros:

• Dizzyingly fast print speeds – it printed a Benchy accurately at 500mm/s
• Superb print quality, especially on my articulated dragon print
• Impressive all-round build quality
• Sophisticated, responsive, and useful mobile app
• Tinker-free bed leveling and printing
• Direct drive extruder is always nice to have

Cons:

• Missing SD Card slot
• Very loud operating noise levels. With noise-canceling headphones, I could still hear it from 20 feet away.
• No on-printer screen
• Strangely, it didn’t ship with any filament – not even a test sample
• Spool holder feels a bit flimsy to me

AnkerMake Direct here Amazon here

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6. Best Fast CoreXY 3D Printer – Creality K1

• Price: Check price at Creality here
• Build Volume: 220 x 220 x 250 mm
• Speed: 600mm/s

The Creality K1 is a nippy, fully enclosed CoreXY printer for makers who prioritize high print speeds and a simple, user-friendly printing experience. 

Above all else, it’s a CoreXY machine for under $500… rivaling printers like the Bambu Lab X1 in print performance, which is on the whole nothing short of excellent (though you’ll probably also know the drawbacks of Bambu printers…).

It has acceleration speeds up to 20,000 mm/s and a max print speed of 600 mm/s built on a repurposed and rebranded iteration of Klipper, meaning the Creality K1 pumps out a Benchy in roughly 13 minutes. 

A direct drive extruder with a 32 mm3/s flow rate, a ceramic heater, dual print fans, an auxiliary fan in the build chamber, and a full metal heatbreak/nozzle combo capable of 300°C prints most high-temp filaments, thanks to the enclosed chamber.

It ships pre-calibrated, has automatic leveling, and fully assembled. There’s Wi-Fi and a robust in-app software ecosystem means the K1 is very much in keeping with the push to remote print control and monitoring.

Creality K1 3D Printer

Features:

• Max Speed: 600mm/s
• Acceleration: 20000mm/s²
• Hands-free Auto Leveling
• Self-test
• with One Tap

Creality here

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7. Best Large Resin Printer – Anycubic Photon M3 Max

• Price: Check price at Anycubic here / Amazon here
• Build Volume: 298 x 164 x 300 mm
• Speed: 60 mm/h

For $850.00, you get a 298 x 164 x 300 mm, which feels more like an FDM printer size. You also get a sleek 13.6” 7K LCD, smart auto-resin refill functionality for larger extended prints, an 84 LED matrix light source that prints up to a decent (but unremarkable) 60 mm/s, and a clever dual-sided frosted FEP film – smooth where it contacts the LCD and coarse when the resin is cured to enhance adhesion. 

Combined, these produce highly detailed models and parts with an XY resolution of 46 microns, which is phenomenal for the size of the build volume.

Other options in the large resin printer space include the Phrozen Sonic Mega 8K, but at $1,500 is almost twice the price for roughly 10 cm extra of height (and a bump to 8K resolution).

All in all, the Photon M3 Max is the best large resin printer out there for a balance of affordability, print volume, and pristine resin print detail.

Large Volume Pick

ANYCUBIC Photon M3 Max Resin 3D Printer, 13.6 7K UV LCD

$959.99

Anycubic here Amazon here

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8. Best Large-Format FDM – Elegoo Neptune 4 Max

• Price: Check price at Elegoo here / Amazon here
• Build Volume: 420 x 420 x 480 mm
• Speed: 500mm/s

The Eleggo Neptune 4 Max is a great option if you want to combine a massive 420 x 420 x 480 mm build volume with Klipper-powered print speeds up to 500 mm/s, all while maintaining print quality. When reviewing the Elegoo Neptune 4 Max, I earmarked it as the best affordable large-format printer for hobbyists eyeing up big projects.

And, at under $500, with 121-point automatic bed leveling, a 300°C high temperature nozzle, Wi-Fi connectivity, and a proprietary dual-gear direct extruder, the Neptune 4 Max has all the modern features you’d want. 

It’s well-equipped to print huge PLA, PETG, ABS, and TPU models and parts but also performs well with more exotic filaments like Nylon if you have an enclosure.

However, for all its merits, the Elegoo Neptune 4 Max requires tinkering to get prints dialled in. Expect some troubleshooting and hashing out settings to get this printer to really shine. 

For that reason, it’s not the best suited for beginners (if you are a beginner, go with the Ankermake M5, Kobra 2, or Sovol SV06).

Great Large-Volume 3D Printer

Elegoo Neptune 4 Max

4.4

With a large 420x420x480mm build volume, integrated auto bed leveling, and fast print speeds enabled by Klipper, the Neptune 4 Max is an affordable option for hobbyists wanting to print big.

However, some tinkering is likely needed to get the best results.

Pros:

• High potential print speeds (pre-installed Klipper + good processor)
• Huge 420 x 420 x 480 mm build volume
• 121-point mesh auto-leveling
• Direct drive print head
• Huge toggleable fan

Cons:

• Likely to need tinkering to work properly
• Difficult to swap proprietary nozzle
• Few upgrades from the cheaper Neptune Max 3

Elegoo here Amazon here

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9. Best Low-Cost Dual Extruder – Sovol SV04

• Price: $539 — Available at Sovol here
• Build volume: 300 x 300 x 400 mm
• Speed: 200mm/sec

If you want a great dual extruder 3D printer and don’t want to pay more than a thousand bucks, then you have two main options: the Sovol SV04 or the Flashforge Creator Pro 2.

The main difference is the Sovol SV04’s much larger build volume, at 300 x 300 x 400 mm, the same as the Creality CR-10. This lets you print large objects with multi-colors, or even two fairly large models at the time using the IDEX dual extrusion features. However, the Creator Pro 2 is enclosed, whereas this is open-air, so you’ll need to buy an enclosure with it.

I’ve personally tested the Sovol SV04, and managed to print some cool multi-colored 3D prints like the frog and cube shown below:

I also printed some great plant pots for some flowers and a cactus using the Copy Mode feature, with each extruder printing a plant pot simultaneously for double the productivity. The Creator Pro 2 does not have a large enough build volume to 3D print both vases simultaneously, whereas I could with the Sovol SV04.

To summarize: if you want a large-format, reliable dual extruder printer, go for the Sovol SV04. The IDEX is a really handy addition (the Sovol SV02 isn’t IDEX) for quickly making multiple parts.

But, if you don’t mind having the smaller build volume, and instead prefer the enclosed build chamber to better print materials like ABS and Nylon, then go for the Flashforge.

Sovol SV04 IDEX 3D Printer

Sovol here

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10. Best 3-in-1 3D Printer – Snapmaker 2.0 AT

• Price: Check price at Snapmaker here / Also Available on Amazon here
• Build volumes: up to 320 x 350 x 330 mm
• Speed: 60 mm/s

Snapmaker manufactures the best 3-in-1 3D printers, and you can easily switch the extruder module out and switch in the CNC carver or the laser engraver module in just a few minutes and get working.

The 3D printer module would be a standalone high quality printer. I was surprised by just how reliable, accurate, and effective it was when I used it, even when printing thin-walled vases. The metal structure and linear rails are sturdy, retaining precision even on the largest A350T we tested.

You can 3D print all major hobbyist filaments like PLA, TPU, and ABS. The smartphone-shaped touchscreen makes it really easy to operate, and the WiFi connectivity saves you the hassle of constantly plugging in SD cards or USBs.

You get a range of premium features — auto-leveling, filament run-out detection, dynamic print speeds via the intelligent software — generally making your 3D printing experience more pleasant and productive.

By default you get the weaker 1.6W cutting module which we still managed to laser engrave with nicely, as well as cutting through thin and soft wood (though it takes a lot longer than specialized lasers).

However, you can purchase the 10W high-power laser for an extra few hundred bucks, which can engrave anodized aluminum (check out our wolf engraving below) and comfortably cut through acrylic and wood – we cut out a rhino puzzle from black acrylic in under 13 minutes.

You can carve soft and hard woods, carbon fiber sheets and acrylics. We also used the 4-axis CNC module to carve chess pieces from epoxy blocks, proving the bit can comfortably carve most woods and similar materials.

We cut chess pieces using the V-bit carver and the 4-axis rotary module add-on (this costs an extra few hundred bucks, though), which lets you carve into cylindrical blocks like a lathe to create detailed characters. Snapmaker Luban software handles the four axes well, and it’s a very well-designed software and slicer generally – it was easier to use the rotary than on specialized software like Lightburn.

If you want to engrave contrasting images, you can use the laser engraver. It can engrave on woods, leather, fabrics and acrylic. We engraved a few cylinder-shaped blocks to test the 4-axis engraving module and used the laser cutter to cut through a thin piece of wood to make this gift box.

We recommend also purchasing the enclosure to improve your printing experience and keep you safer — and you may also want to pick up some extras for CNC. Their wide range of extras and goodies are on their site, which you can visit here.

If you’re considering the more expensive Snapmaker Artisan, then yes the Artisan is better at almost everything. But it’s significantly more expensive, and for the price, the Snapmaker 2.0 AT is still a great deal for all three swappable heads.

You can see more Snapmaker models in our article comparing Snapmaker 2.0, Snapmaker J1, and Snapmaker Artisan.

Top 3-in-1 Pick For 3D Printing, CNC & Laser Cutting

Snapmaker 2.0 Modular 3 in 1 3D Printer A350T/A250T

$1169 ($600 off!)

Switch the toolheads within minutes to 3D print, CNC cut, and laser cut and engrave in one machine. You can even buy the higher-power 10W laser attachment, a 4-axis rotary add-on for cutting or engraving round objects, and more!

Snapmaker here

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11. Best Professional FDM – Raise3D Pro3 Plus

• Price: Check price at Matterhackers here
• Build Volume: 300x300x605mm
• Speed: 200-350 mm/s

The Raise3D Pro3 Plus is a reliable, easy-to-operate, and extremely well-built machine to power a small additive manufacturing business, in an architect’s office, or as a rapid prototyping tool in the R&D wing of an automotive, aerospace, or electronics business.

The Raise3D Pro3 Plus offers print speeds up to 350 mm/s at an accuracy of 5 microns, and across a dual extruder setup to jump between filament types and colors. 

This is powered by the Raise3D’s proprietary Hyper FFF® technology, essentially an active vibration cancellation algorithm that absorbs excess jerks and judders at high print speeds to safeguard print quality. 

It also features a fully enclosed chamber to tackle everything from nylon to carbon fiber by way of ABS, TPU, glass fiber, and everything in between.

The Raise3D Pro3 Plus is built around a large 300 x 300 x 605 mm, with a clear emphasis on verticality to take on tall or elongated models and parts.

To round off the features list, the printer has automatic bed leveling, 300°C hotend that are modular and interchangeable, a built-in Eve smart assistant that suggests solutions for common problems and schedules maintenance, in-chamber spool holders, an HD camera for remote monitoring, and a HEPA filter-equipped airflow manager for impactful heat dissipation and air circulation.

It’s more expensive than other printers with similar specs, but you pay for repeatability and reliability.

Raise3D Pro3 Plus 3D Printer

MatterHackers here

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Factors to Consider When Buying a 3D Printer

Resin or FDM?

For accurate minis for D&D, go for a resin 3D printer – they can print with much finer resolutions and smoother surface areas.

But for a simpler setup and generally more relaxed experience (no curing, no chemicals) with stronger prints, go for an FDM printer. Functional prints work better with FDM, and if you’re a D&D fan, you’ll still want an FDM printer for the terrain, even if you’re printing the mini characters themselves with a resin printer.

For FDM, PLA filament is easiest as it doesn’t really warp, doesn’t require a heated bed or enclosure (still use it if you have them), and comes in a wide variety of colors and blends (even conductive or glow-in-the-dark!), and it’s cheap.

ABS is tougher despite being just as cheap, and still comes in a wide range of colors. But, it can warp and crack if you don’t use a heated bed and, ideally, an enclosed chamber. Some consider PETG a happy medium: it’s great for adhesion and super tough – but its stickiness makes it difficult to print overhangs and supports.

For resins, you don’t have the same range of material or color options.

What size models do you want to print?

Don’t waste your money on an enormous 3D printer if you want to print miniatures, but also don’t skimp on a smaller machine if you want to print huge cosplay swords.

Think about what you want to print right now – and what you might want to print in the future. It’s an expensive decision to get wrong. Also, consider the size of your workspace – 3D printers are deceptively big, so make sure it fits.

Also, resin 3D printers typically have smaller build volumes than FDM printers.

What do you want to 3D print generally?

Beyond size, think about exactly what you want to 3D print for your projects. If you’re not as fussed about perfect quality, go for a printer with high top speeds (delta 3D printers are generally better for this, as are coreXY printers) – especially if you’re printing cubes and similar shapes that don’t have details. 

But, if you want high-resolution, pick printers that can handle lower layer heights and take smaller nozzle sizes – or resin printers with the most precise XY resolutions. 

For high-temperature filaments, get an enclosed 3D printer like the Creator Pro 2, or buy an enclosure for your printer. Creality sells their own enclosures, and there are popular DIY projects for the Prusa and other best-selling printers.

If you want to print PC, Nylon, carbon-fiber mixes, and other abrasive blends, you’ll need a printer with a hot end and nozzle to handle these temperatures.

And if you want to print flexible filaments like TPU, opt for a direct drive 3D printer.

Beginner or expert?

While you shouldn’t be discouraged if you’re a beginner, we recommend you pick 3D printers with features such as auto-leveling, WiFi connectivity, filament run-out sensors and print resume functions, and easy-to-use software and touchscreens to save you hassle if you’re newer or less technical.

WiFi connectivity saves you from taking SD cards back and forth from your laptop to your 3D printer for every print, and is generally a nice addition to boost productivity.

Filament run-out sensors and print resume features (in case of a power cut or similar) are fairly ubiquitous now – even most entry-level 3D printers have them. But they can be a lifesaver, especially if you lose power during the latter stages of a 24-hour or longer print of a large prototype or cosplay costume piece.

Cura should have you covered for the slicer, but some 3D printers have more intuitive interfaces than others. Most now have touchscreens (though turnable knobs on printers like the Enders and Prusas are fine), and we particularly liked the Snapmaker’s easy-to-use touchscreen interface and design. 

Go for a trusted brand and model if buying on the cheap side

There are hordes of low-cost 3D printers in the $160-$300 range. Most aren’t that reliable, and we recommend sticking with FDM kits like the Ender 3 range, Anycubic entry-level printers, and Elegoo or Anycubic resin printers.

The last thing you want to do is get burned and left with an expensive brick. Opt for a highly-reputed printer with large communities and active forums.

For more information on picking a 3D printer, this Reddit thread has an excellent breakdown of some other factors.

What’s Changed?

We consistently update our reviews based on our latest hands-on tests of new 3D printers. We wrote the first edition of this article back in 2018 and have maintained it to recommend the best 3D printers in 2024.

Jan 2024 updates:

• Removed the Prusa Mini and MK3S+, Flashforge Creator Pro 2, Anycubic Vyper, Elegoo Saturn S, Ultimaker S3, and Ultimaker S5.
• Either better technology has made these obsolete, or they just haven’t kept up with the pace of innovation, especially with CoreXY advances in FDM print speeds.

Feb 2024 updates:

• I added the Creality K1, AnkerMake M5C, Elegoo Neptune 4 Max, and Anycubic Kobra 2 as our top recommendation in each of their categories.

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy:

• Our guide to the best 3D pens
• Our ranking of the best 3D scanners
• Our ranking of the best 3D printers for beginners
• Our ranking of the best SLS 3D printers
• Our ranking of the best FDM 3D printers
• Our ranking of the best resin 3D printers
• 3D printer deals

1. In 1984, Bill Masters patented the first 3D printer. 
2. 3D printing is one of the most disruptive technologies and is estimated to lead the 4th industrial revolution. [4]
3. The global 3D printing market size was valued at USD 16.75 billion in 2022 and is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.3% from 2023 to 2030. [6]
4. Modern 3D printers cost between $200 and $10,000 depending on the quality and requirements. [8]

Stats About the History of 3D Printing

For its relatively short history, 3D printing has garnered some impressive feats. It seemed almost immediately in its young life it began revolutionizing the medical field, with prosthetics and organ transplants receiving the brunt of the attention. 

But it wasn’t until 2009 that it started transforming into the consumer product we see today.

5. In 1974, David Jones published the first 3D printing concept. [7]
6. Dr. Hideo Kodama developed the first 3D printing experiments in the 1980s. It used a photosensitive resin that was polymerized by a UV light. [1]
7. The first bladder was successfully printed in 1999. 
8. The first kidney was printed in 2022. 
9.  ZCorp launched the Spectrum Z510 in 2005, which was the first high-definition color 3D printer. [1]
10. The first 3D-printed prosthetic limb was created in 2008. [1]
11. The FDM patent landed in the public domain in 2009, leading to an innovative wave of 3D printers and increased access to desktop 3D printers. This sparked the consumer 3D market. [1]
12. In the 2010s, manufacturers started to create metal end-use parts with 3D printing. [7]
13. In 2014, Manos M. Tentzeris and Benjamin S. Cook created a method to use 3D printing to make complex electronics. [7]

3D Printing Use Cases & Users

Who is using 3D printing and how are they using it? Companies (and now everyday people) for endless reasons. Let’s break it down. 

14. Desktop 3D printers are increasingly used for domestic and household purposes [6]
15. Healthcare’s 3D printing market size was valued at $1,036.58 million in 2020 and is predicted to reach $5,846.74 million by 2030 at a registered CAGR of 20.10%.  [13]
16. Schools, universities, and educational institutes are also leveraging desktop 3D printers for training and research. 
17. The 3D-printed prosthetics, orthotics, and audiology market will gain $509 million in revenue by 2026 and grow to $996 million by 2030. [14]
18. Adidas has developed 3D-printed midsoles for its new 4DFWD shoes. [12]

14. Small businesses are beginning to offer 3D printing services to meet customer needs. 
15. Prototyping was the most common 3D printing application in 2022, accounting for over 54% of global revenue. [6]
16. Accounting for 23% of global revenue share in 2022, the automotive segment led the market in 2022. 
17. With over 33% of revenue share, North America led the market in 2022. 

Hardware Industry Facts & Stats

Hardware is the biggest sector of the 3D printing market. It includes applications (prototyping and functional parts), vertices (specific industries), and materials used for printing. Here’s what you need to know: 

Compared to other industries – like the drone industry– 3D printing boasts relatively high CAGR percentages and has expected revenue operating in the billions over the next few years.

23. Prototyping is the top hardware application market segment, capturing over 55% of revenue worldwide in 2020. 
24. The functional parts segment of the application market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 21.5% from 2021 to 2028, along with an increased demand for designing and building functional parts. [6]
25. The automotive vertical holds the largest share of the industrial 3D printing market accounting for over 23% of the segment’s global revenue. [6]

3D Printing Cost & ROI

Let’s face it, a 3D printer and materials are going to cost a bit more than your standard inkjet and paper. But you may be surprised by how much money this technology can save companies as well. 

26. Entry-level printers for beginners can cost between $400 and $1000. [8]
27. $10,000 is the standard cost for an industrial printer. [8]
28. By using 3D printing for titanium parts, Boeing saved $3 million. [7] 
29. General Electric predicts they will save up to $5 million over the next decade by changing to 3D printing for manufacturing.  [7]
30. In less than 4 months, The Center for Advanced Design achieved an ROI on a Stratasys F370 3D printer. [9]

3D Printing Materials

Early 3D printers used only plastics, but now they can use many different materials, expanding their capabilities. 

31. In 2022, metal was the largest material segment for 3D printing, accounting for 52% of global revenue. [6]
32. The fastest-growing materials in 3D printing are metals and metal alloys. This segment is expected to grow by over 28.2% between now and 2030.  [6]
33. Polymer had the second-largest share of revenue in 2022. [6]
34. Ceramic is a newer material segment, but it’s expected to grow rapidly at a high CAGR of over 25% over the forecast period. [6] 
35. Discrete manufacturing is the top industry for 3D printing. [3]

Technology and Software

Moving forward, streamlining user-friendliness and ready-made part designs will be paramount to the growth of 3D printing software. 

36. Stereolithography (one of the oldest printing techniques) was the largest segment in the market, capturing over 10% of global revenue in 2022. [6]
37. The design software segment accounted for 36.7% of global revenue, making it the largest software segment. [6]
38. Scanning software demand is predicted to grow due to a demand to store scanned images of objects to use when needed. 
39. Between 2023 and 2030, scanning software is expected to have the highest CAGR of 24%. [6] 
40. Hardware is predicted to continue holding the largest revenue share, but software is expected to have the fastest CAGR over the next several years. [6]
41. The market for on-demand parts services and CAD software is expected to triple by 2026. [4]

3D Printing Devices

Who’s making 3D printers? HP and GE have the most additive printing patents, but here’s what you need to know:

42. By 2030, there are expected to be 2.8 million additive manufacturing and 3D printing devices worldwide. 
43. In 2022, GE had the most 3D printing patents in the United States. [5]
44. The top 5 leading 3D printing companies are AutoDesk, HP Inc., 3D Systems, Desktop Metal, and Proto Labs.
45. The world’s largest 3D printer manufacturer is AutoDesk, with a market capitalization of $68.22 billion. [10]
46. After going public in December 2020, Desktop Metal’s market capitalization exceeded $7.5 billion in 2021, and received $575 million as part of a merger with special acquisitions company Trine Acquisition Corp.

3D Market Size & Growth 

3D printing has already made its mark, and the future looks bright. Here’s a breakdown of the market:

47. Between 2018 and 2026, the market for 3D printing materials is expected to grow by 12 percent annually to reach just under four billion U.S. dollars by 2026. [3]
48. The 3D printing market is expected to grow by nearly 24% between 2020 and 2026. [4]
49. By 2026, the global 3D printing market is expected to reach $37.2 billion dollars. [4]
50. Hardware (including applications, materials, and vertices) is the leads global 3D printing market share. [6]
51. In 2022, the industrial printer segment led the market, accounting for over 76% of global revenue because of the adoption of industrial 3D printers in the electronics, healthcare, automotive, and aerospace industries. [6]

Market Outlook for 3D Printing

According to Forbes, the future of 3D printing lies heavily in prototyping for both desktop and industrial printers. 

It seems 3D printers are on the last stretch of the home run as the industry works towards developing this technology to satisfy diverse needs. 

52. Over the next decade, we expect the majority of manufacturing spending to shift to functional end-use parts as the technology becomes more affordable and widely adopted.  [15]
53. We expect to see additive manufacturing playing a bigger role in sustainability and conservation efforts as 3D printing has proven to reduce waste and energy consumption. [16]
54. 3D printing will adopt the use of more specialized materials to meet the criteria in specialized fields. [16]
55. The next frontier of 3D printing will be to move from small models and fixtures to functional end-use parts in mass production.  [6]

Since the beginning, additive manufacturing has pushed the limits on creativity and production, and now it promises to do the same on a larger scale.

For 3D printing to achieve the monumental tasks ahead, speed and design capabilities need to be at the forefront of manufacturers’ goals to accommodate the growing need for this technology.

Sources:

[1] https://www.sculpteo.com/en/3d-learning-hub/basics-of-3d-printing/the-history-of-3d-printing/ 

[2] https://cloudtweaks.com/2015/03/3d-printing-history-organs/ 

[3] https://www.statista.com/statistics/590113/worldwide-market-for-3d-printing/

[4] https://www.statista.com/topics/1969/additive-manufacturing-and-3d-printing/#topicOverview 

[5] https://www.statista.com/statistics/315386/global-market-for-3d-printers/ 

[6] https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/3d-printing-industry-analysis 

[7] https://facts.net/3d-printing-facts/

[8] https://www.3dsourced.com/3d-printers/how-much-does-a-3d-printer-cost-price/#h-3d-printer-price-guide 

[9]https://www.stratasys.com/contentassets/1bcbb899100b4f0db586d1daa9489f27/stratasys-case-study-cad-oct19.pdf?v=48fa53 

[10] https://investingnews.com/daily/tech-investing/emerging-tech-investing/top-3d-printing-companies/ 

[11] https://wohlersassociates.com/press-releases/new-wohlers-report-2021-finds-7-5-growth-in-additive/ 

[12] https://news.adidas.com/running/4dfwd–data-driven-3d-printed-performance-technology-designed-to-move-you-forward/s/514baddb-1029-4686-abd5-5ee3985a304a 

[13] https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/3d-printing-healthcare-market 

[14] https://www.globenewswire.com/en/news-release/2021/07/06/2258303/0/en/Revenues-from-3D-Printed-Prosthetics-Orthotics-and-Audiology-to-Reach-Almost-1-Billion-by-2030-According-to-New-SmarTech-Report.html 

[15] https://www.designnews.com/automation/predictions-future-3d-printing 

[16] https://www.jabil.com/blog/future-of-3d-printing-additive-manufacturing-looks-bright.html

With the help of additive manufacturing, robots can now perform important functions with agility and precision, from gesture-controlled arms to humanoid helpers that learn as they interact with our world.

In this article, I’ll share some of the most impressive advancements made possible by 3D printing robotics.

From educational bots that teach basic programming to futuristic humanoids and adorable robotic pets, additive manufacturing is ushering in the next generation of innovative and accessible robotics.

Humanoid Robots

3D printed humanoid robotics have come a long way since Boston Dynamic’s Atlas famously fell over to the internet’s delight, and here we’ll look at some of the coolest and most impressive models that are only improving over time.

Reachy

• Learn More: Pollen Robotics

Pollen Robotics was founded in 2016 with the goal of releasing open-source software and hardware innovations for a variety of purposes. Their most notable achievement is Reachy, an expressive and versatile partially 3D printed robot that can be programmed and reprogrammed at will.

With three different varieties, this cute and functional robot is perfect for both educators and professionals alike. It can be programmed in Python or ROS and be used to prototype and test various AI capabilities and hardware applications.

ED-A

• Learn More: GWAS Tech

Less cute but no less impressive than Reachy is the 3D printed ED-A – or ‘Eddie’ – by GWAS Tech. It was printed using common filaments like PLA, PETG, and ABS, and was designed and programmed by one man.

Eddie can move, manipulate objects, and even talk using complicated AI programs that can identify and even share opinions on household objects. It may look like something from a sci-fi horror movie, but if you check out the creator’s various videos on YouTube you’ll agree that this 3D printed robot is one impressive piece of tech.

ASPIR V2

• Learn More: John Choi

The ASPIR V2 was born from the desire to see a humanoid robot that fell between the two categories of ‘toy’ and ‘advanced tech’. With an impressive 33 degrees of freedom, giving it insane maneuverability. For reference, the Reachy robot discussed above has 7 degrees of freedom.

If you’re looking to print all 90 parts of the ASPIR V2 yourself, then you’ll need to prepare to use 5kg of PLA and be willing to wait through a 300-hour printing time. You’ll also need to make sure your printer has an absolute minimum build area of 250x250x250mm.

Atlas

Learn More: Boston Dynamics

Boston Dynamics is one of the first places most people think of when talking about advances in robotics. Their strides in tech have led them to Atlas, a humanoid robot with 3D printed legs that can move and walk with incredible accuracy. 

Atlas can learn as it goes, using a highly precise 3D scanner to identify obstacles and other things in its path and moving to avoid them, all while dedicating what it learns to memory. Its agile movements are thanks to a combination of aluminum and titanium alongside lightweight 3D printed parts.

InMoov

Despite being one of the oldest robotic projects around, InMoov, invented by French sculptor and designer Gael Langevin, has been reenergized by the 3D printing industry and is once more paving the way for future development.

Starting as a single prosthetic hand, and advancing to being a full upper body as of now, InMoov is limited in its functions, restricted to simple movements and gestures, but has many intricate parts that move independently, including fingers and eyes.

However, that is not what makes InMoov special. What does is the fact that the designs are publicly available on their website, and the code is open-source, meaning anyone can print or modify InMoov themselves in their own home, and program it using community-created code.

All you need to build your own model is a desktop 3D printer with a 12 x 12 x 12 cm build volume, three servo motors, an Arduino Uno and Mega microcontroller, and MyRobot Lab and Python scripting software, as well as the required printing materials.

Naturally, InMoov is a favorite of laboratories and universities, and is used for teaching computing and programming. But the truly accessible nature of such an advanced model is a good omen for the future of 3D printed robotics.

Poppy

Poppy is a bipedal humanoid robot developed by Matthieu Lapeyre for his PhD thesis and first produced in the Flowers Laboratory in Bordeaux in 2012. Poppy is entirely 3D printed and is capable of fluid movement, including walking.

Much like InMoov, Poppy is an open-source project and the building blocks are available for any hobbyist or professional to access and reproduce. Poppy is also scalable, meaning that, with the right mechanical components, it can be produced in any size to either fit or maximize the build volume of any 3D printer.

The simplicity of the design means that components can be added or removed to reproduce at mass market levels, allowing anyone to have their own Poppy built to their custom characteristics. And she can be programmed with any number of choice commands.

Poppy’s web interface allows the user to pre-program tasks to be carried out without any need for further input, meaning you can leave your house and let Poppy act independently.

Giving anyone the ability to print these robots from home, 3D printing is democratizing a once-exclusive industry. This is the future that 3D printing has always promised to bring.

Educational Robots

3D printing robots for educational purposes is a fantastic way to get your first steps in 3D printing, mechanical engineering, and AI programming. Here are some of the best 3D printed robots for use in classrooms and beyond.

Jimmy the Robot

• Learn More: 21st Century Robot

Jimmy the Robot is an adorable and highly customizable 3D printed robot that’s available as both a toy and an educational tool for both robotics and basic programming. Using 3D printing for more versatile components, Jimmy’s exterior can look however you like, and his programming is entirely open source and available as learning tools for people with little or no programming experience.

The basic programming allows for balance, gait, and movement, while the more advanced codes will allow for social interaction, learning, and face recognition.

IMA Juno

• Learn More: Juno Instructions

If you’re eager to learn about basic robotics and 3D printing but are concerned your lack of experience will hold you back, then look no further than the IMA Juno model

Juno is an excellent first step in learning how to make and program your own 3D printed robots. Much like how Lego instructions teach kids the basics of architecture and design components, the instructions in the link above will show you basic construction, wiring, and motor configuration.

Buddy the Social Robot

• Learn More: Instructables

Curiosity is what makes robots so fascinating, a programmed will and capacity to learn and memorize is as impressive as it is endearing, and it’s the endearing side that makes Buddy here my favorite educational robot on this list.

The Wall-E-inspired educational robot teaches as much as it learns, reacting to and seeking to identify anything placed in its vicinity. The exterior case is easily 3D printed and assembled, and the easy-to-use code can be manipulated in the most basic of programs, making Buddy an ideal model for schools to introduce students to programming language.

LittleArm V3

• Learn More: Instructables

The LittleArm V3 was designed with STEM education in mind, so it’s the perfect starting place for teaching about articulation, design, and programming in robotics. It was funded by well over twice the asking amount on Kickstarter, making it one of the most popular 3D printed robots for educational purposes on this list.

The V3 simply means the design was perfected over various renditions, needing fewer parts and screws, as well as making the design sturdier and able to withstand tinkering and playing to make it an ideal addition to any classroom.

Robotic Arms

3D printed robotic arms offer flexibility and added points of articulation and freedom compared to those made with standard manufacturing techniques. Because of this, 3D printing is used to make versatile robotic arms and hands capable of more dexterous movements than would otherwise be possible.

Gesture-Controlled Arduino Arm

• Learn More: SmartBuilds
• STL Files: Gripper, Turntable, Arm, Glove

Gesture controlled robotic arms seem incredibly futuristic and complex, but the designer of this Arduino Arm has made sure to make it an accessible and freely available project for anyone eager to learn more about remote-operated 3D printed robots.

The glove is designed to fit an average adult male’s hands, but since you’ll want it to be as accurate as possible, it’s worth noting that you may need to alter the design in your slicer software to fit your own hand size.

SCARA

• Learn More: How To Mechatronics

Another 3D printed robot arm that you can make at home today is the SCARA arm. Using a mix of PLA and PLA+, the total print time was around 120 hours at 60mm/s, but the designer has suggested that this can be shortened depending on your filament and printer capabilities.

The arm itself requires quite a few extra pieces to fully assemble, which creator Dejan has listed out along with the instructions to make sure you have everything you need to print and program this 3D printed robot arm yourself.

Ai Build

In the 3D printing manufacturing sector, companies like Ai build have commercialized the service of 3D printing using robotic arms. They offer a service for printing anything using a range of different materials in a quicker and more cost-effective way than ever before.

The process works in two combined aspects. Ai Sync is a cloud platform that allows clients to upload CAD designs, then automates the entire production process. These monitoring capabilities include detecting imperfections in the part, to the robot’s efficiency and more. Alongside this is the Ai Maker, which is a series of multi-dimension robotic arms with built-in 3D printing technology that uses artificial intelligence to program the system to print.

Ai Build claim that not only is their process cheaper than traditional manufacturing methods, but even cheaper than other forms of 3D printing, while producing next to zero waste material or human labor. It also reduces production times dramatically.

Their technology has seen applications in the defense, aviation, construction and energy sectors, and they list a number of case studies that demonstrate the benefits of the process over other methods. They are able to use nearly any 3D printable material, from plastics to metals and even concrete for varied applications, and they even offer a subscription service for frequent orders.

Zoomorphic Robots

3D printed robot animals and pets have fascinated and delighted households for years. They can be fun, educational, and even handy to have around the house if programmed with enough skill.

Here are a few 3D printed zoomorphic robots inspired by animal movements to further develop maneuverability.

Strandbeest

Strandbeests are designed to move along with the wind and even store energy so they can still move temporarily in lower breezes. Naturally, it didn’t take long for people to start looking for ways to 3D print robotic versions of these mechanical marvels.

Because of the relatively simple shapes, a 3D printed robotic strandbeest is a great way to teach the importance of mechanical accuracy, balance, and deceptively simple engineering practices.

Flexoskeletons

• Learn More: Jacobs School of Engineering

Flexoskeletons were a breakthrough for miniature robotics. Inspired by the agile movements of insects, the University of San Diego’s Jacobs School of Engineering created the method to make smaller, cheaper, and more articulate 3D printed robots.

The process involves 3D printing small, interchangeable parts that are attached to a soft body instead of a rigid one to allow for more fluid movements. Each part takes less than $1 worth of filament with a 10-minute printing time, and can be achieved on home printers.

Opencat

• STL Files: Google Drive

Robotic pets have been the dream of many households, providing all of the companionship and fun with none of the mess or allergies. This open-source 3D printed robot cat is a fun project that anyone can undertake to print and assemble their own rudimentary robot cat that moves and even lies down like a real kitten.

It’s printed using PLA and can be made on any household printer, and the electronic components are designed to work with a Bluetooth controller to remotely manipulate the kitten’s movements.

Kame

• Learn More: GitHub

It may only be the googly eyes that make this arachnid 3D printed robot cute, but you can’t deny its simplicity makes it an accessible model for anyone who wants to 3D print their own mini walking robot to shamble around their home.

It’s an easy design that’s built to be solid and survive a little abuse, making it a great toy for children that doubles as an educational tool for teaching basic robotics and movement programming.

Vorpal

• Learn More: Vorpal Robotics

Vorpal Robotics specializes in cute 3D printed robot octopi that move fluidly and are perfectly safe for children to play with.

They’re perfect for either the home or classroom, as the kits are available for sale and are targeted towards learners and 3D printing veterans alike as a new and cute introduction to 3D printed robotics.

Simple Robopets

If you want to 3D print your own robopet but find those we’ve looked at so far to be a little too complex, you can instead try your hand at 3D printing one of the many easier robopets available online.

The Boston Dynamics-inspired pet above is a simple print for anyone to try out, while the robot dog featured in the video below is a slightly more complex print for those of you looking for a larger project.

In any case, you’ll find plenty of high- and low-tech 3D printed robopets out there to try out today regardless of your 3D printing experience.

Small-Scale 3D Printed Robots

3D printing robots on smaller scales is made increasingly more possible with miniature programming tools like Raspberry Pi boards and Arduino technology. Here are some of the coolest (and cutest) of these miniature 3D printed robots you can print and program yourself today.

Xpider

• Learn More: Hackaday

Called the ‘world’s cutest spider robot’, the Xpider is a mini 3D printed arachnid robot weighing only 5.3oz. It’s also designed to be fitted with a camera so you can monitor the world from a point of view you never otherwise get to see.

The 3D printed mini spider navigates to objects automatically and can be programmed to include pathfinding or even free roam so you can see how a robot navigates your house and even use your coding knowledge to teach and improve it over time.

LittleBot

• Learn More: Instructables

3D printed miniature robots don’t get simpler in design than the LittleBot, a fun and educational toy robot that acts as an introduction to electrical engineering and 3D printing robot chassis. 

You will find all the information and assembly instructions you need in the Instructables link above, including any extra components you will need to source. But unfortunately, the original LittleBot website no longer exists, so you will have to find or write the code yourself.

SMARS

• Learn More: 3DELWORLD
• STL Files: Thingiverse

The cutest robot on this list since Buddy, the SMARS miniature 3D printed robot takes advantage of the Arduino Uno microcontroller board to create a tiny robot companion that’s as adorable as it is impressive. The code includes pathfinding and obstacle identification, so it can roam free around your home and learn as it travels.

SMARS is a modular 3D printed robot, meaning it’s designed to be added to and improved at your own discretion. This makes it a fantastic project for anyone who wants a solid base on which to build and test out their skills in 3D printing, robotics modification, and programming.

5-in-1 Arduino Robot

• Learn More: Instructables

One of the smallest and most versatile 3D printed robots is the 5-in-1 Arduino Robot that uses the updated ATmega328P microcontroller to balance 5 different functions in one tiny package. These functions include following, obstacle detection, drawing, tracking, and SUMO. The last of those involves pitting two different models against each other Robot Wars style.

It can be printed on any FDM printer with just about any filament, though if you plan on using SUMO mode more often then I recommend using a strong filament like PETG to avoid excess damage.

The History of 3D Printed Robotics

The first modern robots were invented in the 1950s by American inventor George C. Devol. His earliest prototypes for the ‘Unimate,’ a programmable system of transporting objects, used crude vacuum tubes and digital switches.

In the decades since, with improvements in production methods and computing, we have reached a point where not only are robotic systems used on an industrial scale, but artificial intelligence allows them to run without human input.

How 3D Printing is Helping Modern Robotics

In recent years, 3D printing has become a crucial component in the robotics industry. 3D printing can produce far more accurate parts for robotics projects with less wasted material. Using Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) or Directed Energy Deposition (DED), metal products can be produced much cheaper than with traditional manufacturing methods.

3D printing companies like Stratasys have experimented with fitting 3D printing technology to existing robotic production tools. In 2016, they revealed their Robotic Composite 3D Demonstrator.

By fitting their own FDM technology to an industrial 8-axis motion arm, they were able to use deposition 3D printing to produce some of the largest parts ever made on 3D printers. This also had the added benefit of allowing freeform manufacturing with more intricate designs much quicker than with existing 3D printers.

And the increasing availability of 3D printing to hobbyists has made previously exclusive robotics more accessible than ever before. Open source robot projects like InMoov and Poppy are available for anyone do download and print on a desktop 3D printer, bringing robotics into the home like never before.

With 3D printing becoming an ever-greater fixture of the industry, here are the two main areas of robotics in which 3D printing has made the most difference:

The Main Forms of 3D Printed Robotics

Hard Robotics

Hard robotics are robots that are made with strong, rigid structures, able to move only through actuators, a component that facilitates mechanical movement, at joints between parts.

Most of today’s robots are made using hard robotics, including the recently landed NASA Mars Rover Perseverance. They are much easier to construct and program, as well as being much stronger.

NASA has stated that 3D printing has helped to reduce the mass of these components by three or four times, which has helped to reduce fuel consumption, both of the lander and the Rover.

Almost all 3D printing on Earth focuses on metals and plastics. These are relatively easy to mold materials, and they are extremely strong and durable. Hard robotics relies on these materials and the precision 3D printing allows makes complex components far easier to produce.

Many 3D printed robotics projects use 3D printing to produce both the metal skeleton as well as plastic covering using a more targeted and customizable process than with other methods.

Engineers can now design and print their models with microscopic accuracy, reducing waste material and making parts lighter.

Soft Robotics

Comparatively, soft robotics is a much younger industry, but no less promising. It differs from hard robotics as it uses more flexible materials with actuators built throughout the structure, allowing animal-like free movement.

Already we are seeing designs and prototypes for robotic shoe insoles for helping those who struggle to walk by aiding with balance and reducing discomfort for those with flat feet, and even life jackets with mechanical components built in to help the wearer stay afloat.

Synthetic plastics like silicone are perfect for this but are very difficult to mold in a way that withstands stress by traditional methods.

Professors at Oregon State University conducted a study in 2018 to compare silicone 3D printing in soft robotics to traditional molding, and found that 3D printing greatly reduced deficiencies in human error, manual handling and multistep fabrication.

The Future of 3D Printed Robotics

A major area 3D printed robotics could revolutionize is 3D printing robotics in medicine.

While 3D printing has been previously used in the construction of prosthetics, combining this with robotics could allow amputees to have robotic limbs connected to their nervous system, allowing them to move as if they were a real limb.

Early experiments into 3D printed soft robotic prosthetic hands, which would look more realistic, have shown them to be functional and lightweight, yet not quite ready to handle the rigor of regular use, although hard robotics hands are becoming more common, with robotic surgical arms similar to those used in manufacturing.

This could change the way we treat internal injuries, broken bones, or even diseases like cancer.

Wearable robotics could also help to augment the human body and improve lifting or movement strength, particularly useful for an aging population.

Key Takeaways

• Medical: 3D printing can create customized dental tools, prosthetics, organs, and skin for better patient care and treatment.
• Shelters: 3D printing can build affordable, sustainable, and personalized homes in a short time, addressing housing shortages and homelessness².
• Vehicles: 3D printing can produce innovative and efficient cars, boats, and even lunar infrastructure, accelerating automotive and aerospace development³.
• Wearables: 3D printing can merge fashion and technology with unique and intricate garments, shoes, jewelry, and costumes⁴.

3D printing has a lot of uses outside of the decorative or fun things we all start with. From rapid prototyping in the automotive industry to 3D printing living tissue, the additive manufacturing process is revolutionizing a lot of important industries.

Here we’ll look at some of the best uses for 3D printers across many different fields, including everything from wearable to edible and even medical devices.

Medical

3D printing in the medical industry has allowed for the rapid manufacturing of much-needed dental tools and prosthetics and has even seen breakthroughs in making living tissues and transplantable organs.

Dental

3D printing for dental use allows for cheaper and more personalized fittings that take very little time to print and significantly increase patient satisfaction.

Implants and Crowns

Dental implants are made using 3D scanners to create molds accurate to a patient’s mouth. Using 3D printing with castable resins, they can then be made on-site and often on the same day.

Dentures

Using similar techniques, 3D printed dentures can be made to suit an individual patient’s mouth instead of a slightly modified off-the-shelf model. Using specific dental 3D scanners, anyone can get dentures that are a perfect fit without any additional hassle caused by more traditional manufacturing methods.

Retainers and Aligners

Dental 3D printing can be cosmetic too. Just like with dental implants, retainers and aligners can be 3D printed in a matter of hours and be specific to an individual. Using 3D printing in the manufacturing process cuts not only cost and wait times, but also improves comfort and reliability.

Prosthetics

• Learn More: 3D Printed Prosthetics

3D printed prosthetics are far cheaper and faster to make than their conventionally manufactured counterparts. And with 1 in 1,900 newborns in the US being born with a limb difference and around 2.1 million Americans living with limb loss today, the demand is high.

Limbitless Solutions

Limbetless Solutions specializes in 3D printed prosthetics for children, taking advantage of additive manufacturing techniques to save on money as well as make customizable prosthetic limbs to match the child’s preferences. The files used to model these prints are saved so bigger models can be made as the child grows.

LifeNabled

LifeNabled makes good use of 3D printing to make effective and affordable prosthetics for the underprivileged people of the Petén. After seeing the dismal conditions in which the free prosthetics clinic in Guatemala was run, founder Brent Wright researched 3D printed prosthetics to create LifeNabled, providing much-needed prostheses to those who otherwise could not afford or access them.

E-Nable

E-Nable, or Enabling The Future, began life as a cosplay piece that caught the attention of an amputee, leading to one of the biggest collaborative 3D printed prosthetics organizations in the world. Designs like the Cyborg Beast and models for functional hand, wrist, and elbow prosthetics are already helping to change the world.

Bioprinting

• Learn More: 3D Printed Organs

Approximately one-third of organ transplants are lost to rejection, and there are no treatments that guarantee success. But with 3D printed organs, the patient’s own cells are used so there is no chance of the body rejecting it.

With the addition of metal 3D printing to make implantable joints, bone segments, and even entire bone structures unique to a patient’s specifications, bioprinting shows significant promise in the medical field.

Skin

Cited as an ‘easy band-aid’ in 2019, 3D printed skin has come a long way in recent years. Printing functioning follicles for hair growth and working sweat glands and other properties are being achieved and perfected year by year.

Hearts

While 3D printed hearts are still largely theoretical, an exciting breakthrough by the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in June 2023 showed a lot of promise. The study used human cells and bioprinting to create miniature ventricles that could actually keep rhythm like a human heart.

Kidneys

Kidneys are amongst the most in-demand organs for transplant, and the supply is dwindling to the point where many people are waiting upwards of two and a half years for a donor.

3D printing functional kidneys is no longer the pipe dream it once was, as studies in late 2022 found significant data that cell-based bioprinted kidneys could be the key to complication-free transplants in the near future. 

Livers

Despite their unique regenerative abilities, livers are also amongst the most in-demand organs for transplant. While it is unfortunate that, according to this 2022 study, transplantable 3D printed livers are still a long way off, the upside is that 3D printed livers are already being used to research the causes, effects, and treatments of liver-specific diseases.

Shelters

• Learn More: 3D Printed House Projects

In the midst of a worldwide housing shortage, the use of concrete 3D printers offers super fast, cheap, and automated house building. They work based on digital CAD files, reducing the need for time-eating design processes or numerous skilled builders.

New Story

Non-profit building company New Story uses 3D printing to construct cheap, sustainable homes in a total of 24 hours over a period of several days using only local and zero-waste materials. They’re a donation-based company, using every penny towards their relatively inexpensive production (~$10,000 per house) in the hopes of putting a sizable dent in homelessness statistics, aiming to have homed 1 million people by 2030.

ICON

3D printed construction companies don’t come much bigger than ICON, a Texas-based construction company using 3D printing to create beautiful, sustainable living spaces like the suburban fantasy Genesis Collection to the affordable Initiative 99. Applications for the latter, which costs less than $100,000 to build, are open now.

Project Olympus

NASA-funded Project Olympus is another ICON project designed to 3D print shelters and even roads for long-term habitation on the moon. Started in 2020 with a budget of $57.2 million, and continues to this day. The plan not only involves building homes for explorers as part of a larger lunar base, but also launchpads and other infrastructure using actual lunar and martian resources.

Vehicles

Additive manufacturing has been used in the automotive industry for quite some time, overtaking traditional manufacturing processes by allowing for low-cost rapid prototyping and 3D printing lighter parts for more efficient vehicles.

Cars

• Learn More: 3D Printed Cars

BMW iX5 Hydrogen

First getting wheels on roads in February 2023, the BMW iX5 Hydrogen is designed to be one of the most energy-efficient cars in both development and use. By combining 3D printing with their hydrogen fuel cell technology, BMW has shown us a very bright future in the field of 3D printing cars.

Local Motors Strati

Now defunct company Local Motors didn’t leave us with nothing, as their Strati became the foundations for our hopes for fully 3D printed cars. Many companies took heed of the design, which was an electric car printed in only 44 hours, to create some of the newer models and designs we see today.

Czinger 21C

One of the newest and most impressive 3D printed supercars is the Czinger 21C, created from the notable Divergent Blade. At $2 million, it is a 3D printed luxury vehicle that combines function with architecture to create a real automotive work of art.

Car Parts

• Learn More: 3D Printed Car Parts for Restoration

3D printing is used to bring back classic cars that have been around so long that there are no replacement parts available. Elvis’ BMW 507 was famously found and restored using 3D printed parts that would have been otherwise difficult to source. This is done by using 3D scanners to recreate older mechanisms and converting the results into STL files for easy printing.

Boats

• Learn More: 3D Printed Boats

3Dirigo

The University of Maine’s 3Dirigo is one of the most impressive 3D printed boats ever made. Printed in only 72 hours, it stands at a whopping 7.62 meters long, earning it two world records including ‘largest 3D printed boat’ and ‘largest 3D printed solid object’. 

Tanaruz Boats

Netherlands-based company Tanaruz Boats uses 3D printing’s wide range of customization options to make bespoke, personalized 3D printed boats to each customer’s specifications and preferences. After a company overhaul in 2023, their base model Ozare 6.5 is their main feature boat ready for customization and printing.

Autonomous Ferry

Preparing to welcome athletes and spectators to the 2024 olympics in Paris, Roboat, Holland Shipyard, and Sequana Développement collaborated to 3D print an autonomous ferry to carry passengers along the Seine.

Wearable 3D Printing

3D printed clothes and even high fashion have proven increasingly popular. 

Most of these garments are still a good while off from hitting the shelves in your local outlets, but with innovations in the future, 3D printed clothes offer customization and new designs never seen before.

Garments

• Learn More: 3D Printed Clothing

High Fashion

High-end fashion designers like Danit Peleg and Julia Daviy have taken to 3D printing to create custom, intricate designs for their lines. They achieve this largely by using flexible filaments that can complement the body’s contours like TPU.

Costumes

2018’s Black Panther featured Wakanda, a utopia that combined traditional African culture with modern-day settings, and they needed the clothing to match. To blend these two looks seamlessly (pun intended), designer Julia Koerner used 3D printing to create many of the more intricate costumes seen in the movie.

Kinematics Dress

The Kinematics Dress was designed to overcome the main challenge of 3D printing clothing, the brittle nature of most filaments. They achieved this by 3D printing a dress made of small interlocking parts that act like small hinges, allowing them to move with the body instead of against it.

Shoes & Sneakers

• Learn More: 3D Printed Shoes

Paris Fashion Week

3D printing has had a huge impact on the footwear industry. Dior revealed their line of 3D printed shoes in Paris Fashion Week in 2023, and Reebok is using its line of 3D printed footwear to combine fashion with athleticism.

Zellerfeld

To get your hands on a pair of custom 3D printed shoes at an affordable price, you can get your own bespoke pair from trailblazing company Zellerfeld. They print their shoes to order and customize them to suit each customer, the shoes are also 100% recyclable and can be sent back to the company to be made into new pairs!

Record-Breaking 3D Printed Shoes

The Nike Zoom Vaporfly Elite Flyprint trainers, or Vaporfly, are made with a 3D printed TPU fabric designed for strength and flexibility. These trainers were famously worn when Eliud Kipchoge broke the 2 hour marathon record. While the record itself is disputed, these shoes certainly still made their mark and are now available as the Nike ZoomX Vaporfly.

Jewelry

• Learn More: 3D Printed Jewelry

Thanks to the capabilities of even low-cost resin 3D printers, anyone can make their own 3D printed jewelry to some extent. Even consumer printers from Elegoo and Anycubic are good enough to create resin molds that can be used for “lost wax casting” to create gold and diamond jewelry. These designs can be saved as custom STL files to be replicated, shared, or sold.

Rapid Prototyping

• Learn More: What is Rapid Prototyping?

Before 3D printers, prototyping was a lengthy process as testing new prototypes could take days or weeks. With 3D printing, new prototypes could be printed in hours, tested for effectiveness, and then changed and improved in CAD software based on the results.

Heavily used across the car and automotive, engineering, aerospace, and architecture industries, 3D printing for prototyping has significantly sped up development in a lot of important fields.

Food

• Learn More: 3D Printed Food

Standard FDM 3D printers extrude melted plastics, layer by layer, to create a final 3D object. Therefore, by replacing the plastic extruder with a special paste extruder, food 3D printers can create 3D printed meals in a variety of delicious edible materials, and in custom designs.

Food Ink.

Hipster restaurant pop-ups have appeared across big cities, offering pretty plates of 3D printed food at luxury prices. Food Ink. is one of the more impressive examples, as their flagship restaurant is entirely 3D printed from the furniture to the food.

3D Printed Pizza

Currently, home food 3D printers are limited to chocolate and other simple food ingredients, but innovative, more expensive food printers are beginning to be able to create pizzas and even meat. Beehex, a NASA-funded company, developed the technology to 3D print pizzas in space!

Replicated Meat

A number of startups, like Novameat and Redefine Meat have made incredible progress into 3D printing meat. Both of them specialize in synthesizing and 3D printing cruelty-free meat products that are indistinguishable from the real thing in both taste and texture.

In this guide, I’ll reveal how 3D printing is helping engineers produce space projects like rovers, spacesuits, and even engines for use in active space missions, with drastic improvements in efficiency.

3D Printing Shelters for Space

Mars Dune Alpha Habitat

• Company: NASA
• Technology: Vulcan Construction System
• Purpose: Researching a functioning human habitat on the moon and eventually Mars

In June 2023, a simulation began in the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

This is phase one of the Mars Dune Alpha Project by NASA. Assuming all goes well, the volunteer crew will spend a year in this simulation, emulating life on the red planet as realistically as possible, including delayed contact times.

The data extracted from this mission will provide valuable insights into the behavioral and social effects of such a mission, but also the viability of 3D printed space shelters for long-term living and storage.

The mission is due for further trials on the moon in 2025, before hopefully being used for a real Mars mission in 2026 and beyond.

AI Spacefactory

• Company: AI Spacefactory
• Technology: ISRU resource finding and utilization
• Purpose: Building safe and sustainable shelters for space habitation

Companies like AI Space Factory have designed Martian dwellings that could be 3D printed from local materials such as basalt. 

Their Marsha Project proposes tall, thin structures capable of withstanding Mars’ harsh atmospheric and thermal pressures.

However, these Martian habitats, like their lunar counterparts, would need to overcome numerous challenges, including dust control and thermal management. They’re mimicking these environments on earth to find innovative ways of ensuring construction is safe and involves the least amount of destruction to nature as possible.

3D Printing in Spacecraft & Rockets

SpaceX and Boeing Embrace 3D Printing

• Company: SpaceX and Boeing
• Technology: Ultem 9085 3D Printing Thermoplastics
• Purpose: Using 3D printing to simplify the construction of complex parts

Both SpaceX and Boeing utilize hundreds of 3D printed parts in their machinery, taking advantage of the capacity to print in-house.

Given the need for accurate, light, and robust components, 3D printing is perfectly suited to this industry where rocket parts don’t need to be mass-produced.

In 2022, Boeing unveiled an update to their use of 3D printing to launch multi-purpose, taking advantage of both rapid prototyping and 3D printed parts to make a flexible alternative to traditional manufacturing.

Relativity Space and the 3D-Printed Rocket Revolution

• Company: Relativity Space
• Technology: STARGATE large format 3D printing
• Purpose: Developing mostly-entirely 3D printed rockets for efficient construction and flight

Relativity Space has taken 3D printing to the next level, boasting the world’s largest metal 3D printer in their Stargate factory. By embracing advanced machine-learning, analytics, and 3D printing, the company aims to reduce the traditionally labor-intensive process of building rockets, resulting in fewer parts and lower costs.

The company’s flagship rocket, the Terran I, is 90% 3D printed, and is designed to launch up to 1,250kg into low-earth orbit and is touted as one of the most cost-effective launchers globally.

The Terran I saw its first launch 3 years after being announced in 2015, with its first flight occurring in March 2023.

This pilot launch met an unfortunate end, however, as an engine failure prevented the rocket from successfully reaching orbit.

Rocket Lab Leaps into 3D Printing

• Company: Rocket Lab
• Technology: High end FDM 3D printing
• Purpose: Prove the efficiency and purpose of 3D printed engines in rockets

Rocket Labs has had a very successful 2023, revealing that their 3D printed Rutherford engine has been reinvented once again for more launches.

This 3D printed Rutherford engine powers the Electron Rocket, which includes a 3D printed combustion chamber, injector, main propellant valves, and pump. The company has 3D printed over 260 models of the Rutherford engine, resulting in lighter, cheaper satellite launches.

NASA RAMPT Project

• Company: NASA
• Technology: Direct Energy Deposition
• Purpose: Cutting cost and production time without sacrificing reliability

NASA has frequently utilized 3D printing in their space research and plans. NASA’s RAMPT project, for example, 3D printed rocket parts including nozzles, thrust chambers, and even propulsion chambers, reducing the number of components and weight.

In 2020, the RAMPT project was used to print a new rocket nozzle. At 40 inches in diameter, it was the largest rocket nozzle they’d ever made.

The Audi Lunar Quattro: Pioneering 3D-Printed Space Rovers

• Company: Audi
• Technology: FDM 3D printing
• Purpose: Use 3D printing to ensure longevity and survivability of technology in harsh extraterrestrial environments

Designed with 3D printed aluminum and titanium solar panels, the Audi Lunar Quattro demonstrates the potential of lightweight, efficient designs for future interplanetary exploration.

Although the Quattro did not go to space in 2021 as intended, the concept has not gone unnoticed. Nano3Dprint announced a partnership with Finite Space in May 2023 to use 3D printing for sustainable space travel and habitation, beginning with a 3D printed lunar rover.

3D Printing Tools in Space

European Space Agency (ESA)

• Company: ESA
• Technology: Various
• Purpose: Aiding space exploration with multi-purpose, lightweight 3D printed tools

After announcing plans for a 3D printed lunar base in 2013, the European Space Agency (ESA) has taken to 3D printing to help with a lot of mechanical complexities and issues. The bend-based mechanism, which you can see below, is one of their 3D printed innovations from 2023.

It may look like a mess, but this mechanism is important for stabilizing and allowing frictionless rotation of geared mechanisms like thrusters and telescopes.

In partnering with other companies like CSEM and 3D Precision SA, the ESA is continuing to improve their work by utilizing additive manufacturing.

While their lunar base has run into some issues, largely due to the moon’s atmosphere not being suitable for most 3D printing projects, they have high hopes for the future of 3D printing in space exploration.

Made In Space

• Company: Made in Space (now acquired)
• Technology: FDM Printing
• Purpose: To ensure astronauts can create bespoke tools and equipment mid-mission

In 2014, Made in Space sent an Additive Manufacturing Facility (AMF), a zero-gravity FDM 3D printer, to the International Space Station (ISS). It was the first of its kind, with no other 3D printer ever sent to space before this.

The AMF, which has a 6 x 6 x 6 inch print volume, can 3D print with ABS, ULTEM 9085, and HDPE materials. The 3D printer has successfully produced parts like a wrench, an antenna part, and a connector for free-flying robots while orbiting Earth.

In the event of an unforeseen issue on the ISS, astronauts can now have the tools or parts they need to fix the problem designed on Earth and remotely sent to Made in Space’s 3D printer on the ISS, which is 250 miles away.

Unfortunately, there has been no further news since Made in Space was acquired by aerospace manufacturing company Redwire in 2020.

Tethers Unlimited

• Company: Tethers Unlimited
• Technology: FDM 3D printing with recyclable parts
• Purpose: To make sustainable 3D printing solutions for space exploration

Tethers Unlimited shipped a ReFabricator to the ISS in February 2019, enabling astronauts to recycle waste materials that accumulate while in space. This high-performance polymer printer can also recycle these parts back into feedstock for re-use.

The company’s CEO, Rob Hoyt, envisions astronauts using this technology to manufacture and recycle food-safe utensils.

3D Printing Food in Space

NASA and BeeHex

• Company: BeeHex Automation
• Technology: Food 3D printing
• Purpose: Allowing astronauts to enjoy nutritional and interesting 3D printed food in space

NASA is exploring 3D printing’s potential for producing food in space and has provided BeeHex with a $1 million investment to develop a 3D printed pizza.

By using specially-designed cartridges, 3D printable food ingredients for pizzas can be stored in a manner that significantly slows down spoiling along with other benefits like ease of transportation and reducing food waste, providing sustenance for astronauts on their journey into the far reaches of space.

To learn more, you can check out our detailed article on 3D printed food and some of the most mouthwatering projects here.

Ceramics

• Company: Redwire
• Technology: Ceramic 3D printing
• Purpose: Printing ceramics in zero-g to environments for stronger pieces

In 2020, Redwire-acquired company Made In Space tested a Ceramics Manufacturing Module (CMM) utilizing Stereolithography (SLA) to 3D print ceramic components in zero gravity. The zero-gravity environment alleviates intense stresses on the parts during the printing process, allowing for a more uniform stress distribution.

As a result, stronger, lighter parts can be created in space than on Earth. This approach may open the door for future manufacturing of high-performance ceramic turbine blades in Earth-orbiting additive manufacturing mini-factories. These parts could then be sent back to Earth for sale and use.

3D printing shoes allows companies like Reebok and Nike to design more complex footwear using materials previously thought unfeasible.

Allowing for complete customization, the best 3D printed shoes come from companies like Zellerfeld and FUSED, which can cater to any customer regardless of foot size or tastes.

This process removes the need for factories and warehouses, significantly reducing both cost and environmental impact, and the process continues to be refined even now in 2023.

In this guide I’ll walk you through some of my favorite 3D printed shoe projects that are changing how we look at the footwear industry.

Best 3D Printed Shoes Projects in 2023

Zellerfeld

• Best for: Affordable, custom-fit shoes with eco-friendly recycling options.
• Price: $185 – $370
• Learn More: Zellerfeld

Zellerfeld uses additive manufacturing to create unique and custom footwear that’s ‘printed, not made.’ They do this by using a fused mesh design to make their 3D printed shoes provide maximum comfort, perfectly sized, and printed to order.

Their collection of 3D printed shoe models is one of the most affordable around, and one of the reasons they can afford to make them so cheap compared to other high-end brands is because they don’t rely on factories.

As well as being made to fit, Zellerfeld 3D printed shoes are odor-protected and machine washable, making them convenient and easy to take care of as well as comfortable. You can also return old shoes when purchasing new ones for recycling to receive a discount on your next pair!

Dior Derby

• Best for: Fashion-forward individuals seeking lightweight and comfortable designer shoes.
• Price: $250+
• Learn More: Design Boom

The first Paris Fashion Week of the year may have wrapped back in January, but a lot of the product lines displayed are still being talked about today. One of the more interesting entries, at least to me, was the 3D printed shoes exhibited by Dior.

These shoes were essentially upgrades to the Carlo Derby shoe, which was 3D scanned and recreated using additive manufacturing. Despite their heavy, boot-like appearance, they’re ultra-lightweight, comfortable, and very easy to wear.

Botter

• Best for: Trendsetters looking for a blend of high-end design and practicality.
• Price: N/A
• Learn More: Sneaker News

Botter collaborated with Reebok to make what I think of as the world’s first 3D printed shoes that combine high fashion with sportswear. The footwear, also demonstrated in Fall/Winter Fashion Week 2023, combines high-end designs with comfortability and practicality.

While not on the market just yet, crowds were impressed by the amphibious aesthetic, smooth design, and seashell-inspired form based on the carapace Venus is depicted using as a comb.

Nike

• Best for: Athletes seeking performance-enhancing, water-resistant footwear.
• Price: $600+
• Learn More: Hype Beast

The Nike Flyprint was integral to the achievement of Eliud Kipchoge’s sub-2 hour marathon. Developed from a 3D printed upper made of TPU, and building on the the existing Vaporfly Elite, the Flyprint underwent thousands of design iterations.

Fortunately, the rapid prototyping capability of 3D printing cut the timescale of the project significantly, ending with a shoe that’s both lightweight and water-resistant.

Following the disputed record, the final design, the Nike ZoomX Vaporfly, is now available to the public for an admittedly steep price.

Adidas

• Best for: Sneaker enthusiasts and athletes wanting cutting-edge, research-backed shoes.
• Price: $150+
• Learn More: Adidas

Adidas has collaborated with Carbon 3D, a resin 3D printing company, to utilize their Digital Light Synthesis (DLS) technology for creating 3D printed sneakers. 3D printing reduced the lead time for new models, with the Futurecraft 4D taking only 11 months to release compared to the usual 15-18 months.

In 2021, Adidas unveiled the 4DFWD, a 3D printed running shoe designed for peak performance building on their Futurecraft technology. After coding millions of different midsole structures and meshes, they settled on the best form they found and created one of the world’s foremost performance-driven 3D printed shoes.

These shoes are both top quality, affordable, and were made building on years of research and prototyping, so it’s easy to see why sneaker and 3D printer enthusiasts are hyped about this series.

Reebok

• Best for: Runners valuing weight reduction, enhanced traction, and innovative design.
• Price: $189+
• Learn More: BASF

In 2016, Reebok introduced their 3D printed Liquid Speed shoe outsoles, developed in collaboration with BASF. The 3D printing allowed a 20% weight reduction in the shoes and the use of “liquid laces” – directly printed on the shoe and requiring no tying. The design also included a ‘liquid grip’ for enhanced traction, contributing to a ‘high-rebound outsole’ that absorbs and returns energy during running.

In 2018, Reebok released the Liquid Floatride Run, using the same technology and weighing just 170 grams each.

New Balance

• Best for: Consumers seeking advanced cushioning and weight-saving features in their trainers.
• Price: $400+
• Learn More: Bailiwick Express

New Balance partnered with 3D Systems in 2015 to develop flexible and shock absorbent Duraform Flex midsoles using SLS technology and thermoplastic elastomer material.

Building on this, they helped create “Rebound Resin” to further improve their shoes’ performance. They launched the 990 Sport trainer with 3D printed heels for weight savings and better cushioning.

The 2019 Fuel Cell Echo Triple also featured Rebound Resin 3D printed parts, which produced the limited-run Zanate Generate model.

Fused 3D Printed Shoes

• Best for: Environmentally conscious consumers wanting fully 3D printed, recyclable shoes.
• Price: $250+
• Learn More: Fused Footwear

FUSED Footwear is an indie 3D printed shoe company founded by Philippe Holthuizen, breaks industry norms by eliminating the need for large factories and mass production This makes them amongst the best 3D printed shoes for eco-conscious consumers.

The company offers two variations of its entirely 3D printed sneaker, the FUSED Kodo, available in white or translucent. Made from flexible TPE filament, the sneakers retail for $250, and customers receive a 20% discount on their next purchase if they return their worn-out shoes for recycling.

How do 3D Printed Shoes Work?

Market research has shown that the 3D printed footwear industry is worth as much as $993.22 million as of 2022, with the projection to grow to $3758.75 million by 2030. While this may seem ambitious, 3D printed shoes are already commonplace.

All major footwear brands use 3D printing for rapid prototyping, facilitating quicker and more precise mold creation, and expedited product launch. Companies like Reebok have been using additive manufacturing and 3D design for rapid prototyping for years.

However, 3D printing’s role has expanded over recent years to mass production of shoes. Shoes manufactured through the additive processes are now sold in hundreds of thousands across various familiar brands, especially after having been thrust into the spotlight in January 2023.

Most 3D printed shoes feature a 3D printed midsole, which is vital for absorbing impacts and maintaining foot health. 3D printed midsoles can potentially reduce weight, provide better foot cushioning, and enhance shoe strength.

Most 3D printed shoe projects involve resin 3D printers, with companies like Carbon and Formlabs partnering with top sneaker brands like Adidas and New Balance.

Materials typically used include elastic polyurethane and flexible TPU, with occasional use of SLS 3D printers. But there are some 3D printed shoes you can design and make at home, like these flip-flops from Thingiverse.

Other articles you may be interested in:

• 3D printed casts
• Flexible filament 3D printing
• 3D printing TPU and flexible filaments on the Ender 3

I recommend Sculpteo as the best high-standard 3D printing service in Europe and North America overall. If you’re looking for a service that will allow you to monetize your designs, too, Shapeways is the top choice.

In our upcoming ranking, I’ll share my hands-on experience with the best online 3D printing services of 2023, helping you pinpoint the service that best fits your needs.

Online 3D Printing Service Providers To Choose From

1. Sculpteo: Best for Quick, High-Quality 3D Printing in Europe and North America

• Benchy Test Cost: From $14.03
• Part Delivery: 4 – 14 working days
• Company Based: France
• Established: 2009
• 3D Printing Technologies Offered: CLIP/DLS, MJF, SLS, Binder Jetting, DMLS/SLM, PolyJet, lost wax casting, FDM

Established in 2009 in France, Sculpteo specializes in cloud-based 3D printing and additive manufacturing. With additional offices in San Francisco, they offer a diverse range of technologies including Carbon 3D’s CLIP (DLS), SLS, Binder Jetting, DMLS, PolyJet, and more.

Their online 3D printing service caters to various materials such as PA11 & PA12 varieties, resins, aluminium, steel, bronze, silver, brass, among others.

Sculpteo is an optimal choice for individuals in Europe and North America seeking high-standard, quick 3D printing services for their models.

2. Shapeways: Best for Designers Looking to Sell Their 3D Designs

• Benchy Test Cost: From $16.27
• Part Delivery: 3 – 10 business days
• Company Based: Holland / USA
• Established: 2007
• 3D Printing Technologies Offered: SLA, SLS, DMLS, FDM, PolyJet, Binder Jetting

A frontrunner in online 3D printing, Shapeways was initiated in 2007 by Peter Weijmarshausen and currently operates out of New York. More than a standalone service, it’s a 3D printing marketplace, enabling designers to earn revenue by selling their 3D designs.

Shapeways stands out for its breadth of 3D printing technologies and materials. With an array of technologies including SLA, SLS, DMLS, FDM, PolyJet, and Binder Jetting, you can print your designs in materials ranging from standard PLA and ABS to metals like steel, bronze, silver, gold, aluminium, brass, and even unique options like sandstone or porcelain.

3. Xometry: Top Choice for Diverse Service Options and Cutting-Edge Technology

• Benchy Test Cost: From $20.61
• Part Delivery: 5 – 10 business days
• Company Based: USA
• Established: 2014
• 3D Printing Technologies Offered: FDM, SLA, SLS, DMLS, MJF, DLS/CLIP, PolyJet

Founded in 2014, Xometry has made strides in the 3D printing industry, notably as one of the first to incorporate advanced processes such as HP’s MultiJet Fusion and Carbon’s DLS / CLIP technologies.

Xometry offers the most extensive variety of 3D printing services compared to other companies we surveyed, supplemented by additional offerings like injection molding and CNC services.

Their use of Carbon’s innovative 3D printers underscores their commitment to staying at the forefront of technological advancement.

4. Protolabs: Ideal for Those Needing a Balance of 3D Printing and Traditional Manufacturing

• Benchy Test Cost: From $47.21
• Part Delivery: 4 – 10 working days
• Company Based: USA
• Established: 1999
• 3D Printing Technologies Offered: SLA, SLS, DMLS, MJF, PolyJet

Protolabs, founded by Larry Lukis in 1999, boasts a rich manufacturing history. Originally established to provide low-cost injection molding and CNC machining, the company expanded its portfolio to include 3D printing services in 2014.

Protolabs provides a variety of 3D printing technologies such as SLA, SLS, DMLS, MJF, and PolyJet, accommodating needs for plastic, resin, and metal 3D printed parts.

5. i.materialise: Perfect for Designers Seeking a Comprehensive Range of 3D Printing Technologies

• Benchy Test Cost: From $18.08
• Part Delivery: Approximately 7 working days
• Company Based: Belgium
• Established: 1990
• 3D Printing Technologies Offered: SLA, SLS, FDM, MJF, PolyJet, Lost Wax Casting, metal 3D printing

I.materialise is a 3D printing marketplace rooted in Belgium, bringing to the table over 25 years of experience in the industry. Comparable to Shapeways, it allows 3D designers to list, sell their designs, and earn a share of the sales revenue.

i.materialise also offers an online 3D printing service. Users can upload their model, select their preferred material, and pay for their 3D model to be printed and delivered.

i.materialise boasts a comprehensive range of 3D printing technologies, including SLA, SLS, FDM, Multi Jet Fusion (MJF), PolyJet, Lost Wax Printing, and metal 3D printing technologies. 

You can opt for materials ranging from standard plastics like ABS and PLA to a variety of resins, polyamide, metals like bronze, silver, gold, titanium, steel, brass, and even rubber for your 3D printed model.

6. MakeXYZ: The Go-To Service for Localized, Community-Sourced 3D Printing

• Benchy Test Cost: From $29.20
• Part Delivery: Within 1 – 4 days
• Company Based: USA
• Established: 1990
• 3D Printing Technologies Offered: Depends on local users, predominantly FDM, SLA, SLS, and PolyJet vendors

MakeXYZ operates as an online 3D printing service and marketplace, fostering a sense of community among makers. MakeXYZ allows desktop 3D printer owners to register and sell their services. Anyone with a 3D printer can earn revenue through MakeXYZ by offering their 3D printing services.

MakeXYZ doesn’t directly print your model; instead, it connects you with a reliable printer. Their software provides a quote based on factors such as size, technology, and material, facilitating transactions between buyers and sellers.

Although MakeXYZ doesn’t own any 3D printers, they list FDM, SLA, SLS, and PolyJet printers on their site. These are predominantly located in the UK and USA and offer a range of materials including PLA, ABS, Nylon, TPU, and resins.

7. Treatstock: Optimal for Complete Manufacturing Solutions and Vendor Variety

• Benchy Test Cost: Approximately $17 (depending on location)
• Part Delivery: Around 10 working days (depending on supplier)
• Company Based: USA
• Established: 2016
• 3D Printing Technologies Offered: Depends on the manufacturer

Treatstock operates as a platform that enables anyone, from individual enthusiasts to full-scale 3D printing factories, to start a business and provide 3D printing services.

Customers seeking 3D printed parts can browse and compare a wide variety of vendors, evaluating technology, material options, and pricing to select the best fit. Besides 3D printing, Treatstock offers additional services such as CNC machining and laser cutting.

Treatstock also offers comprehensive manufacturing solutions, including the services of 3D designers for creating or modifying 3D CAD files, or even purchasing pre-existing 3D models. 

8. Kraftwurx: Pioneering 3D Printing Services and Designer Empowerment

• Founded: 2004
• Company based: USA
• 3D printing technologies offered: Depends on material chosen

Kraftwurx is an online 3D printing marketplace and service similar to Shapeways in that it allows budding 3D designers to publish their 3D printer models online for others to buy in their chosen material.

This Texas-based company has over fifteen years 3D printing experience, having pioneered their Digital Factory service along with their goals of minimizing waste and empowering designers and engineers all around the world. 

9. 3D Systems On Demand Manufacturing: Versatile Industrial 3D Printing Solutions

• Founded: 1983
• Company based: USA
• 3D printing technologies offered: SLS, SLA, ColorJet, Direct Metal Printing, CNC Machining

3D Systems offers four core services for its industrial audience: rapid prototyping, functional prototyping, low-volume production, and appearance model creation, ensuring companies receive custom parts in a timely manner.

Their portfolio extends to CNC machining, die casting, injection molding, and investment casting patterns.

They utilize a range of their in-house 3D printers to meet diverse needs, offering Selective Laser Sintering, Stereolithography, ColorJet 3D printing, and metal 3D printing services.

With a team of over 100 application engineers and the capacity to print parts within 24 hours, they demonstrate their deep expertise in additive manufacturing.

10. Stratasys Direct: Large-Scale, Multi-Sector 3D Printing Services

• Company based: USA.
• 3D printing technologies offered: FDM, SLA, SLS, MJF, DMLS/SLM, PolyJet.

Stratasys is one of the largest and most valuable 3D printing companies in the world, so it is inevitable that they would move into the online 3D printing service space.

Leveraging their industrial-grade 3D printing systems, Stratasys Direct provides on-demand parts using technologies including DMLS, FDM, SLS, Multi Jet Fusion, PolyJet, and Stereolithography.

Not limited to 3D printing, Stratasys Direct also delivers CNC milling and injection molding services. Offering over 20 diverse materials across their technologies, they cater to a wide client base, including the aerospace, medical, and transport sectors.

11. 3DPRINTUK: SLS 3D Printing Service for UK and Europe

• Company based: UK
• 3D printing technologies offered: SLS

Dedicated to excellence in Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), 3DPRINTUK offers high-quality SLS 3D printing services to the UK and Europe, utilizing their state-of-the-art Formiga SLS 3D printers. Unlike many other services that spread their expertise across various technologies, 3DPRINTUK has chosen to specialize and excel in SLS.

Simply upload your STL file go through the product criteria (choosing your color, etc) and get your nylon 3D model delivered to you a few days later. They even offer a healthy student discount for if you’re trying to get a prototype made for a student project!

Choose an Online 3D Printing Service

Which Technologies are Available?

Different online 3D printing service companies offer different options, depending on a variety of factors. Newer, innovative technologies such as CLIP and Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) are becoming increasingly available, whereas FDM and SLS are already offered by most 3D printing services.

Be aware also of whether a service is able to accommodate larger orders, for those with industrial-level needs. Some more bespoke services used to smaller orders may be less effective at dealing with large volume orders.

Choosing a Material

The most suitable material for your part or model depends on the functions you need your part to perform. If it is purely aesthetic to check for shape and design, then standard plastic filaments or polymer resins will suffice, but if you need a metal part for strenuous testing or a tough plastic part, it will cost more.

In the past, options for metal 3D printer parts were limited, often needing DMLS, EBM, or Binder Jetting 3D printers. Now, many services have adopted these technologies for rapid prototyping. For instance, metal 3D printing companies like Stratasys make point of providing affordable metal parts with relatively quick turnaround times.

How Much Will a 3D Printed Part Cost to Make?

This one’s always tough. The answer — and the answer everyone hates to read — is that it depends, on the size of the part, material, and a host of other factors.

Online 3D printing services tend to have a built-in calculator: simply upload your 3D printer model, choose your material and it will calculate the estimated part cost.

For a common benchmark, let’s consider the cost of printing a standard 3DBenchy STL file. According to our research, the most economical service is Sculpteo, offering this service from $14.03.

How Fast Do I Get My Part?

Delivery time varies across different services. Most tend to take between 7 and 14 days as standard, but you can pay more for urgent rapid prototyping and over night delivery. This will end up costing you more than the print itself 

In terms of reasonable shipping options, my top pick is MakeXYZ. They ship prints within 1 – 4 days as standard.

Do I Need to Find a 3D Printing Service Near Me?

Honestly, not really. Almost all the 3D printing services listed here have production facilities in multiple continents and service customers across Europe, North America, and sometimes other areas. These 3D printer companies have no problem with geographical distance, so there’s no real pressure to pick a local 3D printing service.

Additionally, 3D printing marketplaces like MakeXYZ pair those who need a part printed with local makers who will print it for you — for a small fee. The company itself may not be local, but your part will still be locally printed; the 3D printing marketplace is just the facilitator and middleman.

Key Takeaways

• Price range: 3D printers can cost from under $200 to over $100,000, depending on the type, size, quality, and features of the printer.
• Material cost: The cost of printing materials varies depending on the type and quality of the filament, resin, or powder. Basic filaments like PLA or ABS cost around $20 per kilogram, while high-end resins can cost over $100 per liter.
• Maintenance and upgrade cost: 3D printers may require regular replacement of parts like nozzles, extruders, or hot ends. Some users may also want to upgrade their printers with better components or accessories. These costs can add up to 10% or more of the printer’s price.
• Other costs: 3D printing also involves electricity, software, post-processing, and opportunity costs. These costs are usually low compared to the printer and material costs, but should be considered when calculating the total cost of 3D printing.

3D printers cost less than they ever have. Just six years ago you would struggle to find a good 3D printer under $1,000, whereas now there are usable 3D printers starting at just under $200.

This article will explain 3D printer prices in each category, from the cheapest entry level 3D printers to the highest quality industrial 3D printers, and the features you can expect for the price.

It’s also important to remember that the cost of a 3D printer doesn’t end when you buy it and take it home. I’ll also explain the ongoing costs of 3D printing include material costs, software costs, post-processing costs and more.

How Much is a 3D printer?

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Lowest Cost Usable 3D Printers

• 3D printer price: $180 to $400
• Expected precision: 100 microns
• Expected print size: small

These are the lowest price 3D printers that are durable and reliable enough to recommend. If you’re wondering how much a small 3D printer costs, you’re probably looking for this category.

Though inexpensive, they are less suitable for beginners as they are often DIY 3D printers you need to assemble yourself, requiring tech know-how, especially if you want to upgrade it more down the line with better extruders, nozzles, and other parts. They are usually RepRap 3D printers.

These 3D printers often have a small build volume if they come assembled, or medium size if a 3D printer kit. They are not usually compatible with many materials as they can’t reach high extruder or heated bed temperatures, though if you only plan on using 3D printer filaments such as PLA this isn’t a problem.

You cannot expect remarkably high reliability with these 3D printers, which can on occasion cause a headache when parts break. In this price range very few 3D printers will have a dual extruder, and will often require you to calibrate them, which may be too complex for beginners to 3D printing.

You’re mostly restricted to FDM printers here, though some LCD printers fall into this price range.

Top Budget Pick (Under $500) – Ender 3/V2

The Ender 3 is a great choice for those who are just starting out or on a tight budget. 

It’s the most affordable 3D printer on the market (under $200), but still functional enough to cover the needs of 80% of users.

It has a very competitive build volume, at 220 x 220 x 250mm, and a heated magnetic build plate for strong adhesion and easy print removal.

The ultimate super cheap 3D printer

Creality Ender 3 3D Printer

$189

The best budget 3D printer kit around - and the best-selling, too.

If you have the budget, pick up the V2 or V2 Neo version, or even the Ender 3 S1 if you prefer a direct drive extruder.

Creality here Amazon here

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Pros:

• Affordable
• Easy assembly
• Very upgradable
• Heated magnetic build plate that can reach its maximum temperature of 110°C in just 5 minutes

Cons:

• Lacks advanced features like automatic leveling
• The bed does not snap into place. You have to take care when setting it

For an extra $50, you may also consider the upgraded Ender 3 V2. It has a more attractive and modern-looking metal design, a new color interface to for easier control, and an improved motherboard for near-silent printing.

Top budget 3D printer

Creality Ender 3 V2 3D Printer

Upgraded version of the original Ender 3 with a number of key improvements.

This easy to assemble DIY kit creates a 220 x 220 x 250mm build volume for printing epic creations. Experience ultra-quiet operation and stable, precise printing with the upgraded motherboard and extruder.

And, get great first layers with the heated carborundum glass print surface.

Creality Store here Amazon here

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Alternatives: Elegoo Neptune 3 Pro, Anycubic Kobra

Entry Level Beginner 3D Printers

• 3D printer cost: $400 to $1,000
• Expected precision: 50-100 microns
• Expected print size: small to medium

These hobbyist desktop 3D printers are small, reasonably inexpensive and far better suited to new beginners, as well as experienced makers seeking a better quality and more reliable 3D printer.

They usually at least partially self-calibrate, are far more user friendly with basic touchscreens and better user interfaces, and less likely to require small adjustments every few prints or break.

Though these 3D printers cost more, they can often print larger parts — especially those with an open build area — and they usually have heated beds to print tougher filaments like ABS. Though more reliable than very low-cost 3D printers, they are not as reliable as more professional 3D printers priced in the thousands.

When considering how much is a good 3D printer, many will point you towards either a machine in this 3D printer price range, or perhaps slightly higher. Lower priced printers are considered basic, whereas these printers are more powerful.

Top Entry Level Pick (Under $1k): Prusa MK3S+

The Prusa MK3S+ offers an excellent balance between price and performance, making it a popular choice among hobbyists and enthusiasts.

While it is more expensive than the Ender 3 range, the Prusa MK3S+ justifies its price with its high-quality parts, stacks of convenience features, and consistent performance. It’s effortless to set up and start producing prints you’d generally expect from printers twice the price.

For me, the best part is it’s versatility. It comes with three heated textured print sheets tuned to different material types, and a top-shelf E3D V6 hot end that allows you to print across materials from PLA to exotics like nylon.

Top 3D printer kit

Original Prusa i3 MK3S+ kit

4.5

$899.00

Meet the gold standard in DIY printing - the Prusa i3 MK3S+!

Print like a pro with exotic filaments like PC and nylon thanks to the 300°C hotend.

Reliable, precise, and loaded with innovations like auto bed leveling, the Prusa i3 MK3S+ delivers exceptional performance right out of the box!

Prusa here Amazon here

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Pros:

• User-friendly
• Reliable performance
• High-quality parts throughout
• Auto-bed leveling
• Superb print quality

Cons:

• More expensive than the Ender 3 V2
• Little scope for mods/upgrades
• Ever so slightly smaller build volume

Alternative: Anycubic Photon M3 Max

Reliable Desktop 3D Printers

• 3D printer price: $1,000 to $4,000
• Expected precision: 50-100 microns
• Expected print size: medium

These are the more robust, durable and workhorse 3D printers with key quality of life improvements that automate some of the more technical aspects to save you time and stress.

3D printers priced above $1,000 usually include filament run-out detectors, automatically powering off when printing has finished, automatic pausing in the event of a power outage to resume where you left off, and all forms of calibration and remote printing via WiFi on a smartphone or laptop.

Another key improvement for 3D printers in this price range is the wider range of filaments and materials you can print, commonly able to 3D print carbon fiber filaments, Nylon, Polycarbonate and more. Good desktop 3D printers are capable of 50-micron accuracy, and at the top end of this price range viable resin 3D printers appear for high-quality resin part production.

3D printers in this price range often have good customer service for any problems you may encounter with your 3D printer.

Top Reliable Desktop Pick ($1-4K): Phrozen Sonic Mega 8k

The Phrozen Sonic Mega 8k is a high-end desktop 3D printer that offers amazing precision (43 microns)  paired with good build volume (330 x 185 x 400 mm).

This allows you can step beyond hobbyist trinket designs to produce sizeable, professional grade 3D parts that you can combine to make functional projects.

However, this capability comes at a higher price point than our previous picks at around $2,200.

Large Volume Pick

Phrozen Sonic Mega 8K

Phrozen here Amazon here

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Pros:

• Large build volume
• High precision with 8K resolution
• Pre-leveled build plate

Cons:

• Higher price range

For a similar standard printer, you might also consider the Elegoo Jupiter. It is a significantly cheaper choice, but you do sacrifice a little in terms of build volume and print resolution.

ELEGOO Jupiter Resin 3D Printer

Amazon here Elegoo here

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Professional 3D Printers

• 3D printer cost: $4,000 to $10,000
• Expected precision: 20-100 microns
• Expected print size: medium to large

At this level, your 3D printer should be able to print parts for you all day, all night, and all day again with no issue. And these parts should be good enough quality for real functional prototype and form and shape testing.

FDM 3D printers in this category are normally large 3D printers, such as the Raise3D Pro2 Plus, and almost always come with a dual extruder. These printers can maintain higher print speeds without losing quality, and are often seen in universities and schools for STEM 3D printing education, small businesses for rapid prototyping, and in clubs and societies related to making.

Within this 3D printer price range, the lowest SLS 3D printers become available. Heavily used in prototyping, SLS printers use plastic powders to create parts that don’t require any supports, leading to better quality finished parts without the same need for post processing. These start at around $6,000, but often cost into the tens of thousands.

Top Professional Pick ($4-10K): Ultimaker S5

The Ultimaker S5 is a top-tier, professional-grade 3D printer, and the best choice if you require high-precision 3D prints. 

It has everything you could need for an enjoyable 3D printing experience. A clear touch screen interface, unmatched build volume, seamless nozzle replacement and a heated glass build plate that can reach a maximum temperature of up to 140°C/284°F.

It’s enclosed structure shields your critical components from dust and insulates noise for silent operation, too.

Incredible Accuracy

UltiMaker S5

4.5

$6950

The Ultimaker S5 excels in precision and quality, offering reliable dual extrusion alongside high-end features like remote monitoring via a built-in camera.

MatterHackers here Dynamism here

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Pros:

• Excellent precision
• Large build volume
• Enclosed structure for silent operation
• Easy nozzle replacement with the print core system
• High bed temperature

Cons:

• Cost out of reach for most people

If you’re particularly interested in carbon fiber 3D printing, the Raise3D E2CF would be a better choice than the Ultimaker S5.

It uses durable silicon carbide nozzles that can tolerate abrasive carbon fiber filament without wear, precisely extruding with a dual direct drive system.

But for me, the coolest feature is the remote monitoring camera, so you can keep an eye on your print in progress wherever you are.

Raise3D E2CF

$4499

Dynamism here MatterHackers

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Industrial 3D Printers

• 3D printer cost: $10,000+
• Expected precision: 20-50 microns
• Expected print size: large

These industrial 3D printers are built to last and to be extremely durable. These are often metal 3D printers using DMLS, Binder Jetting or EBM technologies.

These printers offer extremely fast speeds and multiple part simultaneous printing, entering territory where 3D printing can be considered a viable short to medium volume manufacturing option. They are used in huge factories, for automotive companies like BMW, and in the space and medical sectors.

If you’re wondering how much a metal 3D printer costs, they’re difficult to find for less than $80,000. Many fall in the $100,000-$300,000 bracket, with some, such as Concept Laser’s X Line 2000R, costing several million dollars.

In addition to the high price, they may require frequent maintenance check-ups by trained company staff, and the materials used to print, making them some of the most expensive 3D printers – but they offer extremely high-quality parts.

How Much Does it Cost to Run and Maintain a 3D Printer?

3D Printer Material Costs

Once you’ve bought a 3D printer, you need the materials to print with. If you’re using an FDM 3D printer, you need filament such as PLA or ABS; if you’re using a resin 3D printer then you’ll need resin, and if you’re using an SLS 3D printer, you’ll need the polymer powder.

Basic ABS or PLA filament will cost around $20 per kilogram. Other more alternative filaments such as flexible TPU will cost more, starting at around $40. Very high-quality filaments with extremely strong mechanical properties like PEEK can cost significantly more.

You may also want a filament dryer and filament containers to keep your filament in the best condition possible. This is because filaments are hygroscopic, meaning they absorb moisture from the air, worsening print quality by making the filament more brittle, uneven and rough. Some filaments are more hygroscopic than others, with Nylon filaments considered some of the most hygroscopic.

The lowest cost resins for LCD printers like the Elegoo Mars and AnyCubic Photon range start at around $20 for 500ml, and around $35 for 1 liter. Third party higher quality resins used for 3D printers such as Formlabs’ Form 3 start at around $85, with Formlabs selling their own resins that start at $149.

For an SLS 3D printer, PA12 Nylon powder can cost around $60 per kilogram, though this can vary.

How Much Does 3D Printing Cost per Print?

This depends on the size of your print, and the percentage infill.

The standard infill percentage is around 20%, though for testing the functionality of stronger parts you can go up to 80% or even higher. This will however use significantly more filament and cost exponentially more.

Based on a filament cost of $20/kilo, and assuming an average print which takes 4-5 hours to print uses up 100g filament, you can make a rough estimate that you’re paying around $2 per print.

Of course, this varies wildly – a tiny 3D printed ring mold may cost you $0.10, and a huge vase that takes a day to print could cost $10. One $20 filament spool is enough to print a few hundred standard sized chess pieces, with FDM known for being the cheapest and most accessible 3D printing technology by quite some distance.

You also need to account for failed prints. Depending on how reliable your 3D printer is, prints could fail up to 10% of the time. Therefore, a conservative estimate would be to add 10% to your printing costs, though this depends on the size of the print and your print settings.

Resins are more expensive than filament, so account for that. For 3D printing castable jewelry molds, you could conservatively estimate $1 of resin each, and these models are small and thin. SLS 3D printer powders are more expensive, and you’ll need to pack the build area efficiently to make best use of the powder.

3D Printer Repairs and Upgrades Costs

When calculating how much a 3D printer costs, you need to also account for any repairs that you’ll need to pay for, as well as any upgrades you may want to improve your 3D printing experience.

Some 3D printer parts need to be replaced more often than others, such as a 3D printer’s nozzle. Depending how much you print, you could get through many nozzles per year – though these are fairly inexpensive. Standard brass nozzles will be eviscerated by abrasive filaments such as carbon fiber, so consider investing in a hardened steel or ruby-tipped nozzle for these.

You also need to think about any potential upgrades you may purchase, such as for your 3D printer’s extruder or hot end. These upgrades can cost between $50 to $150 for high quality E3D or similar brand extruders and hot ends, but will greatly improve your 3D printing options.

Some makers say to add 10% on top of the cost of a 3D printer to account for repairs and upgrades. This isn’t applicable for very low-end printers, as upgrading the extruder may cost 30% or more of the printer’s cost already. But for answering the question of how much is a 3D printer, it’s important to factor in upgrades.

3D Printer Electricity Cost

3D printers require electricity to print, which adds to your costs. However, these costs aren’t huge. If you used your 3D printer for an average of 2 hours per day, your yearly bill would probably be under $10, depending on where you live. But it isn’t free, so should be considered.

For a more mathematical and technical explanation into exactly how much this is, read our article on how much electricity a 3D printer uses.

3D Software and 3D Slicer Costs

If you are designing your own models then you may need to purchase a 3D CAD program, though there are some free 3D software tools out there such as Blender.

Additionally, you’ll need a 3D slicer to slice your models for printing. There are free 3D slicers like Cura available as well as paid slicers like Simplify3D which increase your total printing costs.

In some cases you may even scan an object you want to create a 3D printed model of using a 3D scanner. Cheap 3D scanners start at just $100, but professional scanners can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Finishing Cost on Printed Parts

Once you’ve printed your part, you may want to sand, paint or polish it. These all add to your total costs of printing. Be sure to account for the paints, sanding tools and polish.

Opportunity Cost of Your Time

In some cases, you may want to factor in your time as a cost as well. When you choose to spend your time 3D printing, you give up working on another fun project, enjoying other kinds of leisure time, or earning money working. In rare cases one may factor in the value of their time into 3D printing costs.

For example, if you earn $20 an hour, and you spent two hours working on a 3D printing project, the opportunity cost of your time is $40. Now, you shouldn’t feel like you’re on the clock if you’re having fun exploring your creativity on the weekends, but for more commercially-minded makers calculating 3D printing costs to start a 3D printing business, this is something to keep in mind.

Sweets and chocolates were among the first foods to be 3D printed, but in the past decade the technology has grown to include basic pizzas, various sauces, pasta, and even meat and sushi by extruding just like a 3D printer and being manipulated with robotic arms when necessary.

Here we’re going to look at some of the most mouthwatering 3D printed food projects and products today that are changing how we experience food, some of which you can even check out firsthand!

The Coolest 3D Printed Food Examples

Food Ink

• Price: Varies
• Learn More: Food Ink

Food Ink brought 3D printed food via a pop-up in the London in 2016. They served nine small courses of traditional food made entirely with 3D printing, and is known as the first ever 3D printed restaurant.

Remarkably, the entire establishment was 3D printed, from its food to its furniture and décor. Food Ink eventually expanded to Barcelona with planned launches all over the world,

Inviting their customers to have a taste of tomorrow with British fish and chips and ice cream, Food Ink successfully demonstrated the potential of artistic 3D printed food as a future luxury dining experience.

3D Printed Pizza for Space

• Price: $8 – $15 (Pizzas based on toppings)
• Learn More: Beehex

Nasa-funded 3D printing company Beehex developed the first feasible technology to 3D print pizzas complete with dough and tomato sauce as an alternative to conventional astronaut food.

This layered assembly involved depositing dough, sauce, and cheese in sequence with a printer before conventional cooking. Beehex continued to successfully demonstrated the viability of 3D printed pizza even after ceasing collaboration with NASA in 2017.

They have since garnered considerable interest and raising $1 million to market their pizza printers, capable of crafting a 12-inch pizza in less than five minutes.

The company has since shifted focus to 3D printing cakes and cookies, taking advantage of the potential benefits like printing custom designs for sports events or promotional activities. In 2021, they announced their development of custom 3D printed nutrition bars to promote healthy snacking.

Biometric 3D Printed Sushi

• Price: Not Available
• Learn More: Open Meals

The Sushi Singularity restaurant by Open Meals was the first commercial plan for 3D printed sushi, offering 3D printed food personalized to each customer based on pre-provided biological samples.

By using their own food printer, they begin with simple pixel structures that gradually increases in precision until you have a bespoke 3D printed meal catered to your tastes without even having to order.

Open-Meals aims to revolutionize food with biometric 3D printed meals with a dedicated and forward-thinking plan. They plan to implement an autonomous delivery service by 2035 and envision an AI-controlled 3D printer as a common kitchen appliance by 2040.

Their ultimate goal is to standardize space food with earthly meals by the year 2100.

Novameat – Cruelty Free Meat

• Price: N/A
• Learn More: Novameat

Novameat is a startup company that uses 3D printing to prototype 100% plant-based foods used in restaurants in the UK and Spain. Their aim is to produce ethically sound cruelty free meat products while remaining as carbon neutral as possible.

Their devotion to a completely clean process is evident in their efforts to drastically reduce the need for livestock rearing, fishing, and deforestation for farmland. This helps to minimize their environmental impact while still giving people delicious meat alternatives.

Redefine Meat – Perfectly Replicated Meat Without Compromise 

• Price: Variable
• Learn More: Redefine Meat

While Novameat mostly uses 3D printing to prototype food, companies like Redefine Meat are instead using 3D printing throughout the full production process.

Redefine Meat uses 3D printing food techniques to recreate the texture, taste, look, and even smell of real meat products despite being 100% plant-based.

Through much trial and error, Redefine Meat has lived up to its promise by creating pulled pork, lamb, mince, and even beef flank among others with 3D printing. 

All their meat-free 3D printed foods are comparable to eating real meat products right down to the fat and muscle texture without compromising ethicality or the environment.

While their products are only available in Israel and Europe as of 2023, with no real news of expansion as of yet. Don’t be discouraged, though, as similar company Mooji Meats is available stateside.

Mooji Meats – 3D Printed Steaks

• Price: N/A
• Learn More: Mooji Meats

Mooji Meats was founded in Maryland in 2022 and promises to use 3D printing food technology to create completely plant-based products so vegetarians and vegans can have the meat-eater experience without sacrificing their morals or neglecting nutritional needs. Unlike Redefine Meat, they focus more on full steaks than pulled meats and mince.

Similar to food tech startups Redefine Meat and Novameat, Mooji Meats uses 3D printing to recreate the look, texture, and taste of real steaks while only using vegetarian- and vegan-safe ingredients.

Upprinting Food – Recycled 3D Printed Biscuits Fighting Against Food Waste

• Price: N/A
• Learn More: Digital Food Lab (Official website under construction)

Dutch firm Upprinting Food, founded by industrial design and food technology graduate Elzelinde Van Doleweerd, is combating food waste by recycling it into 3D printed biscuits.

This involves collecting food waste like bread and vegetables and puréeing it to create an edible filament for 3D printing. The firm then prints and bakes intricate designs into long-lasting, crunchy biscuits.

Since its inception in 2018, Upprinting both produces its own products while also offering design services to chefs and trained restaurants to use 3D printers to repurpose their own food waste.

The Sugar Lab: 3D Printed Sweet Treats

• Price: $17 – $50+ (Quotes available via e-mail)
• Learn More: Sugar Lab

Sugar Labs creates premium, 3D-printed sugar treats. Founded in LA in 2011 by Liz and Kyle von Hasseln, the team leverages their backgrounds in architecture and technology to transform sugar into complex, geometric delicacies from cupcakes and cookies to edible wedding cake decorations.

The company began with a 3D printed edible gift for a friend, and now offers an array of complex and detailed sugar ornaments.

The process involves combining sugar, water, vegetable starch, and recipe-specific flavorings as raw material, which is then printed using a proprietary 3D printer, ‘CURRANT’, to which they attribute their intricate shapes and precise detailing.

BluRhapsody – 3D Printed Pasta

• Price: $17+
• Learn More: BluRhapsody

Barilla is an Italian food company that experiments with new technologies and ideas to develop new, modern products all the time. BluRhapsody is their spin-off company born from their research into 3D printed foods, mainly pasta.

Using 3D printing and offering their services to restaurants, BluRhapsody continues to offer delicious, custom printed pasta to the consumer for a very reasonable price.

They can customize their 3D printed pasta to suit any shape or color, using the printing process to make unique shapes and designs easily for any discerning diner.

3D Printed Cheesecake – The Columbia University Dessert

• Price: N/A
• Learn More: Columbia University

Using 3D printer materials made of sweet treats like peanut butter, Nutella, and jelly, New York’s Columbia University successfully 3D printed an edible cheesecake in March 2023.

The goal was to discover 3D printed food’s potential impact on the culinary world and its potential for widespread commercial availability. In their efforts, they made this delicious looking cheesecake entirely with 3D printing.

With this 3D printed cheesecake, they hoped to offer a lower cost printing process and address the problem of food needing to be unhealthily processed before being used as ‘filament’.

Advantages of 3D Printing Food

Can be Healthier

3D printed food is made from hydrocolloids such as algae, duckweed, and grass, and could soon become our health-boosting staple.

These potential base ingredients for 3D printed food are packed with vital vitamins and proteins which can naturally deliver essential nutrients like carbohydrates and antioxidants.

Can be Quicker and Easier

Food 3D printers save time by automating tedious tasks such as vegetable chopping and dough shaping. They also simplify complex cooking tasks, like wedding cake decoration, ensuring perfect results every time. 

3D food printing eliminates cooking’s steep learning curve, significantly enhancing culinary efficiency and precision.

Printing in Space

3D printed food is already providing a solution for nourishing astronauts on long-haul space exploration missions.

The technology enables precise portion control in the printing process, eliminating waste and promoting optimal nutrition. Importantly, new recipes can be transmitted at light speed to distant spacecrafts, allowing astronauts to prepare freshly designed meals like pizza within minutes.

Environmental Benefits

3D printed food materials come in cartridges instead of perishable goods, which eliminates frequent supermarket truck transportation, lowering importation needs and reducing carbon emissions and helping to maintain a clean environment.

Food 3D printers also epitomize efficiency by utilizing only necessary resources. They dispense precise amounts of food filament, inclusive of requisite vitamins and supplements, saving costs and reducing waste from potentially spoiled ingredients or oversized portions.

Limitations of 3D Food Printing

Time Consumption

Even though a good food 3D printer can prepare a pizza in six minutes, this is arguably not much faster than what a professionally trained chef can do without needing expensive technology.

Cost of Equipment

It may be easy for researchers, universities, and NASA to claim that 3D printing food is the gourmet choice of the future, but the average mom-and-pop shop, or even some larger chains, can’t afford the additive manufacturing technology to 3D print their own food in-house.

Until this cost decreases, 3D printed food will remain a niche experience that most people won’t easily or often get to taste. Even the cheapest models cost around $800 and can only print chocolate.

If you want to 3D print your own meals at home, you’re looking at a cost of $3300 to $4500 for a basic machine, topping at $7800 for a top-quality home machine that still can’t make the kinds of food projects we’ve looked at here.

Uneven Food Printing

3D printed plastics and filaments have set melting points and ideal nozzle temperatures which don’t vary too much. However, 3D printed food material comes with various different ingredients, each with different melting and setting temperatures.

Milk chocolate will melt at under 50℃, while pastry will need around 80℃ to be malleable enough to print, so a chocolate pie for example will need very different settings switched quite quickly to make.

This makes the printing process more complicated, as the printer will need to change its settings frequently mid-print to avoid unevenly textured foods depending on its various ingredients.

3D Printed Food Isn’t Cooked

3D printed food, particularly savory foods, are normally not printed in an edible state. Food printers only create melt and shape the paste, they don’t actually prepare the meal itself.

3D printed meat and pizzas will still need cooking before they’re eaten even when made with fresh ingredients. Since cooking food takes effort, many wonder as to the point of 3D printing a pizza, for example, only to have to cook it anyway when a store-bought one would be just as easy.

Though companies are looking into ways to 3D print food and cook it simultaneously, and the rapid growth of the industry is indeed impressive, the technology to do so is still a ways off.

We also have an article on 50+ fun 3D printed cookie cutters

Key Takeaways

• 3D printing origins: The first 3D printing technology, Stereolithography (SLA), was invented by Chuck Hull in 1984. He founded 3D Systems and released the first 3D printer, the SLA-1, in 1987.
• 3D printing technologies: Other 3D printing technologies emerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s, such as Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), and PolyJet. These technologies use different materials and methods to create 3D objects layer by layer.
• 3D printing applications: 3D printing has been used for various applications, such as prototyping, bioprinting, prosthetics, jewelry, art, and architecture. 3D printing has also enabled the creation of complex and customized shapes that are difficult or impossible to make with traditional methods.
• 3D printing democratization: The expiration of some key patents in the 2000s and 2010s led to the emergence of low-cost and open-source 3D printers, such as RepRap and Makerbot. These printers made 3D printing more accessible and affordable for hobbyists, educators, and small businesses.

Despite its appearance as a new, innovative technology, 3D printing has been around since the mid-1980s. What used to be just industrial 3D printers the size of small cranes transformed into potentially the solution to organ shortages, the housing crisis, and the democratization of manufacturing, in just 30 years.

In this timeline, I’ll step you through the key stories that have helped shaped the 3D printing technology we enjoy today.

We’ll step from the very first 3D printer and its simple applications, through the rapid popularization of 3D printing to the mind-bending developments we’ve seen in recent years.

I’ve split the history of 3D printing into four key chapters from the last 30 years:

1980 – 1995: Inception & Early Innovations in 3D Printing

Who Invented 3D Printing?

In May 1981, Dr Hideo Kodama at the Nagoya Municipal Industrial Research Institute published details concerning a ‘rapid prototyping‘ technique. This research was the first piece of literature to describe the layer-by-layer approach so intrinsic to 3D printing. His research involved printing photopolymers using a method which preceded stereolithography, and also spoke about cross-sectional slices of layers which lay on top of each other to form the 3D object.

However, Dr Kodama didn’t fulfil the patent application before his deadline and was never granted the patent.

Before this however, there were rumblings and references made to a stereolithography-like process in earlier research paper dating back to the 60s and 70s, and in a 1974 New Scientist column, David Jones, writing under the name Daedalus, actually published a satirical piece that jokingly described the SLA process.

“He basically invented stereolithography with a laser, and invented it as a joke. A joke invention, but this one turned out to work!”

— Dr Adrian Bowyer, Founder of the RepRap movement, which will become important further on in 3D printing’s history.

Instead, we had to wait several more years for the birth of 3D printing. But who invented 3D printing?

1984 – 87: Early History of 3D Printing & Invention of Stereolithography

Three years later in 1984, three French engineers named Alain Le Méhauté, Olivier de Witte, and Jean Claude André filed a patent for the Stereolithography process. They were to pioneer a new manufacturing process that was to revolutionize manufacturing!

But it wasn’t to be. The three men abandoned the patent soon after they filed it, citing ‘lack of business perspective.’ In hindsight, I’m sure they’re gutted.

Just three weeks after the French engineers, Charles ‘Chuck’ Hull filed his patent for Stereolithography, with new features such as the STL file format and digital slicing. His process used ultraviolet light to cure photopolymers. Since filing and obtaining the patents by 1986, Chuck Hull formed 3D Systems and released the first ever 3D printer, the SLA-1, in 1987. 3D printing was born.

It is therefore arguable that either Chuck Hull or Dr Kodama invented 3D printing, though Chuck Hull is credited far more and rightfully so. Ideas are easy, executing them is the hard part.

1988 – 92: Stratasys, EOS, and FDM and SLS to Rival SLA

Stereolithography had competition in the 3D printing space however, with rival processes in development. In 1988, Carl Deckard at the University of Texas filed a patent for Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) technology. Instead of using a UV light, SLS used a laser to trace and solidify layers of powder polymers. This innovative new technology was then leased to DTM Inc to use.

Then it became a three-horse race. Scott Crump co-founded Stratasys in 1989 and filed the patent for Fused Deposition Modeling, probably the most well-known 3D printing technology today. 3D Systems and Chuck Hull may have had a head start, but competitors were hot on his heels.

This competition was further exacerbated by the founding of EOS in 1989 in Germany by Dr Hans Langer. The German juggernaut would go on to dominate the SLS 3D printer market, as well as pioneer Direct Metal Laser Sintering in the mid-90s.

After the release of the SLA-1 a few years prior, Stratasys released their first FDM 3D printer in 1991. This was the first real competition for 3D Systems, as each had the patent rights to two very different 3D printing technologies. FDM parts were stronger and more chemically resistant, but SLA parts could be created quicker, and more accurately. Who would come out on top?

The next year in 1992, DTM Inc brought out their first SLS 3D printer. It is however worth remembering that these machines were behemoths, not the compact and inexpensive desktop machines of today. They competed for industrial prototyping contracts, not to be your Christmas present. Nevertheless, the game was afoot. The three 3D printing technologies, which are still the three main plastic 3D printing technologies, were alive and kicking.

1993 – 95: ZCorp, Color Jet 3D Printing, and Maturation

Though less known in the modern day, ZCorp were another major 3D printing company back in the early 90s. In 1993, MIT developed a 3D printing technique based on inkjet printers – the ones we use to print in our offices on paper. Adapting this 2D technology for 3D, ZCorp released their first 3D printer, the Z Corp Z402. The technology was originally called Zprinting, though the range are now called Color Jet printers, but the technology is known as Binder Jetting. The first model used starch and plaster-based powder materials and a water-based binder to print objects.

In the same year, another novel 3D printing solution was brought closer to the market. In 1993, Royden Sanders founded Solidscape (originally called Sanders Prototype Inc.), which created wax 3D printers. These didn’t create the conventional prototypes that other technologies sought to, but instead made wax molds. These molds were then used in investment casting to create objects out of other, more solid, materials. Solidscape released the Model Maker in 1994, their first wax 3D printer, establishing itself as a favorite among jewelers creating 3D printed jewelry.

In less than ten years, 3D printing had gone from being a fanciful idea on a piece of paper to  an effective niche option in small-scale manufacturing. The machines might have been big and slow, but that was the norm in 1995. Even desktop computers were expensive then. Much more was to occur however, as we will find out.

The Beginning of House 3D Printing

Dr Behrokh Khoshnevis, an academic based in California, first envisioned 3D printing larger layers on huge, industrial-scale printers in the mid-1990s. His focus was on creating enormous parts for airplane propellors or sand molds.

However, in the face of a number of natural disasters, he realized the potential of the technology to create shelters in record time, and for far lower costs.

“In 1994 I started thinking about large-scale fabrication with 3D printing. I wasn’t happy with the speed of fabrication of the early 3D printers, and still they haven’t changed much as far as speed is concerned. I knew there was no other way to increase the speed of 3D printing than increase the layer height, but if you increase layer height then surface quality will suffer.

“So then I came up with the idea that I call Contour Crafting, in 1994. My first patent on it was issued in 1996, a couple years after.”

This was just the start of what is now one of 3D printing’s most promising applications.

1996 – 2009: The Journey to Democratization

The first ten years of the history of 3D printing led to the birth of future giants such as 3D Systems, Stratasys, and EOS. Still, in the mid-1990s, they were relative minnows compared to the billion-dollar valuations they now possess.

1996 – 98: Arcam, Objet, and the First 3D Printing Medical Breakthrough

The late 1990s was another important time for newly established 3D printing companies. 1997 saw the creation of Arcam, who specialize in metal 3D printer machines and who are the only manufacturer of Electron Beam Melting (EBM) 3D printers. Additionally, the following year saw Objet Geometries established in 1998 in Israel, who would introduce their PolyJet 3D printing technology to the world.

Stepping away from the purely commercial side of 3D printing, 1999 saw the first extraordinary achievement by 3D printing in the medical industry. Scientists at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine managed to 3D bioprint synthetic scaffolds of a human bladder. They then coated these scaffolds with cells from the patient’s tissue before this newly generated tissue was implanted into the patient. Since this tissue was made from the patient’s own cells, there was a low-to-zero risk of the body rejecting it, marking an important win for 3D bioprinting.

1999 – 2002: 3D Printing Goes Multi-colored, 3D Systems Take Over SLS

The turn of the millennium brought another set of milestones for 3D printing. ZCorp revealed the first multi color 3D printer, whilst Objet Geometries released their first inkjet 3D printer, both in 2000. Though Stratasys and 3D Systems were still two of the biggest names in the industry, churning out a variety of industrial machines, these hard-working understudies were growing in size and stature.

In a huge move at the time, 3D Systems took control of the Selective Laser Sintering market by acquiring DTM in April 2001. The move was worth $45M and saw 3D Systems become market leaders in two different 3D printing technologies: SLA and SLS.

2002: 3D Printed Bladders, and EnvisionTEC

The 3D printed bladder was merely the start for bioprinting and 3D printing’s ongoing usefulness in medical treatments. In 2002, a 3D printed miniature human kidney was created, again at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine. Though not full size, this represented a key advancement in bioprinting, exciting many that 3D printed organs could solve the shortage of organs available for transplant, and even 3D print hearts.

EnvisionTEC were also established in 2002, who have grown to become a major 3D printing company, selling over 40 printers which are widely used across the jewelry, bioprinting and dental industries.

2004 – 05: Beginnings of RepRap, and 3D Printing Goes HD

During the years 2004 and 2005, the beginnings of what is arguably the single most important event in 3D printing history occurred. A senior lecturer at the University of Bath, Dr. Adrian Bowyer, had been inspired by 3D printing and had ideas for 3D printers that could self-replicate — building more versions of themselves.

“I’d been interested in self-reproducing machines since I was a child, I don’t really know where that originated — nearly 70 years ago. That was a constant background interest. Though it wasn’t a research activity, I had not done any research into self-replicating machines.

“They [3D printers] were fabulously expensive: the cheapest one when I started the RepRap project cost around £40,000, and in fact that was one of the ones we bought at the university. When I looked at how it worked, it seemed it would be possible to make such a machine at a considerably reduced price, but my primary aim was to produce a machine that could produce most of its parts. And so, that was the way the project went.” — Dr Bowyer, in an interview with 3DSourced.

The movement, named RepRap (short for ‘replicating rapid prototyper’), started off as an initiative within the University of Bath, but later gained popularity worldwide. The project was open source and focused on the spreading of low-cost 3D printing worldwide, leading to its democratization. Interest in these low cost 3D printers skyrocketed as people edited and tinkered with his designs.

ZCorp were intent on making 2005 their year too however, announcing their Spectrum Z510 3D printer. This wasn’t your average yearly upgrade with marginally improved specs, but a voyage into the unknown which shattered perceived limitations of 3D printing. The Z510 could not only print in color, but was the first 3D printer that could print in color in HD.

2005 – 08: Binder Jetting, RepRap Becomes Viable

Also in 2005, ExOne was established as a standalone company from the Extrude Hone Corporation. ExOne would go on to become a leader in Binder Jetting 3D printing, capable of 3D printing objects in metal as well as sandstone. Binder Jetting can create full-color sandstone objects, as well as metal parts with very complex geometries.

Whilst corporations were breaking records, Dr. Adrian Bowyer and his RepRap movement were also hard at work with more wholesome goals. The 2008 release of the ‘Darwin’ RepRap 3D printer was huge – the printer could self-replicate, and people could now easily and cheaply 3D print at home if they had moderate technological and technical knowledge.

Dr Bowyer talking about Vik Olliver using the first RepRap to ever print a part of itself:

“It wasn’t very reliable then! And I didn’t know beforehand because that was actually done by Vik Olliver on the other side of the world! In fact, I didn’t know he was going to try and do that before he did, he did and then put up a blog post and that’s how I learned about it. I thought wa-heyyyy! It worked!”

Darwin wasn’t pretty, but it was functional. What used to be an industry dominated by room-sized industrial machines could now be rivaled by machines that fit on top of a washing machine.

Anyone could easily obtain the parts to create their own Darwin, the only rule being that if you received the parts, you were under obligation to 3D print the parts for more Darwins for other enthusiasts. DIY 3D printer kits would go on to have an incredible impact.

2008: Thingiverse, and the Beginning of 3D Printed Prosthetics

Although now widely known, a small website called Thingiverse, owned by a fledgling company called Makerbot launched in 2008. Thingiverse allowed designers to upload their 3D printer models built on various 3D software for others to download for free and print at home. Since everybody loves free stuff, Thingiverse soon took off. It is the most popular STL website by far, and just outside the top 1,000 websites in the world overall. Thingiverse now hosts over a million STL files that anyone can download and tinker with.

Another major event in 2008 was the first 3D printed prosthetic. This extraordinary achievement was compounded by the fact that this prosthetic leg did not need to be assembled, it was 3D printed to function immediately. This opened many people’s eyes to how 3D printing could save time and labor, as fully-assembled objects could be printed from scratch.

The one-off nature of 3D printing also suggested that it would be the perfect method to create customized prosthetics and medical implants based on individual patients’ needs. Instead of the usual several-month lead times for prosthetics, 3D scanners could scan a patients’ arm or leg, and almost immediately begin to create a prosthetic that fit them perfectly.

Now in the present day, thousands of volunteers work to create 3D printed prosthetic hands and arms for children born without them. The project, called E-Nable, encourages people to print their own prosthetic hands to give away, and to develop and improve existing prosthetic models.

Finally in 2008, Stratasys released a new material compatible with their FDM 3D printers. This wasn’t any material however, but a material that was bio-compatible. This opened the door for 3D bioprinting to become far more widely available in the near future.

The years up to the start of 2009 were an adolescence for 3D printing. New technologies became available such as Electron Beam Melting and Binder Jetting, medical advances were made, and the RepRap movement became viable.

In 2009 however, US patent law meant that within a few years 3D printers would become cheap enough for everybody to have one in their home if they wished.

House Printing Moves Forward, and Into Space

Dr Khoshnevis refined and improved his house 3D printing technology — called Contour Crafting.

“We [managed to first accurately extrude concrete] around 2003. And in 2004 my work became very famous, in the New York Times… and that’s when the world learned about [Contour Crafting], and it inspired a lot of others to go after it.”

However, facing economic disaster after the crash of 2008, the housing market bombed, along with Dr Khoshnevis’ investment from the industry.

“So I had to also chase the money. In 2008, 2009, real estate went down… and with it went construction, and the support I was getting from industry disappeared. So that’s when I started thinking about space.”

Without funding or support, yet fully confident Contour Crafting could change the world, Dr Khoshnevis embarked on his multi-planetary construction 3D printing vision.

The idea was deceptively simple: if we could print concrete on a 3D printer on Earth, an adapted version could be made that could print with locally-sourced lunar regolith to create Moon (or Mars) bases for permanent settlements in the near future. 

2009 – 2014: FDM & SLA Patents Expire, Worldwide Democratization of 3D Printing

A patent expired between end tail end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009. Big deal, patents expire all the time right? This patent was owned by a now-very-large company called Stratasys, for Fused Deposition Modeling technology.

FDM is the simplest 3D printing technology; it  involves heating up a plastic filament until it melts, and then extrudes it out layer-by-layer. Since the technology could be replicated the most cheaply, business-minded hobbyists and small businesses watched on eagerly for the patent to fall into public domain so they could create their own versions.

The two biggest events in the history of 3D printing, for every day fans, was firstly the development of the RepRap 3D printer. This showed that low cost 3D printers could be done, and that most of the 3D printer parts could be 3D printed by another printer.

The second event was the expiration of the FDM patent. This meant that anyone could not build these cheap 3D printers with no legal issues, and set the tone for incredible advances in the industry.

2009: The First Affordable FDM 3D Printers

The first affordable FDM 3D printer kit was released in January 2009. It was called the BfB RapMan printer and although it was first, it wasn’t ugly or terrible. Future iterations were made, and perhaps it would have made a bigger impact if the fledgling company we mentioned earlier hadn’t appeared three months later.

The first Makerbot DIY 3D printer kit released in April 2009. Makerbot were supporters of the open source community, and their first printer, called Cupcake CNC, could be built entirely from parts downloadable from Thingiverse. Demand exploded, and Makerbot had to ask their customers for help to create parts for their backlog of orders. Makerbot were becoming the early kings of affordable desktop 3D printers.

2009 wasn’t just a year for FDM printers however. Organovo, a 3D bioprinting firm, managed to create the first 3D printed blood vessel. This was managed on a new 3D bioprinter which showed significant promise for the future creation of whole organs such as 3D printed hearts and kidneys.

2009 – 11: Cars, Gold Jewelry, and the Rise of Ultimaker

In recent years, online 3D printing service companies had sprung up to capitalize on the growing demand for 3D printed parts. These services work by allowing users to upload models they have either designed or downloaded, and pay for them to be 3D printed and mailed to their door. Some even allow users to sell their designs on an online marketplace and get paid for their designs.

Companies like Shapeways, Sculpteo, i.materialise, and later 3D Hubs, grew to print hundreds of thousands of parts on demand by the early 2010s. i.materialise then made headlines in 2011 when they were the first to offer 14k gold and sterling silver as 3D printable materials. Anyone who had designed something on their computers at home could (if they had deep enough pockets) have their model 3D printed in gold. The possibilities for custom and high fashion 3D printed jewelry expanded.

Also in 2011, Kor Ecologic produced the first 3D printed car. The car, called Urbee, uses electric motors and gets 200 miles to the gallon.

Though Makerbot had dominated the open source, desktop 3D printer market, competition was about to toughen up. Ultimaker was established in 2011 in Geldermalsen, Netherlands, and released the first Ultimaker 3D printer in March 2011. The Ultimaker Original was made from laser-cut plywood and proved an enormous success, launching them into the spotlight.

2012 – 14: The Democratization of Stereolithography

Though the original patents for Stereolithography had expired over five years before, nobody had yet been able to create an affordable SLA 3D printer. This changed in June 2012 when the B9Creator released after raising over $500,000 on Kickstarter. The B9Creator utilized a similar technology to Stereolithography called Digital Light Processing (DLP), and could be pre-ordered for $2,375.

6 months later, the affordable resin 3D printer game was changed again, when a new and then unknown startup called Formlabs launched their Kickstarter campaign for a 3D printer called the Form 1. You could pre-order a Form 1 starting at $2,299, and unlike the B9Creator it utilized Stereolithography. The project was an instant hit, raising an almost unprecedented $2.95 million in 30 days. Formlabs have since gone on to release SLS 3D printers, an upgraded SLA 3D printer in the Form 3, and grow to a billoin-dollar valuation.

2012 – 13: Stratasys & Objet merge, Stratasys buys Makerbot

Objet Geometries had gone from strength to strength since the early 2000s, improving their PolyJet technology that could print in full-color. This eventually led to possibly the biggest acquisition in the history of the 3D printing industry. On April 16th 2012, Stratasys announced that it had merged with Objet in an all-stock transaction, with Stratasys being the surviving company. Stratasys would own 55% of this new company, with Objet owning 45%. This gargantuan deal meant the new Stratasys was worth $3 billion at the time.

Stratasys didn’t stop there however. Despite competition from Ultimaker, and open source fans Aleph Objects (who produce Lulzbot 3D printers), Makerbot were still doing very well. On June 23rd 2013, Stratasys announced that Makerbot was the newest item on its shopping list, acquiring the FDM 3D printer giant in a $604M deal, with $403M paid upfront in stock. The founders of Makerbot have all since departed, and their newest machines are no longer open source.

Cody Wilson and the 3D Printed Gun

Later in 2013, Cody Wilson became a viral sensation after his company Defense Distributed posted an STL file on its site for 3D printing a working 3D printed gun. The US Government ordered Defense Distributed to remove the designs three days later, but the gun had already been downloaded over 100,000 times.

Metal 3D printing has recently become big talk, but before 2015 when tens of startups appeared, the industry was dominated by a few large players like EOS, Arcam and SLM Solutions. 3D Systems’ intent in getting involved in the metal 3D printing sector led to them acquiring French company Phenix Systems in July 2013. 3D Systems paid $15.1M for 81% of the shares and integrated Phenix’s metal 3D printers into their product range.

2014: 3D Printing in Space, and SLS and SLA Patents Expire

A few years after turning his attention to space, Dr Khoshnevis won NASA grand prizes, winning key prize money to further the research.

“We demonstrated at least two technologies that are viable. Technologies for building vertical structures such as hangars, shade walls, radiation protection walls, blast protection walls, and horizontal structures most particularly the landing pads, roads, we demonstrated the feasibility of those entirely to be made with in situ material.

“We actually built… and demonstrated it, that’s why we got Grand Prizes from NASA. My hope and expectation is that those technologies will eventually be used for planetary missions.”

The following year, a more wholesome achievement in 3D printing was realized. NASA announced they had used a 3D printer in space and created the first 3D printed object in space in 2014. This opened the door for future space manufacturing and the ability of future astronauts to create tools on-demand in space. If the team in space needed a particular item, they could be ‘beamed’ the design from Earth at light speed, and 3D print the tool out in space.

2014 was another big year for patents related to 3D printing expiring. First, the major SLS patent expired in 2014, meaning that cheaper alternatives could start being designed by individuals so inclined. Companies like Sintratec and Formlabs worked to create less expensive SLS 3D printers that were still viable. Up until then, most SLS machines were industrial, room-sized behemoths which started at $250,000. This new wave of SLS printers started at $5,000, helping to democratize Selective Laser Sintering.

Moreover, on March 11th 2014 another major 3D printing patent expired. Though Chuck Hull’s original patent had expired a decade earlier, this new patent expiry meant a much more innovative SLA 3D printing process was now in the public domain. Companies such as Formlabs had launched SLA 3D printers a couple of years previously, which patent-holder 3D Systems did not take a shining to. In fact, 3D Systems sued Formlabs in 2012 after they raised their $2.9M from Kickstarter. The case was eventually settled, with Formlabs agreeing to pay an 8% royalty on all sales to 3D Systems.

Though 3D printing had always previously been an industry dominated by a few large firms, this period was especially significant. The two original companies, 3D Systems and Stratasys, solidified their hold on the market by acquiring competitors like Phenix, Makerbot, DTM, Objet, and more.

The industry was far from a monopoly, however. Huge numbers of new competitors offered affordable machines that rivaled industrial 3D printers. Examples include Ultimaker, Lulzbot, and Prusa 3D printers in the desktop and DIY 3D printer kit markets, and Desktop Metal, Markforged, and Carbon 3D in the industrial sector. We will speak more on these newly-mentioned companies in the next part.

2015 – Present: Metal 3D printing, Major Developments in 3D Bioprinting and Construction

Carbon 3D and Desktop Metal: 0 to $1 Billion in 3 Years

Carbon 3D was formed on July 11th 2014 in California by Joseph and Philip DeSimone. The main tech behind the company was inspired by Terminator 2, and was named CLIP (Continuous Liquid Interface Production). By the end of 2017 the company had raised over $360 million and had a valuation of $1.7 billion – more than Stratasys and 3D Systems (both companies fell sharply in value after the 2013-14 3D printing hysteria died down from valuations in excess of $3 billion previously).

But how did they manage this?

In March 2015, Joseph DeSimone gave the now-viral TED Talk about 3D printing 100x faster. This announced very clearly to the world that Carbon 3D were ones to watch if they could make their CLIP technology feasible. A major grievance of 3D printing was that it was too slow to ever be relied upon as a medium-volume manufacturing option. If Carbon 3D could really print so much faster, it would rival injection molding and other processes for large-volume plastic parts.

They were not the only new 3D printing startup to reach astronomical valuations and receive hundreds of millions of dollars in investment however. Another example is Desktop Metal, who at the same time released their Studio and Production System metal 3D printers.

Since being founded in October 2015, Desktop Metal have received over $200M in investment and the company is now valued at over $1bn. Interestingly, Desktop Metal’s technology, Bound Metal Deposition, is very similar to FDM, just that it works with metal instead. There’s a reason that Silicon Valley investors (as well as Ford, Google, BMW, GE, and more) clamored to invest – their metal 3D printers can print metal 10x cheaper than alternative printers!

Desktop Metal’s Production System metal 3D printer, their more expensive and premium printer, uses a new type of binder jetting technology called Single Pass Jetting. This technology allows for the building of metal parts in minutes, rather than hours as with Direct Metal Laser Sintering. It truly is revolutionary, promising to change metal manufacturing in the near future.

Though they may both be innovative, companies like Carbon 3D and Desktop Metal are valued very high compared to their current sales and profits. This is because investors are confident that they will grow to be far bigger and more profitable in the future. This trend occurs in most markets, not just 3D printing.

Take Tesla for example – their revenues are dwarfed by some of the larger carmakers, yet Tesla’s market cap is larger than Ford. This is based on belief that Tesla will become the largest carmaker in the world in the future. We will have to see whether companies such as Carbon and Desktop Metal, as well as others like Markforged, Formlabs and Xact Metal can fulfill their investors’ hopes in the same way.

3D Systems Enter the Hall of Fame

30 years after 3D Systems had kickstarted the industry, their first ever 3D printer, the SLA-1, was declared a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. This formal recognition of the machine that started it all showed how far 3D printing had come since the 80s.

At around the same time, two very big technology companies entered the market. Household name big.

GE and HP Enter

The first was HP, leaders in inkjet 2D printing, who in 2016 announced that they would sell printers featuring their patented Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) technology. HP have since gone on to refine this technology, and in 2018 announced full-color 3D printers, industrial 3D printers at a much lower price range of $50,000, and a move into the metal 3D printing market.

The second household name was GE. Following the incorporation of a new company called GE Additive, the multinational giant acquired metal 3D printing companies Arcam and Concept Laser in late 2016 as part of a $1.4bn move into the additive manufacturing industry. GE Additive also tried to acquire SLM Solutions, but were ultimately unable to.

The incumbents now had HP and GE to worry about too. These deep-pocketed giants could invest billions in gaining a crucial technological advantage, and were now forced to innovate harder than ever. Competition is usually only a good thing for consumers however, as each company worked harder and harder to optimize their technologies to be as effective as possible.

The Ultimaker 3

Regarding the desktop 3D printer market, Ultimaker’s October 2016 release of the Ultimaker 3 was another landmark. It was an instant hit, earning boatloads of Best 3D Printer awards and cementing Ultimaker as a key player in the industry, while remaining committed to the open source philosophy. Ultimaker have since released the S3 and S5, which have received positive reviews.

3D Printing in Construction: a Very Exciting Prospect

But while all these companies were concentrating on 3D printing for manufacturing, others saw it as the solution to the growing housing crisis. 3D printing in construction was a $70M industry in 2017, but reports project it to be worth $40bn by 2027.

Companies such as Apis Cor and WinSun were started, creating huge concrete 3D printers that could build skeletons of houses far quicker and cheaper than any human. This advance was immortalized by Apis Cor 3D printing a whole house in just 24 hours. Other construction and architectural projects involving 3D printing were completed throughout the 2016-2018 period include 3D printed bridges, houses, and even plans for skyscrapers in Dubai.

Ultimaker S5 vs Makerbot Method: The Prosumer 3D Printer Battle 2018/19

Both Ultimaker and Makerbot grew extraordinarily throughout the mid-2010s, and were flying high off their Ultimaker 3 and Makerbot Replicator ranges respectively. By mid-2018 this battle was to move into the prosumer 3D printer range with the release of the Ultimaker S5 in May 2018, and the Makerbot Method in December. Both represented a step up in price, from around $3,000 up to over $5,000.

This was a change from both companies’ roots. They started building small FDM printers — remember the original kits made of wood? — and were previously more aligned with the RepRap philosophy. This move upmarket is an interesting one, though it is worth noting that Makerbot offer a Replicator+ model catered especially to 3D printing in education, retailing at around $2,000.

The Low Cost LCD 3D Printing Revolution

Resin 3D printers used to cost thousands, and that would only afford you a basic SLA printer. Then Digital Light Processing came along a number of years ago, offering a more scalable and modern alternative.

Then it was the turn of LCD 3D printing — more similar in process to DLP than SLA — to usher in the new era of low cost resin printing. Suddenly low cost resin printers like the ELEGOO Mars and AnyCubic Photon offered reasonably accurate resin prints at a printer cost of less than $500. When the first Formlabs printers came out, people found it astonishing that you could print accurate resin objects for $3,500 — oh how things have changed.

World’s Biggest 3D Printed Building: Apis Cor One-Ups Itself

Apis Cor already made headlines when they built a house in 24 hours. Then in October 2019 they went further, building a huge 3D printed building in Dubai. Dubai has been known for its openness to innovative new technologies, especially 3D printing, with this huge structure earmarked for administrative staffing.

Carl Deckard, Inventor of SLS, Dies at 58

One of the four original 3D printing company founders, Carl Deckard passed away on December 23rd 2019, at the age of just 59. The genius inventor of Selective Laser Sintering had since founded a number of other companies and held 27 patents, and was the most major figure in the history of 3D printing to pass away.

The founders of SLA and FDM, Chuck Hull and S. Scott Crump respectively, are still part of their companies, that are now both public and boast valuations of just under $1 billion dollars. It is unknown how much equity they hold.

EOS’ founder Dr Hans Langer, is 3D printing’s first and currently only billionaire, with an estimated net worth of $3.1bn as of August 2020 according to Forbes. The German company never went public, and is still successful 30 years on in the SLS and DMLS 3D printer markets.