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3D printing is awesome, but I fail to come up with any legitimate reason to buy one for myself. And I really don't like the plastics used by them, it sounds li

3D printing is awesome, but I fail to come up with any legitimate reason to buy one for myself. And I really don't like the plastics used by them, it sounds like a new source of waste that is bad for the environment. I don't want to shame anyone for buying a 3D printer, but I wish we stop inventing new products that just creates a new source of pollution (failed prints).

yummybear 6y ago
It's true, speaking from the current state of the 3D printing world. However... As the technology matures I personally believe it will be a net positive effect. We will save on shipping, new materials will be more environmentally friendly, new printing methods will allow better control over colors, resolution, texture and multi-material printing. Plastic is not necessarily the only material - composites, ceramics, metal will become more available. 3D printing can likely also increase the reuse of products by increasing reparability. Perhaps it will not be in the current form of 3D-printing. I imagine specialty or high end printing will be from local printing shops, like high end printing products are today.
- louwrentius 6y ago
  I agree that such benefits could exist, but what I've mostly observed is just nerds 'playing' with their toys. That's a netto negative. Plastics is certainly not the only material, but most people do use them. They are the cheapest. I would like to see actual numbers (easy for me to ask, I know) to become less sceptical. It's awesome tech, but I feel that at no point is the environmental friendliness really, genuinely part of the equation.
  - Symbiote 6y ago
    A "toy" wasting biodegradable plastic (made from maize) seems fairly low impact, compared to many other hobbies. Just driving 20km round trip for any other hobby you care to name uses a litre of petrol. That's 5-10 medium-large toys, or a hundred trinkets.
derekp7 6y ago
I thought the same, but the wife bought one for me for Christmas. After initially printing things I found on thingiverse, such as cell phone holders, I started learning to make my own models (mostly from OpenScad). And that opened up the true utility of 3D printers -- making things that don't exist (that I can't buy). Recent example -- I got a Husky work table with a router plate insert (to make it a router table). I have an old Craftsman router. No one makes router table plates that have holes drilled for this model router. So I modeled and printed an adapter plate to screw onto the router, with threaded holes matching holes on the table's insert plate. A previous example, I needed a plastic ring to hold magnets for a cadence sensor for my E-Bike kit. The kit came with a magnet ring for a mountain bike, but I have a road bike. Couldn't find anything suitable online for this particular bicycle. A couple hours of modeling, and 3 hours of printing later, I had the part that I needed. As for plastic waste -- it isn't as much as you think. The slicing software (which converts a model file into gcode) lets you put in a fill percentage. Default is 15%, and upping it to 35% makes a fairly strong part. It uses a honeycomb fill pattern, which is strong yet uses minimal material. I'm still on my first two 1kg spools of material (and the slow speed of creating something means that you don't go through that much filament that fast). Another project was making small clips that I used to mount a piece of plexiglass (from a big box store) over the TV, as protection from the grandkid that we are raising (it is surprising how delicate modern TVs are). So in short, 3D printers are really good for making small parts that you need for various household projects or hobbies, and a $20 spool of filament lasts a long time. And they get really useful when you design your own "things" to print.
- xphilter 6y ago
  I agree. It really opens up a lot of things for people who like to tinker. Started just printing toys, but now am designing and printing useful parts needed during lockdown and School/work from home. I love it.
- mlester 6y ago
  just made some clips to hang banners on my shutters. Also made some cool Halloween decorations. Friends have used me as a one off manufacturer for various things too. I am a big fan of 3d printing.
Ancapistani 6y ago
I find that I use my printer often enough to fix or improve things around the house that it's certainly a net positive. In the past year, I estimate I have had at most 1kg of failed prints. I've had another 2 or 3 kg of prints that were novelties or that failed to perform the desired function. On the other hand, last week I printed a replacement keyboard case for my portable keyboard, which saved me buying another one (I use it constantly). A couple of months ago I designed and printed a new fan duct for my fridge. Had I not been able to do that, I would have had to buy a $300 part and thrown the old one out. The impact of manufacturing and shipping that one part likely outweighs the lifetime waste of my printer, and that's just one example.
PowerBar 6y ago
Every time I print something and see the bits of extra plastic (nozzle cleaning, supports, the odd failure, etc), I feel a little guilty until I remember how much plastic would have been in the packaging alone had I ordered the part online or bought it in the store. Pretty much every time I order something small from Amazon or Ebay (the only really usable online retailers in western Canada), it almost always comes in a bubble-wrap-lined envelope that is essentially impossible to recycle.

yummybear 6y ago

It's true, speaking from the current state of the 3D printing world. However... As the technology matures I personally believe it will be a net positive effect. We will save on shipping, new materials will be more environmentally friendly, new printing methods will allow better control over colors, resolution, texture and multi-material printing. Plastic is not necessarily the only material - composites, ceramics, metal will become more available. 3D printing can likely also increase the reuse of products by increasing reparability. Perhaps it will not be in the current form of 3D-printing. I imagine specialty or high end printing will be from local printing shops, like high end printing products are today.

louwrentius 6y ago
I agree that such benefits could exist, but what I've mostly observed is just nerds 'playing' with their toys. That's a netto negative. Plastics is certainly not the only material, but most people do use them. They are the cheapest. I would like to see actual numbers (easy for me to ask, I know) to become less sceptical. It's awesome tech, but I feel that at no point is the environmental friendliness really, genuinely part of the equation.
- Symbiote 6y ago
  A "toy" wasting biodegradable plastic (made from maize) seems fairly low impact, compared to many other hobbies. Just driving 20km round trip for any other hobby you care to name uses a litre of petrol. That's 5-10 medium-large toys, or a hundred trinkets.

derekp7 6y ago

I thought the same, but the wife bought one for me for Christmas. After initially printing things I found on thingiverse, such as cell phone holders, I started learning to make my own models (mostly from OpenScad). And that opened up the true utility of 3D printers -- making things that don't exist (that I can't buy). Recent example -- I got a Husky work table with a router plate insert (to make it a router table). I have an old Craftsman router. No one makes router table plates that have holes drilled for this model router. So I modeled and printed an adapter plate to screw onto the router, with threaded holes matching holes on the table's insert plate. A previous example, I needed a plastic ring to hold magnets for a cadence sensor for my E-Bike kit. The kit came with a magnet ring for a mountain bike, but I have a road bike. Couldn't find anything suitable online for this particular bicycle. A couple hours of modeling, and 3 hours of printing later, I had the part that I needed. As for plastic waste -- it isn't as much as you think. The slicing software (which converts a model file into gcode) lets you put in a fill percentage. Default is 15%, and upping it to 35% makes a fairly strong part. It uses a honeycomb fill pattern, which is strong yet uses minimal material. I'm still on my first two 1kg spools of material (and the slow speed of creating something means that you don't go through that much filament that fast). Another project was making small clips that I used to mount a piece of plexiglass (from a big box store) over the TV, as protection from the grandkid that we are raising (it is surprising how delicate modern TVs are). So in short, 3D printers are really good for making small parts that you need for various household projects or hobbies, and a $20 spool of filament lasts a long time. And they get really useful when you design your own "things" to print.

xphilter 6y ago
I agree. It really opens up a lot of things for people who like to tinker. Started just printing toys, but now am designing and printing useful parts needed during lockdown and School/work from home. I love it.
mlester 6y ago
just made some clips to hang banners on my shutters. Also made some cool Halloween decorations. Friends have used me as a one off manufacturer for various things too. I am a big fan of 3d printing.

Ancapistani 6y ago

I find that I use my printer often enough to fix or improve things around the house that it's certainly a net positive. In the past year, I estimate I have had at most 1kg of failed prints. I've had another 2 or 3 kg of prints that were novelties or that failed to perform the desired function. On the other hand, last week I printed a replacement keyboard case for my portable keyboard, which saved me buying another one (I use it constantly). A couple of months ago I designed and printed a new fan duct for my fridge. Had I not been able to do that, I would have had to buy a $300 part and thrown the old one out. The impact of manufacturing and shipping that one part likely outweighs the lifetime waste of my printer, and that's just one example.

PowerBar 6y ago

Every time I print something and see the bits of extra plastic (nozzle cleaning, supports, the odd failure, etc), I feel a little guilty until I remember how much plastic would have been in the packaging alone had I ordered the part online or bought it in the store. Pretty much every time I order something small from Amazon or Ebay (the only really usable online retailers in western Canada), it almost always comes in a bubble-wrap-lined envelope that is essentially impossible to recycle.