Old school myths busted with new school experiences: 3D printing

“3D printing? Oh you mean that thing… Yeah, I’ve heard about it, but isn’t that cutting edge and super high tech? Why would anyone want to learn how to 3D print anything? It would be very difficult to learn and have no use in real life. Anyways…”

Excuse me? What did you say? 3D printing is cutting edge? It is hard to learn? It will have no help in real life? I’m afraid that you are living at least 35 years in the past, when the idea of 3D printing was brand new and the first printer was just being invented.

3D printing is a technology that is seemingly distant to our daily routines. Many view it more of a legend, an urban myth, than a reality. Despite scientists' and hobbyists' valiant efforts at promoting the technology, there are still many rumors that exist in the field which many people believe.

Throughout my printmanship (I own a FDM 3D printer and is a daily user of it), I have heard more than enough myths whispered between my friends and families. To me, they are nothing but a product of stereotypes and ignorance.

In this article, I will be busting those myths, and every claim that I make will be based on my experiences. Well, enough mumbling from me, let us get down into the business!

Myth 1: 3D printing is expensive!

It really depends on how much you wish to commit. I have poured no more than $300 into the hobby, which is just about 60% of a PS5! So if you have the spare money, instead of getting yourself a perfectly fine gaming machine, why don’t you get a sketchy 3D printer instead? Wait… isn’t it the other way around?

Anyways, that $300 includes the printer itself (around $230), about 3 kilograms of filaments (which is a lot), as well as various different tools which ensure better print quality, such as saws and sand papers.

Myth 2: 3D printing is hard to learn!

Well, long story short, it is not. It requires you to have no other software knowledge than knowing how to turn a computer on and how to use a USB drive. You also need to learn the basics of a slicing software such as Cura in order to turn the stl file (universal file for 3D printing) into whatever type of file that your 3D printer can read, but trust me, it will take no longer than 30 minutes if you follow a YouTube tutorial.

The hardware side of things might be a little harder (‘hard’-ware, get it?). For FDM printers, you must build the entire printer out of separate parts. To be honest, the manual is hard to follow. But there are always enough trustworthy guys on YouTube that teach you the steps ‘step by step’ (‘step by step’, get it?... Okay. I swear I will stop).You must also be able to level the bed, but once you get the hang of it, it will only take 3 minutes each time before you are about to print something. All in all, it is no big trouble. Probably easier than learning how to connect your switch to your TV!

It is even simpler if you have a resin printer. The printer is pre-built for you, and all you need to do is to put the bed onto the printer, pour the resin in, and voila! You can start printing!

Myth 3: 3D printing is only for NERDS!

It is for absolutely everyone - not only me (a downright nerd). Even my mother is enjoying the 3D printer. She actually doesn’t know the tiniest of things about 3D printing and uses me as her faithful little servant (okay I might be exaggerating here), but she seems to love the products all right. All in all, different people have different tastes, but I am sure that a 3D printer can strike everyone’s sweet spot, because of the varieties of things that it can print.

Myth 4: 3D printing is useless!

3D printing can actually be useful, and depending on what you use it for, it can save you a lot of money!

Humans need too many small things. Phone cases, decorations, gifts, so on and so on. All those things cost money, and, let us be honest, a whole lot of money.

3D printing solves that problem for you altogether! Want a phone case that is so cool that it will astonish your friends? Print! Want a gift that is original and full of love? Print! Need some cute little puppies for your bedroom? Print! Want something to bonk that annoying kid on the head? Print! Print! Print! Print! Print! All those things can be created using some cheap filament instead of expensive money. In the long run, you will end up with more useless stuff that you need, eh, I mean, lots of beautiful stuff in your collection.

Myth 5: 3D printing is harmful for the environment because it produces so much plastic waste!

Believe it or not, it is actually not as environmentally damaging as one might think. Most people use PLA for most of their prints. PLA is a type of plastic that is easily biodegradable. It can be degraded in just 2 weeks if provided the proper conditions. This means that you don’t have to worry about the negative impact that you are going to have on the environment.

Things are a bit different for resin printers though. Resins are not particularly environmentally friendly and you will cause some water pollution by dumping the water that you used to cure the print directly down the sink. However this problem can easily be avoided if you follow the local laws (yes laws are actually made in relation to this stuff). If you are still feeling guilty you can buy some bio resin that, although comes at a more expensive price, is made totally out of biomaterials!

Those 5 myths are only the peak of the iceberg. The stereotypes about 3D printing go deep and wide. The reason why I made this article is to try my best at eliminating those stereotypes, and hopefully, encourage more people to start 3D printing!

Do you know that we have a 3D printer at the school? It is an ‘Ultimaker 2 extended’, which is a FDM printer. We can start printing as soon as we get a SD card and the proper filaments! Why don’t you spend one of your break times to ask Ms. Arora to have a look!