Annual Guide to 3D Printing 3D to Guide Annual Peek! Sneak
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Make: Make: Volume 42 Volume ANNUAL GUIDE TO 3D PRINTING DREMEL’S 3D PRINTING IDEA BUILDER REVIEWED Local Motors prints the future for your driveway DISNEY’S BIG HERO 6 BIG HERO DISNEY’S 26 3D PRINTERS TESTED! 22 3D PRINTER BUYER’S GUIDE 3D PRINTER BUYER’S Full Reviews of our Top 10 Printers makershed.com 30 CYBERPUNK SPIKES CYBERPUNK SNEAKGet the complete issue, with reviews of all 26 printersPEEK! tested, at 3D 78 3D PRINT YOUR CT SCAN CT YOUR 3D PRINT PRINT 83 DIY PICKLING DIY YOUR Behind the Maker Tech * in Disney’s US $9.99/CAN $9.99 ISBN: 978-1-457-18385-0 Big Hero 6 * (YES, REALLY) ISBN 978-1-457-18385-0 CAR 50999 86 9 781457 183850 makezine.com WRITTEN BY ANNA KAZIUNAS FRANCE The new printers are much more polished than their predecessors — but are they as consumer-ready as their finish and packaging suggest? 2014 HAS BEEN A FULL-THROTTLE software, and documentation. Many made of injection-molded plastic. These YEAR FOR 3D PRINTING SINCE machines are still in the adolescent machines are slowly evolving, but does JANUARY’S CONSUMER ELECTRONICS stage, but a few have blossomed early, their performance meet the expectations SHOW (CES) introduced us to dozens and their polished appearance has be- set by their consumer-ready facades? of new machines. It’s clear that addi- gun to attract wider consumer attention. We were keen to find out. The core tive fabrication has caught the attention When unpacking the machines that group of 3D-printing test-team veterans of major brands in all sectors (Adobe, were tested in our third annual Shootout (some of whom have been present at Microsoft, Hasbro, Dremel) and the push weekend, I immediately noticed a dra- all three Shootouts) began preparing for the mainstreaming of this technology matic, consumer-product-style change more than a month before our trip to this has hit a new plateau. in machine packaging and overall fit and year’s new location at America Makes in Although there’s been a lot of hoopla, finish. Printers once arrived in packing Youngstown, Ohio. With the addition of most of the changes to actual function- peanuts and were made of laser-cut 3D-printing research scientist Andreas ality have been small; with slow and plywood, now most are shipped with Bastain, our test methods advanced Jeffrey Braverman Jeffrey steady improvements being made to ex- custom foam inserts reminiscent of from mere visual inspections of Thin- isting (and sometimes cloned) hardware, desktop computer packaging with bodies giverse objects. We drafted a flexible makezine.com 31 M42_030-2_SSopen_F1.indd 31 10/19/14 8:32 PM Special Section evaluation protocol and created parametric An Old-Fashioned models that could be quickly adapted to any unexpected situation. These preparations, combined with the onsite, real-time, data- American Shootout crunching diligence of Kacie Hultgren (aka Pretty Small Things) has yielded quantified comparison data that we could only dream of previously. As you read through our reviews, you will see two distinctly different, complementary types of data: the quantified print-quality scores and the qualitative evaluation of our team’s personal experience with each machine. As with last year’s testing, each machine was run by several different 3DP experts to ensure that personal prefer- ences did not skew the results, and we systematically and anonymously contacted customer support. The materials, host, and slicing software listed on each review are Gunther Kirsch manufacturer recommended, but we veri- fied hardware and software openness by tracking down the source files and their licenses. We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished during this year’s testing, although there’s always room for improvement. We used Ultimachine orange PLA as a control vari- able (the team agreed that it was a solid, widely available choice, representative of what would commonly run through desktop machines), some exceptions had to be made (noted in our print-quality summary) for machines that refused to function or jammed without proprietary filament. In addition, our fused filament fabrica- DURING THE 2013 STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS, PRESIDENT OBAMA tion XY and Z resonance mechanical tests referenced the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute did not yield the granularity they were (NAMII) in Youngstown, Ohio as a new program to look at for economic designed to collect and were downgraded inspiration. A year and a half later, Make: chose to conduct its annual to weighted Pass/Fail scores. Many of our 3D-printer tests at their location as a way to help connect a traditional SLA tests proved to be too far too ambi- manufacturing community with the Maker Movement. tious and were abandoned. That may sound Located inside a once-shuttered furniture factory, the institute, re- bleak, but it was all part of the plan — as named America Makes in October 2013, honors the city’s industrial past Andreas relates on page 34, these models while embracing a technological future. Aiming to become a center point were designed to fail. of research and development for the rapid-moving world of 3D printing, Why does all this matter? Because — as it teaches its workers to be experts in all areas of additive manufacturing Kacie states on page 36 — “consumers — from desktop to industrial — while offering knowledge and facilities to want accurate prints at the push of a but- companies and universities who are looking to bolster their capabilities. ton” and consumer adoption of 3DP (with As promised, the venue and its collection of top-level machines, able lower prices and widespread technological to turn powdered metal or nylon into anything from rocket nozzles to transformations that their adoption could windmills, is very inspiring. After our weekend of testing, America Makes’ enable) is directly dependent on how we founding director Ralph Resnick opened the doors to the public. The look answer two key questions: “What is print of excitement on the faces of the visitors, many of them hopeful for an quality?” and “What should we expect from economic resurgence in the Steel Valley, made it clear that the program our 3D printers?” is headed in the right direction. —Mike Senese 32 makershed.com M42_030-2_SSopen_F1.indd 32 10/19/14 8:32 PM Special Section Buyer’s Guide | Fused Filament Printers | Ultimaker 2 Ultimaker | ultimaker.com Price as Tested $2,499 Build Volume 230×225×205mm ULTIMAKER 2 Bed Style Heated glass Best in Shootout for overall print quality Temperature Control Yes Materials PLA, ABS (others encouraged) WRITTEN BY ELI RICHTER Available at bit.ly/ultimaker-2-printer Print Untethered? SD card, OctoPrint compatible Onboard Controls? Yes Host Software Cura Slicer CuraEngine OS Mac, Linux, Windows Open Software? Cura/CuraEngine: AGPLv3 Open Hardware? Auxiliary design files: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 Brian Kaldorf 38 makershed.com M42_038-9_BG-Ultim2_F2.indd 38 10/21/14 12:28 PM makezine.com/3d-evolution Ultimaker | ultimaker.com ALTHOUGH ULTIMAKER’S SECOND was at the head of the pack for most of our PRINT SCORES test prints, notably those that tested the OFFERING RECENTLY CELEBRATED ITS Accuracy 1 2 3 4 5 FIRST BIRTHDAY, its performance in our physical stability of the machine. Tests with Backlash 1 2 3 4 5 Shootout was head and shoulders above lower scores, such as the Overhang and the rest of the FFF machines. This is a Bridging prints, were hurt by the aggressive Bridging 1 2 3 4 5 great machine for those who want to load speeds and could be vastly improved with Overhangs 1 2 3 4 5 a model and print without spending hours some minor tweaking. Fine Features 1 2 3 4 5 setting up and tweaking parameters, but it Surface Curved 1 2 3 4 5 still gives the advanced user enough control FEATURE PACKED, OCTOPRINT Surface General 1 2 3 4 5 to get even more out of the Ultimaker 2. COMPATIBLE Tolerance 1 2 3 4 5 Ultimaker also maintains its own integrated The Ultimaker 2 has all of the features one 3D-printing ecosystem, with an online should expect of a class-leading printer: XY Resonance FAIL PASS model library at YouMagine.com and web- a heated glass build platform, illuminated Z Resonance FAIL PASS based modeling tool UltiShaper 3D. build area, onboard controls, two PLA cooling fans, with a frame that is sturdy and PRO TIPS GREAT OUT OF THE BOX attractive. It’s also OctoPrint compatible, Reduce printing speed for small parts The Ultimaker 2 ships almost entirely pre- so wireless printing (and slicing via Cura) is or tweak settings in Cura to set minimum assembled and ready to go. Simply remove possible with the user addition and setup of layer time. the (awesome) glass build plate from its a Raspberry Pi and a wi-fi dongle. Absent Use a glue stick to keep large overnight protective bubble wrap, and secure it with from this feature list is an autoleveler and prints adhered to the platform — brims the premounted aluminum clips. second extruder, which though and rafts can be difficult to remove. Snap on the filament holder, in development, was not yet Back filament from hot end manually power it on, run the leveling ONE HAS TO available as of press time. If (heat nozzle, move material, remove tube procedure, load the fila- a dual extruder is on your and trim before executing “change fila- ment, and this bot’s ready DIG DEEP TO immediate must-have ment procedure”) to avoid melted chunks to go. Bed leveling is per- FIND THINGS list, then you may want to jamming filament feed.