Sometimes I really want to smash this 3d printer! A 3D printer is a nice thing to have and you can make many things with a 3d printer but there are some BIG disadvantages too!
Preparation
When you want to 3d print an object, it takes a while before it starts, maybe not all printers, but mine does take a while. It needs to get hot first around 200 degrees, you need to extrude the filament before using it to get the previous colour out. With my printer you also need to tape and glue the tape with glue stick. It happened once I run out of glue after a print failed couple of times and I was pissed that I had to go to the shop to buy one!
Time
Printing 3D can take sooooo much time! If you want to print out for example a pair of large earrings it can take already 1,5 hours. So you can imagine how long it will take with bigger models. You can not leave the house when you have a print running. Of course you can, but it can be dangerous sometimes and you will think about your print while you are out of the house. Thinking if it will succeed or fail. When you come home and you see it failed after 50% then you really feel annoyed and become moody.
Filament
The filament/PLA comes on a spool. You also have a spool holder on top of your 3D printer. Many times it works but there are moments the filament get tangled on the spool during your 3d printing and the 3d printer will stop printing or it prints without the filament being extruded. Today it happened that the spool fell off the spool holder and the filament broke! I was already at 50% something!
When filament is broken you can not continue again, so you have to start from beginning again. It's not like sewing that you can continue where you left off. I tried once to connect the broken filament with the filament on the spool again, but there was a layer of filament missing on the printing model. I really hope in the future this problem will be history and the 3d printer will somehow detect where it stopped during the printing and continue again finishing the print. This would be so amazing!
When a model failed because of the 3d printer or simply because it somehow doesn't satisfy us, we can not reuse the filament. It would be nice to be able to reuse the filament using a machine like a spaghetti machine.
Design
On this picture you see the 3d printed princess broken heart lip balm duo container. You can see what I mean. Curvy things will look like this, it is not sticking on the bed like it should. With a (PLA) 3D printer you can not design anything you want. At least not with my Printrbot Simple Metal. I can not print for example thing that are round like a ball and very small details like necklace amulets with many small details. Printing out hinges can also be very challenging.
I hope in the future they make it more advanced and cheaper because I like to have a metal 3d printer to print jewellery! I hope in the future printing time would be not so long anymore. Not hours but minutes!
Look how cool that is if you can print this unique jewellery!
