3D printing can be a hobby all its own. As the hobby becomes more affordable, many people have an interest in developing these new skills. There are four key aspects to consider when starting this hobby.
First, you may be looking for a new hobby to stretch your current knowledge base and always keep your brain active. The art of 3D printing will do just that.
Second, researching which printers may best suit you (a beginner or advanced) is part of the fun. Various reviews and articles will help you make those decisions.
Third, once you purchase your first printer and open the box, part of the fun is putting it together. Some printers come fully assembled and others require full assembly by the customer. Either way, you will need to become familiar with all the basic parts so that when issues arise (and they will), you can better understand how to fix it and/or which part may need replacing.
Finally, to do 3D printing you need filament. It comes in every color you can imaging and various types to give you the texture or strength that you need. Again, it is part of the research and fun of learning 3D printing. Historically and most currently, the filament for 3D printing comes in roles. These rolls usually come in various weights and of course the price is higher the heavier the roll. In addition, depending where you purchase the product, a black role of PLA from one company may not be of the same quality as from another company. A typical roll of filament looks like the picture below:
Now here is the really fun information that you may not know. Instead of using a “roll” there is now a product in beta testing on the market that uses “pellets”. But what would be the reason we would want to use pellets? Well, cost is a definite reason such that a 3 pound bag of pellets may be half the price of the same amount in a filament role. In addition, we would be decreasing the “plastic footprint” of all the spools that need to be discarded when the rolls are empty. There are no spools required when using pellets. Here is a photo of what the pellet bags look like:
We are just now exploring this option and are working in the beta mode to see how it works. Mr Kristian Friesen Holte-Stukenbrock – Germany is the inventor. We will keep you posted as we go along, but thought we could introduce you to what we are trying in the video below.
