3D Printing Machines, Materials, Tools & Techniques

This article is based on the latest trend report from 3D Hubs. Their rankings only include machines that have received more than 200 ratings, so newer machines take a while to appear.

Created for artists, makers, product designers, engineers, prosumers, small businesses and anyone else who is looking to speed up the 3D printing preparation process while ensuring a high quality 3D print, Materialise Cloud is capable of a number of streamlined functions including file conversions, file optimization, file repair and file rebuilding via the Cloud.

This web service does exactly what it claims. It checks your STL files for any mistakes that might corrupt the print. MakePrintable gives you more control over the STL repair process than any other web services. You can choose a quality level (prototype, standard and high), hollow and repair the mesh and optimize the polygon count. It even allows you to merge multiple meshes into one.

Cura out performs any other 3d printing slicing software! It is very easy to use and allows you to manage the most important 3D print settings in a clear interface. Start in “Basic” mode for rapid onboarding and switch to over “Expert” mode when you need more precise control over the print quality settings.

The idea behind 3D Hubs is simple. Give consumers access to a global network of individually run 3D printers to which they can easily send designs. The printers set their own price, listing themselves by resolution and material. 3D Hubs takes 15 percent of each transaction.

A lot of people don’t check their 3D printing costs which can differ up to 100%. All3DP brings the most popular online 3D printing services, Shapeways, i.materialise & Sculpteo in one place where you can compare 3D printing costs in real-time and place an order.