Decent 3D printers are now available for purchase at well under 1,000 dollars. But those who want to get into home production of 3D objects should first thoroughly consider how computer savvy they are, what they want to produce and where the device will be located.
Going through those considerations will help users find the right kind of printer, according to the German tech magazine c't.
Most 3D printers are controlled through Gcode commands, a language which is very similar to the one used in industrial CNC machines.
Depending on whether you intend to use a template or want to design your own objects on a computer, you will often need to get into the technical nitty-gritty and take matters into your own hand.
Some manufacturers use their own controlling software, meaning that templates in other file formats can cause problems.
One of the most important questions to answer before buying a new printer is what you want to produce. Cheaper models often don't have a large area to fabricate the object.
The larger the space for the layer-by-layer additive manufacturing - another name for 3D printing - the larger the object being produced can be.
Printers around the 1,000-dollar mark usually have a reproduction area of at least 20 square centimeters, much larger than that of many cheaper models, which have problems printing covers for larger smartphones at 15 x 10 cm.
The location of the printer is also important to consider because printing usually takes many hours while generating a lot of heat and noise, not to mention smelly plastic steam. There should definitely be adequate ventilation for the printer.
However a more flexible placement of the printer is possible if it can read data from SD cards and is not reliant on a continuous connection to a computer.