Testing 3D printers is an in-depth course of. Printers usually do not use the identical supplies, and even the identical course of to create fashions. I take a look at SLA 3D printers that use resin and lightweight to print, and FDM printers that soften plastic onto a plate. Every has a singular methodology. Core qualifiers I take a look at embody:
- {Hardware} high quality
- Ease of setup
- Bundled software program
- Look and accuracy of prints
- Repairability
- Firm and group help
A key take a look at print, representing the (now outdated) CNET brand, is used to evaluate how a printer bridges gaps, creates correct shapes and offers with overhangs. It even has little towers to assist measure how nicely the 3D printer offers with temperature ranges.
When testing pace, we slice the mannequin utilizing the usual slicer the machine is shipped with on its commonplace settings, then evaluate the real-world period of the print to the assertion completion time on the slicer. 3D printers usually use totally different slicers, and people slicers can fluctuate wildly on what they consider the completion time to be.
We then use PrusaSlicer to find out how a lot materials the print ought to use and divide that quantity by the real-world time it took to print to provide us a extra correct quantity for the pace in millimeters per second (mm/s) the printer can run at.
Each construct plate is meant to warmth as much as a sure temperature so we use the InfiRay thermal imaging digicam for Android to test how nicely they do. We set the construct plate to 60 levels Celsius — essentially the most used temperature for construct plates — waited 5 minutes for the temperature to stabilize, after which measured it in six separate areas. We then took the common temperature to see how shut the 3D printer obtained to the marketed temperature.
Testing resin requires totally different standards, so I take advantage of the Ameralabs commonplace take a look at: printing out a small resin mannequin that appears like a tiny city. This helps decide how correct the printer is, the way it offers with small elements and the way nicely the UV publicity works at totally different factors within the mannequin.
Many different anecdotal take a look at prints, utilizing totally different 3D fashions, are additionally run on every printer to check the longevity of the elements and the way nicely the machine copes with varied shapes.
For the opposite standards, I researched the corporate to see how nicely it responds to help queries from clients and the way straightforward it’s to order substitute elements and set up them your self. Kits (printers that come solely semi-assembled) are judged by how lengthy and troublesome the meeting course of is and the way clear the directions are.
