The 8 Best 3D Printers 2020

You don’t have to go back too far to find a time when 3D printers were merely a fantasy, with replicators best left to the Star Trek universe. And just as quickly, they went from imaginary to real, then from gigantic machines restricted to rich tech companies to what’s available now for your own home.

Whether building a prototype for your designs, a maquette for your sculpture, replacement parts for your stop-motion animation, or even just playing around, a 3D printer can open up immense possibilities.

While they’re not quite at replicator levels (please don’t eat anything you print, even if it looks super delicious) the precision available has improved so much over the years. Because they’re not “make anything” tools yet, it’s important to consider a range of factors when selecting the best printer for you.

How to Choose a 3D Printer?

Tech: FDM or SLA

Current 3D printers typically fall into one of two categories: Fused Deposition Modeling printers (FDM) or Stereolithography (SLA). Each uses an entirely different technology to print your designs in 3D.

FDM printers take a plastic filament (usually spooled on top of the printer like an extension cord), melt it through a pen-like extruder, and build your design in layers with the melted plastic.

SLA printers also build layer-by-layer, but with a liquid resin that requires UV light to cure to a hardened state. The light is beamed with a laser or projector to compose the layers. Unlike the FDM printers, these build from top to bottom, lifting the solid layer of resin up and then building the next one below it.

Aside from a completely different method of production, there are some key differences to consider between these two methods. FDM printers will not be nearly as precise as SLA printers. For that precision, however, there is a cost: not only are the resins in SLA far more expensive than the spools of filament for an FDM, but you also will have a lot more cleanup to do with SLA printers so that your final product can be handled and comes out nicely. You also need to frequently replace the resin containers, adding more to the cost. Supports and other imperfections would likely need to be trimmed from both of these.

These differences lead directly to application purposes. An FDM is great for quick prototyping, or when a perfectly precise model is not necessary. SLA would be best for creating more precise surfaces, best for casting molds. In both cases, your product will not be perfectly strong, so unless you’ve got a NASA-grade printer like they plan to use on the ISS, don’t expect extremely strong items.

Build volume

The size of the printer determines how big a model you can make. Remember that these are sold to fit in your home, but the sizes of what can be produced will still vary.

Materials used in the print

With an FDM, the materials used to make the filament can range from a biodegradable polymer made of polylactic acid (PLA) to more flexible acyrlonitrite-butadiene styrene (ABS) which is oil-based and much more expensive for that strength. Both have pros and cons. ABS may be more prone to warping, but PLA can clog the nozzle. However, if you want to sand and reshape your product, PLA could be better. You can also have filaments of a variety of other materials from copper to wood-based, but remember that some printers force you to buy only their proprietary materials, limiting your selection.

For SLA printers, you’re likely limited to the proprietary resins for that particular printer. Most have very few options.

Speed

This is improving over time, but regardless of your choice, your printing will probably be quite slow for now. In some models, you can sacrifice resolution by printing thicker layers, thus reducing the printing time. If speed is important to you, check to see how fast each layer is produced—most can do around 100mm/s.

Top Beginner 3D Printers

Now that we know what we’re looking for, let’s look at some actual printers. The following are exclusively FDM printers (because of cost) and are all available for under 800 USD.

This is a nice, reliable printer that can be easily modified to suit your needs. Over time, that sturdiness could go a long way for your dollar.

This is a great entry into the 3D printing world for less than half of the above and only a tiny fraction of the printers in the Pro list below.

There may be some startup issues to get this one going—including difficulty getting your design to stick to the plate, and some less than clear instructions—but ultimately there is a lot of value here. This is another good entry-level choice.

You can set this up in less than an hour and with its open-source framework, you can use almost any 3D printing program to slice up your design. If that weren’t enough, this is probably the highest quality FDM printer available. The LulzBot is a fantastic choice for the serious enthusiast.

A slow heat-up time before printing (10-20 minutes) and reports of some customer service problems could dampen an otherwise excellent printer, but if you’re patient, this is a solid choice. It’s reasonably affordable for easy-to-start printing.

The price is steep but the quality matches even much more expensive printers.