4 issues I hate about 3D printing
3D printing will be enjoyable, sensible, and all-consuming. It can be extremely annoying, each to take care of and on a better stage. Here are some issues that actually irk me about this interest, and I wager they annoy you too.
Supports
They wreck a superb print
Supports are a essential evil in 3D printing because of the method that 3D printers construct fashions layer by layer. For supported shapes, like a sq., that is simple. But for prints that characteristic overhanging components, just like the arm on a determine, helps are a essential evil. These fairly actually help the mannequin with a disposable construction that’s often product of the identical filament you’re printing with (although it doesn’t should be).
The helps themselves are discarded as waste as soon as the mannequin has completed, so that they price you filament to supply. You can reorient your print on the mattress to reduce helps, however this isn’t all the time one of the simplest ways to print an merchandise. This is particularly true if you happen to’re attempting to print an object in a fashion that aligns the layer lines in the strongest orientation on your desired use.
The half that annoys me probably the most, nevertheless, is eradicating helps. This is an usually arduous job of rigorously snipping away at your object with flush cutters or pulling at free bits of filament with needle-nose pliers. These helps don’t all the time come off cleanly, and even once they do, you’ll be left with a pock-marked floor in your mannequin that spoils the end.
Thankfully, there are some neat tricks for dealing with supports that you can use. This consists of baking helps into your mannequin in a fashion, as is the case with fin supports.
The AI slopification of 3D printing
It’s taking up
Slop is beginning to really feel like an overused phrase, however it’s not used with out advantage. Whatever you do for enjoyable, you’ve in all probability seen that AI has had one thing of a deleterious impact in your interest. In the 3D printing globe, the assault has come on a number of fronts.
AI-generated models have flooded repositories over the previous yr for the reason that instruments essential to make them have grow to be extra accessible. You don’t have to pay for premium companies anymore; you may run fashions regionally by yourself machine. They’re low effort, they produce sub-par objects, they usually’re a globe away from fashions which have been crafted by hand in relation to sensible options.
Another downside that muddies the waters when trying to find fashions is the prevalence of AI-generated pictures in mannequin listings. It will be laborious to belief a obtain while you’re unsure if the picture you’re looking at is actual or not. Both of those issues are compounded by the fixed barrage of promotions for related instruments, from companies like Meshy to “STL to picture” mills.
The interest’s affiliation with junk
If I see yet one more articulated dragon…
3D printing has a picture downside, and a variety of it comes all the way down to articulated dragons. Vendors with 3D printers are taking up farmers’ exchanges and different creator areas which can be historically related to handmade items. It’s not a fantastic look, and also you don’t have to go far to search out somebody complaining about it (good to fulfill you).
You ought to print what makes you content, and you should responsibly recycle anything you no longer need. But I’d argue all of us have a accountability to reduce waste. The downside is so unhealthy now that yow will discover this junk in “correct” retail shops, and it’s so shoddily made that it poses a choking hazard.
The FOMO I really feel each few months
It’s a me downside
3D printing took some time to get began, starting as a distinct segment interest for the curious and dedicated. Defunct brands like MakerBot saved the fireplace heat earlier than Creality’s Ender 3 turned the 3D printer of alternative for newbies. Later, Bambu Lab entered the market and adjusted the sport with easy-to-use printers which have dominated the roost ever since.
It took round 20 years to go from kits that you just assemble your self to printers that handle leveling and calibration for you. Now we’ve entered a brand new stage of printer refinement. I purchased a Bambu Lab P2S in early 2026, and two (!) months later the more capable X2D landed for only an extra $100. It added some very nice-to-have options like a secondary nozzle, heated chamber, and improved belts.
Just a few months later, Bambu Lab launched the A2L. Despite being a unique class of machine, it allows large construct volumes for bigger prints that may usually require higher-end machines just like the H2 collection from Bambu Lab and Prusa’s XL collection. There’s additionally a continuing stream of 3D printing-adjacent arrivals like laser engravers and 3D scanners. 3D printers are present process fixed tweaking and enchancment at a fee we’ve not seen earlier than.
It’s vital to do not forget that the existence of latest machines doesn’t make your previous machine any much less succesful. Anyone who buys the new new factor is aware of that there’s solely so lengthy earlier than one thing higher comes alongside. That stated, I sympathize along with your emotions of FOMO.
One factor that makes me love 3D printing is all the sensible options and time-saving hacks the interest allows. Here are some methods you may use a 3D printer to make household chores easier or repair things around the home.
