Price factor

Most desktop 3D printers sell for around RMB20,000, and some domestic imitations can cost as little as RMB6,000. However, according to 3D printer agents, although the price of domestic 3D printers is low, the quality is difficult to guarantee.

For desktop 3D printers, the range of use is very limited because they can only print plastic products, and the cost of using 3D printers is still high for home users. That's because before you can print an object, you have to know how to model it in 3D, translate the data into a format that 3D printers can read, and then print it.

Raw material

3D printing is not a sophisticated and difficult technology. The difference between it and normal printing is the printed material. Israel's Object is the company with the most printing materials. It can already use 14 basic materials and mix and match 107 materials on this basis, and the mixing and matching of two materials is already a reality. But these kinds of materials are far from those found in the vast world in which people live. Not only that, the price of these materials is as low as several hundred yuan per kilogram, and the most expensive is about forty thousand yuan.

Risk cost

Just as nuclear reactions can both generate electricity and destroy it. 3D printing has raised a number of concerns in its early days, and many worry about its future. If everything could be copied from top to bottom, you could make whatever you think of, which sounds beautiful, but it's also scary.

3D printing paradox

3d printing is to make objects layer by layer. If you want to make objects more detailed, you need to reduce the thickness of each layer. If you want to improve the printing speed, you need to increase the thickness of the layer, and this is bound to affect the quality of the precision of the product. In order to produce products with the same precision, there is no cost advantage over traditional large-scale industrial production, especially after taking into account the cost of time and scale.

Industry standard

In the 21st century, 3d printer manufacturers are blooming. 3D printers lack of standards, the same 3d model to different printers to print, the results are very different.

In addition, there is a lack of standard printing materials. In 2012-2013, 3d printer manufacturers wanted consumers to buy their own printing materials so that they could make a steady income. Although this is understandable, after all, ordinary printers also follow this mode, the raw materials used by 3d printer manufacturers are too poor in consistency, and the forms and contents vary greatly, which makes it difficult for material manufacturers to enter, and the R&D costs and supply risks are great, which makes it difficult to form an industrial chain.

Process problem

Many people may think that 3d printing is to design a model on the computer, no matter how complex the inside, structure, press a button, 3d printer can print a finished product. This impression is incorrect. Actually designing a model, especially a complex one, requires a lot of engineering, knowledge of structure, fine skill, and tailoring to the situation. In the case of plastic melt printing, if there is no properly designed support inside a complex component, the result is likely to be deformed. Later processes are usually unavoidable. The media describes 3d printing as an artifact that can be printed and used immediately. But in fact, after the production is complete, there are some subsequent processes: grinding, sintering, assembly, or cutting, which usually require a lot of hand work.

Lack of design

It's been said that 3d printing is going to give people tremendous freedom to produce things that have never been done before. But until 2012, there were few, if any, killer products. It's okay to make small scale ornaments, artworks, and reverse engineering, but when it comes to large-scale industrial production, 3d printing can't replace traditional production methods. If 3d printing can produce products that cannot be produced by other processes, and such products can greatly improve certain properties, or greatly improve the quality of life, the popularity of 3d printers may be accelerated. But 2012-2013 has not been a good year for 3d printers.