Proprietary Filament Question

[Inventenstein]

I'm just thinking about getting a 3D printer but have heard some say that you have to buy proprietary filaments for the 3D printers currently out there. Is this true? Will I be stuck paying for expensive filament material if I get a 3D printer? Are there any 3D printers out there that use common sizing on their filaments? Are there any generic filaments out there that are still good quality that can be used on different models of 3D printers?

[iDig3Dprinting]

To answer your questions:

Is this true?

No this is not true. Some 3D printers require the use of Proprietary filament cartridges, such as the Cube 3 or CubePro but most do not.

Will I be stuck paying for expensive filament material if I get a 3D printer?

Again no, depending on the 3D printer you get. There are advantages to systems that use their own filament cartridges. It means that the 3D printer can keep track of how much filament is left and pause the print if it is close to running out (press print and walk away functionality) and the quality is standardised.

Are there any 3D printers out there that use common sizing on their filaments?

Most 3D printers use either 1.75mm or 3.00mm diameter filament. apart from that there may be restrictions on materials that can bee used by different printers dependent on whether you can control the printing environment e.g. heated bed, or the type of extruder.

Are there any generic filaments out there that are still good quality that can be used on different models of 3D printers?

Yes, most filament can be used by most 3D printers, dependent on the differences mentioned above. Quality is the main proviso. Always go for quality. We sell ABS and PLA filament which is of good quality and can be used by any printer.

The issue of filament proprietary cartridges should not be a major concern for you if you are thinking of getting into 3D printing.

[LambdaFF]

The issue of filament proprietary cartridges should not be a major concern for you if you are thinking of getting into 3D printing.

Well to be honest the pricing of the proprietary filament is just crazy compared to non proprietary. The good news is you can find bypasses around that and put standard filament in in most cases.
Why buy such a machine in the first place though ... ?

[Sebastian Finke]

Well to be honest the pricing of the proprietary filament is just crazy compared to non proprietary. The good news is you can find bypasses around that and put standard filament in in most cases.
Why buy such a machine in the first place though ... ?

Not to mention that some machine that use proprietry filament also use a proprietry slicer that might severely limit your options in terms of gcode generation.

[iDig3Dprinting]

Well to be honest the pricing of the proprietary filament is just crazy compared to non proprietary. The good news is you can find bypasses around that and put standard filament in in most cases.
Why buy such a machine in the first place though ... ?

What we were trying to say is that you can get printers that use proprietary cartridges or not, its very open so it should not be a sticking point.

[iDig3Dprinting]

There can be advantages to buying into a whole system, rather than building your own 3D printer system (model development to printing). If you are in business you do not want to spend your time trying to fit things together and make things work, you just what a whole procedure to work seamlessly, together. A good example would be switching to macs, your iPad seamlessly integrates with your laptop etc..

Integrated software can be an issue, obviously dependent upon the quality of that software. Filament cartridges are more expensive but the idea is that you have a standardized quality, the spool is designed to fit specifically to your printer and your printer can gather information on the state of your filament and what material it is. i.e. plug it in and the printer can automatically tweak its settings for th filament you have added. The printer can also pause itself if the filament runs out, you don't need to watch it all the time.

Like most things, there are advantages and disadvantages, costs and benefits, to the system you choose.

We have a conventional 3D printer that uses proprietary ink cartridges. Its more expensive this way, we could buy ink in bottles and fill up the ink cartridges if we wished, or even buy copies of the proprietary ink cartridges, but we don't. The reasons: Time, Quality. Buying substandard replacements at a cheaper price for instance is a false economy as we would not get the quality we wanted and so would end up doing it again or having to buy another cartridge all this also costs time.

BUT, we are not saying proprietary systems suite everyone or that they are always the best solution, the best system is the one that suites your needs

[Mjolinor]

Also worth bearing in mind that the more control you allow the seller to have the less control you have.

Sony proved that with the PS3, sold one thing then crippled it so it no longer did what some people bought it for. You end up actually getting less and less for your money when you read the small print.

Open source rocks.

[iDig3Dprinting]

Open source rocks.

Agreed. We are all Linux and use open source software and hardware solutions where we can. But that works for us and our mindset. Our point is that it does not suit everybody and all situations.