3D printing pen or proper desktop 3d printer ?

[curious aardvark]

I'd quibble with a cheap 3d printer being just a toy.
Pretty much everything I make is a solid practical item that gets used as end product item.
I mainly make an design things I can't buy. But the products are always fully functional and as strong as commercial plastic things.

I just don't do pretty lol

[uncle_bob]

I'd quibble with a cheap 3d printer being just a toy.
Pretty much everything I make is a solid practical item that gets used as end product item.
I mainly make an design things I can't buy. But the products are always fully functional and as strong as commercial plastic things.

I just don't do pretty lol

Hi

Ok, that'a fair. I phrased it that way for a bit of impact....

With skill and a bit of work, the *right* low end printer can be far more than a toy. There are a lot of entry level units on the market that are less than perfect, regardless of how hard you work / how good you are. I don't do pretty very often. All of my printers came in as a kit. None of them stayed in their 100% original configuration for more than a few hours. My (almost) latest is less than a month old and it's getting it's second set of upgrades. That's not a knock on the design of the printers at all. They work ok "as delivered". It remains to be seen if they will work better "after improvement". Sometimes the changes get reversed .... One size does not fit all ...

Bob