3D Printers Allow Users to Create Three-Dimensional Objects

3D printers allow you to take your three-dimensional designs and turn them into actual 3D objects, uh this technology isn't brand new but it is brand new for consumers and for our Labs at Consumer Reports. I'm here with Frank and Andrew who have been testing these for the last couple months.

Basically, you could make anything with these right that's true; it's really exciting technology that allows a user to be creative and any anything you could come up with on the computer you could potentially print. We picked three printers to kind of cover the market and one of the cheapest solutions for 3D printing today is a solid doodle.

It's about $800 retail, so what's nice about this is It's a simple design; it's easy to fix, and it has given quite a bit of reliable prints. Um as you can see when we look at the other printers, it's not as refined but still did a good job for the price point.

Now, we have this one, which looks like it's probably more expensive. Yes, this is one of the nicer printers on the market, and it's called MakerBot Replicator 2x U. What's nice about this is that it has two print heads; you can print uh two different colors at one time, which makes you have some creativity in your prints.

The third printer is from 3D Systems, and it's called Cube. It's around $2,600, and it is also available with two or actually three print heads; obviously the price increases with the more print heads but it is an option for the customer.

The process of making a 3D object involves the filament traveling through this heated print head and lays down the plastic in small layers. Um this was printed in uh ABS plastic, which is the same type of plastic Legos are made out of.

So who are these 3D printers for right now? I could see educational institutions using this; maybe engineering students and also entrepreneurs. I think it would be a good product to kind of prototype some of their product ideas before it goes mainstream.

And as it gets more refined, we're hoping to see it kind of move into the more mainstream consumer Market. But I think we're a year or two away from that; great so it's more of a tech-savvy early adapter kind of person at this point; definitely great.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en3D printers allow you to take your three-dimensional designs and turn them into actual 3D objects uh this technology isn't brand new but it is brand new for consumers and for our Labs at Consumer Reports I'm here with Frank and Andrew who have been testing these for the last couple months and basically you could make anything with these right that's true it's really exciting technology that allows a user to be creative and any anything you could come up with on the computer you could potentially print we picked three printers to kind of cover the market and one of the cheapest solutions for 3D printing today is a solid doodle It's about $800 retail so what's nice about this is It's a simple design it's easy to fix and it has given quite a bit of reliable prints um as you can see when we look at the other printers it's not as refined but still did a good job for for the price point and now we have this one this one looks like it's probably more expensive yes this is one of the nicer printers on the market is called called the MakerBot replicator 2x U MakerBot is pretty popular in the 3D printing world and what's nice about this is it has two print heads and you can print uh two different colors at one time which makes you have some creativity in your prints and the third printer is from 3D Systems it's called Cube um this is around $2,600 and it is also available with two or actually three print heads obviously the price increases with the more print heads but it is an option for the customer the process is that the filament travels through this heated print head you see right here and lays down the plastic in small layers what is it made out of exactly um this was printed in uh ABS plastic the the same type of plastic Legos are made out of so who are these 3D printers for right now I could see educational institutions uh using this um maybe engineering students and also entrepreneurs I think it'd be a good product to um kind of prototype some of their product ideas before it goes uh mainstream and as it gets more refined we're hoping to see it uh kind of move into the more mainstream consumer Market but I think we're a year or two away from that great so it's more of a tech savvy early adapter kind of person at this point definitely great thank you so much thank you Teresa3D printers allow you to take your three-dimensional designs and turn them into actual 3D objects uh this technology isn't brand new but it is brand new for consumers and for our Labs at Consumer Reports I'm here with Frank and Andrew who have been testing these for the last couple months and basically you could make anything with these right that's true it's really exciting technology that allows a user to be creative and any anything you could come up with on the computer you could potentially print we picked three printers to kind of cover the market and one of the cheapest solutions for 3D printing today is a solid doodle It's about $800 retail so what's nice about this is It's a simple design it's easy to fix and it has given quite a bit of reliable prints um as you can see when we look at the other printers it's not as refined but still did a good job for for the price point and now we have this one this one looks like it's probably more expensive yes this is one of the nicer printers on the market is called called the MakerBot replicator 2x U MakerBot is pretty popular in the 3D printing world and what's nice about this is it has two print heads and you can print uh two different colors at one time which makes you have some creativity in your prints and the third printer is from 3D Systems it's called Cube um this is around $2,600 and it is also available with two or actually three print heads obviously the price increases with the more print heads but it is an option for the customer the process is that the filament travels through this heated print head you see right here and lays down the plastic in small layers what is it made out of exactly um this was printed in uh ABS plastic the the same type of plastic Legos are made out of so who are these 3D printers for right now I could see educational institutions uh using this um maybe engineering students and also entrepreneurs I think it'd be a good product to um kind of prototype some of their product ideas before it goes uh mainstream and as it gets more refined we're hoping to see it uh kind of move into the more mainstream consumer Market but I think we're a year or two away from that great so it's more of a tech savvy early adapter kind of person at this point definitely great thank you so much thank you Teresa\n"