Why We Use An FDM Fortus 900mc Printer
While an inexpensive cube printer might work fine for occasional home use, it really has no place in the commercial manufacturing world. One of the biggest problems with a hobby-grade Plastic 3D printer is that it costs under $2,000 in many cases, resulting in the finished product often times only vaguely resembling the original STL file. The Fortus 900mc is not only much larger in size (36” x 24” x 36” build tray) than the average hobby printer, and it is made for printing Ultem 9085 / ABS / PC / Nylon 12 / Ultem 1010 and many other high-performance commercially sought after plastics.
Nothing Good Comes from A Cheap Cube Printer
Will you get decent results from a low-cost cube printer? That depends on what you are trying to do. If all you are doing is using the printer on your desk for small personal projects, then maybe. But if you are running a commercial additive manufacturing facility, it's a lot like trying to walk uphill on an icy sidewalk in your slippers.
When you need parts that are consistent, reliable, and fully detailed results that are a perfect copy of the STL file, you should use a commercial grade printer like the Fortus 900mc. Here are five good reasons to invest in a quality commercial 3D printer.
- Consistency – There is little point in buying a 3D printer that is not capable of producing consistent results. The Fortus 900mc is capable of producing parts to within .005 - .010” tolerances, something no hobby printer can do.
- Minimal Warpage – Fortus 900mc printers are designed to minimize the risk of warpage and increased accuracy. Depending on the complexity of the part and the built-in supports, there is always a chance for warpage to occur. Commercial Fortus 900mc printers have extra safeguards to maintain tolerances, the thickness of each layer, and stabilized print mechanics to help reduce or eliminate any warpage.
- Scaring and Divots – Most inexpensive printers require all support structures to be removed manually. Commercial printers use specific types of scaffolding to guarantee the quality of the finished product without scars and divots.
- Set It and Forget It – While we monitor our manufacturing and 3D printing processes closely, we can't be there to babysit every part as it's made. At Additive Manufacturing, our master machine operator must be able to set up the product run and let the printer do its job. There isn't a good reason why our engineers need to be there every minute of the build while the printer does its job.
- Reliability – A hobby cube printer is not designed for continuous use. If you place one of these printers in a production setting, its lifespan is very short. Professional grade printers are built tough enough to handle the stress of being used in a production setting where they will be kept very busy without breaking down.
