Addressing Printer Needs - How Many?

If you don't have a 3D printer yet, or are working on expanding your current setup, you may begin to wonder how many you need. If you're writing a grant, or submitting for funding, you don't want to ask for too much and a printer go unused, or ask for too little and be in a constant 3D printing bottleneck!

As long as output is all you care about, consider the different levers (variables) you can pull:

• # of 3D Printers
• Size of the 3D printer's Build Volume
• Speed of the 3D Printer(s)
• Nozzle Size (larger nozzle allows for more plastic, faster parts)
• Reliability of the Printer(s)

Consider the following..

• If you are busy and unable to tend to the 3D printers very often, a larger volume 3D printer, printing more parts at once, less often.. might be a better fit for you!

However..

• If you have time to check with the printers, or have plenty of staff/helpers to change out prints, you might be better off with several smaller 3D printers.
  • More printers means smaller print queues, which are easier to manage
  • More printers means distributed workload (i.e. 1,000 hours spread across 2 separate printers means 500 hours on each printer, usually very within their useful life)
  • More printers means that if one goes down and needs repair, you are not out of luck! You can keep printing with the others
  • More printers means more parts being printed at once

So.. How Many?

The best answer is.. It depends! You should try and secure the most 3D printers that you can reasonably afford and upkeep/repair for the life of the printer.