I have been wanting a 3D printer for a few years and although there have been a few affordable printers on the market, it wasn’t until a few months ago that I finally received one. The printer that I got is a XYZ da Vinci 1.0 AIO. The reason I chose this printer is because of the reviews that it received on Amazon and the price. The current cost is $799. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on technology that is so new that the main reason I wanted it was to experiment. I printed quite a few items and will try to post updates on some of the items that I’ve printed and the process.

Generally, I’m happy with the printer and there have certainly been learning challenges and tech issues. The software is very basic and since I don’t know much about designing and printing, it hasn’t been an issue for me. The printer itself requires a lot of maintenance. It needs to be calibrated often which is a long process and the bed and the parts have to be cleaned after every few prints to make sure that it works right.

About My 3D Business Card

I designed the 3D print file using TinkerCad and I had to print a few prototypes before I could settle on something I liked. I found that you have to print at a certain thickness or the material finishes with gaps. The second to fourth lines are raised but the printer can only print in one color so the characters were colored in. It takes about an hour to print each one.

What I learned:

1. 3D printing takes a lot of patience. You start a print job that takes hours only to find out that it isn’t what you wanted.
2. Business cards are small and you can’t fit a lot of information when you’re 3D printing. It was difficult deciding what was the most important information to put on the card.
3. In the age of technology and smart phones, I don’t get asked for my business card often so I think that it will be worth it to make a few for those times.