Why does having a free sample of the component you want to print in 3D tell you nothing about the 3D printer you are going to buy?

Here is a guide for you of the 3 questions you must ask your salesman to defend yourself from a pack of lies

In five days time it will be Christmas and, perhaps, because of the citrusy fragrance of candied sweets, or Christmas lights twinkling in the night, people are much kinder.

Yes, even the sharks that want to sell you additive manufacturing systems making you believe that they are giving you a gift.

96% of salesmen of standard 3D printers and 99% of Service, offer you a free trial sample to show you the end result of your component, produced by the printer you intend to buy.

Why does this kind offer tell you nothing about the 3D printer? On the contrary the information which is given to you on a silver plate could well be outright lies.

You are about to find out.

You should take  notes because the information I am about to give will become your direction to find your way in the dark forest of additive manufacturing, avoiding all the traps set out by people who want to rip you off.

While reading, sit comfortably on your sofa by your Christmas tree because that is where I am going to take you to light your way through the dark forest.

Under your Christmas tree you will find a present for you: they are lessons on how to make sushi.

Imagine your 3D printer is this prestigious and progressive Japanese cookery course with the famous chef Koduki.

The component you want to produce with your 3D print is the sushi.

Your friend, in order to prove that the course is valid and is not a rip-off, has in fact given you a set of various types of sushi, sashimi, etc.

It’s as if your friend, a 3D printer salesman, instead of showing you the 3D printer works, shows you the finished component produced by the printer.

Can you hear a warning bell too?

No, it isn’t Father Christmas arriving.

It’s this situation which doesn’t feel quite right because:

You are not buying the finished component

but the system which produces it!

How can you choose which 3D printer to buy if you only see the finished product which it makes?

“That is what I am interested in!”

Of course, from the component you can understand a few things, like:

1)the shape of the finished component;

2)the solidity;

3)the weight;

4)the esthetic appearance

What about the other information you need? Indispensable data you must know if you want to be sure that your component, once assembled and ready for use, will not disintegrate like a biscuit dunked in a cup of tea.

By looking only at the finished component, you will not know about ‘behind the scenes’ of the 3D printer which you will install in your company after having shelled out money.

For ‘behind the scenes’ I mean:

1) the cost, maintenance, the time and possible difficulties tied to the management of your 3D beast;

2)which material you need to make it work, from which supplier to buy it, and how much it will cost;

3)which safety measures your operators will have to follow to use the 3D printer, which you are buying practically sight unseen;

4)does the free sample really come out of the 3D printer like that, or do you have to carry out post-processing? If yes, how much will it cost?

5)how much time will it take, and how much will it cost you, to produce that free sample which is shining in your hand?

As you can see a component tells you very little compared to the more important information you really need to know before buying a 3D printer.

Like a set of sushi tells you nothing about the techniques, the time, the cost and the difficulty of a cookery course , so a trial component, which Service and salesmen of standard 3D printers want to pass off as a Christmas present, tells you nothing about the 3D printer which produced it.

You cannot buy a 3D printer sight unseen, and now I will explain in detail…

The information you must absolutely verify before swiping your gold credit card and throwing away your money on a 3D printer which will cause you more problems than earnings

1) Maintenance and Management of your 3D printer

Maintaining a 3D printer is not like maintaining a pet dog.

After your general salesman has shown you the free prototype, ask him:

“Does the 3D printer have a system of filter disposal?”

Be sure that the answer is yes.

In fact he should add that it possesses the classification for special NON-HAZARDOUS  waste .

In other words: if the 3D printer you are interested in has an internal and automatic system of filter disposal which guarantees that the waste filter is a special non-hazardous waste, then you are in a watertight situation.

“if not?”

If not, then the filter containing the Black Powder, that is the waste powder which you no  longer need, coming into contact with oxygen, risks exploding with reactive materials such as Titanium and Aluminum!

You cannot simply throw the filter away anywhere or you risk blowing up your operators and the technicians working with your 3D printer.

Probably your general salesman or Service will tell you that all you need to do is wet the filter to defuse it.

The problem is that the filter, mixed with water, forms a mud which becomes a special waste product.

Disposal of special waste materials has a mind blowing cost!

Just as an example, according to the price list of Intercent of Emilia Romagna, to dispose of special waste materials which need careful precautions costa € 1,45 per kilogram.

Whilst the cost of disposal of a common metal is € 0,07/kg.

Numbers never lie.

2) Safety

The safety of your operators should be the first item on the list you must check, when your become involved in additive systems.

The question you must ask your salesman of standard 3D printers is this:

“Which gas is used in the printing process?”

You must be aware that  the safety of your company increases or decreases, according to the type of gas used.

Nitrogen and Argon are two killer gases which will give you more problems than satisfaction.

While nitrogen gas is 78,084% present in the earth’s atmosphere, Argon is a heavier gas which shifts oxygen upwards and suffocates operators by direct substitution of oxygen.

If the 3D printer you want to buy only uses nitrogen, then your operators only need to wear a small  comfortable mask because their lives are not in danger.

If Argon is the gas used, then your operators will have to wear astronaut suits which, visiting the Moon, they risk not returning home.

Why isn’t it enough to ask your general salesman what safety measures are used by the 3D printer.

Because with Argon no safety system is completely full proof?

Argon is a silent killer, colourless and odorless, which takes oxygen out of the air from the bottom, and  can kill you like an assassin who comes into your room at night and smothers you with a pillow.

If just one of your safety systems does not work or works inefficiently, your operators risk their lives and your will be in deep trouble.

In a known company, the argon sensor present in the lower part of the earlier versions of the 3D printers, has even been removed.

This gamble means that if there is a gas leak and no sensor to pick it up, not only will your operator die, but you will be arrested for murder and for having ignored safety measures in the workplace.

Having a mortal accident in your company is like trying to sell a house where the previous owner has been killed: nobody will want to buy it, as nobody will want to work in your company.

The curtain has not come down over the Greek tragedy yet: let’s talk about the cost of the gas.

While we can get nitrogen directly from the air we breathe, free of charge, with a generator which you buy only once, argon costs € 0,90 per litre.

Add this shining number to the costs you will have to sustain once you buy your 3D printer.

Here you have seen two of the questions you must absolutely ask before investing in additive systems.

Soon here in this blog, you will find the complete guide within all the questions that you have to ask to your general salesman.

So, stay tuned!

5) Costs and production time

Taking into account:

1)time and costs of maintenance;

2)cost of the powders;

3)cost of safety of your operators;

4)cost of the gas if your 3D printer uses argon or nitrogen;

5)post-processing time;

How can you have precise data on how much time it will take you to produce your sample component, and how much it will cost, just by looking at it?

You can’t and the worse thing is that no salesman of 3D printers will tell you this!

None, but me!

I will reveal the only way to know, in advance, costs and production time of the free sample that you want to produce in 3D

Without buying the printer and installing it in your company

Let’s go back to the Christmas tree: what should your friend have included in the present of the Japanese course instead of the sushi?

A detailed pamphlet with all the information on the course.

Starting from this idea, I have produced a customized system which allows you to know in advance, that is before buying your 3D printer, if it is worthwhile for producing the component you need:

1)economically;

2)financially;

3)with regards to production time;

this system is called 3D4YOU.

As well as the free sample, which we will give you, you will receive a document with detailed analysis on costs and production times of your component.

You will get to know what goes on ‘behind the scenes’.

All the costs you will sustain will be written down in black and white, and communication will be transparent.

So if you want to buy a 3D printer, in complete safety, with the certainty that you will not make a bad buy and that you will not install ,in your company, a monster who will eat up your earnings and slow down your production, click on the red bottom.

If, on the other hand, you prefer to buy, sight unseen, and hope in good luck, trusting yourself to salesmen of standard 3D printers, who gloss over important data, you can leave the page, at your risk and peril.

If you want to sign up for 3D4YOU and know in advance, chapter and verse, what it would be like to own a 3D printer for steel, hurry and click on the red button, because we can only assist 4 companies a month.

One place is already taken.

Imagine how easy it would be for you to have the complete documentation of your future 3D printer.

If you are like me, who, before buying, wants to have all the information, do research and study the benefits, then: