# A Tale of Two 3D Printers (and all additive manufacturing processes)

DevFeed: [A Tale of Two 3D Printers (and all additive manufacturing processes)](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/a-tale-of-two-3d-printers-and-all-additive-manufacturing-processes-35146.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://blog.jessfraz.com/post/a-tale-of-two-3d-printers/>)

Published: 2020-06-13T15:09:26Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [Jessie Frazelle](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/jessie-frazelle.md>)

Topics: [3D](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/3d.md>)

Tags: [3d](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/3d.md>), [3d-printer](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/3d-printer.md>), [3d-printing](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/3d-printing.md>), [manufacturing](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/manufacturing.md>)

## AI overview

An overview of additive manufacturing processes, including the seven categories defined by ASTM F42, followed by the author's technical discussion and experience with two 3D printers using fused deposition modeling and stereolithography.

## Source excerpt

I have wanted a 3D printer for a very long time. I hope you can tell from my ACM Queue column that I like to do a lot of research and I tend to want the best thing. I had been keeping my eyes on the 3D printer product space for quite some time. This article is going to go over the technical details behind 3D printing as well as my experience with two different products. When I finally decided to buy a 3D printer, I wanted to try ones that used different additive manufacturing processes: material extrusion via fused deposition modeling (FDM) and vat polymerization via stereolithography (SLA)1. While I would have loved to have gotten a printer for each of the seven different additive manufacturing processes, I did not. However, I did dig into the details of all the various additive manufacturing processes and technologies. Let's dive in! If you would prefer to skip the research you can jump down to the review. Additive Manufacturing Processes Popular culture uses the term "3D printing" as a synonym for additive manufacturing processes. In 2010, the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) group "ASTM F42 - Additive Manufacturing", formulated a set of standards that classify the range of additive manufacturing processes into seven categories2. The processes vary on the material and machine technology used which has effects on the use cases and applications as well as the economics. Material extrusion Material extrusion defines a process where an object is built by melting and extruding a thermoplastic polymer filament in a predetermined path layer by layer. Imagine if you were building an object and the only material you could use is a tube of toothpaste. You'd slowly build the walls of the object by putting layers of toothpaste on top of each other. Material extrusion is similar. Material extrusion devices are the most commonly available and the cheapest types of 3D printing technology in the world. It represents the largest installed base of 3D printers glob