If you’re new to 3D printing, it’s easy to get excited about the potential for instantly printing things at home, but be pragmatic about your expectations. 3D printing isn’t anything like what is currently depicted in sci-fi movies; printers can be slow and fiddly, and you’ll need to create or find online the plan files for anything you expect to print. A lot of variables factor into how successful any given print will be.

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The ambient temperature can affect your print, for example, and if your plan file isn’t designed smartly, the print will collapse, deform, or have other problems while it prints. The print material (ie, kind of filament), whether your printer has a heated bed, and how smart the software is (for example, doesn’t it print supports to help prop us a weirdly shaped design) can all affect your results. […]

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