What’s next for FDM / FFF 3D printers?

How much faster can you print? How much cheaper?

In one of my previous articles, I described the historical development cycle of FDM / FFF 3D printers, starting from Stratasys — through RepRap Project, and MakerBot — to the latest revolutionary innovations introduced by the rising star in the industry — Bambu Lab.

While discussing the milestones achieved by 3D printer manufacturers, I emphasized that each innovation, though exciting at the time of its introduction, was eventually overshadowed by the next one, taking the entire technological segment to a higher level.

The success of Bambu Lab is largely based on four pillars:

• super-fast part production

• higher quality of 3D printed parts compared to competitors

• seamless remote workflow thanks to excellent cloud solutions

• a genuinely low device price, considering all the aforementioned features and improvements.

Based on historical data from manufacturers like MakerBot, Zortrax, Ultimaker, Prusa, and Bambu Lab’s current success, we can conclude that to achieve “revolutionary market success,” a 3D printerneeds to be:

• faster

• provide better part quality

• easier to use

• cheaper.

The natural questions that arises at this moment are: what can be done to achieve these parameters, and what will be the next variable to improve desktop 3D printing using FDM / FFF technology and take it to an even higher level?

Two things come to my mind: one is a fairly obvious solution that will be a natural upgrade, while the other — if properly designed and implemented, will constitute a true revolution and open a completely new chapter in the history of this technology.

Servo Motors Over Stepper Motors