Additive technology creates air pockets in film during orientation, cutting down on the amount of resin needed while boosting opacity, mechanical properties and recyclability.

PRD’s Murphy says his company has thrown people and automation at the skills gap, which is “by far the biggest challenge. We have implemented automation where possible, increased wages, and gone out of our way to ensure our employees know how much we appreciate them,” including discretionary bonuses. “Unfortunately, I don’t hear anyone with a good answer to the predicament we find ourselves in. Everyone talks about the end of extra unemployment benefits, and while they do not help the situation, I am not convinced this well be the solution.”

In addition, a 3D printer brings health and environmental concerns. When a printer melts plastic as part of the extrusion process, it releases volatile organic compounds and other particulates. The CDC recommends (PDF) using printers in a “negatively pressured area with a dedicated ventilation system,” which is not a feature found in your average home. Before buying a 3D printer, it’s a good idea to weigh how comfortable you are with exposure to some fumes.

Prints still failed from time to time, naturally, but those were slicing errors where pieces needed more contact with the build plate, rather than errors with the first layer.

Many printers now come with removable, flexible print beds. If your printer has one, remove the bed and carefully bend it to release your model. Don’t force it, or you’ll risk damaging the bed’s finish. If the print is still stuck, heat the bed back up to its printing temperature and see if the model pops off easier. Next, use a scraper to carefully unstick the edges of the print and then move in a sawing motion toward the center.

The Bambu Lab X1-Carbon doesn’t make faster or higher-quality prints than our top pick, but it does have a larger and enclosed print bed for people who print with specialty plastics such as ABS or those infused with carbon fiber. It also includes reliability upgrades, such as a lidar scanner that works alongside other sensors to automatically level the bed, as well as automated maintenance reminders.

Bambu Lab allows tinkerers to install an alternate operating system. Bambu Lab’s tight software and hardware integration makes it easy for the company to lock down the printer, preventing the use of alternative software. However, the company has recently allowed a one-way path for X1-Carbon owners to gain root access and upload a more customizable operating system called X1Plus, as long as they’re comfortable with voiding their warranty.

Mike Sepe has authored more than 25 ANTEC papers and more than 250 articles illustrating the importance of this interdisciplanary approach. In this collection, we present some of his best work during the years he has been contributing for Plastics Technology Magazine.

Those challenges, just like the virus, didn’t stop at the border. Aida Cecilia Mercado Salazar of Mexican Top Shop molder and moldmaker IEMSA in San Luis Potosi, said her company had to adapt to and embrace how the pandemic changed day-to-day life and work. “The first big challenge was to get used to the new normal,” Salazar says, citing the two most recognizable aspects of the pandemic: masks and uncertainty. “In the beginning, we were scared because we didn’t know how safe we actually were.” Ultimately, IEMSA, like so many of the molders we surveyed, never halted operations and came through the crisis even stronger. “We became a closer team, and because of that trust it was easier to overcome the challenges in the way.”

3D printers can be finicky, and performing basic maintenance can go a long way toward preventing breakdowns and print flaws. Here’s what you can do to keep your printer running reliably:

Gifted with extraordinary technical know how and an authoritative yet plain English writing style, in this collection of articles Fattori offers his insights on a variety of molding-related topics that are bound to make your days on the production floor go a little bit better.

Second quarter started with price hikes in PE and the four volume engineering resins, but relatively stable pricing was largely expected by the quarter’s end.

The range of possibilities is even wider if you’re familiar with CAD (computer-aided design) software. An easy-to-use starting point is Tinkercad, free online 3D-modeling software from Autodesk. The same company also makes more advanced modeling software, called Fusion 360, which is free for hobbyists (and what we use personally).

The AnkerMake M5 is an interesting printer that’s well built, easy to set up, and capable of producing fast, high-quality prints. What impressed us most was its speed, as it printed test models nearly twice as quickly as our former upgrade pick, the Prusa MK3S+. (The Bambu Lab X1-Carbon is still faster, though.) Further iterations of this machine might be picks in the future, but this first version was particularly loud in our tests, and the slicer software has not been officially released, as it’s currently listed as being in beta; that beta software lacks many features found in PrusaSlicer and UltiMaker Cura. In our testing, we had some issues with layer adhesion for small details, likely due to the machine’s blistering print speeds, and we also struggled with bed adhesion for smaller parts.

After successfully introducing a combined conference for moldmakers and injection molders in 2022, Plastics Technology and MoldMaking Technology are once again joining forces for a tooling/molding two-for-one.

Take a deep dive into all of the various aspects of part quoting to ensure you’ve got all the bases—as in costs—covered before preparing your customer’s quote for services.

The Prusa Mini+ was a previous top pick in this guide and remains a great printer. However, for about $200 less, Bambu Lab has made a printer with a similar design that’s easier to use and requires less calibration. Prusa recently updated the Mini+ to print just as quickly as the Bambu Lab A1 Mini or Prusa MK4, but the A1 Mini’s price difference and ease of use still have us favoring the Bambu Lab machine here.

The big sibling to our top pick, this printer adds an enclosed print space, a tougher nozzle, and other features for printing engineering-grade materials.

Thousands of people visit our Supplier Guide every day to source equipment and materials. Get in front of them with a free company profile.

To test each printer, we time how long it takes to pull the machine out of the box and set it up on our desk, and we jot down notes on the initial software installation and navigation process. Then, we get to printing.

It automatically calibrates itself. Most 3D printers still require some form of manual calibration, whether that’s setting the z-height of the nozzle or leveling the bed. The X1-Carbon levels its own bed using a lidar sensor and force sensors in the bed, and in our experience this feature resulted in a long series of great prints.

In this collection of articles, two of the industry’s foremost authorities on screw design — Jim Frankand and Mark Spalding — offer their sage advice on screw design...what works, what doesn’t, and what to look for when things start going wrong.

Plastics Technology’s Tech Days is back! Every Tuesday in October, a series of five online presentations will be given by industry supplier around the following topics:  Injection Molding — New Technologies, Efficiencies Film Extrusion — New Technologies, Efficiencies Upstream/Downstream Operations Injection Molding — Sustainability Extrusion — Compounding Coming out of NPE2024, PT identified a variety of topics, technologies and trends that are driving and shaping the evolution of plastic products manufacturing — from recycling/recyclability and energy optimization to AI-based process control and automation implementation. PT Tech Days is designed to provide a robust, curated, accessible platform through which plastics professionals can explore these trends, have direct access to subject-matter experts and develop strategies for applying solutions in their operations.

Each reminder on the X1-Carbon’s screen appeared along with a QR code to scan with a phone; the link showed us how to perform that particular maintenance. The display of these QR codes is the best use we saw of the X1-Carbon’s 5-inch, 720p touchscreen, which you otherwise use for normal printing tasks.

A 3D printer unlocks a world of creation, giving anyone with a few hundred bucks the power to manufacture custom components with sub-millimeter precision. And you don’t have to be an engineer to get started.

Resin drying is a crucial, but often-misunderstood area. This collection includes details on why and what you need to dry, how to specify a dryer, and best practices.

Though many manufacturers produce recycled filament, it’s difficult to find any that accept filament scraps from hobbyists. The few national recycling programs we’ve found are either expensive, such as this nearly $200 recycling box from Terracycle, or vague.

The Creality Ender-3 S1 Plus is an addition to the Ender-3 line with a high-resolution display and a larger print volume. We found it to be louder, more complicated to set up, and more difficult to level in comparison with the Artillery Sidewinder X2.

Printers usually come with several models preloaded; we always start by printing one of those because they’re carefully optimized for the printer. Errors in such prints typically indicate a problem on the hardware end that we need to address. After the first successful print, we move on to designs we’ve found on Thingiverse.

Successfully starting or restarting an injection molding machine is less about ticking boxes on a rote checklist and more about individually assessing each processing scenario and its unique variables.

The Bambu Lab A1 Mini stood out from the other 3D printers we tested as the easiest model to use, while maintaining competitive print quality and speed. Its guided setup process doesn’t require fiddling with any settings, and Bambu Lab offers both a mobile app (to help set up the printer and monitor print progress) and desktop software (to prepare and send files to the printer). The A1 Mini has software similar to that of its more expensive siblings in the P1 and X1 lines, and it’s lacking only in upgrades meant for printing the trickier materials ABS and carbon fiber. If you need that functionality, check out our upgrade pick, the Bambu Lab X1-Carbon.

It’s best for simple materials such as PLA and PETG. Most hobbyists don’t need plastics with superior tensile strength or increased chemical resistance, so even though this printer is limited to the basics like PLA and PETG, we think that’s reasonable.

This printer is a few years old, and recently it has been going in and out of stock. But if you can find this machine, it’s a good budget option.

If you want a larger print bed and Bambu Lab features but don’t want to break the bank: The Bambu Lab P1P was our previous top pick in this guide due to its great printing performance and, at the time, competitive price for the features. These days the Bambu Lab A1 Mini offers the vast majority of what hobbyists need in a 3D printer—mainly ease of use and quick, quality prints with basic materials—for much less and in a smaller package.

If you’re a tinkerer or an open-source contributor: The Prusa MK4 is a worthy successor to the MK3S+, as it adds faster printing, a new extruder and hotend design, built-in wireless connectivity, and fully automated calibration. It makes prints nearly identical to those of competitors, and it’s quieter while doing so.

It also issues maintenance reminders. We liked that after a few months, we got a pop-up on the X1-Carbon’s screen reminding us to clean the machine’s carbon rods, which the print head uses to glide across the x-axis. A little while later, the printer reminded us to clean the z-axis lead screws.

The big sibling to our top pick, this printer adds an enclosed print space, a tougher nozzle, and other features for printing engineering-grade materials.

It’s a high-quality, reliable printer. We printed with the Bambu Lab X1-Carbon over the course of six months and found it to be an easy, reliable printer to work with. Its prints, from small tabletop miniatures to larger custom-designed pieces that needed to hold weight, turned out consistently well. The X1-Carbon is also much faster at printing than competitors—twice as fast as the Prusa MK3S+, our previous upgrade pick—yet it maintains the same print quality.

We also note how many times we have to repair a printer, how often each machine needs its print bed leveled, and how difficult it is to remove completed models from the print bed.

Five industry pros with more than 200 years of combined molding experience provide step-by-step best practices on mounting a mold in a horizontal injection molding machine.

Prusa has tried to find a solution for its own larger-scale plastic waste, testing 10 different recycling plants before eventually deciding to start recycling the waste into filament on its own. In the course of that research, Prusa’s head of sustainability Vladimír Víšek learned that larger recycling plants have issues with 3D-printed plastic since the waste usually comes in very small quantities, and because it’s not readily apparent what kind of plastic a material might be.

Dave Gershgorn is a senior staff writer at Wirecutter and an avid 3D-printing enthusiast. He has printed through dozens of rolls of filament, has owned multiple printers, and has designed custom 3D-printable models for home improvement, product testing, and cosplay. His current personal printers are the Prusa i3 MK3S+ and the Anycubic Photon Mono M5s.

This Knowledge Center provides an overview of the considerations needed to understand the purchase, operation, and maintenance of a process cooling system.

If you read 3D-printing forums and subreddits, you’ll see many experienced 3D-printing enthusiasts recommending the Creality Ender-3, Ender-3 V2, or Ender-3 Pro as a first printer. The Ender-3 V2 is often available on sale at Microcenter for just $100, and it’s a better printer than our former budget pick, the Monoprice MP Cadet, on nearly every metric. You’ll also find an avid community of Ender-3 owners who post DIY upgrades and guides on how to use the machine, a crucial aspect of learning to operate the printer and troubleshooting when things go wrong.

Beyond those specific situations, it’s also just plain fun to have a machine to print files that you find online, especially if you like tabletop role-playing games or any activity where you use small tokens, counters, or pieces. You can find plenty of downloadable designs online at 3D-model libraries such as Printables and Thingiverse.

For most people, who are likely to want a printer that works right out of the box and are not concerned about how it’s made, either Bambu Lab printer is a better option.

On the equipment side, the average fleet size for Top Shops and the other respondents registered at 21 and 20 injection molding machines, respectively. So, we are looking at basically the same amount of workers utilizing the same amount of machines in the same amount of space for the two groups, but there are also some key differences.

Sustainability continues to dominate new additives technology, but upping performance is also evident. Most of the new additives have been targeted to commodity resins and particularly polyolefins.

Wirecutter is the product recommendation service from The New York Times. Our journalists combine independent research with (occasionally) over-the-top testing so you can make quick and confident buying decisions. Whether it’s finding great products or discovering helpful advice, we’ll help you get it right (the first time).

As for their fleets’ clamp-force ranges, Top Shops and other entrants tracked closely in the 0-100, 101-500, and 501-1000-ton ranges, but only 9% of Top Shops utilized machines over 1000 tons, vs. 15% of other entrants. Top Shops also offered more specialty injection molding technologies, outstripping other entrants in providing two-shot, gas/water-assist, in-mold label and insert molding.

Be warned: No 3D printer is unbreakable. A day will come when you’ll need to replace a part or get your hands dirty in some other way.

Dave Gershgorn is a writer covering monitors, laptops, and tablets. He is a certified display calibrator through the Imaging Science Foundation.

That doesn’t mean we don’t like the Ender-3 line. They’re great machines for those who are already mechanically adept or who don’t get easily frustrated while learning a new, complex hobby. However, they’re not the best 3D printers for most people.

Despite price increase nominations going into second quarter, it appeared there was potential for generally flat pricing with the exception of a major downward correction for PP.

Many of the printers we’ve tested have come and gone within a few years. So it’s possible that you might someday find yourself without much customer support—or that a new breakthrough will suddenly leave you with outdated technology.

On the non-people or robotic side, 52% of Top Shops increased automation in 2020, compared with 35% of the rest of the shops surveyed. Those investments add to an already sizable fleet of robots for top shops, fully 96% of whom said their facilities used automation, compared with 68% of others.

On top of that, the enclosure makes the printer easier to use if you print only once in a while or go weeks or months between bursts of printing activity. Many other 3D printers aren’t enclosed, so they have delicate exposed parts or can get dusty in storage. In testing, we were able to power the X1-Carbon down, put it away, pull it back out after a week or two, plug it in, and run a self-calibration and get back to printing in minutes.

Almost any 3D printer is capable of creating successful models—experienced users know, or can figure out, how to tweak settings and hardware to get such results. But beginners, or even intermediate users like us, aren’t as likely to know what to do or to care enough to spend time fine-tuning. For the purposes of our testing, we give the printers the basic care they need to function—adhering to the company-recommended setup and settings—but we don’t tweak the printer or software to get better prints unless something goes wrong.

The new industrial event from the publisher of Plastics Technology will feature data, sourcing and technology updates for manufacturing businesses, including injection molders.

While prices moved up for three of the five commodity resins, there was potential for a flat trajectory for the rest of the third quarter.

But anyone can work with a 3D printer: Most printers are easy enough to use that a child (with adult supervision) can print any of the endless variety of toy designs available.

Learn about sustainable scrap reprocessing—this resource offers a deep dive into everything from granulator types and options, to service tips, videos and technical articles.

Fully 83% of Top Shops and 80% of other shops experienced a skills gap in 2020, with all participants looking to address the issue, just in different ways. On the people side, Top Shops outstripped other respondents in flexible schedules, mentor programs, and outreach at local schools by 18, eight and 26 percentage points, respectively. As for partnering with area schools for open houses or staff recruitment, 64% of Top Shops took that step, while only 28% of the other respondents did so.

Looking more deeply into the numbers, while the Top Shops and the other respondents were very close in average fleet size, the presses on Top Shops’ floors had considerably less miles on them, boasting an average age of nine years compared with 14. The Top Shops ran horizontal machines exclusively, while 9% of the other facilities also had vertical presses in their plants. Top Shops operated slightly fewer hydraulic machines (62% vs. 71%) than other survey entrants; and far more all-electric presses (65% vs. 50%) and hybrid (50% vs. 26%) machines.

It’s repairable—as long as Bambu Lab continues to sell the parts. Though you can’t print your own parts, as you can with a Prusa machine, Bambu Lab does clear a high bar when it comes to repairability. In addition to upgrades, the company sells replacement parts on its website, and it offers guides with pictures and videos for the installation of new parts, as well as periodic maintenance.

Join this webinar to explore the transformative benefits of retrofitting your existing injection molding machines (IMMs). Engel will guide you through upgrading your equipment to enhance monitoring, control and adaptability — all while integrating digital technologies. You'll learn about the latest trends in IMM retrofitting (including Euromap interfaces and plasticizing retrofits) and discover how to future-proof your machines for a competitive edge. With insights from industry experts, it'll walk you through the decision-making process, ensuring you make informed choices that drive your business forward. Agenda: Maximize the value of your current IMMs through strategic retrofitting Learn how to integrate digital technologies to enhance monitoring and control Explore the benefits of Euromap interfaces and plasticizing retrofits Understand how retrofitting can help meet new product demands and improve adaptability Discover how Engel can support your retrofitting needs, from free consultations to execution

Home filament-recycling machines, which allow you to turn bits of shredded plastic back into usable spooled filament, also exist. But they either cost thousands of dollars or need to be built painstakingly from scratch.

Fully 70% of Top Shops perform regular, formal business reviews, compared with 54% of others, with 83% of Top Shops applying business-metric goal setting vs. 42% of others. And 87% of Top Shops have regular management meetings, compared with just 63% of others.

In this collection, which is part one of a series representing some of John’s finest work, we present you with five articles that we think you will refer to time and again as you look to solve problems, cut cycle times and improve the quality of the parts you mold.

People who need to quickly make prototypes or custom plastic parts can get the most mileage out of a 3D printer. These machines are also useful tools for anyone who likes tinkering or teaching children about STEM concepts.

This month’s resin pricing report includes PT’s quarterly check-in on select engineering resins, including nylon 6 and 66.

Its removable, unheated bed is small at 100 by 105 by 100 mm, but it’s also more suitable for little fingers, and it releases finished prints with ease (though it puts your prints at risk of warping). However, this machine is slower than more expensive printers such as the Bambu Labs A1 Mini and X1-Carbon, and its wireless connectivity is a bit more annoying to set up.

Discover how artifical intelligence is revolutionizing plastics processing. Hear from industry experts on the future impact of AI on your operations and envision a fully interconnected plant.

On the injection side, this firm deploys all-electric presses with integrated parts-handling robots and machine-monitoring systems that can run unattended. “We also mounted cameras strategically throughout our facility so remote operators can log in from their phones.”

Because of the wrinkle of the global pandemic, or perhaps in spite of it, Plastics Technology’s annual Top Shops survey received its best-ever response as injection molders seemed anxious to take a deep dive into operations that stayed open as essential businesses, while other segments of the broader economy faltered.

Setting it up and getting started is easy. The A1 Mini requires little assembly and has a guided setup process that requires a smartphone or other device that can read a QR code. After you make a Bambu Lab account and scan a code displayed on the A1 Mini’s screen, the printer appears in your account and becomes accessible through the Bambu Handy app or the Bambu Studio slicer software. The printer also does a full self-calibration, requiring no input or tinkering on your part.

Tasks such as switching filament are easy to do and well explained. The A1 Mini’s small touchscreen serves as the main way for you to interact with the printer. You can load models from an SD card, move the print head around, swap filaments, and have the printer perform self-checks.

Processors with sustainability goals or mandates have a number of ways to reach their goals. Biopolymers are among them.

Join Wittmann for an engaging webinar on the transformative impact of manufacturing execution systems (MES) in the plastic injection molding industry. Discover how MES enhances production efficiency, quality control and real-time monitoring while also reducing downtime. It will explore the integration of MES with existing systems, emphasizing compliance and traceability for automotive and medical sectors. Learn about the latest advancements in IoT and AI technologies and how they drive innovation and continuous improvement in MES. Agenda: Overview of MES benefits What is MES? Definition, role and brief history Historical perspective and evolution Longevity and analytics Connectivity: importance, standards and integration Advantages of MES: efficiency, real-time data, traceability and cost savings Emerging technologies: IoT and AI in MES

Open-ended toys that inspire role-playing and beginner board games that encourage cooperation make great gifts for 3-year-olds.

“We listen to each others’ ideas to make the best choices and become closer as a team,” IEMSA’s Salazar says. “We also allow doubts and mistakes to happen—we let the learning process be part of our daily life—always taking care of the situation and solving the issues.”

In this collection of content, we provide expert advice on welding from some of the leading authorities in the field, with tips on such matters as controls, as well as insights on how to solve common problems in welding.

Dave Gershgorn is a senior staff writer at Wirecutter. He’s been covering consumer and enterprise technology since 2015, and he just can’t stop buying computers. If this weren’t his job, it would likely be a problem.

So why don’t we recommend an Ender-3 model as a top pick or even a budget pick? In our experience, we’ve found that the Ender-3 line requires more setup and more maintenance, and in comparison with our picks it poses a much more difficult learning curve for those who are just getting into 3D printing. As an example, crucial tasks such as leveling the print bed on the Ender-3 require using separate calibration files that might have to be run multiple times or manually moving the print head across the bed, in contrast to Bambu Lab’s and Monoprice’s easier, more automatic workflows. This manual work adds many minutes of preprint setup for a 3D-printing newcomer versus seconds for our top picks, and in turn it leads to a higher chance of the machine sitting in the corner gathering dust. These processes become rote after time and are made easier by optional upgrades, but initially they require some dedication to learn.

All of these options are intuitively arranged in menus, and the printer clearly tells you the steps it’s performing during any task: For instance, when you’re switching to new filament, the printer has a checklist of tasks that you can watch it run through, and it prompts you to make sure that the old filament has been completely purged from the nozzle. If not, it gives you the option to push a bit more new filament out, which you can repeat until all the old filament is gone. Though this process might seem relatively simple, Bambu Lab does a good job of guiding nontechnical people through these somewhat involved procedures for maintaining a machine.

It has a smaller print bed than some other printers, but it can fit on a desk. The A1 Mini’s print bed measures 180 by 180 by 180 mm, or about a 7-inch cube. This isn’t the best size for making large props, but you can fit a surprising amount into a 7-inch cube, and the size of the bed didn’t seem limiting during our testing.

Finally, if you’re running into issues with prints sticking to your print bed, and adjusting print temperatures doesn’t help, there could be another solution.

Formnext Chicago is an industrial additive manufacturing expo taking place April 8-10, 2025 at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois. Formnext Chicago is the second in a series of Formnext events in the U.S. being produced by Mesago Messe Frankfurt, AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology, and Gardner Business Media (our publisher).

Core Technology Molding turned to Mold-Masters E-Multi auxiliary injection unit to help it win a job and dramatically change its process.

You can do the same thing with any filament and just manually set the filament type and color on the printer. We found, however, that while Bambu Lab filament spools fit well on the AMS Lite’s spool holder, other spools from companies like Prusa were too tight. Some spools, such as cardboard spools from Creality and Overture, fit okay, but others, like the plastic spool for NinjaFlex TPU, were a tight squeeze and wouldn’t fit on the holder.

If you want a cheaper option, especially for kids: The Monoprice MP Cadet is a great choice for printing smaller models, and it’s a perfect intro to the hobby. In our testing, this $200 printer’s output looked just as good as the results from printers that cost twice as much, and its small size makes it especially desk friendly.

In this three-part collection, veteran molder and moldmaker Jim Fattori brings to bear his 40+ years of on-the-job experience and provides molders his “from the trenches” perspective on on the why, where and how of venting injection molds. Take the trial-and-error out of the molding venting process.

This option might be appealing to only a small number of X1-Carbon owners, but it’s emblematic of the company’s willingness to work with third-party developers—and to listen to community backlash—in a way that makes us more confident recommending Bambu Lab printers.

The best way to combat waste, at least according to Víšek, is to think ahead and create less of it. His advice for more sustainable printing: Consider what you actually need to print, make sure your slicer settings minimize the amount of support material you have to print, and be sure to use up the last few feet of filament on each roll.

“The biggest challenge was the unknown,” explains Mark Murphy, president of molder and moldmaker PRD Inc. in Springville, Ind.—one of PT’s 23 newest Top Shops. “We had gone for so many years with growing sales and a growing economy. We knew this could probably be the event that brought it all to a halt.”

Start by picking a target melt temperature, and double-check data sheets for the resin supplier’s recommendations. Now for the rest...

While the melting process does not provide perfect mixing, this study shows that mixing is indeed initiated during melting.

Meetings may be the bane of many in the business world, and certainly the running butt of a slew of jokes, but the communication, goal setting and goal measuring that well-designed and organized meetings facilitate are very much a part of Top Shops’ winning strategies.

If you’re still stumped, another trick you can try is to remove the print bed and stick it in the freezer for an hour. This should shrink the print a little and make it easier to remove.

In our test prints, we look for obvious flaws. Mediocre prints have readily visible layers or imperfections but still look like a completed model. Failure takes many forms—everything from broken filament string that causes the print to stop to wild spaghetti-like misprints due to software or hardware errors.

We tested electronics kits with kids ages 7 to 12 and got feedback from parents and makers to find the most engaging ways for kids to learn about electronics.

The big sibling to our top pick, this printer adds an enclosed print space, a tougher nozzle, and other features for printing engineering-grade materials.

Where the gap between the groups widens further is the volume of resins processed, with Top Shops nearly doubling the other entrants’ poundage, running an average of 22.3 million lb of material in 2020 vs. 12.5 million lb average for the others. In addition to more material, our honorees processed more kinds of resins. Top Shops ran an average of 43 different material categories, compared to 18 for the remaining survey participants.

The ease of setting up the Bambu Lab A1 Mini is unparalleled in the 3D-printing world, and it’s largely why we think Bambu Lab printers are especially great for people who are just starting with 3D printing. We also found daily-operation tasks such as sending prints and changing filament to be painless, and we saw consistently high-quality prints from this machine. It’s small enough to fit on most desks without looming over everything else, as its larger siblings, the Bambu Lab P1P and X1-Carbon tend to do, but it prints just as quickly as those bulkier, more expensive models.

Across the show, sustainability ruled in new materials technology, from polyolefins and engineering resins to biobased materials.

In addition, you can manage certain aspects of the printer when you confirm the print job, such as whether you want to perform various calibrations or record a time-lapse. The printer’s included 1080p camera is adequate for monitoring your print.

3D printing creates a lot of plastic waste. Between failed prints, test prints, support material, and excess material purged while you’re switching filaments, if you 3D-print often, you’ll be left with a nontrivial amount of plastic that you can’t recycle through traditional means.

Jim Goerges, president of Precision Tool Technologies Inc. (PTT) in Brainerd, Minn., another Top Shops honoree, says that even before the pandemic, the company had a goal of unattended machining through all 168 hr in a work week, investing in lights-out capable machines over the years to get there. “Our investment in the right automated machining technologies put us in a strong position to navigate the issues related to increased social distancing during the pandemic,” Goerges says.

The 2019 Plastics Technology Top Shops Survey shows that for its highest-rated respondents, injection molding is just one element in a growing suite of services and capabilities offered to customers.

In a time where sustainability is no longer just a buzzword, the food and beverage packaging industry is required to be at the forefront of this innovation. By adopting circular packaging processes and solutions, producers can meet regulatory requirements while also satisfying consumer demand and enhancing brand reputation. Join Husky to learn more about the broader implications of the circular economy — as well as how leading brands are leveraging this opportunity to reduce costs, increase design flexibility and boost product differentiation. Agenda: The cost and operational benefits of embracing circularity Key materials in circular packaging — including rPET and emerging bioplastics How to design a circular food and beverage package Strategies for selecting sustainable closures to future-proof packaging solutions Optimization and streamlining of production processes for enhanced efficiency How Husky Technologies can enable your sustainable success

We’ve started testing new printers, including the newly announced Prusa MK4S, Creality Ender 3 V3, and Creality K1C. We’re working to also test the Anycubic Kobra 3 and the Artillery Sidewinder X4 Pro. These printers all have bed sizes around 250 mm and include features such as automatic bed leveling and wireless printing.

Now in its fifth year, this benchmarking survey of injection molders queries participants on demographic data, performance indicators, and business and process strategies. A selection of those performance metrics are then scored, with the highest scoring companies named Top Shops for 2021 based on their 2020 operations. The Top Shops display some stark contrasts with all other entrants, but in many ways they are quite similar.

It’s also important to note that multicolor printing uses a large amount of filament, specifically purging a lot of plastic to ensure that the colors don’t mix in the nozzle; in one test print, we ended up with nearly twice as much waste as printed plastic. Plan the colors on your prints carefully.

PlastiCert’s Porter says his company’s location in a small, rural farming community in Minnesota situated between two large cities equates to a shallow talent pool. Its answer to that geographic challenge: “First and foremost, we have created a desirable and accommodating workplace environment, resulting in turnover being practically negligible,” Porter says. The company has also sought to raise its visibility in the community and  to partner with a nearby state university for a stream of interns.

Plastics Technology’s 2020 Top Shops benchmarking survey reveals that the most effective molders are, not surprisingly, the most efficient, accomplishing more than their peers from a smaller manufacturing footprint.

While the major correction in PP prices was finally underway, generally stable pricing was anticipated for the other four commodity resins.

Bambu Lab guarantees years of updates. The company has committed to provide bug fixes and new features for the X1-Carbon until May 2027 and security patches until May 2029. As with the A1 Mini, CEO Ye Tao told us that he expects to support the X1-Carbon beyond those stated dates.

Prominent 3D printer maker Prusa has created a world map with smaller, local recycling initiatives that take printed plastic. (The map also lets Prusa printer owners add themselves to offer tech support, provide printing services, or just show off their printer.)

While this is technically a survey of injection molders, in reality, nearly all of its participants are more accurately described as contract manufacturers. A purchase order for molding a single component dropped from the cavity with nothing else done to it—inspection, decoration, assembly, packaging—is most definitely not the business model for today’s molders. Fully 78% of Top Shops and 81% of other shops provide assembly for customers, with 70% of Top Shops and 60% of the remaining survey respondents offering customers collaborative design services. Where Top Shops go even further is in shipping/packaging/labeling, with 87% of our honorees providing those services, compared with 66% of others.

Bambu Lab earned its top-pick and upgrade-pick status for its printers by prioritizing the user experience when building its machines and software. The Bambu Lab printers we recommend are especially easy to set up, and they print reliably without the need for any manual calibration.

The Artillery Sidewinder X2 was previously our pick for large-format printing, but it’s a few years old now and no longer competitive with 3D printers released in the past year. These days we’re looking for a more automated setup and integrated wireless printing, which the Sidewinder X2 lacks.

We recommend the Bambu Lab A1 Mini because it’s easy to set up and makes high-quality prints without needing any manual calibration. Plus, this model fits more easily on a desk than previous picks.

At the start of 2021, as it does every year, Plastics Technology asked injection molders to look back on the year prior and take stock of their operations. The only difference this time: COVID-19.

The Bambu Lab X1-Carbon is the company’s flagship printer. It produces prints about as quickly and reliably as our top pick, the A1 Mini, but adds features for people who want the reliability of a heated, enclosed printing area and the option to print with stronger materials.

The X1-Carbon has an upgraded screen, an enclosed print bed for better temperature control, and a lidar sensor to scan your first layer for printing errors. Along with a hardened-steel nozzle, these features make the X1-Carbon a versatile printer that can work well in schools or industrial prototyping labs. It also comes with a camera that allows you to check in on your print.

We also take into account the company making the printers. Many 3D printer manufacturers have gone out of business and left customers without hardware or software support, while others have tried to lock customers into their own ecosystems using tricks such as proprietary filament. We try to weed such companies out when we can while researching printers to test, but we also keep an eye on companies whose products we currently recommend.

This is not a comprehensive list of all the 3D printers we have tested. We have removed any models that have been discontinued or that no longer meet our requirements.

The Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS) has released final figures for NPE2024: The Plastics Show (May 6-10; Orlando) that officially make it the largest ever NPE in several key metrics.

Ultradent's entry of its Umbrella cheek retractor took home the awards for Technical Sophistication and Achievement in Economics and Efficiency at PTXPO.

Bambu Lab’s software makes wireless printing easy. Though Bambu Lab has clearly built its slicer using Prusa’s open-source PrusaSlicer, it has added many of its own features. Most important of those is an automatic process for connecting your printer and setting up wireless printing. It’s a delight to see the X1-Carbon automatically connect to the slicer. Other printers, such as the Prusa MK4, require navigating wireless settings and API keys, and cheaper printers don’t have a wireless connection at all, instead requiring a DIY Raspberry Pi print server called OctoPrint for remote or online printing.

You can order new parts, as long as Bambu Lab sells them. Bambu Lab sells a wide array of replacement parts on its website, but they are parts that only Bambu Lab can make. Bambu Lab also provides detailed instructions and YouTube videos on its website regarding how to install and replace many parts of this 3D printer, a valuable resource for many owners.

Plastics Technology covers technical and business Information for Plastics Processors in Injection Molding, Extrusion, Blow Molding, Plastic Additives, Compounding, Plastic Materials, and Resin Pricing. About Us

Examining other key metrics more closely, we see that Top Shops had more active molds (398 vs. 219) that molded more total parts (73 million vs. 32 million) for more active customers (102 vs. 56). Ultimately, it is that ability to wring maximum production from every person, every square foot, every tool and every machine that is part of what characterizes a Top Shop.

It’s fully enclosed. Unlike the A1 Mini, the X1-Carbon is fully enclosed, which helps regulate the temperature of the print area. This makes printing with material such as ABS far easier, since it prevents cooler, ambient air from causing the plastic to curl and warp before it sets fully. The enclosure also reduces the noise of the fans, as well as the clanking noise that the printer makes whenever it cleans the nozzle.

Join KraussMaffei for an insightful webinar designed for industry professionals, engineers and anyone interested in the manufacturing processes of PVC pipes. This session will provide a comprehensive understanding of the technology behind the production of high-quality PVC pipes: from raw material preparation to final product testing. Agenda: Introduction to PVC extrusion: overview of the basic principles of PVC pipe extrusion — including the process of melting and shaping PVC resin into pipe forms Equipment and machinery: detailed explanation of the key equipment involved — such as extruders, dies and cooling systems — and their roles in the extrusion process Process parameters: insight into the critical process parameters like temperature, pressure and cooling rates that influence the quality and consistency of the final PVC pipes Energy efficiency: examination of ways to save material and energy use when extruding PVC pipe products

We’re starting a new round of testing, where we’ll be looking at models including the Prusa MK4S, Creality Ender 3 V3, and Creality K1C.

The aim of this presentation is to guide you through the factors and the numbers that will help you determine if a robot is a smart investment for your application. Agenda:  Why are you considering automation? What problems are you trying to solve? How and why automation can help Crunch the numbers and determine the ROI

Say “manufacturing automation” and thoughts immediately go to the shop floor and specialized production equipment, robotics and material handling systems. But there is another realm of possible automation — the front office.

It prints quickly and with good precision. We printed with the A1 Mini for weeks, making functional parts, miniature models, and other popular designs found on 3D-printing sites like Printables. The A1 Mini printed models with precision and high resolution, turning out high-quality results regardless of the model’s size or layer height. This printer’s constant calibration also helped prints stick to the bed well, as it had typical adhesion issues only when parts became very small. With this machine, we never needed to use glue sticks, blue tape, hair spray, or any of the other bed-adhesion tricks that we’ve relied on in the past with other printers.

“We are very open and honest with our employees and communicate frequently on the state of our business and outlook,” Murphy says. “We have always had a great culture at PRD where everyone feels like family. For some it is just a job, but many feel ownership and accountability for our success. We try to provide clear production goals, learn from our mistakes and celebrate our successes.”

technotrans says climate protection, energy efficiency and customization will be key discussion topics at PTXPO as it displays its protemp flow 6 ultrasonic eco and the teco cs 90t 9.1 TCUs.

Replacement parts are available for Bambu Lab’s A1 Mini and X1-Carbon, but not all 3D printers are equally easy to fix. You might want to avoid 3D printing altogether if you aren’t confident that you’d be able to perform a minor repair on the equivalent of a household appliance.

Markets served for both groups largely mirror each other, except for two sectors: medical/healthcare and building/construction. While 74% of the other respondents serve the building/construction market, only 35% of Top Shops generate business from it. And 74% of Top Shops have medical customers, vs. 54% of other survey respondents.

We also print all sorts of other models with each printer, including current popular models in libraries such as Printables and Thingiverse. Printing a variety of objects, some with tons of detail and others with plain, sloping sides, gives us a good idea of how a printer is likely to perform in the real world.

Bambu Lab says it will receive more updates. The company states that it will release bug fixes and feature updates for the A1 Mini until September 2028 and security updates until September 2030. But CEO Ye Tao told us that he expects to support printers beyond the dates listed online, which the company puts on the website for regulatory compliance.

When, how, what and why to automate — leading robotics suppliers and forward-thinking moldmakers will share their insights on automating manufacturing at collocated event.

Though restricting parts to proprietary designs is a standard business practice in consumer electronics, it’s a departure from the open-source, DIY mentality promoted by many pioneers of 3D printing and to which 3D printing owes much of its current development.

“The biggest challenges were maintaining operations, assuring customers that we were taking steps to sustain their order flow, and keeping our coworkers safe,” says Craig Porter, president and owner of another Top Shop, PlastiCert in Lewiston, Minn.  “As a small manufacturer, keeping track of COVID legislation, mandates and programs around finances for the company and our employees was a full-time job for people that typically already wear multiple hats.”

However, it’s the fourth iteration of Prusa’s design, which was built for engineers and the DIY-minded, while the Bambu Lab A1 Mini and X1-Carbon represent the first generation of a more user-friendly printer.

Mold maintenance is critical, and with this collection of content we’ve bundled some of the very best advice we’ve published on repairing, maintaining, evaluating and even hanging molds on injection molding machines.

The Creality Ender-2 Pro, a $170 competitor to the Prusa Mini+, seems built to look nearly identical to that model. However, in our tests its menus were confusing and made the printer more difficult to operate than any of our picks. Its fans were also drastically louder than those of any other printer we tested.

Materials run by our survey entrants largely tracked along similar lines, with other shops running slightly more polyolefins than Top Shops (63% to 52%), while Top Shops processed more engineering resins (87% to 76%). Only in LSR and bioplastics was the gap noticeably wide, with 9% of Top Shops running LSR and 17% bioplastics, compared with 2% and 7%, respectively, for other plants.

Whether you’re a tinkerer interested in prototyping or a tabletop-gaming enthusiast seeking to expand your arsenal of tiles and terrain, a 3D printer might be just the manufacturing tool you need.

It’s capable of printing with many engineering-grade materials. Whereas the A1 Mini is mainly intended for printing with plastics such as PLA, PETG, and TPU, which are cheap and strong enough for most hobbyist purposes, the X1-Carbon can print with a much wider variety of filament. Its enclosed print space and heat bed, which can reach 150 degrees Celsius, allow it to print with ABS filament, and its direct-drive extruder and hardened-steel nozzle allow for flexible material and carbon-fiber-infused plastics.

Many 3D-printing hobbyists turn to repurposing or minimizing plastic scraps themselves. I collect my PLA scraps in a bread-loaf pan and then place them in the oven at 300 degrees Fahrenheit until they melt into a brick. At the very least, this minimizes the tiny shards of plastic I’m throwing away.

A nearly identical number of all survey participants said their facilities featured an in-house tool room (78% of Top Shops and 77% of all others), with both groups utilizing them in equal measure for mold building (rather than just repairs)—44% of Top Shops and 41% of other entrants. While 36% of Top Shops’ molds featured hot runners, only 22% of tools at the other facilities applied this technology. Only 9% of the Top Shops’ tools and 8% of the other entrants’ molds had more than 16 cavities.

Exhibitors and presenters at the plastics show emphasized 3D printing as a complement and aid to more traditional production processes.

Introduced by Zeiger and Spark Industries at the PTXPO, the nozzle is designed for maximum heat transfer and uniformity with a continuous taper for self cleaning.

Multiple speakers at Molding 2023 will address the ways simulation can impact material substitution decisions, process profitability and simplification of mold design.

August 29-30 in Minneapolis all things injection molding and moldmaking will be happening at the Hyatt Regency — check out who’s speaking on what topics today.

It reminds you when maintenance is due. Unlike many other 3D printers, the A1 Mini runs diagnostics often, and it delivers pop-up messages when a belt needs tightening or a part requires lubrication. Accompanying these messages are QR codes that you can scan for documentation on how to perform the maintenance. The previous standard of home 3D-printer maintenance was hoping that someone on YouTube had made a video about the problem you’re having, so these built-in reminders are pretty nice.

In terms of physical space, individual employees and machine fleet, the two groups in this year’s benchmarking survey were virtually indistinguishable. The average floor space of a Top Shops entrant was 88,184 ft2, with the rest averaging 79,614 ft2. Total employees at Top Shops averaged 95 vs. 98 at other entrants, with workers directly involved in plant-floor operations coming in at 73 for Top Shops and 78 at all others.

“We think our coworkers have a feel for how our operation is doing and strive to maintain a high level of engagement in operational efficiency and quality,” Porter says, noting that PlastiCert has a monthly “all coworker” meeting, which has become two meetings an hour apart as the business grows. In these meetings, leadership communicates revenue trends, areas of operational interest, new internal developments, and items of interest in the surrounding community. “We also pick a customer to tell workers more about how what we do for that customer contributes to its mission,” Porter says.

Prospective buyers should also be aware that the 3D-printing industry is in a constant state of upheaval. MakerBot, which was long considered the front-runner among home 3D printers, stopped marketing to hobbyists and home users several years ago in order to focus on commercial and educational institutions. We thought Prusa made the best 3D printers for hobbyists for a few years, and now we recommend printers from the startup Bambu Lab.

While prices moved up for three of the five commodity resins, there was potential for a flat trajectory for the rest of the third quarter.

Join Engel in exploring the future of battery molding technology. Discover advancements in thermoplastic composites for battery housings, innovative automation solutions and the latest in large-tonnage equipment designed for e-mobility — all with a focus on cost-efficient solutions. Agenda: Learn about cutting-edge thermoplastic composites for durable, sustainable and cost-efficient battery housings Explore advanced automation concepts for efficient and scalable production See the latest large-tonnage equipment and technology innovations for e-mobility solutions

Across all process types, sustainability was a big theme at NPE2024. But there was plenty to see in automation and artificial intelligence as well.

In fact, average plant-floor employee age, plastics/manufacturing experience, turnover rate and hourly wages were nearly identical for all survey participants—41/40 yrs; 17/16 yrs; 17/16% ; and $17/$16—for Top Shops/Others in all those categories, respectively.

We spent more than 30 hours trying 35 recommendations from experts, educators, and parents to pick the best learning and STEM toys. Here's what we found.

The Creality K1 is the company’s new flagship printer, and its design seems to be heavily based on, if not copied from, the Bambu Lab X1-Carbon. We found its print quality to be consistently worse, and although we could monitor the printer from Creality’s app, the software was crammed full of things to buy and ads for Creality’s subscription service.

Mixed in among thought leaders from leading suppliers to injection molders and mold makers at the 2023 Molding and MoldMaking conferences will be molders and toolmakers themselves.

If you’re knowledgeable about computers and inclined to support a company dedicated to open source, or if you’re experienced in 3D printing and in need of a reliable workhorse, the MK4 has a lot of modern features and a familiar design. And if you’re especially security-conscious, you may appreciate the fact that you have to choose to connect it to the internet, unlike our Bambu Lab picks that connect by default.

An optional upgrade makes multicolor printing simple. Bambu Lab introduced the A1 Mini alongside an automatic material-switching machine called the AMS Lite. That add-on costs $200 in a bundle with the A1 Mini or $250 by itself. (Note, however, that it works only with the Bambu Lab A1 series of printers.) Multicolor, or multi-material, printing is usually an add-on feature exclusive to higher-end machines that cost hundreds more than the A1 Mini, such as the Bambu Lab X1-Carbon and Prusa MK4. You can load up to four different filaments onto the AMS Lite, and if they’re Bambu Lab filaments, the printer automatically scans the RFID tags inside and recognizes the material; the Bambu Studio software also recognizes the material and lists it as an option for multicolor printing.