Wednesday, October 12. 2011
3 Reasons Why 3D Printing Is Still Expensive - Part 2/3 - Materials
In our previous post we explored why 3D printing prices - despite having dropped in recent years - are still high. In particular, we examined one major factor, the initial capital investment required to acquire 3D printing equipment and how that gets built into the price of each part to come out of that equipment.
In this post, we'll examine the second major factor keeping 3D printing prices high, the cost of the raw materials.
3D Print Materials Need Special Preparation
It is now possible to print in a large variety of materials from plastics to metals and even glass. Although some of these materials begin life as commodity items they usually require additional preparation before they can be used in particular machines. ABS must be formed into precise spools for fused deposition machines, metals and glass must be in a uniformly sized powder for sintering or other technologies. 
Other materials, such as Objet's photopolymers must be precisely formulated as specialty chemicals.
In other words, due to technological constraints (and perhaps by design - more about that below) the materials used in additive fabrication are usually value-added products before they even enter the machine. This additional cost ends up in the price of the 3D printed part.
3D Print Materials Are Expensive Because the Manufacturers Want It That Way
Adding to the already more expensive materials, is what is apparently the chosen business model of the major 3D printer manufacturers: emulation of the 2D printing business model and in particular, 2D inkjet printing.
In this business model, also known as 'freebie marketing' a manufacturer sells both hardware and the materials (consumables) that can be used in that same hardware. Typically the hardware is sold at a low profit margin and the consumables are sold at a higher profit margin. Think of how inexpensive an inkjet printer seems and how expensive the little ink cartridges are. Over the life of the hardware, the manufacturer hopes to sell you as much or more in consumables as you originally paid for the hardware itself. Since the profit margin is higher on the consumables, they plan on making more profit there also.
This is the business model that most major 3D printer manufacturers seem to be following (with some understandable exceptions). Their printers - whether by design or otherwise - can only use materials which they provide. Especially on the lower end of the spectrum, these printers have been coming down in price. Not surprisingly, the industry has NOT seen an equivalent decrease in the price of the materials to be used in those printers.
Should one begrudge the manufacturers for running their business in this way? Of course not. Still though, other models are possible. 
One has to wonder how different the automobile industry would have been had Henry Ford sold cars that would only run on (expensive) Ford fuel. If Ford and others had been able to make a tidy profit simply by selling fuel, would we have seen the same innovation in the hardware, the cars themselves? Might we still be driving Model T's? Could 3D printer manufacturers be going down this road?
Finally it should be noted that this only applies to major manufacturers. On the lower end and on periphery there are plenty of efforts aimed at producing affordable machines which use materials as close to commodity prices as possible. So far machines using commodity materials cannot rival those using proprietary or exclusive materials but the gap is growing ever narrower. Further, despite the threat of lost warranties, some are jailbreaking their 3D printers with 'hacked' materials, i.e. non-manufacturer supplied or approved, cheaper materials. And at least one major manufacturer is attempting to change the entire materials paradigm with 'digital materials'.
Unfortunately though, at this time, materials to be used in commercial grade 3D printers tend to command a significant price premium as compared to commodity materials used in more traditional manufacturing. This is due to both additional preparation costs and manufacturer business models. This premium ends up in the price of the part and is one of the major factors why 3D printing is still expensive.
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Next, I'll look at the final piece of the puzzle as to why 3D printing prices are still high: service bureau overhead and pricing policies.
3D Additive Fabrication, Inc. (3dAddFab) is a start up company located in Colorado, USA. 3dAddFab provides high quality 3D printing that is easy to price and order, at a lower cost than existing fabricators.
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