Key Differences Between Desktop and Industrial 3D Printers

Under the trend of digitalization, 3D printing, as an emerging manufacturing technology, has been applied to all walks of life.

Let’s discuss the differences between industrial 3D printers and desktop 3D printers currently on the market.

1. Range of application fields

Most of the application fields of industrial 3D printers are in aerospace, automobile, medical, electronic products and other industries.

Desktop 3D printers are generally used to print smaller items, and are generally used in industrial design, education, animation, archaeology, lighting and other fields. Now, many desktop-level 3D printers have also been expanded to the dental medical industry, and are used in the dental digital production process. As a part of the digital medical model, it assists in printing the required products.

2. Mass production and fineness

Desktop 3D printers tend to be more personalized and highly customized, mainly for small batches. For example, desktop FDM 3D printers are suitable for prototyping and low-volume production requirements, offering very short lead times and a variety of materials. A tolerance of ± 1% is usually sufficient for most fitting and forming prototype applications. When very fine details are required, industrial-grade 3D printing methods such as SLA or SLS should be considered.

3. Production capacity and cost

The main difference between desktop and industrial 3D printers is the associated cost. The growing popularity of desktop 3D printers has dramatically reduced the cost of owning and operating an FDM machine as well as the cost and availability of consumables.

The production capacity of industrial 3D printers is usually greater than that of desktop 3D printers. Industrial 3D printers have larger printing platforms, which means that they can print larger parts at a time, and can also print more models at the same time.