Printers at MakerSpace USNA
Bringing your projects to life...
MakerSpace USNA offers an intentional variety of printers in order to support a wide array of projects. Selecting the correct printer is an important and critical design decision. The information on this site is designed to help users decide which printer and which material are appropriate for what project.
MakerBots are FDM printers using 1.75 mm filament. They are simple and cheap to use and produce reasonable parts mainly for prototyping.
In MakerSpace terms, MakerBot printers are considered "production" printers meaning they are used for most bulk jobs.
Formlabs printers (all except Fuse 1 which is a SLS nylon printer) are inverted SLA printers which use a wide variety of UV curable resins. SLA printers are reasonably easy to use and produce excellent quality parts. Build volume can be somewhat limiting
In MakerSpace terms, Formlabs printers are referred to as "SLA" printers because of the differences between SLA and FDM.
LulzBot printers are FDM printers using 2.85 mm (often stated as 3 mm) filament. LulzBot printers have a very open design architecture and can be challenging to use but offer extreme customization options making them extremely flexible.
In MakerSpace terms, LulzBot printers are referred to as "hobbyist" printers because they can be customized so significantly.
Ultimaker printers are FDM (although called FFF) printers using 2.85 mm filament (normally Ultimaker branded filament but not exclusively). Ultimaker printers are the most expensive but also most capable printers in the MakerSpace. They are extremely easy to use and produce very high quality FDM parts.
In MakerSpace terms, Ultimaker printers are referred to as "precision" printers because of their high quality FDM printing capability.