Within a few minutes, you will understand how a digital design becomes a real product.
Click a topic for more information further down this page.
There are different types of 3D printers. FDM melts plastic filament and deposits it layer by layer; DLP and related techniques cure liquid resin using light. At Printics, we mainly print using FDM.
Filament or resin already has one color on the spool or in the vat. We do not mix colors during printing: the color you choose is the color that ends up on the print bed.
With FDM, the filament is heated in the hotend until it melts. Only then can the nozzle deposit it as a thin line.
The first layer is placed on a heated print bed. This helps adhesion and prevents the object from coming loose during printing.
Each horizontal layer has a fixed thickness, often around 0.20 mm. Finer layers look smoother; coarser layers print faster.
The printer builds the object layer by layer. The heat fuses the new layer to the layer beneath it until they form one piece.
The outside is solid; the inside can be partly hollow to save material. In the slicer, we determine the infill percentage and pattern.
It is a bit like squeezing thick garlic sauce from a bottle: layer on top of layer. If material would fall downward or along a steep overhang, temporary support is needed: support material that we remove after printing.
A 3D printer does not understand an STL file directly. A slicer cuts your model into horizontal layers (slices) and calculates the exact nozzle path for each layer.
This tells the printer where plastic should go, how fast it should move, how much material is needed and where support (temporary support structures) is required. Only then can printing begin.
Printics advantage: in our price calculator, this happens automatically; you immediately see the price, print time and material usage without needing separate software.
With FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling), an extruder pulls plastic filament from a spool, melts it in the hotend and pushes it through a nozzle layer by layer onto a print bed. Typical features include a moving nozzle (or moving bed), filament spools in fixed colors and visible horizontal layer lines in the final result.
FDM is the most popular 3D-printing technique worldwide: relatively affordable, capable of large print volumes, compatible with many materials (PLA, PETG, TPU, …) and suitable for prototypes, parts and functional prints. That is why Printics prints with FDM.
In addition to FDM, there are techniques that use liquid resin or powder. SLA and DLP cure resin layer by layer using UV light in a resin vat; SLS uses a laser to fuse powder (often nylon) into a solid part. These techniques are known for very fine details, smoother surfaces or strong functional parts, often produced on smaller or industrial machines.
These techniques are popular for miniatures, jewelry, dental applications and precision prototypes, but are less common for large, affordable everyday production. Printics focuses on FDM; our price calculator therefore shows FDM prices and materials.
In the slicer and price calculator you can configure, among other things, the following values. Click to jump directly to a topic.
The thickness of each horizontal layer. Finer (e.g. 0.12 mm) = smoother surface and longer print time; coarser (e.g. 0.28 mm) = faster, but with more visible layer lines.
How much of the inside of your model is filled. Around 15% is often sufficient for decorative parts, 40–60% for functional parts and 100% for maximum strength. Lower infill = less material, shorter print time and lower weight.
The number of perimeters (wall lines) around your model. More walls = a stronger exterior, better water resistance and sturdier edges, but also more print time and material usage.
Additional solid layers at the top and bottom of your model (roof and floor). More top and bottom layers make flat surfaces stronger and better sealed; useful for functional parts or objects that need to withstand moisture or pressure.
Temporary support for overhangs greater than approximately 45°. The slicer adds support where plastic would otherwise be printed in mid-air; after printing, that material is removed. More support = higher cost and more post-processing.
The filament determines strength, flexibility and what the part is suitable for. PLA is the default for most prints, PETG is more moisture-resistant, ASA is suitable for outdoor use and TPU is flexible. The price calculator shows which materials are available for your model.
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