What 3D printers and accessories out there are great for kids?
So you want to enable your child’s creativity, or you want to bond with them more? That’s great! There are many cheap 3D printers out there, but not all of them are good, especially for younger people, so we’ve come up with some of the best that kids will be able to pick up and that have ecosystems and accessories to back them up. Nurturing a kid’s creativity is incredibly important, and a 3D printer could help you with that. It’d be unfortunate to buy one only to find out it wasn’t what you’d hoped, though, so here are some 3D printers and accessories that you and your child can enjoy together.
Tips on 3D printing for kids
But safety isn’t just physical; there will be unsavory places on the internet distributing files, so check out this article on how to get started for some of the safest places to find models for your 3D printer. Resin printers require a bit more safety than filament machines; with solvents, gloves, masks, and more, it’s best to move on to those once you get the hang of FDM first. You can always check our article on resin or filament 3D printing to see which is right for you.
Rock solid:
Prusa Mini+ Kit
Staff pick
A Dremel, yes really:
Dremel DigiLab 3D20
Capable little box:
Flashforge Adventurer 3
Value is out of this world:
Elegoo Neptune 2
Itty bitty circular printer:
Monoprice Mini Delta
Modular maker:
Snapmaker 2.0 A150
Great accessories to get you started
Snip snip snip:
Hakko flush cutters
Flex and bend:
Wham Bam Flexible Build System
The good sticky:
Magigoo
Getting right in there:
BuildTak spatula
Always have the right key:
Wera high-quality Allen wrench
That satisfying ratchet:
MAXPOWER small metric socket set
Our top 3D printers and accessories for kids
So, several printers and plenty of accessories, whilst I’d recommend buying all of the accessories, it’d be crazy to recommend buying all the printers! If you buy just one, it’s hard not to recommend the Prusa Mini+ Kit. Sure it isn’t the cheapest, but with it, you get a tested machine, with a great support system behind it, a very well-tuned slicer, a company that makes their own filament and tests it on their own printers using their own slicer. If you include the print repository of PrusaPrinters.org, there is even a place to find prints, so all your child has to do is enjoy.
The accessories, on the other hand, are well worth investing in. A nice pair of side cutters, A good socket set, a high-quality Allen set, and the rest will really up your child’s experience. No one wants to have to do maintenance on their machines, but if you have to do it, you’d rather a tool just work than strip the head of a screw and ruin your tool at the same time. And as good as the build surfaces are on all the printers recommended, there is a reason we recommended Magigoo as well. Some filaments stick too well, and Magigoo will act as a release layer, and on some, the filament won’t stick well enough, so it acts as an adhesive and a release layer. Neat right?
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The best cheap 3D printers under $500 are all here for you to choose
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