Every now and then a product hits the market that completely challenges the way we used to look at things. The Silhouette Alta 3D Printer is one of those products.
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Gone are the days when printing meant ink on paper, hello to the era when you can now print 3D objects from the comfort of your own home.
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Click here to check current prices for the Silhouette Alta 3D Printer
Wondering whether the 3D printer is for you? Hopefully, our Silhouette Alta 3D Printer Review will help answer that question for you.
Silhouette Alta 3D Printer Review Rating
Find below our review rating of this great 3D printer by Silhouette.
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User Experience
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Printing Quality
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Software
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Value for Money
Summary
The Silhouette Alta 3D Printer is a fabulous started printer for those wanting to try out 3D model designs. It is cheap with great printing specs. It is important to note that it is aimed at beginners, so it won't handle complex and intricate designs, but it sure is super fun to play with.
Pros:
A quality 3D printer with a cheap price tag. The printer comes pre-assembled and calibrated. It also includes software. The printer is small and lightweight and can print up to 120mm x 116mm.
You can create your own custom models or simply work from pre-existing .stl and .obj files
Cons:
You are restricted to using PLA Filaments. The printer can't handle large and complex designs.
So What Exactly is a 3D Printer?
Ultimately a 3D printer is a printer that allows you to print three-dimensional designs. Pretty impressive huh!
The printer has a unique ability to basically ‘build' your design by printing with a material called filament. Filament is basically a very thin, thermoplastic wire which the printer melts down in order to build your 3D object.
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The printer takes around 20-40 minutes to print your design (depending on the size and detail).
What Colors Can it Print in?
Fortunately, Silhouette has released the printer together with 7 beautiful colored filaments. You also have a choice of different types of filaments.
Currently, there are 7 different color 500 gram PLA filaments available in Black, White, Pink, Blue, Green, Yellow & Red.
Let's move on with the actual review of the printer.
Review of the Silhouette 3D Alta Printer
Find below our full review of the new Silhouette 3D printer, but before we do, make sure to have a quick look at this video below to get an overview on what the printer is capable of doing.
Silhouette Alta Features
Here are some of our favorite features of the 3D printer.
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1. Create your Own Designs from Scratch
You can create your own custom designs from scratch, you can also build your own 3D models by using the Silhouette Snap Kits.
If you want to start off easy, you can download files in .stl and .obj formats and simply print.
2. Comes With Software
We love it when software is included with machines, it saves you money and saves you from purchasing additional software programs.
The software does have a slight learning curve, but I think it is fair to say that this will be expected – unless you have lots of experience working with 3D models.
3. Comes Ready-to-Use
The printer comes pre-assembled and pre-calibrated. So set-up required by you is minimal.
4. Compatible with any Brand of 1.75mm PLA Filament
The printer can print with any type of PLA filament that measures 1.75 mm.
5. Reasonable Print Size
The maximum print size is 120mm x 116mm.
The Pros & Cons
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The Positives
- A quality 3D printer with an affordable price tag
- Very easy to use
- Comes with its own software
- You can create your own custom models or simply work from pre-existing .stl and .obj files
- Compatible with any brand 1.75mm PLA filaments
- It is lightweight
- It has adjustable print settings
- It has a maximum print size is 120mm x 116mm
The Negatives
- You are restricted to using PLA Filaments
- The printer is not large enough to print anything large or complex
- It doesn't handle intricate details very well (you will need to pay A LOT more for printers that can do this)
Verdict
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The Silhouette Alta 3D is a fabulous 3D starter printer to get your taste buds wet in the industry of 3D model-creations. Whilst its print quality is fabulous, it is a small and basic machine and as a result, you can't expect large and detailed designs from this one.
Putting that aside, the printer is fabulous for most home crafters. It is lightweight and small enough to sit on your desk. The price tag is truly very reasonable and you can pick up the filaments for around $19.99 from Swing Designs.
Fabulous for those who wish to step up their crafting game and wow their family and friends.
Where to Buy the Silhouette Alta 3D Printer
It is always great to compare current prices. We recommend you check prices on Amazon as well as on Swing Design (Silhouette’s distribution site). You can also find fabulous Silhouette Alta 3D Printer bundle deals that include some of the Silhouette filaments on there as well.
