A 3D printer’s upkeep costs themselves are very minimal – you will generally just need to supply the material you intend to print with, be that resin (between AUD $30 – $60 per 1kg bottle typically) or filament (between AUD $30 – $40 per 1kg roll typically).

The additional costs you’ll hear about most often arise from breakages – broken parts from user-errors, or more often than not tinkering with parts in your effort to play around or upgrade something. While some parts are inexpensive, depending on the machine, breaking an expensive part will inevitably mean an expensive repair.

Lastly, there are a few minor costs arising from your consumables – you will need cleaning supplies, the occasional new nozzle for FDMs or FEP sheets for resin printers, and you will need a few cheap extra supplies along the way depending on the printer. An FDM may require some glue sticks, and a resin printer will require disposable gloves and alcohol.

If it sounds confusing, check out my guide for getting a FDM 3D printer here or my guide for getting a resin 3D printer here. Once the basics are demystified, you’ll realise that many home printers on the market in 2022 are pretty much plug and play!

Resin and filament 3D printers each print different materials (resin and filament, respectively), and do so in two very distinct ways. While resin utilises flashes of UV light to solidify resin, filament printers (commonly called FDM printers) instead deposit plastic brought to its melting point in very thin, computer controlled layers which then solidify when they cool.

Both have their pros and cons, but generally speaking, resin printers are preferential for their sharper details such as for miniatures, while plastic printers fare better for terrain or more durable objects such as household knick-knacks, car parts and so on.

This subject is extensive – so I wrote a full guide complete with visuals that you can read on it here. Personally, I own both printer types and use both for different, almost exclusive object types that play to their strengths.

Despite the default assumption that such elite tech must carry a lofty price tag, a 3D printer doesn’t have to break the bank. A 3D printer can cost anywhere from as low as AUD $100 to as high as tens of thousands of dollars. That’s because there are personal use and commercial use printers, and their variation of uses continues to diversify.

If you’re asking what the typical hobbyist can expect to pay to participate in the hobby comfortably and, frankly, get genuinely beautiful models that satisfy a professional standard, then you can get started with a quality resin 3D printer for as little as around AUD $350, and with an FDM printer for as little as AUD $250.