Don't be fooled by those 3D printing YouTube videos, they're lying to you

If you're like me, you spend a lot of time watching YouTube in order to learn as much as you can about your hobbies. For me, that includes videos about 3D printing , which is a technology that fascinates me and I want to know as much as possible about it.

The thing is, if you watch enough 3D-printing on YouTube, and you spend some time trying your hand at printing yourself, you'll notice that there are some stark differences between what the videos are selling, and what 3D printing can really be like.

Editing removes the work

You're only seeing the entertaining parts

This isn't a criticism of the YouTubers in question. As something of a YouTuber myself I know that you need to edit your content tightly, and polish it to prevent people from bouncing off your content and watching someone else who hired a better editor than you.

No, the point here is that we as the viewers should not forget that we are watching a carefully-curated and packaged piece of content. Watching someone struggle to calibrate a printer for several hours, or all the failed prints before finally getting it right don't always make for a good video. Unless that was the subject of the video, that is.

Experienced setups are framed as beginner-friendly

Is this really realistic for a beginner?

It's not news that in any hobby an expert can make something look simple and easy, but in truth there are many pitfalls and levels of implicit knowledge built into what they do. Moreover, that printer you see whizzing through a tough print wasn't going to do that out of the box.

You're seeing a machine that's been tuned, and in some cases modded and upgraded. You're seeing the end of a long road with slicer settings and experimentation under the belt, but it's framed like the norm. Again, watching a total beginner doesn't make for interesting videos, but it can distort what it's like to actually start out with your own printer and the journey of learning or moving towards mastery.

Projects are chosen for spectacle, not repeatability

It's not as easy as you think

You've probably seen those "trick shot" videos on social media where people pull off incredible feats like throwing a disc into a Nintendo Wii from across the room, or getting a playing card to pass through an impossible gap. These are all low-probability events somewhat affected by your skill, but it still takes dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of attempts to get them right. You film all the attempts, and then when you hit paydirt, that's the footage you post.

Well, something similar can happen with wacky 3D printing projects. Some designs, materials, or types of print naturally have a higher failure rate. However, a thumbnail with some fantastical print in it will draw the clicks, and you don't have to show your pile of plastic shame to your viewers.

Troubleshooting is flattened into content clichés

Oversimplified and misleading

There's plenty of troubleshooting content on YouTube for 3D printers, and there's no doubt that it can be useful. However, I think there's a temptation to make troubleshooting look more linear than it is in real life.

If we're trying to fix computer problems, that's not the worst sin, but troubleshooting 3D printer problems is nothing like troubleshooting a computer. It's more like troubleshooting a robot crossed with a Linux PC that handles highly-variable materials.

A 3D printer is complex, and there are many different factors that influence whether a print will fail, or what the quality of the print will end up being. From the filament and its parameters, to the mechanical positioning system, to the heat and extrusion components, there's a lot that can go wrong.

To make things even worse, some problems are an emergent property of all those systems conflicting with each other in a subtle way, but there's nothing actually wrong with any one individual component.

In my experience, that's something few YouTube videos on the topic of 3D printing communicate well.

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The medium rewards confidence over accuracy

The term "con artist" is short for "confidence artists", which refers to how these people gain people's confidence: i.e. their trust. Ironically, a key way to do this is to act with confidence. If you seem to know what you're doing, many people will simply assume that those appearances reflect the truth.

I think YouTube ends up rewarding videos that trade in certainty, simple answers, and a distinct lack of caveats and balance. There are plenty of true experts on YouTube who can walk the talk, but at the same time, even those experts in the hobby and industry have nothing to gain by coming across as balanced in their discussions of 3D printing.

So, when you hear a YouTuber make things sound simple and straightforward, especially when they're trying to sell you something, give it at least a second thought.