The Best Selling 3D Printing Accessories & Books With Our Readers

As 3D printer owner you are bound to have an ever-growing toolbox of 3D printing accessories and utensils. While I have shared some of my most frequently used tools in a previous blog post, I figured it might also be interesting to share what accessories prove popular among our readers.

Here is a compilation of the best selling 3D printing accessories that find their way into the toolboxes of your fellow 3D printer owners.

Note: the items on this list aren't necessarily 'the best', they are just what our readers are buying the most. While I have used and tested some of the products that made it onto this list, there are a lot of other items that I have never purchase nor used. I simply ranked the items from the best seller down.

The following are items that we have either directly reviewed or referred to in a blog post. If they made it onto this list, it means that they prove popular and are being bought on a regular basis by our readers:

1. The most frequently purchased product is silica gel. This product has been referred to in our filament storage article but interestingly readers are buying a wide variety of silica gel packs or silica gel canisters. The most popular ones are the simple cotton packets: Dry-Packs 3gm Cotton Silica Gel Packet.

In terms of canisters, this is the most popular is Dry-Packs 45gm Indicating Silica Gel Hard Plastic Canister closely followed by Dry-Packs 750 Gram Silica Gel Canister Dehumidifier.

2. As a key 3D printing consumable, it is not surprising to see filament making it to the top of the list. What is interesting to note though is that the Hatchbox brand of filament proves to be the most widely purchased on Amazon. In terms of colors blue, white and green were leading the pack.

3. Another product that has consistently been popular is BuildTak. Buildtak is a thin plastic sheet that serves as durable print bed surface that also helps with print adhesion. We reviewed BuildTak in a dedicated blog post; judging by the reviews on Amazon, users are very satisfied with this product.

4. A good scraper comes in handy to remove hard sticking prints. The Titan scrapers that we recommended in our 3D printing tools article seem to be finding their way into our reader's toolboxes quite frequently.

5. Another item that we recommended as part of a 3D printer owner's essential tool kit is a set of tweezers. Personally I use the Woodstock 6-Piece Tweezer Set, but readers are also buying this cheaper alternative, the Marrywindix Tweezers Set.

6. A digital caliper is one of those must-have tools for any 3D printer owner. The following two products are the most popular with our community: the iGaging IP54 Electronic Digital Caliper and the less pricey alternative, the Neiko Digital Caliper with Extra-Large LCD Screen.

Below is the list of the top six 3D printing accessories that were neither reviewed nor promoted on the blog but that still were purchased by our readers when shopping on Amazon:

1. Heading the list as the most frequently sold item is this flexible palette knife for 3D print removal, the 3D Print Removal Tool.

2. Readers have also frequently purchased the TEKTON 10-Piece Needle File Set. I can see how this comes in handy when post-processing 3D prints.

3. Print bed adhesion and print bed surfaces are an evergreen topic in 3D printing. Polyetherimide (PEI) is a strong and rigid plastic that can be used as 3D printer build surface. Looking at the reviews on Amazon, there are many satisfied users and a ton of positive feedback. PEI looks to work equally well with ABS and PLA: PEI (Polyetherimide) Sheet.

4. The Gamma Seal Lid converts plastic buckets into airtight storage containers. Undoubtedly, our readers are using these to store their filament.

5. Some readers seem to be using a more sophisticated version of the silica beads we recommended to keep one's filament dry. They use this renewable mini dehumidifier: Eva-dry E-333 Renewable Wireless Mini Dehumidifer.

6. Another post-processing gadget that readers have purchased is this acetone pen used to smooth ABS prints, the Filabot ABS 3D Printing Smoothing Pen.

Best Selling 3D Printing Books

Looking to buy some books to help you in your 3D printing learning? Here are the five best sellers when it comes to the 3D printing books our readers are buying via Amazon:

1. The clear number 1 is Functional Design for 3D Printing: Designing 3D Printed Things for Everyday Use - An Engineering Handbook. The book, which we previously reviewed, by Cliff Smyth proves to be very popular. The second, revised edition has been published recently.

2. Make Magazine's Essential Guide to 3D Printers claims second spot. Certainly a recommended read for anyone looking to buy a new 3D printer. The latest edition, dubbed the Ultimate Guide to Desktop Fabrication (Make: Volume 48) is not yet available on Amazon though.

3. Also popular is 3D Printing for Dummies, a good general introduction to the topic written by the renowned experts Kalani Kirk Hausman and Richard Horne.

4. The Invent To Learn Guide to 3D Printing in the Classroom: Recipes for Success seems to resonate well with those readers of our blog that are involved in education.

5. 3D Printing: Build Your Own 3D Printer and Print Your Own 3D Objects is another popular read, targeted at the DIY enthusiasts who would like to build their own machine.

One of the ways that allows us to keep 3Dprintingforbeginners.com free is the Amazon Affiliate Program. By promoting quality products as an Amazon affiliate we earn a small commission from any purchase made from following these links. For you as a buyer there is no additional cost.

As part of the Amazon Affiliate Program we receive regular reports that show us what products are being bought by our readers (no worries, it is all anonymous data). Using those reports, we are able to compile this best-seller list which is based on data from January to November 2015. These are by far not all products that have been purchased in that period, these are just the ones that were sold most frequently.

As with all products that we mention here on the blog, do not spend any money on them unless you feel that you need them or that they will help you achieve your goals. If you do find 3Dprintingforbeginners.com useful, we appreciate the contribution you make when buying via one of our affiliate links.

Did we miss your favorite tool or accessory? Lets us know by leaving a comment below. Also, feel free to share our best seller list with anyone that might still be hunting for some 3D printing Christmas gifts.