3D printing fonts


Best 3D Printing Fonts & How to Choose the Right One

3D printing is a really interesting field, and it’s getting more popular day by day. You can create anything with it, whether they are models, numbers, jewelry, or texts.

Just design your project and then print it! It will be present in front of you really quickly without having to invest a lot of money.

This is the reason many graphic designers are becoming attracted to it.

However, the only problem they face while designing is 3D texts since they are harder to print and design than other things.

Texts and letters require fine lines and proper detail, and this can be done if only you choose the right fonts. Not every font is made for 3D printing, so using the wrong ones can ruin your designs and mess up everything.

Therefore, if you are one of those designers who are looking for some good fonts to create 3D prints then make sure to read this article till the end.

Since today we have got a list of the best 3D printing fonts that can make your prints look really stunning and charming!

How To Pick Fonts For 3D Printing

Just mentioned before, not every font is made for 3D printing. It depends on the project whether it will work properly or not.

Therefore, you must learn how to pick the best fonts for your printing, so try following the tips given below:

Avoid Stylish Fonts And Pick Simple Ones

Stylish and cursive fonts are beautiful and work well on logos, titles, and everywhere else in the 2D world, but they must be avoided for 3D printing!

It’s because they are too complicated to print, and in the end, they might not come out just like you expected.

This can be a huge problem if you are going for a print with a small size since printers aren’t good at creating stylish text prints in small sizes.

Your design will look cluttered and ugly while choosing simple fonts like Helvetica can lead to a huge success. It’s a simple font with an easy-to-design style, so creating prints with it will be really easy!

Prioritize Bold Fonts Over Thin Ones

When it comes to 3D printing, bold fonts are the best choice ever as they provide high readability.

They will give a clear look at your projects, which can help your customers understand your messages.

Thin fonts may not be easy to read but if you still want to use them make sure you bold them for better results!

Never Use Serif Fonts

Many designers believe that serif fonts are a bad choice for 3D printing. Serif fonts are those typefaces that have strokes at the ends of each letter.

While printing these strokes can be problematic.

On the other hand, sans-serif doesn’t have this kind of problem, which makes it a perfect choice for all your prints!

Best Fonts for 3D Printing

Finally, the wait ends, since here’s the list of 8 best 3D printing fonts that will make your projects look more charming than ever!

1. Helvetica

Helvetica, which is also known as the most popular and most widely used font in the world, has first place in this list.

This font was released in 1957, and even today people aren’t tired of it. It may look simple, but it’s considered one of the most beautiful fonts.

Also, it has great readability, which makes it everyone’s favorite.

Whether you want logos, titles, or texts, Helvetica is perfect for everything.

These are the reasons Helvetica would work perfectly as a 3D printing font too, so make sure to try it.

2. Arial Bold

Arial is a great font for 3D printing, but if you use the bold version, then it will surely become a perfect choice!

Arial Bold is a bolder version of the normal Arial, which is also one of the most used fonts.

Just like Helvetica, this font has also got great legibility, which makes it an ideal pick for large screens.

However, it’s straighter, which will help you print more easily.

3. Verdana Bold

Do you want to become famous with your 3D-printed texts? If so, then you should start using Verdana Bold!

Verdana Bold is a subfamily font of Verdana, which is also a really popular font in the typography world. The font has a really beautiful letter style, which can make your prints stand out from the crowd.

No matter what you design with it, everything will look just perfect, which is the reason this font is present in this list.

Lastly, since it’s a bold font, it doesn’t need any other reason to be used for 3D printing.

4. Orbitron

Orbitron is a humanist sans-serif font that was designed by Matt McInerney.

Orbitron may not be famous like the other fonts in this list, but it’s still a really beautiful font that can be used everywhere.

Whether you want titles or texts, logos or advertisements, this font has always got your back. Not to mention, this font has many different styles, which gives you the opportunity to print many different types of text with just one typeface.

5. Dejavu Sans

Dejavu Sans is an amazing sans-serif font that was actually designed to work as an alternative to Vera fonts.

However, this font provided a wider range of characters than the Vera fonts, which made it really famous. Soon, this font became everyone’s favorite, and now this typeface has its own identity.

It will be a great choice for 3D printing as well because it’s a simple-looking font with a sans-serif style.

And the best thing about this font is that it’s free!

6. Candara

Candara is another humanist sans-serif font on the list, designed by Gary Munch and distributed by Microsoft.

This font has every quality a 3D printing font needs, it’s bold, its style is sans-serif, and it’s really beautiful.

Even in the typography world, this font is loved by so many designers, so make sure you give it a try.

However, since this font is limited to personal use only, it’s recommended you buy the license since you will never regret purchasing it.

7. Impact

If you have used Microsoft software before, then it’s confirmed that you know about Impact.

It’s a beautifully designed sans-serif font that was created by Geoffrey Lee in 1965.

Although it’s been years since it was released, this font is still fresh to use.

The impact is known for the unique and bold letter style it has, which makes it a perfect choice for your 3D printing.

8. Franklin Gothic Demi

Last but not least, Franklin Gothic Demi is a really old font that was designed a long time ago, but it still shines.

It was designed by Morris Fuller Benton and it was supposed to have only one weight, but because of its success, it soon got more.

This helped Franklin Gothic Demi become even more useful than before, so why not try it?

Because of its bold lettering style and stunning appearance, this font would be an excellent choice for 3D printing!

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Font best 3D printing files・Cults

SUPER MARIO BROS Letters and Numbers SUPER MARIO BROS Letters and Numbers

€1.07

FONTS NUMBER

€25

SUPER MARIO Letters and Numbers SUPER MARIO Letters and Numbers

€1. 01

HALO Letters and Numbers HALO Letters and Numbers

€0.99

ZOMBIE Letters and Numbers ZOMBIE Letters and Numbers

€0.99

GODZILLA Letters and Numbers GODZILLA Letters and Numbers

€0.99

Letters and Numbers POKEMON (2 colors) Letters and Numbers

€1.07

Rick and Morty Letters and Numbers

€1

POKEMON Letters and Numbers POKEMON Letters and Numbers

€1.01

Dont Fu**ing touch my 3d printer // rotated font

€1.22 -10% €1.10

GOD OF WAR Letters and Numbers GOD OF WAR Letters and Numbers

€0. 99

DRAGON BALL Letters and Numbers DRAGON BALL Letters and Numbers

€0.97

Christmas Word Ornaments

Free

letters 3D print model

€26

HALLOWEEN Letters and Numbers HALLOWEEN Letters and Numbers

€1.01

Picatinny Rail Front Grip Hex

€1.99

Greys Anatomy Post it Note

Free

Graffiti 1 Alphabet and Numbers (font)

€0.57

Letters and Numbers HOUSE OF THE DRAGON / GAME OF THRONES Letters and Numbers

€1.01

HALLOWEEN Letters and Numbers HALLOWEEN Letters and Numbers

€0.99

Pack 8 HALLOWEEN License Plate Signs - Pack 8 License Plate Signs

€1. 51

Like Pokémon Font / Alphabet / Numbers

€0.57

Pack 8 types Letters and Numbers HALLOWEEN Letters and Numbers - Pack Collection: 8 types

€3.71

Letters and Numbers SPIDERMAN Letters and Numbers

€1

HALLOWEEN Letters and Numbers HALLOWEEN Letters and Numbers

€0.99

Happy Birthday cake topper design, SET OF 6 PCS, birthday projects

€2.04

Spiff.scad

Free

Spiff Sans

Free

Letters and Numbers BATMAN FOREVER Letters and Numbers

€1

Font Onyx

Free

Font Ravie

Free

Font Hobo

Free

Font Chiller

Free

Font Matura

Free

Font Goudy Stout

Free

Font Berlin Sans FB Demi

Free

Font Magneto

Free

Font Juice

Free

Font Gill Sans Ultra Bold

Free

Font Impact

Free

Font Harlow Solid Italic

Free

Font Jokerman

Free

Font Lithos Pro Regular

Free

Font Curlz

Free

Font Rockwell Extra Bold

Free

Font Kristin ITC

Free

Font Showcard Gothic

Free

Font Old English Text

Free

Article: What you need to know about fonts in 3D printing (part 1)

Blog

In our article Accuracy and resolution, we briefly touched on the requirements for the width of letter elements. However, this issue is so often a source of error that it is useful to discuss it in more detail.

First, you need to remember the basic concepts and terms related to the description of fonts. You can refresh your memory, for example, here.

For testing, let's take the word "font" and try to create several models that will clearly show the main problems that arise when forming inscriptions. The word "font" is convenient because it has almost all the "problem traps". These are closely spaced parallel strokes in the letter "w", and oval elements in the letters "r" and "f", and the oblique stroke of the letter "i".

Arial

Let's start with the most standard sans-serif font, Arial, and print letters on a horizontal surface. The following figures show what a three-dimensional model of an inscription looks like with an overall font height of 5 mm (hereinafter, under the overall font height we mean the height of the letter "f") and what the printer can print. nine0007

To figure out why the inscription "fell apart", look at the following figure.

                                                                                                   If the overall font height is 5 mm, the height of the letters "w", "i" and "t" is 2.8 mm. The thickness of the vertical strokes is 0.48 mm, and the horizontal strokes are 0.39 mm, which is less than the thickness of the printer's nozzle. The same situation occurs on the oval fragments of the letters "r" and "f" and the oblique stroke of the letter "i".

From this it is clear that the minimum font size of satisfactory print quality will be obtained when the thinnest stroke element is at least 0.4 mm. In this case, the font strokes will be printed in one pass, and sufficient strength can be ensured only if the inscription is extruded on a solid surface to a small height. nine0009

                                                                                                                                                                        —


A simple calculation shows that to obtain a thickness of vertical strokes of letters of 0. 8 mm (two nozzle thicknesses), a font with an overall height of 8.3 mm and a letter height of 4.7 mm, respectively, is required. Taking into account the rounding that the program produces when building layers, we can assume that an inscription of satisfactory quality can be obtained with an overall font height of 8 to 8.5 mm (4.5 to 4.8 mm for the letter "n"). nine0009

The next two figures show that as the font size is further increased (10 and 12 mm), "voids" begin to appear in the strokes of the letters until the stroke thickness exceeds 1.2 mm (three nozzle thicknesses).

In order to obtain a solid inscription model, it is necessary to enlarge the font so that the thickness of the thinnest elements is at least 1.2 mm. This condition for the Arial font corresponds to a font with an overall height of 18 mm (the height of the letter "n" is 10 mm). nine0009

Times

Now let's look at another typical non-sans serif font, Times New Roman. It can be expected that for such fonts the situation should be greatly worsened due to the presence of thin serifs (serifs) and hairlines. The following two pictures show a model with a height of 5 mm. On the left is the inscription model, on the right is the print result.

Alas, as expected, the model "fell apart". Since all calculations are similar, just look at the pictures of the inscription for the overall font sizes 10, 12, 18, 24 and 36 mm


It can be seen from the pictures that even in 36 mm font, thin elements and serifs cannot be "full" printed with a double nozzle pass. It is clear that the higher the contrast of the font (recall that the contrast of the font is the ratio of the width of a thick to a thin stroke), the worse the reproduction quality will be.

Practice is the criterion of truth!

If anyone thought that all this is "theoretical fabrications", we invite you to look at the following pictures. We printed a test illustrating the above on our Ultimaker 2 printer. Look, be surprised, consider! nine0009


What to do?

1. If you are going to use an inscription, then when creating a design and designing a model for printing on a 3D printer, you need to take into account font size restrictions - the minimum height of Arial font type letters that a printer can print is approximately 3.5 mm.

2. For relatively small inscriptions, try to use sans-serif fonts, and taking into account insufficient strength, use small "elevations" (we recommend no more than the width of a thin stroke of a letter). nine0009

3. Commit a "crime"! (Forgive us designers!). You can force some elements of the letters to be slightly thicker so that they print normally. Of course, the canonical font proportions will be violated, but, in our opinion, this is still a lesser evil than the letter "n" without a jumper!

To be continued.

In the next article, we will talk about indentations and lettering on the side walls.

Costa 3D

A.M.

Best Files for 3D Printing Font・Cults

SUPER MARIO BROS Letters and Numbers SUPER MARIO BROS Letters and Numbers

1,07 €

NUMBER OF FONTS

25 €

SUPER MARIO Letters and numbers SUPER MARIO Letters and numbers

1.01 €

nine0002 Letters and numbers HALO Letters and numbers HALO

0.99 €

ZOMBIE letters and numbers ZOMBIE letters and numbers

0,99 €

Letters and numbers GODZILLA Letters and numbers

0,99 €

Letters and numbers POKEMON (2 colors) Letters and numbers

1,07 €

Rick and Morty Letters and Numbers

1 €

POKEMON Letters and numbers POKEMON Letters and numbers

1. 01 €

Don't touch my 3d printer // rotated font

€1.22 -10% 1.10 €

Letters and numbers GOD OF WAR Letters and numbers

0.99 €

DRAGON BALL Letters and numbers DRAGON BALL Letters and numbers

0,97 €

Christmas word decorations

Free

letters 3D printed model

26 €

HALLOWEEN Letters and numbers HALLOWEEN Letters and numbers

1,01 €

nine0002 Front handle with Picatinny Rail Hex

1.99 €

Gray Anatomy Post it Note

Free

Graffiti 1 Alphabet and numbers (font)

0. 57 €

Letters and numbers HOUSE OF THE DRAGON / GAME OF THE THRONE Letters and numbers

1.01 €

Letters and numbers HALLOWEEN Letters and numbers HALLOWEEN

€0.99

Pack 8 HALLOWEEN License Plate Signs - Pack 8 License Plate Signs

1.51 €

Like Pokemon Font / Alphabet / Numbers

0.57 €

Set of 8 types of letters and numbers HALLOWEEN Letters and numbers - set: 8 types

3,71 €

Letters and numbers SPIDERMAN Letters and numbers

1 €

HALLOWEEN Letters and numbers HALLOWEEN Letters and numbers

0,99 €

Happy Birthday Cake Topper Design, Set of 6, Birthday Projects

2.


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