Hey there, welcome to the world of 3D fishing lure printing. I know you’re already doing good making a fishing lure by hand, but isn’t that time-consuming!
You may also get a readymade fishing bait online, but remember, you can save a lot of money and also make your fishing hunts interesting when you make 3D fishing lures of your choice.
Now that I’ve convinced you to get a 3D printer for this purpose. The next confusion will be this. That is, with a variety of filament and resin 3D printers available in the market, which one do I get.
So basically, for making a fishing bait or a 3D fishing lure, you have to see whether the printer is reliable and delivers the end product with the best accuracy. Whether filament/resin, the type of printer is fully your choice and depends on your budget.
In this article, I have compiled a list of my top recommended 3D printers for fishing lures. Have a look and purchase the one that best suits your requirement and budget.
List Of The Best 3D Printer for Fishing Lures
Best 3D Printer for Fishing Lures Reviews
1. Da Vinci Mini Wireless 3D Printer – Best Mono Color 3D Printer For Fishing Lures
- Layer Resolution: 100 – 400 microns
- Maximum Print Speed: Max. 120 mm/s
- Mono Color Printer
- Connectivity: USB 2.0 Cable, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
- Weighs 22 pounds
- Max. Build Area (WxDxH): 5.9″ X 5.9″ X 5.9″
- Printing Software: FREE downloadable version of XYZmaker 3D modeling design software
If your tablespace is already holding a lot of equipment and you want something lightweight and compact, this Da Vinci Mini Wireless 3D printer is my pick for you.
In my opinion, this is the best one to start with if you’re a beginner in 3D fishing lure printing. It is less expensive and will give you a fuzz-free operation.
Let’s see what the best features of this product are.
Firstly, this is an open-type (no window or door in front) FFF (Fused Filament Fabrication) printer which is compatible with materials like Polyethylene, Terephthalate Glycol, Aluminum, and Polylactic Acid.
As a beginner, you don’t have to spend money on a resin printer to make fishing molds. This Da Vinci Mini Wireless 3D Printer will give you decent print quality.
For your information, making a 3d model of a fishing lure isn’t a very easy task. So, it is better to get a filament printer like this so you can see what’s happening during the printing process and make the corrections right there.
That too, this printer has a sensor-based auto bed leveling calibration system, so you just have to set the nozzle height once, and the rest is taken care of by the slicer and printer itself.
Moving on to the tech specs, the build volume is 6 “x6″ x6”. This size is suitable for making small to moderate fishing lures and fishing molds.
Next, the printer bed is fully made of Aluminium, so it can withstand high temperatures to a good extent. It isn’t a flex bed type (Plate that can be pulled out from the bed surface), but it can smoothly slide in and out the edge of the frame.
Lastly, about the driver system: This amazing printer has got 1.8ยฐ HB Stepper Motors, so you get a smooth finish in your fishing lure models.
You know precision is all that matters in a fishing lure. And for that, this mini printer gives a lot more than one could expect. You can get one for your initial 3D fishing lure making.
Highlights
- Easy to set up and use
- Less expensive
- Hardened Steel Nozzle (so you can use metallic PLA and carbon PLA materials)
- Designed with an in-built auto-calibration function
- A relatively quiet 3D printer
- WiFi Technology
2. Voxelab Aquila – Best Budget 3D Printer For Fishing Lures For The Money
- Touchscreen display
- Weighs 22 pounds
- Printing Material: PLA
- Maximum Print Bed Temperature: โค100โ
- Layer Resolution: 0.1-0.4mm
- Slicer Software: Simplify/Cura/Voxelmaker
- Printing Build Volume: 220*220*250mm
- Touchscreen display: 4.3 inch
Looking for a more budget-friendly Filament printer for fish lure printing? Then I would suggest this Voxelab Aquila 3D Printer.
It will cost you less than 200$ dollars only. You can use this machine for making small fishing lures, hooks, and fishing baits.
One of the unique features of this 3D printer is the Resume printing function. This feature is really handy if you face regular power outage issues.
Also, the PLA filament is made of biodegradable elements, so you’re protecting the fishing lakes and streams indirectly.
If you skipped the above product, thinking it doesn’t have a removable bedplate, then here’s some good news. This Voxelab Aquila 3D Printer comes with a Removable Build Surface Plate, so you can just pull the plate out and spring it up to pop off the parts from the plate. Fuzz-free right!
That, too, the heating plate should have the best adhesion capability. You can only get the best results while printing your fishing lure models. That is why the Company has used a carborundum glass platform in this printer. This will enable the heating plate to have quick heating and avoid warping issues in the end product.
Though this 3D printer isn’t suitable for professional fishing lure-making companies, it is still great for those learning how to make fishing lures using 3D printing.
Highlights
- Lifetime Technical Support & 1-year warranty
- Open-source 3D printer
- Heats Quickly (Heats in 5 minutes)
- Filament Autofeed function
- Compatible with Windows XP/7/8/10 and Mac OS
- Comes partially assembled on your doorstep
- Ultra-Silent operation
- Robust design (All metal made design)
3. Official Creality Ender 3 Pro – Best 3D Printer For Fishing Lures For The Money
- Connectivity: microSD, USB
- Slicer Software: Creality Slicer
- Maximum build volume:8.7 x 8.7 x 9.8 inches
- Max. Print Speed: 40mm/second
- Max Heatbed temperature: 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Fahrenheit)
- Resume Printing Function
- Weighs 2.2 pounds
If you are an experienced person looking to create a fishing lure printing company, then this Creality Ender 3 Pro 3D Printer could be a good choice for you.
Most of the features of this machine remain similar to that of the products mentioned above. This is also a filament-based printer that is compatible with Polylactic Acid material and is an open-source 3D printer.
You can use this machine for small to moderate size fish lure prints as the maximum build volume is 8.7 x 8.7 x 9.8 inches.
This fully-metal-made 3D printer has a removable flex bed and fast-heating 350W power supply. If you’re planning to make many fishing bait models in a day, you can definitely rely on this machine. The printer’s heatbed heats quickly (reaches 110โ in just 5 minutes).
Wire management which is a major problem with most 3D printers is nullified here as the wires are neatly bundled, thereby also allowing for good airflow over the stepper drivers.
The only thing to note here is that the stepper motors used in this machine produce slight noise while printing if you’re someone who can’t tolerate that, you can opt for the Ender 3 Pro V2 model.
Lastly, a small note of mention about the printer’s extruder design. The extruder is the one that pushes the filament into the hot end, so it must be well built.
And luckily, this printer has a Bowden extruder (the extruder sits directly on top of the filament), so you can comfortably use it for printing flexible materials, of which 3D printed swimbait fishing lures are a kind.
Hightlights
- Easy to assemble
- Comes with a user manual and troubleshooting guide
- Smooth surface finish
- lifetime technical assistance
- sturdy and secure
- Already comes with the slicer software
- The hotend works well with PLA and PETG materials
4. FlashForge Adventurer 3 Lite 3D Printer
- Print Build Volume: 150 x 150 x 150 mm
- Layer Thickness/Resolution: 0.1-0.4mm
- Maximum Print Bed Temperature: 100ยฐC (212ยฐF)
- Max. print speed: 100 mm/s
- Weighs 27 pounds
- Slicer: Flashforge’s own FlashCloud platform
- 2.8-Inch LCD Touch Screen
- Connectivity: USB, WiFi, Ethernet, Cloud Printing
Now let’s see a slightly expensive but slightly heavy FDM printer model for printing your fishing molds. I’m speaking about the FlashForge Adventurer 3 Lite FDM 3D Printer.
Like the 1st two 3D printers mentioned in this list, the filament of this 3D printer is biodegradable (made of non-toxic polylactic acid โ or PLA), making it environmentally friendly.
The printer measures 388 x 340 x 405 mm and is made of Polycarbonate, making it sturdy and robust in design. You can use materials made of either Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene/Metal/Wood/Polylactic Acid with this 3D printer.
You don’t have to wait so long for the nozzle to heat up. Just give it 5 minutes, and the detachable nozzle by itself will get heated up to 200ยฐC (392ยฐF) in 50 seconds.
The removable heatbed is another useful feature I found with this machine. What else, you can wirelessly print your fishing lure models as this amazing 3D printer is WiFi-enabled.
Most budget models don’t provide Ethernet and USB connectivity or Cloud Print technology, but I’m glad this has these features.
For more sophisticated features, like the built-in camera for monitoring and ABS filament, you can also opt for the Flashforge Inventor model. Overall, you can get your 3d printed lures easily with this 3D printer.
Highlights:
- Nozzle heats quickly
- Printing speed and quality are modest
- Detachable nozzle for easy cleaning
- Filament loading and unloading are very easy
- Almost requires no calibration from your side
- Comes with Free Slicing Software
5. ELEGOO Mars 2 Mono MSLA 3D Printer
- Slicer Software: Slicer Software: ChituBox
- Maximum Print Speed: 30-50mm/h
- Connectivity: USB
- Works by UV Photocuring Technology
- Layer Thickness: 0.01-0.2mm
I had already mentioned that resin-based 3D printers had worked the best for me in making extremely precise fishing baits and molds.
And that is why I decided to speak about my experience of making a swimbait fishing lure with this ELEGOO Mars 2 Mono.
Everything is splendid with this 3D printer. Be it the build volume (15.75 x 16.54 x 7.87 inches), printing efficiency, adhesion capability of the build plate, and so on.
Many people ask me why the Green cover model is pricier than the ELEGOO Mars 2 Mono red cover model. It’s because this Green cover Elegoo 3D Mono Printer has a faster print speed of 1-4 secs per layer. Whereas the printing of the red cover model having a red one has an RGB screen is comparatively slow. If printing speed is not a matter for you, you can also opt for that.
You don’t have to purchase this if you’re a beginner, I understand how massive this 3D printer is. But if you are looking for a budget resin 3D printer for printing your fishing lures, then give this machine a try. You will love making fishing lures at home with it.
You can have a look at the specs given above;
Highlights:
- Extremely smooth finish
- 1-year warranty
- Multi-language interface
- Replaceable Resin Tank
- Solid build quality (Fully made of Aluminum)
How Do You Make Lures For a 3D Printer?
Follow the steps mentioned below to make fishing bait using a 3D printer.
- First, get the right 3D printer and filament for your 3D lure printing.
- Get your 3D printer ready for printing. By this, I mean that if your 3D printer is in a semi-assembled or completely disassembled state, assemble the components using the printer’s user manual.
- The next step is leveling the printer bed. You will have to manually adjust the nozzle height and everything for some printers. Whereas in some superior models, auto-bed leveling is possible once connected with the slicer software.
- Get your STL file (A file format to represent a 3-dimensional surface in triangular facets) downloaded from a website. There are tons of websites that provide free STL files for download.
After you get the website, type fishing lures, or to be even specific, type the kind of fishing lure you want to print, like a 3D printed crankbait, lipless crankbait fishing lure, crankbaits, or Spinnerbait, in the search bar and download the STL file.
- Now put the STL file in the slicer software. The slicer software will adjust the layer heights.
You have to set the temperature at which you’re planning to heat the filament and make the fishing lure. Remember this, see the max temperature handling capacity of the filament and the heating bed before you dive into the process.
- Now that you have 3D printed your fishing lures. The last step is to assemble the lure parts together, like putting the eyelets, weights, hooks, etc.
You can refer to this video to see a live demo of how to print a lure.
FAQs
1. Can I make fishing lures with a 3D printer/Can a 3D printer make fishing lures?
Yes, you can make cost-effective fishing lures with a 3D printer. Not only that, since you are the maker of the fishing lures here, you can go creative, I mean, there are many fishing lure STL files on the internet, and most of them are free.
You can download those files and start 3D printing your fishing lures at home.
2. Can you 3D print fishing lure mold?
Of course, yes, you can make a lure mold on your own using a 3D printer. I would suggest going for resin-type 3D printers for this purpose as the finish will be excellent with resin-based 3D printers.
3. Can you 3D print a hook?
Again it’s a big yes. You can make a fully custom-made fishing lure with the mold of your choice, shape, and size of the hook your choice.
Generally, people find issues with the hooks in the fishing rod, and that’s what makes a fishing game less interesting. But not anymore; you can create your fishing molds and fishing hooks and have a loving fishing experience.
4. Can you 3D print a fish?
By now, you must have understood that almost anything can be 3D printed. Here, in this case, yes, you can 3D print a fish or any animal either by getting the right STL file on the internet or making the sketch yourself using CAD software.
5. Do 3D printed fishing lures work?
Yes, 3D printed fishing lures work far better and are much more economical than readymade fishing baits you get on the market.
I’ve had experience making a swimbait fishing lure a year back, and it looked extremely beautiful on the stream. I did catch a big fish that day. It was a great experience.
So Be it swimbait fishing lure models, jigs, etc., you can get them 3D printed and have a great fishing hunt.
Conclusion
And that’s a wrap now. I have given you my top recommended 3D printers for making fishing lures in this article.
I hope I have helped you make a wise decision regarding your purchase.
I would just like to add this before I end this topic here. Have a clear idea of what type of fishing lures you’re planning to make and see if the printer can handle those tight precisions and detail.
A budget filament-type printer is more than enough if you want to make fish bait for your fishing hobby.
But if you’re planning to produce tons of fishing bait for your fishing lure company, it’s better to get a resin-based 3D printer.
That’s about it; I will see you at my next one.