Decade of 3D Printer Progress in Benchies (Framed)

It’s the year 2012, and with two friends, we group-bought our first printer. Actually, we got two: one MakerBot Replicator with a single extruder, and one with dual extruders. Just like 2025 H2D! Anyway, it’s 2012, so there’s no filament in stores. Heck, there aren’t even stores with 3D printing supplies! We custom-order trimmer line from a plastic manufacturer. The line is ABS (of course), and it’s 3mm—which was the de facto standard in the early 2010s.

 

We slice a model, put tape on the bed, wait forever for it to heat up, and start the print. I can’t recall if that first print was successful. Nor can I tell you what we printed. But the feeling stuck—and now it’s 13 years later, and a fast, reliable 3D printer is quietly printing next to me.

 

There was no 3DBenchy in 2012. But if there had been, we’d definitely have printed it. Like I did on every printer since. This model shows how much of a Benchy you’d get printed in the time it takes to print one today—on a printer straight off the store shelf, right out of the box.

 

As for the data: I asked AI what the top-of-the-line consumer printers were each year, and then scoured the innerwebs for their Benchy print times. I rounded numbers and averaged multiple sources. So no, this isn’t a scientific exercise—it’s an art project.
(I considered posting my list, but with all the Prusas and Bambu Lab printers on it, I was afraid it would distract viewers from the point of this model.)

 

All five plates take ~8 hours to print—less if you use Benchy you already have. The filaments I used are listed in the BOM below, but please post your makes so we can see what works. Thanks! There are two print profiles: one for AMS and other for filament change at layer.
 

There’s a little hook recess in the back for a screw head. You can blame me when your spouse complains about this “art” on the wall.

 

Enjoy!

 

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— As per contest rules: this is a remix of 3DBenchy model.