3D Printer Basics

3D Printer Basics

My name is Michael. I am an ENCS student and was a regular at the Technology Sandbox before becoming an employee. My interests cover a little bit of everything, like a jack of all trades, with a focus on micro-controllers and things with motors. Aside coding and technology, I also enjoy fixing motorcycles and hacking things together. Over the summer, I will try to share various information I find. I know some of you have 3D printers at home that may not be working or need some fine tuning. I’ve assembled a collection of guides to figure out issues with 3D printers. They include pictures and points of issues so it should get you going on troubleshooting the printer. For the ones of you who do not have one, I have added a website where you get to see blueprints for 3D printers, scanners, and CNC machines. They are shared freely by people for people. Some are plans in the works while others are completed projects with instructions and shopping list if you want to try and make one. It also shows you the various approaches to certain type of 3D printing. They are all FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) like the ones with have at the Sandbox but there’s different models such as Cartesians and XY. I’ll let you discover through the link.

Community plans for 3D printers, scanners, CNC machines and more.

Some include parts list and instructions.

https://openbuilds.com/

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3D Printer Troubleshooting

https://www.matterhackers.com/articles/3d-printer-troubleshooting-guide

Extensive list of issues with pictures and possible causes as well as fixes.

https://www.simplify3d.com/support/print-quality-troubleshooting/

Simply3D is a slicing software for 3D printers. This is their guide to troubleshoot issues.

Good guide but the I find the MatterHackers one to be more comprehensive.

https://3dnation504795197.wordpress.com/guide/

Small guide but covers issues through a difference lens, including a different way to check over extrusion through gcode and physical measurements.