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Hardware and Upgrades

The Anatomy of a 3D Printer: Controller Boards

The Anatomy of a 3D Printer: Controller Boards

  • Alec Richter
  • Sep 26, 2018
The brain within your 3D printer has to do and keep track of a lot of things. Read on to see what it takes to control and run our favorite little machines.
While some parts of 3D printers are pretty standardized, like motors, belt sizes, or even the motion system, there is a huge variety in what actually does all the work: the controller board. Some printers have really big boards with room to expand for more features in the future, while others have just enough to fulfill all the functions that the printer was designed for. Some have integrated ste... (More)
How To: Assemble the Mosquito Hotend

How To: Assemble the Mosquito Hotend

  • Alec Richter
  • Oct 4, 2018
Slice Engineering's new Mosquito hotend is your latest option in hotends, but it takes a little assembly to get started.
New from Slice Engineering: the Mosquito Hotend. This 3D printer hotend platform has been designed to easily fit into 3D printers you already have, but it’s biggest benefit is how well it keeps heat localized to the heater block and avoids having heat creep as readily as other hotends might. Rather than require you to use proprietary hardware, you can instead choose to use parts you already ... (More)
A Guide to the Tolerances of Your 3D Printer

A Guide to the Tolerances of Your 3D Printer

  • Scott Cahoon
  • Jun 29, 2016
Understanding your 3D printer’s limitations and how these may influence the design and production of 3D printed parts will guide you along the path of producing the highest quality products.
Most users of Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) 3D printing technology understand that the resolution on finished prints / parts is typically 100 microns or greater with some manufacturers claiming printer resolution of 50 microns. (More)
Anatomy of a 3D Printer

Anatomy of a 3D Printer

  • Tyler Anderson
  • Feb 3, 2016
Get an understanding of how 3D printing works, from the inside and out. This guide will walk you through each of the critical components of a 3D Printer, answering the question: "How does a 3D printer work?"
Between the names of the parts and their functions, it can be hard to keep it all straight. Here is a quick guide of the anatomy of a 3D printer. We will focus on mechanical and electrical components of the most common desktop 3D printer type: fused filament fabrication (FFF) or fused deposition modeling (FDM). (More)
Three Reasons to Upgrade to an All-metal Hot End

Three Reasons to Upgrade to an All-metal Hot End

  • Taylor
  • Apr 5, 2015
Desktop 3D printing has come a long way in the past few years. It wasn’t long ago that PLA and ABS were pretty much the only filament options. PEEK-based hot ends – once the industry norm – aren’t able to print all the material options available now. Unleash the potential of your printer by upgrading to an all-metal hot end.
3D printer hardware has come a long way over the past few years. With these advances has come the ability to print new materials. While all of the filaments we use in 3D printing are thermoplastics, they have widely varying processing requirements. Until recently, by far the most common hot ends found on 3D printers have been PEEK/PTFE based hardware like the Budaschnozzle and J-Head. Though diffe... (More)
Bed Surfaces: Applying Kapton Tape

Bed Surfaces: Applying Kapton Tape

  • MatterHackers
  • Apr 12, 2016
Certain filaments call for certain bed surfaces. Kapton Tape is a key choice for ABS, but it can get tricky when it comes to application. Learn how to apply this sticky tape flawlessly with our helpful tutorial.
Kapton tape is the recommended bed surface for 3D printing ABS filament. The tape protects the bed surface and acts a base layer, while the hair spray or juice provides the adhesion.  Kapton tape (a registered trademark of DuPont) is a polyimide film. Created for the aerospace industry in the 1960s, Kapton tape as a flexible adhesive tape that is stable over a wide range of temperature, from ... (More)
Calibrating Your Makerbot using MatterControl

Calibrating Your Makerbot using MatterControl

  • Matt Moening
  • Jan 25, 2016
This guide will walk through the calibration of your Sailfish Firmware printer using MatterControl. If your 3D printer is lacking the precision you desire, read on.
In this tutorial you will learn to calibrate the machine's extrusion rate as well as position sensitivity in the X, Y, and Z, axis. This tutorial works for Makerbot, Flashforge or any Sailfish Firmware printer.  (More)
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