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Hardware and Upgrades

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

  • Tyler Anderson
  • 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)
Dual extrusion, cool filaments, and printable upgrades

Dual extrusion, cool filaments, and printable upgrades

  • MatterHackers
  • Sep 27, 2015
Are you curious about dual extrusion? Is your printer in need of an upgrade? Interested in practical applications of some new specialty filaments? All of the above? Read on and check out our latest project!
We get to test a lot of really cool filaments and try a bunch of different printers at MatterHackers. Over the past year, the number of available filaments has skyrocketed as has the number of available printers and printer options. Unfortunately, the amount of available information about all of these options leaves much to be desired. (More)
Extruders 101: A crash course on an essential component of your 3D printer

Extruders 101: A crash course on an essential component of your 3D printer

  • Taylor Landry
  • Mar 14, 2016
The extruder, a piece that could determine the success or failure of your print. Shoot for success with this simple guide that can improve your print quality.
The extruder is one of the most important components on a 3D printer. It is responsible for sending the correct amount of filament to the hot end where it’s melted and extruded down in thin layers to make your part. It’s important to note that the extruder is not the same as the hot end, though these terms are commonly conflated. The extruder is commonly referred to as the “cold ... (More)
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