3D Printing Beginner's Guide

A collaboration between:
Rat_Patrol, Nikdfish, The_Steward


Edits may yet be made to this guide. Any edits/updates will be noted here:




Links to specific topics (specific posts on this thread, usually opens in new tab):

• What is 3D Printing exactly?
  
• What are the limits and advantages of 3D Printing?
  
• How is 3D Printing typically used?
  
• Cautions, concerns, and legalities of 3D Printing.
  
• Getting started in 3D Printing.
  

If you have tech questions, please start a new topic for your case (do not reply with tech questions to this thread), unless a relevant topic exists to jump into. Whenever possible, please include pictures of your problems, as we can tell a LOT from pictures.



Useful Links and Resources:

YouTube channels worth subscribing to:

1. Thomas Sanladerer

• Check out this playlist of his: Tom's Guides
• Specifically, do this on your printer: Extruder Calibration

1. Maker's Muse
2. Teaching Tech. This guy is a Creality (maker of Ender printers) fan and has lots of info on them.
3. CNC Kitchen. Lots of technical videos about material science and filament properties, but very watchable without being an engineering nerd.
4. Chep This guy is heavy on Creality printers and Cura slicer.

Other useful links:

• Simplify3D troubleshooting guide (pics of problems and how to fix them)
• G-code and M-code lists and definitions
• G-code Tutorial (Basics)
  
• PID Auto Tuning. You need to do this to your printer!!!!

What is 3D printing?

Here is a nice video showing the close up of the business end of the printer, and it really shows what the printer does.


3D printing is the general term used for additive manufacturing, quite literally meaning to manufacture a part by adding layers of material on a build surface. Most people are familiar with subtractive manufacturing, which is the opposite: You take a piece of stock and remove what you don't want or need,  great example of which is carving a sculpture.

With additive manufacturing, instead of removing unwanted material, you only deposit the wanted form. The basic idea is a layer of material is deposited on a build sheet. Another layer is added on top of that (and bonds to the previous layer), so on and so forth until your part is complete, which can easily range into hundreds to thousands of layers depending on the height of the part being printed. Think of it as a computer controlled glorified hot glue gun. We will get into how exactly this all works with the software later. Just understand at this point that 3D printing is just stacking layers of material on previous layers of material. This guide will not get into more advanced and industrial types of 3D printing, such as metal sintering and such, and is focused on home/hobbyist 3D printing.

There are two main types of technology used in consumer printers: Fused Filament Modeling (FFM) and Resin. The standard is FFM, where the model is made by layering molten extruded plastic to form the shape. Resin printers use UV cured resins to build the layers. Further, there are two types of resin printing technology commonly used: Stereolithography (SLA), which uses a focused UV laser beam to cure the resin, and Digital Light Processing (DLP) which uses a UV light source masked by an LCD panel to cure an entire layer of resin all at once.

In FFM printers, plastic filament is pushed through the hotend nozzle and extruded to form the model line by line. Think of a part made completely by using a welder to lay down beads of plastic. The bead is forced onto the previous layer, resulting in a flattened oval extrusion shape. This means that FFM prints generally have noticeable layer lines where the beads of plastic lay on top of each other. Speeds in FFM printing are generally limited by the ability of the printer to melt and cool the extruded plastic quickly, and by the mechanical precision of the machine itself. There are two common sizes of filament that printers use, 1.75mm (the most common) and 2.85mm (sometimes referred to as 3mm). XY resolution in FFM is limited by the diameter of the nozzle used in printing, with the smallest useful nozzles being around 0.25mm. Layer heights are typically 0.05mm minimum (some cheaper printers will not be able to go below 0.10-0.15mm), with 0.20-0.30mm layer heights being standard. Larger layer heights increase the speed of printing, with the downside of poorer surface quality due to more noticable layer lines.

Resin printers can generally achieve higher levels of dimensional precision than FFM printers due to the fact that they use light to define the layer rather than extruded material. SLA printers are known for their ability to resolve exceptionally fine XY (in plane) detail, with the resolution limit being driven by the diameter of the laser beam. SLA printers can commonly achieve XY resolution well under 0.10mm, with some capable of features an order of magnitude finer than FFM printer capabilities. DLP printers have their XY resolution limited by the size of the pixels in the LCD panel they are using, but this is still generally in the range of 0.05-0.10mm depending on the particular panel being used. Layer heights for resin printers is also much finer than in FFM, with even cheap DLP resin printers being able to print with 0.01mm layer height. Further, because the layers are formed with light, the edges of the layer are not round in the Z-axis like with FFM printers. This results much less noticeable layer lines.

SLA printers are no faster than FFM printers, as the laser beam must travel all throughout the XY plane to cure the resin for one layer before moving on to the next. DLP printers, however, cure an entire layer at the same time, and thus can be much faster. UV cured resin is expensive, however, and toxic. It requires post processing to fully cure the resin, and lots of cleanup and maintenance. Further, disposal of the contaminated cleaning agents can be an environmental issue due to the toxicity of the resin. FFM printers are much cheaper than resin printers, especially when taking build volume into consideration, and filament is much cheaper than resin, also. They also have much fewer safety concerns, cleanup requirements, and post-processing of printed items. Due to these factors, this document will be focused on the more common FFM printing technology.

Limitations of 3D printing
3D printing is limited by several factors, including:

• Properties of the material being printed (the plastic or resin used)
• Gravity affecting the part being printed (requiring supports or using a technique called "bridging")
• Size of the part being printed (and your 3D printer's size capability)
• General capabilities of the 3D printer itself (varies greatly by design and implementation)

As far as home/hobby 3D printing is concerned, the parts you print will be made of plastic. The technology of most home/hobby 3D printing is FFM. As a matter of practice, the individual extrusions do NOT fuse perfectly, and there is a gap between the extrusions. This means that 3D printed parts will not be the same strength as the same part injection molded. This may or may not be a problem.

There is a variety of filament materials used in home/hobby level 3D printers. Some of them are extremely tough, durable, and are suited to make a vast array of functional parts. Some of them are more ornamental. Each type has its own characteristics. A quick summary of the commonly used materials:

• PLA. This is the most commonly used material. Its prints very easily, and is dimensionally accurate. It is more brittle (but very stiff) and has lower heat resistance than other polymer types. Perfect for models, figurines, non-durable prototypes, and general experimentation and 3D printing needs where the part will stay in an indoor setting (they will deform in a hot car in the sun).
• ABS. This is the same plastic used in Legos. It is resistant to relatively high temperatures (can be left in a hot car or even at boiling temps) and very durable. It is less brittle than PLA and has a bit of flex before failure (what gives Legos their "click"). ABS is more difficult to print due to warping and shrinking issues, and all but must be printed in an enclosed chamber, and also has gassing issues (fumes) when being printed. Unless you need specific characteristics of ABS, it's best to avoid it.
• PETG. Sometimes referred to just ast PET. This is sort of a mixture of the characteristics of the other two. You get the generally easy (and little to no fume) printing of PLA with higher temp resistance and durability of ABS (though not as good as ABS). PETG is usually shiny when done being printed, and some types are food safe (depends on the additives, but your 3D printer is NOT food safe!). PETG tends to be more stringy and oozy compared to ABS and PLA and requires refined retraction settings and ooze control measures. Stringing with PETG is almost guaranteed, so at least some minor post-processing is required to remove the stringing (hobby knife to remove or heat to melt/burn the strings).

There are many other types of filaments other than the "big 3", including nylons, carbon fiber, flexible, and so many more. It's recommended that you become familiar and competent with PLA before moving on. Some of the exotics also have particular hardware requirements. Also know that each manufacturer has their own additive packages and filament of the same type from different manufacturers can and will have different printing and final properties.

As you can see, different materials used will have different limitations.

Since 3D printed parts will never be as strong as injection molded parts, you should generally avoid using 3D printed parts where lives or general safety are on the line. If the part fails, it must fail in a safe way. A part must also be big enough for the process of 3D printing to give you a part that is strong enough for the job at hand. A good example of a bad use of 3D printed parts would be scope rings or sling attachment point. Since these parts generally have little material, a 3D printed part would not have enough strength to serve reliably. While there are files for 3D printing AR lowers and Glock mags, these 3D printed parts are not and should never be considered equal in strength and durability as properly manufactured parts, and considered a novelty only.

Advantages of 3D printing
There are 2 primary advantages of 3D printing a part: Cost and speed. Since you are using a relatively low cost machine and filament and only printing the material needed, you can make parts for very little money (based on cost of plastic) and once a print is going, zero human interaction. In the world of manufacturing, it takes weeks to months and/or a lot of $$$ to setup machines to make a part, whether they are to be CNC machined or injection molded (injection molding being particularly expensive to setup as complex molds have to be made). 3D printing was actually invented to be used for "rapid prototyping.'' You build your 3D model on a computer in a CAD (Computer Aided Design) program, send it to a "slicer" (another program that takes that model and prepares it for 3D printing) and send those instructions (gcode) to your 3D printer to execute. This allows makers and companies both large and small to have multiple iterations of a part even on the same day.

One big advantage of using 3D printers for commercial product production is flexibility. Traditionally, once a company locks in a design, a production run is initiated. This may be thousands to millions of identical parts. Product iterations are usually only done between large production runs when tooling needs to be rebuilt anyway. With 3D printed parts, a product improvement can be implemented immediately after its approved for production.

For the hobby/home user, this means you can cheaply make your creations (or parts you download) quickly and generally easily without the large, expensive traditional tooling for subtractive manufacturing or injection molding.

How 3D printing generally used
3D printing is generally used for 3 main tasks:

• Rapid prototyping. This is actually what the tech was designed for! Companies large and small now frequently use 3D printing for prototyping products.
• Commercial parts production. Depending on the part, a 3D printed part may be suitable. It may just be cheaper (far cheaper) than setting up injection molding manufacturing lines or the geometry may be impossible to construct any other way. Additive manufacturing has the ability to put features inside of a part that are in-accessible once the part is finished. Usually, commercially 3D printed parts are limited to small batches or limited product runs, but exceptions exist such as the Prusa 3D printers themselves: Prusa has a rather impressive "print farm" producing hundreds of thousands of parts on dozens and dozens of printers for the 3D printers they sell.
• Novelties/Curios or other random stuff. Some folks like to print figurines, busts, space ships, toys, and other models mainly just because they can. And there is nothing wrong with that!

But really, the sky is the limit! Right now, 3D printing technology is evolving extremely rapidly. What was never thought of before or never thought possible is happening all the time.

Cautions and Concerns
All extruded filament 3D printing has the potential to create airborne contaminants to one degree or another, primarily categorized as UFP's (Ultra Fine Particles) and VOC's (Volatile Organic Compounds).  The filament compounds used at higher temperatures are typically associated with VOC production.  All filament compounds, including those used at lower temperatures, have the potential to create UFP's as they extrude molten plastic at high pressures and aerosolize some small portion of that material. UFP's are particles so fine as to be smaller than those typically trapped by HEPA filter media.

Mitigation of the aerosol contaminants should be a consideration in setting up a 3D printer.   One way is placement of the printer in an area with a large volume of air and fresh air ventilation (pollution control by dilution).  Another is to enclose the printer and vent to the outside environment, maintaining a negative pressure on the printer enclosure.  An alternative to exhausting to the outside environment is to exhaust via a filter construct adequate to the demands placed by the materials in use.   Although HEPA filters are not, in themselves, adequate to stop UFP's in a fast moving air volume, they can act to slow air movement down enough for a portion of the UFP's to condense into larger particles or drop out and adhere to the media rather than be broadcast into the environment by cooling fans, etc.  Activated carbon filters can be used to scrub VOC's.   In any case, protracted use of an unconfined 3D printer in a confined living space is probably not a good idea.

Two elements associated with extruded filament 3D printing demand caution to avoid injury and property damage. These are electricity and heat.

Although most printers use low DC voltage internally (12v / 24V), their power supplies are typically plugged into a 120v source. Damaged wire or equipment could expose the user to risk.  Wiring should be monitored for any indication of damaged insulation.  Equipment should be monitored for any indication of an internal fault, such as smells of hot material, shocks upon contact or unusual sounds that could indicate a problem.

Hotends and heat beds have the potential to cause burns even when functioning normally.  In the event of an equipment failure, they have the potential to not only cause burn injury but to start a fire.  Even low voltage DC has the potential to cause a fire if a short circuit occurs on a non-fused feed.   This has implications for how a 3D printer is enclosed & the materials used for the enclosure.  A smoke detector in the 3D printer work area is a good idea.  If the printer is enclosed, consider the use of a smoke detector inside the enclosure.

Legalities of 3D printing
While (in the USA) there are no laws about 3D printing specifically, there are laws about what you can print. Just because you can make it at home on your 3D printer doesn't mean you can make illegal items. As with all laws, they can also change frequently at a political whim.
Just remember: if it is illegal without 3D printing, it's still illegal with 3D printing. Also, some states have specific laws regarding 3D printing firearms and/or firearm components. It is YOUR responsibility to research and follow all laws.

Getting Started with 3D printing
To get a printer printing, you will need 4 things:

• A printer
• Filament
• A computer running a slicer program (more on slicers later). This computer should be connected to the internet.
• Some basic equipment and tools.

We will go into each one individually.


What printer should I buy?
This is one of the most common questions by those looking to get into 3D printing. There are a lot of things to consider, not the least of which is how big do you need to be able to print. That said, the current consensus advice tends to be based on price range.

• $0-500: Creality Ender 3 or Ender 5 are all Chinese printers that have a good following. There is the Prusa Mini that is a higher quality, though smaller volume, option in this price range. *Other printers may be just fine!* This is the standard response you will likely get.
• $500-$1000: Prusa Mk3s. It will be extremely capable, has a reasonable build volume, very good quality, excellent support, and huge community. It's like getting a Colt/FN mil-spec AR, hard to go wrong with it.
• >$1000: Once you get above $1000, the answer is very dependent on what you are trying to do. Note, print quality doesn't necessarily get better from this point on, and the author here speaks from the experience of having an extremely reputable multi-thousand dollar printer. What you'll be buying is build volume, support, build quality, reliability, multiple extrusion, engineering material capability, or other advanced features. But your benchy isn't going to look much better. It might be multi-colored or made of fiber reinforced polycarbonate, though.

What filament should I buy?
I will first recommend ditching the sample filament your printer came with if you purchased a Chinese printer. It will likely be of mysterious qualities and specs. You will likely spend half the spool trying to get everything working only to never use that filament again. It may be useful for printing any included test prints (many printers come with an SD card loaded with a test print) to check printer functionality, but after that you should move on to a filament you plan on actually using.

If you bought a Prusa printer or other high quality printer that came with quality filament and printing profiles to start off with (those profiles are built specifically for the sample filament), you should use the stock filament and profiles as a starting point before playing with settings.


For filaments, start with a known quality PLA. Get everything sorted there before trying PETG or ABS. There are tons of reputable brands for quality filament, depending on the channel you would prefer to purchase. Some options include, but are not limited to:

• Through Amazon, known "good" brands are: Hatchbox, Filacube, Push Plastic, Esun, CC3D, Taulman*, Proto Pasta.
• Through direct websites, there are well known brands such as Atomic*, Filament Innovations*, 3dXtech*, 3D Fuel*, Taulman*, Proto Pasta.
• Matterhackers.com also has a WIDE variety of filaments.
• *USA made filament

When ordering filament, make sure you order the proper size. Most hobby printers use 1.75mm filament, but check your printer specs to avoid ordering the wrong size!

Getting the cheapest filament available may work fine and is certainly cost effective, but you may occasionally receive product with loose tolerances for the diameter causing clogs, debris in the filament itself causing clogs, or unreliable material properties. Further, some filament may come "wet" and need dehydrating before use in order to print well. Pure PLA is easy to print and is incredibly strong (contrary to belief, it's one of the strongest thermoplastics printable by consumer machines). However, it is relatively brittle and has poor strength at high temperatures. Due to this, many manufacturers have developed tweaks to their PLA formula to increase their product's impact resistance and to allow for annealing. Thus, not all PLA from all manufacturers will be just alike, and this goes for every other type of filament as well. I recommend purchasing your filament from a known brand for any critical work, so you can be relatively certain of the results you will achieve.

What computer should I buy?
You can likely use the computer you have now, so long as you can run a slicer on it. Generally you use a Windows or Apple based machine, and some slicers can run on Linux. Avoid a Chromebook as setups can be difficult and you can't modify Arduino based firmware. You can also use a Raspberry Pi and run OctoPrint to not only control your printer directly, but handle downloading models and slicing! You really don't need much of a computer for 3D printing. Models for 3D printing can be downloaded from many sites, the most popular by far being Thingiverse.
https://www.thingiverse.com/

If you are going to design your own models using a CAD program, you may need a computer with significant processing and graphics power. This is really a subject all in itself, and can incur significant cost. For basic 3D modeling (CAD), Tinkercad is free and internet based, leaving the heavy processing to the cloud computers.
https://www.tinkercad.com/

Some examples of CAD programs:

• Fusion360. This is a powerful quasi-cloud subscription based program. While most processes are locally handled (needing significant processing and graphics capability), there is access to some cloud based services, and your files are stored on the cloud (with options to manually save locally in multiple formats). There are subscriptions from free (student/enthusiast, some features withheld) to about $300/year (commercial, full feature). Fusion360 also includes other modules such as CAM (seamless integration with traditional machining or laser/plasma cutting), advanced simulation, and integrates with Autodesk Eagle (PCB design) for integrating electronics into your model. https://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/overview
• Solidworks.
• FreeCAD.

Which slicer should I use?
This is a point of great debate, and everybody has their favorites. A quick run down of the most popular options:

• Cura. Cura is free and has a large community backing. It was originally designed by and still supported by Ultimaker, but can be used on most any hobby 3D printer. It is the Go-To slicer for most makers on ARFCOM. It is nearly constantly updated for new features and bug fixes. https://ultimaker.com/software/ultimaker-cura

• Slic3r. Slic3r is another free slicer option with similar traits and features as Cura. https://slic3r.org/

• Prusa Slicer. Prusa Slicer is a modified version of Slic3r which is maintained by Prusa Research. It is free and like Cura and Slic3r, can be adapted to most printers. While it is based on Slic3r, it has specific features implemented by Prusa. If you run a Prusa printer, Prusa has designed profiles specifically tailored to their printers. Prusa also makes settings for their printers specifically for Simplify3D. https://www.prusa3d.com/prusaslicer/

• Simplify3D. NOTE from Rat_Patrol: It appears that Simplify3D is no longer being maintained and updated. Today's premium FREE slicers, such as Cura and Prusa Slicer, can do almost anything and usually more than the out-dated "latest release" of Simplify3D. As such, this program is no longer recommended. If this changes, I'll update this message. There are talk of non-planar printing, which if true, may make S3D worth buying again.
  Simplify 3D is a powerful, professional level slicer. However, it is a paid-for software package. Some features like independent model features (for multiple parts on the print bed at once, good for repeated parts build packages for commercial printing) and multiple level profiles are making their way to the free slicers.  At present, it is a quasi-subscription based pay structure at $150 per year. During that year, you get access to any updates they put out. You DO get to keep your software after your "subscription" expires, but you will lose access to updates. Simplify3D has profiles for most commercial 3D printers, or you can configure it for a custom build. https://www.simplify3d.com/

There are MANY other slicers out there, but it's usually best sticking to the popular slicers as they have community support and frequent updates. The two big slicers are Cura and Prusa Slicer. For getting support and help, it is best to pick one of those two.

Each slicer "slices" in its own way and has its own quirks, features, and drawbacks, so it is impossible to say which is best. Many makers run multiple slicer programs, and pick the program based on the model they need to print (experience will tell you which slicer to use for which model). Some slicers just don't like a particular model or type of geometry, for whatever reason, and just using a different slicer will fix the printing problem (this is rare).  When you are first getting started, its best to pick a free slicer, and/or consider using the slicer intended to be used by your printer manufacturer, at least until you get a feel for how everything works. After you feel comfortable with whatever slicer you start out with, you are encouraged to experiment! Slicers do not change settings on your machine (unless there is gcode in the slicer output that does, but you would have to add this in manually), so there is no reason to NOT try various slicers.

Additional Equipment you may need:

• A way to dry filament. Filament eventually absorbs moisture (some far more than others), but you need dry filament to get good prints. You can use anything from your normal oven to a gutted, round food dehydrator, but you will need something to dry filament.
• Dry box. Something air/water tight to store your filament in. There are gasketed storage totes available at most any home improvement store or Wal-Mart/Target that are gasketed and tight. You can even configure your dry-box to feed filament directly to your machine with the filament still inside! Include moisture absorber packs if you have any available (re-charge them first in your filament drying equipment) or get some moisture absorber gel (DampRid) from a store.

Basic tools package:

1. Screwdriver set appropriate to your machine.
2. Tweezers.
3. Sharpened spatula (most machines come with one) for removing prints from the bed and support removal.
4. Needle nose pliers, extra small/micro. For removal of support material and other general needs.
5. Flush cutters, micro. For cutting filament to a sharp edge (before inserting into extruder), remove support material, cutting zip-tie tails, etc.
6. Other specific tools to your machine (allen keys, etc).
7. Hobby knife, general use.
8. Torch style lighter. Useful for removing whisps and light strings on prints. Note: Be careful not to melt your prints! It only takes a very brief pass of the torch to melt off whisps and light strings.
9. Your reading glasses! 3D printing, by its nature of being robotics, is a highly technical venture. You will be doing a LOT of reading of some very dry material. Get ready to get your nerd on!

Consider printing a tool holder (many are available to fit specific printers on Thingiverse, et al) to store your tools neatly!

And don't forget imagination and patience! There is a bit of a steep learning curve to 3D printing, but its not hard to learn. Once you get the basics, it will all be about fine-tuning and perfecting your settings and machine!

If you have questions, always feel free to ask!

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If anybody has anything that they feel should be included that we missed, feel free to post it up!

My specs, and it runs Fusion 360 until the model gets highly complicated:

W10 Pro, 64bit (upgraded from W7)
NVIDIA NVS 5200M graphics back to back with Intel HD Graphics 4000.
Core i5-3320M overclocked to 3.2 GHz
16GB DDR3 (and I need all of it, but not for Fusion, I run about 4 memory intensive programs at a time, all the time)
Running on a Dell Latitude E6430.

It is an older business laptop, but it does the business for 90% of what I need to do, but my more complicated and history rich models in Fusion slow it WAAAAAAAAAAAAY down as my processor maxes out running the calculations.

Any of them will work. Seriously check out YouTube for reviews for features you want. Reread this thread, there are yt channel recommendations, printer recommendations, and other info.

awesome information and answered my question about a CAD program. I already d/loaded freecad but wasn't sure it would do what I want..
pretty excited to get in to this hobby because guns,cars and motorcycles didn't cost me enough money..

After you drain some mortgage payments here, get a SxS and then you can take out another mortgage

I looked at a 2 seater can-am while my wife was deciding what options she wanted on the new ryker I apparently was buying her...$39000 for the side by side.

Oh yes, he is GTG.

Dual monitors help: have him on one side, F360 on the other, and follow along.