free download on how to build a 3d printer 3D printers DIY plans and build instructions. There are many DIY projects today that can be used to make 3D printers at home, and some of them can be found here. These are mostly printers based on the RepRap 3D printer, and you can choose to either make one on your own or buy a kit and assemble the parts. What matters is that you can become the owner of a 3D printer by spending just a small amount of money; we have even come across an extruder plan to help you make the filament out of recycled plastic! - Darwin 3D printer. RepRap 1.0 "Darwin" is a rapid prototyping machine that is capable of making the majority of its own component parts. Instructions and all necessary data are available completely free under the GNU General Public Licence from this website to everyone. As RepRap 1.0 "Darwin" copy itself, once you have one you can make others for your friends; or if they have one you can ask them to make one for you. Of course, you can also make as many as you want for yourself; the more you have, the faster you will be able to make other items. RepRap etiquette asks that you use your machine to make the parts for at least two more Darwins for other people at cost, as well as using it to make whatever you or anyone else on the internet can think up. Darwin consists of a frame made from rods and printed parts. A flat build platform moves vertically in that frame, driven on screw threads by a stepper motor. At the top of the frame there are two write heads that move horizontally (driven by toothed belts and two more steppers) extruding a thin stream of molten plastic to form new layers on the build base. The machine prints layer by layer to form a solid object. The build base then moves one increment down, the second layer is extruded, and so on. There are two heads to allow a filler material to be laid down as well as the plastic. This filler is used to support overhanging parts of the objects being built, and is removed when the process is finished. - Fisher 3D printer. The RepRap Fisher is an open-source fused deposition modeling 3D printer and is part of the RepRap project. The RepRap Fisher is named after the English statistician and biologist Ronald Fisher, it was designed by RepRapPro. The RepRap Fisher has a 150mm diameter by 180mm height build volume, uses a bowden extruder and has a print resolution of 12.5um in all directions, it also has a micro SD card and USB and Ethernet connections allowing it to be connected to a network. The printer was praised for its ease of construction and low price and is only available in kit form. - Huxley 3D printer. RepRap Version III "Huxley" is being developed on this and associated pages. It is based on Ed's original Mini-Mendel design, together with a lot of work already put in by ErikDeBruijn and others. Huxley is named, like all RepRaps, after a biologist: Thomas Henry Huxley. To clarify, Huxley will be Mini-Mendel with some re-designed parts plus more documentation, defined integrated electronics (with alternatives, of course), and a selection of alternative firmware and host software configured to drive it. We will be integrating as much as possible of the work such as Brutis already done on Mini-Mendel. The machine uses M6 threaded rods and M3 nuts and bolts (as opposed to the M8/M4 used on Mendel) and NEMA 14 Stepper Motors. The reprapped parts are about 30% of the volume of those for Mendel, which is to say it could reproduce three times faster. Mendel can print itself, and so will Huxley. In addition, Mendel will be able to print Huxley, and Huxley will be able to print Mendel. We will continue Mendel development to turn it into a multi-material machine. Huxley will be a one-material machine, though we will probably also add a Pen Plotter so we can write etch-resist on PCBs and use an Oil Pen to facilitate separation of Support Material for overhangs. The idea is to develop both Mendel and Huxley in parallel, with Huxley being as cut-down and minimal as possible, and Mendel being the machine with all the fancy capabilities. Huxley will be the fastest replicator. Mendel will be the most versatile. - Mendel 3D printer. The machine on the right is the RepRap printer, which we call "Mendel" after the father of genetics. It's the second, improved version of RepRap: small enough to fit on your desk, but with a print volume large enough for you to make big things. The machine is made up of bits bought in from local suppliers or online, and parts which it can make for itself - all the translucent structural components you can see. In the picture, behind the machine, you can see the RepRap software which you can use to print your thing. We give this, and the designs for the machine away, free - it's all open source (GPL 2). Though you do have to buy in some standard components from. well, whoever you want. which cost about €400. The idea of getting all the materials and building a machine yourself may seem daunting, but this area of the wiki is dedicated to making the whole process as easy as possible. There are a number of instructional videos distributed through the Mendel documentation. These are also all gathered together in one place here. - Morgan 3D printer. The RepRap Morgan is an open-source fused deposition modeling 3D printer. The Morgan is part of the RepRap project and has an unusual SCARA arm design. The first Morgan printer was designed by Quentin Harley, a South African engineer (working for Siemens at the time) at the House4Hack Makerspace in Centurion. The SCARA arm design was developed due to the lack of access to components of existing 3D printer designs in South Africa and their relatively high cost. The Morgan name comes from the RepRap convention of naming printers after famous deceased biologists. The Morgan printers was named after Thomas Hunt Morgan. Their names were used in the development codenames for the first two generations of Morgan 3D Printers. Morgan printers are now manufactured full-time by the inventor in a small workshop factory in the House4Hack makerspace. - Ormerod 3D printer. The RepRapPro Ormerod design is from RepRapPro. The machine is a fast to assemble, networked 3D printer with non-contact bed probe for full geometric compensation. Its primary design goal is to offer a printer which is easy to expand in functionality, fast to replicate, and fast to assemble and to commission. This new model builds on the already established designs and technical advances which have undergone brisk development and heavy testing since the RepRap Project‘s inception in 2004. The RepRapPro Ormerod is a monochrome 3D printer configured to work with one type of plastic at a time. However, RepRapPro Ormerod is fundamentally designed to work with three deposition heads and an upgrade kit will be available soon for this machine to allow it to print multiple materials and colours. - Prusa Mendel. Prusa Mendel is the Ford Model T of 3D printers. Like the Model T, the Prusa Mendel improves on a previous design by being more streamlined for manufacture. The Prusa Mendel is a simpler remix of the original Mendel. By default, it uses printed bushings instead of regular bearings, though options to substitute inexpensive lm8uu linear bearings or other types of bearings or bushings are available. The current version uses three 608 bearings in total, one for the X axis and two for the Y axis. The 624 bearings are gone altogether. Prusa's main goal is to be the purest and simplest 3D printer you can build. It's much simpler to build it. It's much simpler to modify it. It's much simpler to print it for your friends. It's much simpler to repair it. - Recyclebotrep - 3D printing filament extruder. In order to assist researchers explore the full potential of distributed recycling of post-consumer polymer waste, this article describes a recyclebot, which is a waste plastic extruder capable of making commercial quality 3-D printing filament. The device design takes advantage of both the open source hardware methodology and the paradigm developed by the open source self-replicating rapid prototyper (RepRap) 3-D printer community. Specifically, this paper describes the design, fabrication and operation of a RepRapable Recyclebot, which refers to the Recyclebot’s ability to provide the filament needed to largely replicate the parts for the Recyclebot on any type of RepRap 3-D printer. The device costs less than $700 in materials and can be fabricated in about 24 h. Filament is produced at 0.4 kg/h using 0.24 kWh/kg with a diameter ±4.6%. Thus, filament can be manufactured from commercial pellets for <22% of commercial filament costs. In addition, it can fabricate recycled waste plastic into filament for 2.5 cents/kg, which is <1000X commercial filament costs. The system can fabricate filament from polymers with extrusion temperatures <250 °C and is thus capable of manufacturing custom filament over a wide range of thermopolymers and composites for material science studies of new materials and recyclability studies, as well as research on novel applications of fused filament based 3-D printing. - Snappy 3 3D printer. Snappy is an Open Source RepRap 3D printer designed by RevarBat from July 2014 to January 2018. It is a true RepRap, using very few non- printed parts. This design needs no belts, pulleys, metal rails, and almost no screws other than to mount parts to the motors. This means that you should be able to put one together for about $216, including the price of plastic to print parts. The entire thing snaps together, and you should be able to assemble it from parts in only a couple hours. The few required non-printable parts are available world wide from a variety of suppliers. Snappy is an original design, created in OpenSCAD, so many individual design parameters can be altered to fit the end user's specific needs. How to Build a 3D Printer. Just so we are all on the same page, Fused Filament Fabrication or FFF is a type of 3D printing technology where parts are created through a layer-by-layer deposition of a molten thermoplastic. The extruder is responsible for heating up plastic filaments and is fitted with a nozzle that controls the dimeter of the extruded fiber. It may help to think of the extruder as a fancy hot glue gun. In the most common configuration of FFF 3D printers, the extruder is moved around in three-dimensional space through a set of linear rails, carriages, and stepper motors. Build it Yourself. For those who are experienced with or even curious about mechantronics (the union between electrical and mechanical engineering), building a 3D printer is an obtainable and fulfilling goal. In addition to the feeling of accomplishment, constructing your own 3D printer will save you money while allowing you to design around your specific needs. There are many open-source plans for 3D printers that are freely available online. If you are still undecided on what printer you want to build, then check out Dr. D-Flo’s roundup of the Best DIY 3D Printer Designs . Do Some Research. Whether you are purchasing a kit or sourcing your own parts for a DIY 3D printer understanding the function of each component will allow you to build, upgrade, and repair your 3D printer with ease. This online guide is accompanied by a YouTube video that walks through the materials, software, and theories that go into 3D printing. Currently, this guide is setup to supplement the video by covering topics in more depth and providing resources for further reading. In the future, the goal is to make this guide standalone, so those who prefer to read articles instead of watching YouTube videos can rely solely on this guide. Ask Questions and Share. After watching the video and exploring the topics below post your remaining questions to the forum. This guide will be improved based on your questions and comments. After finishing your printer, please consider posting the final product on the forum , sharing your experiences, and answering the questions of others who are in the middle of their builds. Free download on how to build a 3d printer. • Driver model for 3D manufacturing devices. • Support for Windows apps and extensions for 3D devices. • Job spooling and queuing support. • Keywords for modeling device capabilities. • API for apps to submit 3D manufacturing jobs to your 3D printer. Printers and software. Find the printer that’s right for you in this list of printers that are compatible with Windows 10 and 3D printing. 3MF consortium. 3MF is an industry consortium working to define a 3D printing format that will allow design applications to send full-fidelity 3D models to a mix of other applications, platforms, services, and printers. Network 3D printing with Windows 10 IoT Core. Now multiple Windows-based computers on your network can share the same 3D printer. We’ve added network (both Wi-Fi and wired) and Windows 3D print platform support for more than a dozen well-known and brand new evolutions of 3D Printers. Microsoft 3D Tools for repair. Fix 3D files automatically with Microsoft 3D Tools. Just upload your 3D file, select one of the tools to make fixes, and your 3D file is ready to print. How to Make Your First 3D Print: From STL to Printed Model. Excited to use your new 3D printer, but don’t know where to start? We’ve got you covered. Preparing your first 3D model for 3D printing can be a daunting experience. Fortunately, you don’t need to design your own model as there are thousands of great designs available for free as STL files on sites such as Thingiverse . However, once you’ve chosen a model that you want to print, you still need to follow a few steps to turn that STL file in physical print. Below, we’ll show you how to print a typical STL file on a typical FDM printer, though no matter what device you use, the basic steps should be similar. If you’re never 3D printed before, this is a great way to get started. Here’s what you need to 3D Print. 3D Printer: We’re using the Creality Ender 3 Pro , a solid entry-level 3D printer. However, other filament-based (aka FDM) printers should work similarly. If you need to choose, see our list of best 3D printers. Filament: PLA is one of the most commonly used materials on the Ender 3, and in this article we’ll be using Begonova branded material. 3D Model: The 3D Benchy is an ideal first print for your 3D printer; it offers a calibration test and is a fun model in a single print. However you can also download STL files from sites such as Thingiverse . Slicing Software: In order to print your model, you’ll need to convert it from a solid 3D model to a series of slices that can be printed using an app called a slicer. We’ll be using Creality Slicer for this article, but most slicing apps offer similar features and the basic principles are the same. microSD Card: The Ender 3 Pro includes an 8GB microSD card for transferring files, but some printers include a USB drive. Most sliced gcode files will be between 5MB and 15MB, so anything over 1GB should work fine. Getting Started. Before we get started, you’ll need to download both your 3D model as well as the slicer software for your 3D printer. Download the 3D Benchy model from Thingiverse, an online repository of 3D models that doesn’t require an account to download files. Download the slicer software for your 3D printer. We’ll be using Creality Slicer for the Creality Ender 3 Pro, but other common slicers include Cura, PrusaSlicer, and Simplify3D. Picking a Model to 3D Print. The 3D Benchy model by CreativeTools is a great first print that will help you dial in the settings on your 3D printer and also leave you with a fun tugboat model to show off! The Benchy model typically prints in about an hour and a half, and many of the features and details of the model can be used to identify and diagnose any mechanical issues on your printer such as loose belts, inadequate part cooling, and Z-offset calibration. However, these instructions should work for other STL files you find on Thingiverse, including Plunderbuss Pete , Aquaticus the Water Dragon and Adalinda the Singing Serpent , all of which are great models for your first 3D print. Creality Slicer accepts 3D models that use the .STL file extension, a common extension used for 3D models. Once you’ve downloaded the model, import it into Creality Slicer by opening the app and clicking File, Load Model File, and selecting the 3D Benchy model from the folder where you downloaded it. This will load the 3D model into Creality Slicer so it can be prepared for 3D printing. Preparing the Model for 3D Printing. Once the model has been imported into the slicer app, we can convert the .STL file into a 3D printable file. A 3D printable file contains all of the instructions needed to turn the .STL 3D model into a printed part by controlling the XYZ motors, extruder, and heating systems of the printer. Creality Slicer offers two modes for slicing .STL files: Quickprint and Full. Quickprint allows you to choose a material, profile, platform adhesion aid and also toggle support material on and off. While the Full mode offers more granular control over the print settings, we’re going to use Quickprint for this article so we can cover all the basics. Here’s what to choose on the menu: Material: This is the material being used for the print. Since we’re using PLA, we’ll select ‘Common PLA’ here. Profile: Selecting a profile automatically adjusts all of the settings used in making a print including layer height, print speed, travel speed, etc. While these settings are all individually adjustable in the Full mode, selecting a premade profile will get you printing quickly without much adjusting required. We’re going to use ‘Normal (0.15,mm)’, which strikes a good compromise between speed and quality. Other: The only option here is to toggle support material on and off. Because the 3D Benchy doesn’t require support material, we can leave this box unchecked. Platform Adhesion: Creality Slicer can automatically generate a brim or raft to aid adhesion when using high-temperature materials that tend to warp or curl during printing. Since we’re using PLA, we won’t need to select either of these options and can leave this drop-down menu set to ‘None’. Toggling ‘Full’ mode on will reveal more adjustable parameters. By selecting the ‘Normal’ Quickprint setting, these settings will all be populated accordingly. While we’re not going to be adjusting any of these settings, it’s worth taking a minute to better understand what they all do. The default values in the above picture are a great place to start, but you can always adjust them in your slicer software if you want to make changes. Some of the terminology may change slightly in different slicer apps, but these settings are generally the same across most common apps. Quality. Layer Height: Thicker layers will print more quickly, but they won’t capture as much detail as thinner layers. Shell Thickness: Printing a model with a thicker shell will create additional contours on the outside of the model, which can look better on sloping surfaces but will take longer to print. Enable Retraction: By enabling retraction, the printer will pull the filament back into the nozzle when moving, preventing stringing or blobbing between travel moves. Too much retraction and the filament may be damaged by the drive gear, too little and the material may ooze during printing. Dialing in retraction can be a time-consuming process, and it may not be needed depending on the type of 3D printer you’re using. Fill. Bottom/Top Thickness: Adding additional layers to the top and bottom of the print can help to hide the internal fill pattern, but will also take longer to print. Fill Density: Also known as infill, this setting controls the amount of material printed inside the model. Adding infill can make a part stronger, but will take longer to print. The default setting of 15% is a good starting value if you’re looking to experiment. Speed and Temperature. Print Speed (mm/s): Increasing your print speed will lead to faster prints, but the overall quality of the model can suffer if this is increased too much. Printing Temperature: Most PLA material will extrude at 200C, but sometimes you may want to increase or decrease this value for best results. Too hot and the heat will creep up the filament and cause it to soften and deform, too cold and the material won’t have time to get up to temperature and extrude through the nozzle. Bed Temperature: When using a heated bed, enabling this setting will help the material stick to the bed without curling or warping during printing. Similar to the case with the nozzle temperature, setting this too low won’t provide any specific benefit but setting it too high may cause the filament to soften and deform on the lower layers. Support. Support Type: The three settings in this dropdown menu are None, Touching Build Plate, and Everywhere. None will print a model without generating any support material, Touching Build Plate will only generate support material that originates on the build plate (for instance, an upright letter T would be supported fully, but an upright letter E would not), and Everywhere will create support material everywhere on the print. Platform Adhesion Type: Selecting None will print the model flat on the build plate, Brim will add a few toolpaths of material around the base of the model to help keep it from curling, and Raft will add several layers of material under the model to compensate for an uneven platform. Filament. Diameter: PLA filament is typically sold with a 1.75mm diameter, so this setting shouldn’t be changed unless you are using non-standard material. Flow: This setting adjusts how much material is fed through the extruder, and typically shouldn’t be changed unless your printer hasn’t been calibrated correctly. Machine. Nozzle Size: The Creality Ender 3 Pro (and most desktop 3D printers) ship with a .4mm nozzle, so this setting shouldn’t be changed unless you have swapped out the nozzle for a smaller or larger one. Checking the Toolpath for 3D Printing. You can see the difference in the three Quickprint profiles in the above pictures (Fast, Normal, and High Quality). A quick way to spot the difference is by looking at the roof of the Benchy, where the number of layers increases with each jump in quality. Thinner layers will capture more detail but the overall print time will increase as well. The Normal setting strikes a compromise between speed and quality, so that’s the setting we’ll choose. After you’ve chosen the settings for your model, the slicer software will generate a toolpath (instructions for the printer’s movement system) for your model. We can see this toolpath by selecting ‘Toolpath’ in the dropdown menu under the ‘View Mode’ button at the top right. This is a good time to check the file before printing, and make sure there are no areas that might cause problems later. Scrolling through the layers we can see the infill and outer shell, and determine that this model is ready for printing. Preparing the 3D Printer. Once the model has been sliced and is ready for export, it’s time to make sure the printer is ready to print. There are two major components to this process: loading the PLA filament into the extruder and calibrating the build platform. Loading the filament gives the printer material to complete the print, and calibrating the build platform ensures that the nozzle is perpendicular to the build plate at all points and compensates for any warp or bowing present. The steps here are for the Creality Ender 3 Pro, but any 3D printer with a Bowden extruder (remote drive) will use a similar process for loading filament and calibrating the build platform. How to build your own 3D printer. The idea of 3D printing is fascinating; set a printer going in a public place and it's sure to quickly gather a crowd. The basic technology is amazing to watch, as layer upon layer is built up to create a 3D object. Fused Filament Modeling (FFM) is the most popular process and it will be this type of 3D printer that we'll look at in this tutorial. The basic principles of FFM are incredibly simple; a thin thread of plastic, known as filament, is melted and pushed through a small nozzle, this nozzle is accurately moved around a print platform in order to slowly build up layers. The process put into its simplest terms is much like using an icing bag and nozzle to create three-dimensional cake decorations. Although the technique is simple, the technology that makes it possible is incredibly advanced and precise, and luckily with relatively recent advancements in micro controllers – such as the Arduino board – and stepper motors – such as the Nema 17's – the accuracy and price of the technology is now accessible to everyone. Accurate control with the use of these boards and stepper motors has made it possible for the maker community to get involved with building their own and adapting designs. The starting point for any FFM project is the ground-breaking work or the RepRap project. The work of Adrian Bowyer and his team established today's 3D print revolution and now anyone who wants to build a 3D printer at home has the ability and for a minimal outlay. There are plenty of 3D printer designs out there, and the majority are based around the original work of the RepRap project. One printer that has evolved from RepRap is the Prusa i3, which is a very simple printer that's capable of achieving incredible results if built correctly. In this tutorial, we're going to use a Prusa i3 as the foundation, and discover the importance of components – such as the hotend and extruder – and how these and other components relate and can be changed and upgraded. There really is no better way to discover 3D printing than to build your own. Why build a 3D printer. Have a quick look online and you'll see that the price of 3D printers is now relatively cheap. An XYZ Da Vinci Jnr can be purchased for as little as £250 (around $366, AU$490) for instance. Prusa does sell kits and pre-built printers, and the quality of the parts and ability to upgrade is extensive compared with other cheap kits. Cheaper printers such as the XYZ are good but limited to the materials and quality that they can print, and cheap kits from the internet generally use cheap parts and it's often difficult to get them to print consistently. By building your own 3D printer you get to learn about every aspect of the machine and process. This not only enables you to better understand the way things work and how to correct them when or if they go wrong, but you also get a better understanding of how to make your printer print better. As you go through your build you'll discover that there are many parts that will need a tweak or adjustment, so it's worth knowing how each component relates to the rest of the printer especially if you do need to venture online for help. Buying a kit is the cheapest way to gather together all of the parts, so even if you don't use the hotend and extruder supplied it will still work out cheaper than buying all of the parts individually. A company that buys in bulk and puts a kit together will be able to sell you the complete kit for less than you could put that kit together yourself. When it comes to buying a kit, the two companies that are worth a look at are Prusa, the original designers of the printer or Ooznest who produce a decent version of it. If you decide to go it alone then you'll need to download the source files for the Prusa i3. One of the issues here is that in order to print the parts to build the 3D printer you need a 3D printer.