3D Printing

3D Printer components

3D Printing is becoming a popular way to make something out of plastic today. Let’s talk about Its components!

1. This is called “Bed”. This is where the plastic sticks & the object is built.

2. This is called “Extruder”. There the plastic melts and it comes out from the “Hot end”(4.).

3. This is the computer. Not all 3D printers have It. Only the Offline printers have It. There are all the controls of the printer, a slot for SD or USB, It shows the files on the Removable drivers, but it only reads G-Codes (That means you can’t watch a movie on It 😁!).

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Mechanism

The 3D Printers function quite simple. Now, I know It doesn’t look simple, but the mechanism is. The complicated thing is programing it. But let’s talk some more about the mechanism. Three motors are allowing the extruder to pass through the 3 axes – X, Y & Z.

The Y motor moves the bed forward & backward. This is a sketch of how the mechanism looks.

The X motor allows the extruder to move left & right.

The Z motor moves the extruder up & down.

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Program/Slicer

There are lots of 3D printing programs with advantages & disadvantages. They’re called slicers because they slice the object to be able to print. The slicer I use for my 3D Printer has a lot of disadvantages! It’s called XYZ Print. If you want to study the G-Code (Geometric-code) this isn’t the slicer for you, because It encrypts the code.

Another program like Ultimaker Cura will work for you, but a common drawback of almost all slicers is that you can’t use them for all 3D printers. Luckily there is a slicer that is compatible with hundreds of printers – Simplify3D, but the only thing is that It’s not free, for more information click here.

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Non-planar slicer

The non-planar slicer is a special slicer that works not only with X & Y axes in one time but with all axes in one time! This kind of software isn’t finished, but you can still try it. The only thing is that the program is that heavy that it can’t work on Windows – only on Linux. But people still manage with simulators of Linux to run the program & the result is satisfying! It has some problems, but who knows what it would be when it’s finished. Maybe then it’ll run on Windows! If you want to check the results or see how to install it & try it out for yourself the link to the video from where I learned about this software is here.

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G-Code

G-Code is the “language” of the 3D printers. With it, the printer understands what to print in many ways. A lot of people manipulate the G-Code to make some really good timelapse videos & so many other things! I’ve learned them from Devin Montes from Make Anything (these are the videos: automatization, singing & dancing, hacking the timelapse), and also some people make programs to do this instead of you. Here is what the G-Code looks like ( This is just a tiny part of it! In fact, it’s a kilometer long!).

Now, I’m not an expert in the G-Code – I’m still studying it, but for now, I can tell you at least the basic commands. The G1 command is a move command after that are the coordinates of the X, Y & Z. The G28 is homing all axes – that means the extruder & the bed will be at one specific position which is X0 Y0 Z0. The M300 command is just a beeb, mostly used to tell you that the model is done! M160 turns the cooling fan off.  M104 turns the extruder off. M140 turns the bed off. And M84 Disables the motors. That is all I know for now, but I’ll learn even more about It in the future!

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3D modeling programs

The modeling programs are so much different than the slicers. Some use almost no tools & others use plenty of tools. Different companies make different programs: XYZ maker; Autodesk Fusion 360; Solidworks; etc. I currently use Autodesk Fusion 360, because It’s a program with many helpful tools and functionalities. It’s based on the famous Solidworks, but it’s a lot more powerful and it is using less space on your computer because it’s cloud-based!

If you have any questions about all this, please write them down in the comment section down below. I’ll try to answer your question as fast as I can.