3D printers are now taking the world by storm. According to Wikipedia “3D printer is a machine allowing the creation of a physical object from a three-dimensional digital model, typically by laying down many thin layers of material in succession.” Today in this 3D printer DIY,  We will learn how one can make a 3D printer at home from scratch.

Currently, there is an extensive list of 3d printers on the Internet that already assembled and are ready to print right after you unpack them from a box, of course, you also need to buy a 3d printer filament for it.

Do not forget that not all 3d printers can use the same thread types, so please read the instruction before you purchase it.

3D Printer DIY

Fused Filament Modeling (FFM) is the most modern 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 a filament, is melted and pushed through a small nozzle, this nozzle is accurately moved around a print platform to build up layers slowly.

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 on 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 hot end and extruder – and how these and other components relate and can be changed and upgraded. There 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 low. 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 hot end 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 to print the parts to build the 3D printer you need a 3D printer.

The Prusa i3 design has a movable build platform on the Y-axis and is a direct throwback to the RepRap designs. The reason for this is that it uses fewer parts than a printer that’s designed to move the platform through the Z axis and printhead through both X and Y-axis, such as the Ultimaker and Zortrax printers.

Before starting the build we’ll look at the key components. These are parts that you can upgrade during the build, or in the future, to improve print quality or reliability, so it’s worth knowing a little more about them and the different options as quite often they are interlinked. The fact that some of the cheaper kits on the market fail to take into account.

Frame

Due to the movable parts and the accuracy required a solid frame that keeps vibrations to a minimum is essential. Lift any decent printer and you’ll be surprised just how much they weigh, this is in part due to the components, but the weight is an essential property.

Plastic frames for some Prusa i3 printers are a common upgrade, but watch out for cheap, thin frames as these will have a detrimental effect on print quality. A good solid metal frame is often the simplest and cheapest solution. The Prusa i3 frame consists of threaded bolts and 3D printed parts to create a solid rectangular base.

Nuts are used to adjust the spacing of the rods so that the whole frame c9 be made as true and accurate as possible. Intersecting the bolts is a solid metal frame that holds the motors and electronics and, again, this is bolted firm to the base. The construction of the frame is relatively simple affair but accuracy when the building is essential to ensuring that the distances between nuts and components are correct.

Using a measurement gauge or metal rule is the easiest way to ensure that all distances are precise. If using a kit then all of the measurements can be easily adjusted by moving the bolt.

Filament size

The filament is at the heart of every FFM printer and is available in a variety of different materials and sizes, and arrives wrapped around a spool. These spools are pretty standard in design, and there’s a good variety of manufacturers producing good quality filament.

Again, as with the 3D printer kits, the quality of filament varies greatly, so investing in quality filament will make a huge difference to the prints you get.

Aside from filament materials, the first big decision that you need to make is what size filament you want for your printer. There are two common sizes: 1.75mm or 2.85mm. Each size has its pros and cons, and it’s not just a cost or quality issue.

The general rule is stick to 1.75mm if you’re running a 12V system and use either if using a 24V system. Looking at 1.75mm, it has the advantage that it takes less heat and therefore less power to melt as it passes through the hot end, which makes it more economical.

Using 1.75mm filaments in many cases and especially in self-builds when starting out is more forgiving when it comes to getting the hot end temperatures exact, this makes it easier to produce smooth quality prints with plenty of detail. On the other hand, 2.85mm can really only be handled by 24V printers as more power is needed to melt the filament and force it through the nozzle.

If you have large-scale prints that you want to make relatively quickly, then a 24V 2.85mm system will be beneficial, and often better for models that require bridging and less detail. However, with a printer that’s correctly optimized, there’s no reason to see any difference between prints that are created with either filament size.

Thread type

The types of filament have a far greater influence over the workings of the printer. The two most common materials are Polylactic acid (PLA) and Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS).

PLA is fast becoming the choice for many 3D printers as it is: well priced; available in a huge variety of colors; biodegradable; and can be used in almost every 3D printer. PLA has become popular for a variety of reasons but the two major features are that it doesn’t smell a great deal and it doesn’t suffer from warping to the degree of other filament types.

This means that it can be used without a heated bed. PLA also becomes more fluid when melted compared with other materials, which means that fast cooling once it has been extracted is essential. So if you decide to use PLA, you’ll need to have powerful fans next to the print head.

PLA is a stronger and more rigid than ABS, but its lower melting point makes it unsuitable for use in any situation where the print is likely to get hot and is known to deform if left in direct sunlight.

ABS has long been established as one of the main materials used in 3D printing. It’s also available in a variety of sizes and colors and will print good accurate prints. One of the issues with ABS is that it gives off a strong molten plastic smell as it’s being printed.

However, with a higher melting point than PLA it is more suitable for general use.

Extruder

Essentially this is the mechanism that pushes the filament through the hot end, yet despite the simplicity of its function there’s fierce debate over what type is best. An extruder usually consists of a stepper motor and knobbled gear that clamps and pulls filament through the system.

The standard type of extruder to use on a Prusa i3 is a direct drive extruder. This is mounted along with the hot-end on the print head and has the advantage that there is very little distance from the drive hot end hotend, and so reduces play within the filament feed and the likelihood that the filament itself can get jammed.

If you have a printer that uses 1.75mm then a direct drive extruder tends to be the more reliable. However, having a motor attached to the print head will cause vibrations so requires the head to be mounted solidly. A Bowden extruder feeds the filament into the system away from the print head, and is a system preferred by some manufacturers, such as Ultimaker.

As the stepper motor is away from the print head, vibrations from the motor are less likely to affect the movement of the head. The lighter weight of the head will also cause less friction on the print head bearings enabling smoother motion.

Working with direct drive extruders is easier when getting started and there are plenty of different designs for these that can be printed out. The Greg’s Wade extruder, for instance, is one of the most popular and a variant is used on the excellent Lulzbot Mini printer.

However, the other option is to go for an integrated solution that enables you to neatly install both the extruder and hot end together, such as the Bulldog lite extruder that comes with the Ooznest kit.

Power supply

Your 3D printer’s power supply is essential, and many people just use one strip out of their old computer. Usually, 12v and 24V are the common values for home 3D printers and these voltages are catered for by the majority of components.

Most Prusa i3 kits come supplied as 12v, and this means that the hot-end, heated bed and often the control boards will all need to match the 12v label. If after building your machine you decide that you’d like to upgrade to 24V then these components will also need to be updated.

When starting out, however, a 12V system is a good choice as it costs less to run, but you’ll need to wait longer for the hot end and heated build plate – if you have one – to come up to temperature.

Control board

This forms the brain of the printer and enables you to realize your models created in Blender or your choice of 3D application. There’s a good selection of boards to choose from, and the majority of these are based on Arduino and vary in complexity.

At present, the most common are RAMPS 1.4. This is a solid board and is easy to configure and flash with the Prusa i3 firmware. After testing a few different types, the Rambo Mini is one of the most reliable with the motor drivers mounted into the board along with the heat syncs.

When tested this board resulted in fewer errors and more consistent results, although it is over twice the price of the RAMPS board. The Rambo Mini has recently been used in the official Prusa i3 Kits and the Lulzbot mini. One of the major upgrade advantages of this board is that it can be configured for auto-platform leveling.

Build platform

The build platform is an essential part of the build and can be as simple as a sheet of glass. However, there are several properties to consider: If you are considering printing just PLA, then a sheet of glass will do the job perfectly, just use a bit of builder masking tape or paint stick on the surface to create a good area of adhesion of the plastic to the surface.

If, however, you want to print ABS or almost any other filament type then a heated bed is an essential choice to help avoid warping and to help better the model adhere to the surface.

As with other components, the voltage of the platform needs to be considered. A 12V platform uses less power, but a 24V one will heat up much quicker. Heated platforms are simply glass with a heated element below, but recently companies, such as Zortrax, have started using perforated platforms.

We’ve noticed that these can be a little trickier to use but gain high success rates with a huge selection of materials.

Get the right bearings

One of the simplest upgrades is to swap out the linear ball bearings for a polymer, although they might not feel as smooth when moved by hand, under load and constant use they provide more consistent friction control.

These bearings have been designed for industrial use on precision machinery and although expensive, when bought individually, if you buy 50 then the price drops dramatically. These bearings don’t need any lubricant, and the sectioned style also means that if any dust or dirt does fall in the path of the bearing, it’s unlikely to have much – if any – effect.

Another major upshot of replacing linear ball bearings for polymer is noise. There are less moving parts and no metal on metal, which reduces noise from the printer dramatically. Of all the upgrades that we’ve made to 3D printers, the switch to polymer bearings has consistently been the best and in the long run, the cheapest upgrade we’ve made.

Hunting hot-end

A quality hotend will make a huge difference to the print capabilities of your machine and should come in several parts. The main section is the all metal hotend and it’s a good idea to look for one with external heat syncs and which comes with all the electronics including the thermistor.

It’s also essential that the hot-end you choose can swap nozzles. The standard nozzle ranges from manufacturers run from 0.25 to 0.8. The standard size for the majority of printers is 0.4mm. When you’re selecting the hot end make sure that you get the correct voltage either 12 or 24V and select one that’s compatible with your feed type, which will be either direct drive or Bowden, however, many hot ends are now universal.

Hexagon has decent hot ends which are supplied, as standard, by Lulzbot and Ooznest. Make sure that whatever hot-end you use that it is compatible with materials that you wish to print. The latest batch of hot ends can reach temperatures of 400 degrees Celsius and can print in a huge variety of materials, including nylons and metals.

Finishing the build

Once your printer build is finished, the next stage is commissioning your machine before producing your first print. Most kits will provide a control board with the correct firmware pre-installed for the printer design.

If not – or if you have upgraded the board – then you will need to download and install the Marlin firmware. This is a pretty straight forward process and just involves connecting the board to your machine and then uploading the files.

Full details can be found here for the PRUSA i3. Once done you then need to download and install Pronterface. Once installed this software can be used to connect and commission the printer before the first print. Finally, once approved you’ll need some slicing software to convert a 3D model into layers ready to print.

The most popular are Slicer, which lets you load a 3D file in STL format, select your printer and print.