Printers & materials
The machine and the material: printer types, filaments and resins, and the real tolerances your hardware imposes.
Choosing your printer
5 articlesFDM, resin and the machine layouts: what each does to your parts, and which one fits what you design.
Inside the machine
4 articlesThe parts that touch your print, from hot end and nozzle to bed and motion, and the design limit each one sets.
Filaments and materials
6 articlesThe plastic is the other half of the machine: pick the family by what would make the part fail, and know what each one does to your dimensions.
From datasheet to design
5 articlesRead a material's numbers and turn them into design decisions, and into your own calibrated fits.
Finishing the part
6 articlesAfter the bed: supports, sanding, smoothing, paint, annealing and glue, and how to design for the finish.
Keeping it dialed in
4 articlesA machine drifts: nozzle, belts, bed. Why your calibrated fits wander, and how to bring them back.