Printers & materials

FDM, resin and the machine layouts — what each does to your parts, and which one fits what you design.

• FDM or resin: choosing the process
• Printer shapes: bedslinger, CoreXY and delta
• How resin (MSLA) printing works
• Accuracy, precision and repeatability
• Enclosures and multi-material

The parts that touch your print — hot end, nozzle, bed and motion — and the design limit each one sets.

• The hot end and extruder
• Nozzles: diameter, wear and hardened steel
• The build plate and bed
• Motion, leveling and calibration

The 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.

• Choosing a filament
• PLA and PETG
• ABS, ASA and higher-temp plastics
• Flexible filament (TPU)
• Filled and specialty filaments
• Keeping filament dry

Read a material's numbers and turn them into design decisions — and into your own calibrated fits.

• Reading a material datasheet
• Stiffness, strength and toughness
• Temperature, UV and environment
• Shrinkage and dimensional stability
• Material, machine and your own numbers

After the bed: supports, sanding, smoothing, paint, annealing and glue — and how to design for the finish.

• Support removal and cleanup
• Sanding and smoothing
• Vapour and chemical smoothing
• Painting and priming
• Annealing and strengthening
• Gluing and splitting big parts

A machine drifts — nozzle, belts, bed. Why your calibrated fits wander, and how to bring them back.

• When your tolerances drift
• Calibration prints that matter
• Nozzle and hot-end care
• Bed and motion upkeep