The first 3D printer I ever encountered had to be assembled from parts that arrived in a box. This was more than a decade ago, and things have certainly changed. The last two 3D printers I acquired worked right out of the box after plugging them in and removing the packing material—there’s never been a more beginner-friendly time to get into the hobby.
That said, even if printers are easy to set up and operate, there are still some things I think everyone should know how to do with a 3D printer.
Calibrate the printer for consistently accurate prints
3D printers are extreme precision instruments. It’s easy to forget just how miraculous it is to have a tiny box in your house build detailed objects from raw material. This was pure science fiction when I was a child, and I, for one, will never take it for granted.
Because of this precision, 3D printers must be well calibrated to work, and you need to know how to calibrate yours out of the box, and then as part of its ongoing maintenance. Different printers have different methods of calibration. Some older or cheaper printers require manual calibration, where you use a sheet of paper to adjust the gap between the nozzle and the build plate. This is a bit of an art, because you need to have just the right amount of drag on the paper to know the gap is right.
More modern printers don’t even give you access to the bits and bobs you need to adjust that gap. Instead, they use sensors, AI-powered cameras, Lidar systems, and other high-tech solutions to self-calibrate. This has made 3D printing much more accessible, but you should know how to manually adjust things if the auto-calibration gets it wrong somehow.
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Troubleshoot common print failures
One way in which 3D printers are no different from traditional 2D printers is the demand for troubleshooting. Except, there’s a whole new dimension to the process that goes far beyond resolving a paper jam.
Extrusion problems are the main issue you’ll deal with. Your printer might over- or under-extrude your filament, for example. Filament might stop coming out entirely too. So you should know how to open up the hot end and extruder, and clear out any clogs or other issues that negatively affect extrusion.
it’s also important to know what settings to change when you observe issues like stringing, heat creep, and extruder grinding. There are ways to fix these issues and you should learn them. Though to be fair, most people will learn the solutions to these issues as they naturally encounter them.
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Maintain and replace essential components
Your 3D printer is a complex machine with lots of moving parts. Whenever you have moving parts, big temperature changes, and many different materials with their own tolerances, things will break down.
Lubricating the rails at regular intervals using an approved lubricant is important. Replacing your nozzle when it’s too worn down is another important skill to have. PTFE tubes, clips that hold wiring harnesses connected to the moving hot end, and other plastic parts tend to break and need to be replaced. Each specific 3D printer model will come with instructions for general maintenance, but it’s worth looking up videos online for bigger maintenance jobs, like replacing the entire hot end.
Be warned that I’m referring to maintenance and parts replacement from normal wear and tear. If your printer is still under warranty, you should not do any work on it that’s not part of normal wear and tear for its age.
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Slice models intelligently for better results
3D printers are just as married to “garbage in, garbage out” as any computing device. If you feed your printer bad code, it will print a bad object. Understanding your slicer is possibly the most important thing you need to know. You need to have a good grasp of when you need support, what type of support you need, what sort of infill is right for your object’s purpose, and so on.
Slicing software is far better than it was just a few years ago, and incredibly user-friendly, but it will still do exactly what you tell it, even if the instructions are dumb. As anyone in 3D printing will tell you, there’s a lot of trial and error involved with learning the ins and outs of your slicer and how setting tweaks influence the end product. My advice is to buy some cheap (but good quality) filament and write it off as your learning supply.
Personally, I have found that there’s always something more to learn about 3D printing, and while, objectively, I guess I could be considered an intermediate 3D printing hobbyist, I always feel like a beginner no matter how much I learn and experiment. That said, I think if you’re comfortable with the tasks I mentioned above, you’ll be set to build on that foundation.
9/10
- Build Volume
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10.4in x 10.4in x 10.4in
- Printing Speed
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500mm/s
- Materials Used
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PLA, PETG, TPU, ABS, ASA, PLA-CF
- Brand
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Elegoo
