Laser module on 3D printer
E3D Cyclops clone extruder build
Printing with ABS
The most important advantages of ABS are impact resistance and toughness. Lego is made from ABS. It will also not deform in hot water, compared to PLA. On the downside ABS is hard to print. You need very hot printbed (around 110 degrees Celsius) and Kapton tape, so the first layer will stick properly. ABS can also warp and curl. There are also other issues in the Marlin firmware that need some attention.
PSU grip
Building Volcano Bowden extruder
If you are impatient and don't want to wait too long for your print to finish you can look for a solution in the E3D Volcano hotend. It is able to extrude filament a much greater speeds than a normal (V6) extruder. But it comes at a price of sacrificing the print quality.
Leaking hotend extruder repair
It can happen that molten filament can leak from the hotend. This usually happens when there is a gap between the heat break hotend throat and the nozzle. This is the result of poor assembly of the extruder's hotend part.
Build a 3D printer - Part 16: Calibration
Build a 3D printer - Part 15: Dual filament spool holder
Build a 3D printer - Part 14: Stepper drivers cooling
The stepper motors are constantly pulling current. Without any cooling the chip that is on the stepper driver module would burn very quickly. Adding small heatsinks on top of the chip is of course the first step, but we can go a bit further.
Build a 3D printer - Part 13: Software
Our 3D printer is finished, but we still can not use it until we program the Arduino board with software that will control our printer. There are several options for the firmware. I have chosen Marlin.