This written guide (once complete) will contain Dr. Whether you are purchasing a kit or sourcing your own parts understanding the function of each component will allow you to build, upgrade, and repair your 3D printer with ease. Nevertheless, taking on the challenge of building your own 3D printer is not only fun but it is also an academic exercise where you will learn about linear motion, electronics, and a little bit of programming. This is a slippery slope where you could unintentionally end up with more than a couple printers.
The natural progression of 3D printing as a hobbyist is to buy a 3D printer, print a couple trinkets, realize that a 3D printer can print parts for another 3D printer, and then build a second printer. It may help to think of the extruder as a fancy hot glue gun that is strapped to a series of rails that allow it to move in three dimensions, depositing material layer-by-layer. The extruder is responsible for heating up plastic filament and is fitted with a nozzle that controls the dimeter of the extruded fiber. Fused Filament Fabrication or FFF is a type of 3D printing technology where parts are created through a layer-by-layer deposition of a molten thermoplastic.
