Step by Step How to Use Printer

Step one – Prepare your design for 3D printing

By this point, it’s important you have a role ready to print and y’all have called your material. This part can be one you designed yourself using CAD (computer aided design), one taken from a 3D browse, or one you have taken from an inventory of existing designs.

Before you outset printing, you demand to translate your pattern into ‘coordinates’ the 3D printer can sympathize, too every bit tell it important parameters such as the textile you are printing with.

This is known as ‘slicing’, because information technology involves slicing the 3D design into – yous guessed it – layers. This is typically done in a program known as slicing or print preparation software. Our
Ultimaker Cura slicing software
comes with many preconfigured settings and so will normally only take you a matter of seconds to prepare a print. Or if y’all prefer granular command of the printing process, there are too hundreds of custom settings to use. One time the slicing is done, your file is ready to print.

Footstep 2 – Fix your printer

You could besides do this pace first if you similar. Or you may non need to at all, for case if you regularly print the same blazon of parts.

But before you first printing, be certain to check you have the right fabric loaded. FFF 3D printers similar Ultimaker too let you lot choose dissimilar nozzle sizes, with a smaller nozzle giving more detailed prints and a larger nozzle faster print times. If yous’re using
Ultimaker software
together with an Ultimaker 3D printer, it volition check your printer configuration and prompt you lot if anything needs irresolute.

Step 3 – Transport your file to the printer

Once you are set up to go, you demand to get the file to your 3D printer. There are 2 main means to do this. I is to load the file onto a data storage device (such as a USB drive), put it in the printer, and showtime your print job via the printer’southward interface. The other option is to transport the chore remotely to a network enabled printer via your local network or the cloud. Remote printing is peculiarly helpful if you lot are not in the same location as your 3D printer.

Stride 4 – 3D impress

Now yous can sit down back and relax! Or if you’re at work, get on with something else while the printer does its task.

Printing times vary depending on the size and detail level of your printed object and your 3D printer type. On an
FFF 3D printer
such as Ultimaker, a pocket-sized component or rough prototype may only accept a few hours. Most parts will be ready the next day if you lot leave the printer running overnight. And if you need a very big, detailed print, yous may take to wait a couple of days.

Some 3D printing platforms enable you to monitor your print task. You tin do this via the Ultimaker Digital Manufacturing plant – and with an Ultimaker S3 or Ultimaker S5 printer, even view progress via a webcam feed.

When the print is finished, remove from the printer. Depending on your chosen material and printing process, some final manual steps may be needed earlier it’south set to use. With an FFF 3D printer, this ‘post-processing’ is often piddling more peeling off a small brim of material around the part. Other methods like SLA or SLS typically need more intricate mail service-processing, for instance removing the loose powder from the sleeping room of an SLS printer.

Are 3D printers easy to utilise?

This tin depend on a lot of factors, but in general 3D printing is one of the about accessible manufacturing processes available. Compared to injection molding or CNC machining, 3D printers are a much easier way to make parts and models, which is why it works equally a desktop technology everywhere from schools to offices.

But, there are a few things to exist aware of that will help make your experience of 3D printing hassle-free:

• Material option
  – Perhaps the central surface area where all 3D printers are not created equal. Check which materials a 3D printer tin impress or you may finish up surprised to discover you lot are limited to simply 1 or two. Fifty-fifty worse, some printer manufacturers but let you lot print with their ain fabric products, so you’re locked into using these forever. Look for a 3D printer that’s uniform with a
  wide range of materials, including those made by tertiary parties, so you can leverage the most countless options on the marketplace and do good from open innovation

• Automation
  – There are potentially hundreds of parameters and configurations involved every time yous 3D print, such as printer temperatures or how the nozzle will travel to build up the print. Just at Ultimaker, we don’t believe this should hateful complexity for the user. For example, our material spools come with embedded NFC fries so the printer knows what’southward loaded, preconfigured printing profiles in our software dramatically reduce setup fourth dimension for each impress, and yous can manage the whole end-to-end procedure in 1 identify via the Ultimaker Digital Factory

• Support and service
  – If things exercise go wrong, it can be frustrating and impact your productivity. So exist sure to check your 3D printer comes with comprehensive support and a warranty. Check for
  troubleshooting, FAQs, and other resource
  and so you can easily solve problems yourself and stay productive

What do you need to 3D print?

Your 3D printer should come with everything yous need to become started out of the box. Below nosotros list the essentials, as well as the optional extras it’s adept to know near:

• A 3D printer
  – OK, this 1’s obvious

• Material
  – Your printer should include some in the box or it can be bought from 3D printing vendors

• Software
  – Some printer brands supply their own, or yous may have to find a compatible program. Note that there are 2 types of 3D printing software – print training (or slicing) software and printer (or print job) management software

• Consumables
  – In addition to materials, your 3D printer may require or come with other consumables. For example, oil or grease for maintenance, or agglutinative aids for the build surface. With Ultimaker, everything you need to get started comes in the box

• Tools (largely optional)
  – Some 3D printers may require ane or two basic tools for configuration changes or maintenance. (Again, with Ultimaker everything essential comes in the box.) Otherwise, if y’all’re going to exist using your 3D printers a lot and will demand to do some mail service-processing of prints, information technology’s useful to keep a few tools handy. We created a guide to
  tools for FFF 3D printers

• Peripherals (optional)
  – These tin can add together more than functionality to your 3D printer. For instance, for some of our printers you tin too add together an Air Manager, which encloses the 3D printer and filters upward to 95% of UFPs (ultrafine particles), or Material Station which stores filament in an optimal surround and automatically loads material when a spool runs out

Next to this, all you demand is a ability supply and a make clean, safe workspace for your 3D printer. You tin can find more communication on these topics in our free, in-depth
white papers.

How exercise you lot use a 3D printer at abode?

Hobbyists and entrepreneurs take been
using desktop 3D printers at abode
for years, but at a time when remote working is more common than always, this is an important question.

Generally, the aforementioned setup advice as in a higher place for a workplace is recommended. But think carefully about two key considerations – safe and space. SLS and SLA printers crave careful processing of chancy chemicals before unused resin or powder can be disposed of with your household waste product. And as infinite is likely at a premium in the home, choosing a big format printer like the Ultimaker S5 Pro Bundle may not exist practical compared to a smaller unit of measurement similar an Ultimaker two+ Connect or Ultimaker S3.

There’due south more than to discover…

Explore the wider world of 3D printing by checking out our answers to these mutual questions:

• What is 3D press?

• What can you 3D print?

• How much does 3D printing cost?