I have several 3D printers, and I’ve always been satisfied with using either Repetier or Marlin on all of them. There are a few other firmware versions that could run on my hardware, but those two have been all I’ve needed. Sure, it was painful for a while having to juggle features to fit the […]
3D printing is all well and good for making low numbers of units, so long as they’re small enough to print in a reasonable time, but what if you want to go really big? Does a 35-hour print time sound like a fun time? Would it even make it that long? [Nathan] from Nathan Build […]
The printed breadboard cover as seen from the bottom. (Credit: CHEP, YouTube) Does it make sense to make your own breadboards rather than purchasing off the shelf ones? As [Chuck Hellebuyck] notes in a recent video on DIY, 3D-printed breadboards, there’s a certain charm to making a breadboard exactly the size you need, which is […]
In the early days of 3D printers, most builds used smooth rods and bearings that rode on them. But these days, printers are shipping with either V-slot extrusions with Delrin wheels or linear rails. Which is best? Everyone seems to have an opinion, but [Spencer] decided to compare them using some well-defined experiments, and he […]
You’ve probably heard that a 3D printer is capable of producing its own replacement parts. Sometimes, that even includes upgraded or improved versions of the parts it was originally built with. But sometimes, it’s hard to figure out what improved really means. Think about air ducts that cool the part after printing. In theory, it […]
[Chuck Hellebuyck] wanted to clone some model car raceway track and realised that by scanning the profile section of the track with a flatbed scanner and post-processing in Tinkercad, a useable cross-section model could be created. This was then extruded into 3D to make a pretty accurate-looking clone of the original part. Of course, using […]
Permanent magnets aren’t typically switchable. They’re always doing their magnet thing. However, if you align them with a bunch of other magnets in just the right way, you can create a permanent magnet that you can effectively switch on and off. [Andrew Klein] has done just that with his 3D-printed magnetic switch design. The concept is simple […]
In a recent video, [Joel] of 3D Printing Nerd interviews a researcher at University of California, Berkeley about their work with glass 3D printing technology. A resin is impregnated with tiny glass nanoparticles and produces green parts. An oven burns away the resin and then another heating step produces the actual silica glass part. You […]
Construction kit toys are cited by many adults as sparking great creativity and engineering talent in their youth. LEGO, Meccano, K’NEX, Lincoln Logs—these are all great commercial options. But what about printing your very own construction kit at home? Meet Stemfie. Fundamentally, Stemfie isn’t that different from any other construction kit you might have seen […]